Liquid staking protocols let holders stake a proof-of-stake asset — ETH, SOL, BNB, HYPE — while receiving a transferable liquid staking token (LST) such as stETH, rETH, or jitoSOL that keeps earning staking rewards and remains usable as DeFi collateral. This list ranks the top liquid staking protocols by total value locked (TVL) in DefiLlama's Liquid Staking category, retrieved from the DefiLlama API on July 27, 2026, and by proven track record. For restaked variants, see our companion ranking of the best LRT protocols.
Lido remains the runaway category leader at roughly $18.0B in TVL, more than double the exchange-run Binance staked ETH stack (~$7.2B). The next tier is tightly bunched: Solana LST infrastructure play Sanctum (~$1.1B) now edges out Ethereum decentralization stalwart Rocket Pool (~$1.0B), while Kinetiq (~$0.85B) — launched on Hyperliquid only in July 2025 — has already overtaken Solana veterans Binance Staked SOL (~$0.77B) and Jito (~$0.75B). Just outside the top ten sit mETH Protocol (~$0.49B) and Solana pioneer Marinade, live since 2021, which has slipped to roughly $181M. All figures below are parent-protocol category totals as of July 27, 2026.
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#1
Lido
$18.0B TVL
The largest liquid staking protocol in DeFi. stETH (and its wrapped form wstETH) represents ETH staked across a curated and community-staking operator set governed by the Lido DAO; wstETH is among the most widely accepted collateral assets in Ethereum DeFi.
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#2
Binance staked ETH
$7.2B TVL
Binance's exchange-run ETH staking stack. BETH launched with Ethereum staking in December 2020; the transferable Wrapped Beacon ETH (WBETH) followed in April 2023 and circulates on Ethereum and BNB Chain, redeemable through Binance.
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#3
Sanctum Validator LSTs
$1.1B TVL
Solana infrastructure (evolved from unstake.it) that lets validators and partners launch their own LSTs, unified by the Infinity multi-LST pool and a shared SOL liquidity reserve. Exchange tokens including Binance's BNSOL deploy through Sanctum.
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#4
Rocket Pool
$1.0B TVL
The flagship decentralized alternative to Lido. rETH is backed by a permissionless network of node operators who post their own ETH and RPL collateral alongside pooled deposits; mainnet since November 2021.
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#5
Kinetiq kHYPE
$0.85B TVL
The leading liquid staking protocol on Hyperliquid. Launched July 15, 2025, kHYPE wraps staked HYPE with validator selection managed by the protocol; the KNTQ governance token followed in November 2025.
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#6
Binance Staked SOL
$0.77B TVL
Binance's Solana liquid staking product, launched in September 2024 and deployed through Sanctum's validator-LST infrastructure. BNSOL accrues Solana staking rewards and is redeemable via Binance.
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#7
Jito Liquid Staking
$0.75B TVL
Solana LST that layers MEV rewards on top of staking yield: stake is delegated to validators running the Jito-Solana client, which auctions blockspace and shares proceeds with jitoSOL holders. JTO governs the protocol.
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#8
StakeWise V2
$0.73B TVL
One of the earliest ETH liquid staking protocols, on mainnet since March 2021 with a dual-token design separating principal (sETH2) from rewards (rETH2). The V2 pool is tracked separately from StakeWise V3's vault-based osETH system.
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#9
Liquid Collective
$0.62B TVL
Enterprise-grade liquid staking standard built by Alluvial and announced in September 2022 with Coinbase and Kraken among its founding ecosystem participants. ETH staking went live for institutions in 2023 via Coinbase Prime and Bitcoin Suisse, issuing LsETH.
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#10
Lista Liquid Staking
$0.54B TVL
BNB Chain liquid staking from Lista DAO — the protocol formed when Helio Protocol merged with liquid staking provider Synclub and rebranded in 2024. slisBNB is the staked-BNB receipt token and doubles as collateral in Lista's lisUSD CDP and lending markets; LISTA is the governance token.