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Best Liquid Restaking Protocols · Rank 01 of 8
The most complete restaking product with the clearest disclosures
Last verified August 18, 20264 scored axes
Documented, with gaps
ether.fi scores 8.5 out of 10 and ranks #1 of 8 in the best liquid restaking protocols table, strongest on operator selection (8.6) and weakest on yield quality (8.2).
The largest liquid restaking protocol, and the one that has done most to document what its depositors are actually exposed to. Native restaking with user-held keys is a genuine structural advantage over the wrapper designs.
4 axes, weighted as published in the table’s methodology. Each score below is read from the fact printed under it.
8.4/ 35% of the score
Publishes the services its stake secures and the operators behind them; slashing on those services is still being phased in, which the protocol discloses. No ether.fi system was compromised in the 2026 restaking incidents, and in July 2026 it published an externally audited hardening of its cross-chain transfers, followed by a separate token that splits plain staking from restaking exposure.
8.6/ 25% of the score
Operators are admitted under published criteria with delegations visible on-chain; the native design leaves stakers holding validator key control.
8.6/ 20% of the score
Withdrawals live with a published queue covering both the staking and restaking layers; no sustained discount on record.
8.2/ 20% of the score
Yield combines base staking rewards with a points programme; fee income paid by secured services is small relative to deposits, which the protocol discloses.
Most liquid restaking tokens wrap someone else's staked position. ether.fi's design keeps validator key control with the staker, which removes an intermediary from a category built almost entirely out of intermediaries. It is the structural reason this protocol leads the table.
The services the deposited stake secures and the operators behind them are published, and the protocol discloses that slashing on those services is still being phased in rather than implying the risk is already priced. In a category where most documentation is vague about exactly this, that candour is the difference between a risk you accepted and one you inherited.
No ether.fi system was compromised during the restaking incidents that hit the sector in 2026. The protocol nonetheless published an externally audited hardening of its cross-chain transfers in July 2026 and then introduced a separate token that splits plain staking from restaking exposure — an admission that many holders never wanted the second risk and had no way to decline it.
Staking rewards plus a points programme. Fee income from the services the stake secures remains small relative to deposits, which the protocol discloses. Treat points as a discretionary promise rather than yield, and the honest return here is the base staking rate.
It has the clearest disclosures in the category — published service exposure and operators, native restaking that leaves key control with the staker, live withdrawals with a published queue and no compromise during the 2026 sector incidents. The unresolved risk is that slashing regimes on secured services are still being phased in.
weETH earns base staking rewards plus whatever the restaked services pay, and takes on their slashing conditions in exchange. Plain staking has one set of penalties; restaking adds more, which is the trade.
They are a discretionary allocation promise whose terms the issuer can change, not income. Value the position on its staking yield and treat points as an option attached to it.
8 services in best liquid restaking protocols