What is Liquid Staking?
Liquid staking is a mechanism that allows users to stake their cryptocurrency while retaining liquidity. Unlike traditional staking, where assets are locked and inaccessible during the staking period, liquid staking provides a way to keep assets productive in DeFi while earning staking rewards.
Benefits of Liquid Staking
Liquid staking allows users to:
Earn staking rewards without sacrificing liquidity
Use staked assets in DeFi, including:
Participating in lending, borrowing, and yield farming
Engaging in restaking opportunities
Trading or transferring staked value
How Liquid Staking Works
Staking: Users deposit tokens into a liquid staking protocol.
Receiving LSTs: The protocol issues liquid staking tokens (LSTs) that represent the staked assets.
LST Functionality:
Fully transferable like any cryptocurrency
By improving capital efficiency and reducing opportunity costs, liquid staking ensures users maintain access to their funds while contributing to network security.
Escher.Finance takes liquid staking to the next level with a chain-abstracted approach, allowing users to stake assets across multiple blockchain ecosystems without being locked into a single network.
Traditional staking restricts liquidity and limits token utility within DeFi. Escher eliminates these barriers by enabling users to stake on purpose-driven PoS networks while retaining access to their capital through LSTs. These LSTs can be used across DeFi protocols for lending, borrowing, trading, and yield farming—all while earning staking rewards.
How Escher’s Liquid Staking Works
Escher leverages:
Union’s interoperability framework
The Hidden Layer Concept
Instead of requiring users to interact directly with multiple chains, Escher’s hidden layer contracts handle staking, liquidity movement, and execution behind the scenes.
With this approach, users can:
Stake assets from one network (e.g., Base, Arbitrum) into another (e.g., Celestia, Berachain) without interacting with the destination chain
Eliminate the need for multiple wallets, gas tokens, or manual chain switching
Seamless Redemption and Interoperability
Escher enables LST redemption from any connected network:
Example: A user staking from Base can use their LSTs within Base’s DeFi ecosystem or redeem them on Arbitrum, Celestia, or another supported network.
Powered by IBC and the Hidden Layer, Escher provides true cross-chain interoperability for liquid staking.
More Than Liquid Staking: A New Era of Blockchain Connectivity
Escher is not just another liquid staking protocol—it’s a bridge between fragmented blockchain ecosystems. By enabling chains to tap into Ethereum’s liquidity and giving users more utility for their staked assets, Escher enhances network security, capital efficiency, and DeFi accessibility.
With Escher, staking becomes borderless, flexible, and fully interoperable, setting a new standard for blockchain cooperation and liquidity flow.
Escher.Finance is redefining liquid staking and cross-chain interaction with its innovative chain-abstracted solution. Built on Union and Nomos, Escher enables users to stake, liquid stake, and re-stake assets across multiple blockchain ecosystems—all without leaving their native chain. By removing the complexities of managing multiple wallets and gas tokens, Escher delivers a seamless user experience, making decentralized finance more accessible for individuals and institutions alike.
At its core, Escher leverages the hidden layer concept to power decentralized, secure, and flexible staking operations. This architecture allows users to stake directly from any supported chain—such as staking from Base to Celestia—without needing direct interaction with the target network. Users retain full ownership of their staking positions, which can be tokenized, traded, or used as collateral.
Built on IBC interoperability, Escher seamlessly connects Ethereum, Cosmos SDK chains, and emerging networks like Solana and Berachain, bridging liquidity and staking opportunities across ecosystems.
Escher is more than just a staking solution—it’s an interoperability layer that unifies fragmented blockchain ecosystems. By enabling chains to tap into Ethereum’s liquidity and unlocking new DeFi opportunities for users, Escher strengthens both network security and capital efficiency. This
Reflects accrued staking rewards over time
Growth of Staked Pool: The underlying staked assets continue earning rewards, increasing the LST’s value.
Redeeming Staked Tokens: Users can redeem LSTs for the original tokens plus rewards when unstaking.
Native Staking with Escher (in production)
Escher takes native staking to the next level by introducing a personal, user-specific ICA controller. Unlike liquid staking solutions, Escher doesn’t create LSTs for native staking. Instead, each user is assigned a unique ICA controller that facilitates direct staking on target chains. This approach ensures that rewards are sent directly to the user’s wallet, offering a streamlined and efficient staking experience.
What sets Escher apart is the added utility of the ICA controller. These controllers are transferable and can be tokenized as NFTs, unlocking new financial opportunities. Users can sell their staking positions or use them as collateral for lending and borrowing in DeFi protocols, turning staking positions into versatile financial assets. This functionality bridges the gap between staking and DeFi, giving users unprecedented flexibility and control over their staked assets.
By enabling governance participation and staking rewards while maintaining personal ownership of the ICA controller, Escher empowers users to fully engage with the blockchain ecosystem. This innovative approach combines staking, governance, and DeFi utility into a unified, user-centric experience.