Ethereum pays 2.66 percent, just over 2.2 arrives: what investors need to know about staking

With Ethereum staking, the network currently pays around 2.66 percent a year, and just over 2.2 percent reaches you through a provider. That gap is the real answer to the question of what staking delivers: the protocol sets the gross yield, the provider sets the net yield. On top of that come a waiting period on the way out, a tax treatment of its own in Germany, and a risk that has nothing to do with the price.

This piece explains how the reward arises, how much Ethereum actually pays out in October 2026, which four routes lead into staking, and what the provider's cut does to the result. We collected every yield figure in this article ourselves on October 4, 2026, from the network data and from two of the largest providers.

What Ethereum staking is and how the reward arises

At Ethereum, staking means this: you deposit ether as security so that a validator may propose and confirm new blocks. A validator is a machine with its own key pair that takes part in consensus. For correct work the protocol issues new ether; for negligence it deducts part of the security. Anyone working against the rules loses more, and that is called slashing.

The reward draws on three sources: the issuance of new ether by the protocol, users' priority fees, and additional income from the ordering of transactions within a block. How the procedure works in detail is set out in Ethereum's staking documentation. What matters for the yield: the first two sources fluctuate with network load, and none of them is guaranteed.

2.66 percent gross: what the network pays out in October 2026

The protocol's gross yield stood at around 2.66 percent a year on October 4, 2026. That is the figure achieved by a validator run by its owner, who hands over no cut. It is not a fixed quantity: the more ether staked in total, the smaller the share per validator, and the quieter the network, the lower the fees.

For comparison: on other networks the figures sit considerably higher, and there too they fall as the stake rises. What that means on another chain we worked through for Solana at the end of August, which can be read in our article on the falling Solana staking yield. A higher yield is no mark of quality in that context, but usually the price of higher issuance of new units.

Anyone wanting to know what a provider makes of this gross figure will find the terms gathered in our comparison of staking platforms. The span between gross and net is the lever you hold yourself.

871,303 validators and 35.8 percent of supply at work

The scale explains why the yield is so low. On October 4, 2026, around 871,300 validators were active, and roughly 43.7 million ether were staked. Against a total supply of around 122.1 million ether, that is 35.8 percent, so a good one ether in three. The price stood at about $2,687.

A market in which a third of supply is tied up spreads the issuance across many participants. That is why the yield of more than 5 percent that was usual in the first years after the switch to proof of stake is no longer the benchmark today. Anyone working with older figures overestimates the return by more than double.

The provider's cut: why just over 2.2 percent is left of 2.66

This is where the difference is settled. Two of the largest providers reported the following figures on October 4, 2026: at Lido, the yield on the liquid staking token stETH stood at 2.19 percent, and at 2.24 percent averaged over the preceding seven days. At Rocket Pool, the yield on the rETH token stood at 2.17 percent, with a base commission for node operators of 5 percent. There, 4,159 operators were registered, 1,410 of whom were active.

Against the gross yield of 2.66 percent, around half a percentage point therefore stays with the provider and the operators. In relative terms that is roughly 17 to 18 percent of the return. At exchanges the deduction is often higher, because a service fee applies there on top. How large the differences between houses are was counted across 14 providers in September by our article on checking the Ethereum staking commission.

One sentence is often misread: the cut is measured against the return, not against your stake. A deduction of 10 percent therefore does not mean you lose 10 percent of your ether, but 10 percent of the reward. On a gross yield of around 2.66 percent, that comes to roughly 0.27 percentage points a year.

Four routes into staking: solo, pool, liquid staking and the exchange

The route you choose determines yield, effort and risk all at once. Four forms are common in Germany.

Solo staking means: your own validator, your own keys, a stake of 32 ether. You keep the full gross yield and carry full responsibility for uptime and keys. Pool staking bundles smaller amounts into validators; the operator runs the technology and you pay a cut. Liquid staking hands you a token for your stake that documents the claim and remains tradable in its own right. Staking through an exchange is the most convenient route: the venue takes care of everything, but also holds the keys.

The further down that list you go, the smaller the yield and the more counterparties are added. For the decision, that makes the question less “which route pays most” than “how many other hands do I want between me and my ether”.

32 ether as the entry threshold: what solo staking costs today

Your own validator requires exactly 32 ether. At a price of around $2,687 that works out at roughly $86,000 of stake for a single position. On top of that comes a machine that runs without interruption, a stable connection and maintenance of the software. If the validator drops out there is no reward, and small deductions apply.

That is why solo staking is in practice a solution for large holdings, or for technically adept holders who deliberately want to run the operation themselves. For everyone else, the difference between 2.66 and 2.2 percent is smaller than what a failed validator and a lost key can cost. That is a sober calculation and not an argument against self-custody in general.

Lock-up and queue: how long the exit takes

Staked ether is not immediately available. The exit runs through deregistering the validator, after which comes a waiting period set by the length of the queue. That queue can fill up badly: in August 2026, more than two million ether were lined up, with waiting times of around 39 days. We broke down the situation at the time in our article on the Ethereum staking queue.

For planning, that means two things. First, yield is no substitute for liquidity: anyone who needs the money in six weeks should not stake it. Second, liquid staking genuinely does help here, because the token issued stays sellable on the market without waiting for deregistration. In exchange you accept a discount when many want to sell at the same time.

Slashing, contract risk and custody: the risks behind the yield

Three risks in staking stand on their own, that is, independently of price risk. Slashing hits validators that make contradictory attestations; in that case part of the security is seized. For pool and liquid staking the operators carry this risk, but they pass losses on to depositors. The second risk lies in the contract work: liquid staking runs on program code, and a fault in it hits all depositors at once. The third is custody: anyone staking through an exchange has handed over their keys.

The last risk can be limited most clearly. Anyone holding the holdings that are not staked in self-custody does not depend on the operation of a trading venue; the devices for that are in our hardware wallet comparison. For the staked ether itself, that applies only with solo staking, because the keys stay with you there.

A guaranteed yield exists in none of these forms. Anyone promising a fixed rate of interest is not running staking but a lending business with your stake, and the payout then hangs on the provider's solvency.

Staking income in Germany: section 22 of the Income Tax Act and the exemption threshold

For private investors, the German tax administration treats staking rewards as income from services under section 22 number 3 of the Income Tax Act. They are captured at your personal tax rate, and in the year they accrue. The provision contains an exemption threshold of 256 euros a year: if income from services stays below it, none is charged. Once the threshold is exceeded, the entire amount is taxable, not only the part above it.

For the ether received, a holding period of its own begins on accrual. If you sell it later, the framework for private disposal transactions under section 23 of the Income Tax Act applies, with its one-year window. Under the final version of the administrative guidance, that one-year window also applies to ether that was previously staked; an extended ten-year window, which appeared in an earlier draft, did not become part of the governing line.

In practice that means: for every reward you need the day it accrued and the price on that day. With daily or weekly payouts, that quickly runs to several hundred individual entries a year, which can hardly be kept by hand. Which providers record inflows and holding periods per position is shown in our comparison of crypto tax tools. Only a tax adviser can settle your case bindingly, because the classification hangs on the extent and the structure of your participation.

Liquid staking: what sets a token like stETH apart from ether

Liquid staking is the most widespread route and at the same time the most frequently misunderstood. You hand over ether, you receive a token that represents your claim to it and whose value grows with the rewards. That token is tradable, but it is not ether. Its price can diverge from the ether price, upwards as well as downwards, and in nervous phases a small divergence turns into a noticeable discount.

On top of that comes a tax point that is often overlooked: swapping ether into a liquid staking token and back can itself be a disposal, depending on how it is structured. Anyone switching back and forth between the two forms may therefore create events that have to be recorded individually. That too is a point for a tax adviser and not for a gut feeling.

In choosing a provider, three things therefore count for more than the yield on display: how liquid the token is in trading, how the program code was audited, and whether the rewards are accounted for per day in a way you can follow.

Ethereum staking: what to take away

Ethereum staking today is a return in the region of just over two percent, not five. The difference between providers is small in percentage points and large as a share of the return, and the real decisions lie with liquidity, custody and record-keeping.

1. Compare net yields, not gross promises. Set every figure against the network's current gross yield and look at how much of the return the provider retains. The terms are gathered in the comparison of staking platforms.
2. Record inflows from day one. Date, amount and daily price for each reward decide your tax return later, and the 256-euro threshold is reached sooner than many expect. A tool from the comparison of crypto tax tools takes the bookkeeping off your hands.
3. Stake only what you will not need for a while. The queue on the way out can take weeks, and selling the liquid staking token costs a discount in restless phases. Anyone staking through an exchange should also know which supervisor it works under; the comparison of crypto exchanges sets that out.

(As of October 4, 2026. This article is not investment advice. Prices and fee structures change; check the terms with the provider before you buy.)