Doc's Daily Commentary

Mind Of Mav

Staking ETH 2.0 & Getting Double The Rewards

 

There are a lot of really cool dApps on Ethereum right now. The problem with Ethereum, though — as everybody knows — is the fees associated with its current proof-of-work validation. And that’s the promise of Ethereum 2.0: that the move to proof-of-stake will speed everything up and reduce fees.

Given my excitement for Ethereum 1.0, I was eager to get involved with 2.0. Unfortunately, staking ETH2 requires 32 ETH — and I had more like one.

There’s a solution for that, too! … Staking pools!

Today, I’ll share my experience with staking ETH2 and using the wrapped token to gain bonus rewards while my ETH assets are frozen.

Usual disclaimers apply. I’m a hobbyist. None of this is advice. Do your own research, and don’t gamble with what you can’t afford to lose.

Staking with Ankr

There are few ETH2 staking options available, but the first one I learned about was Ankr. Ankr Staker allows you to stake ETH2 with as little as 0.5 ETH. When you stake, you will exchange your ETH for an equal amount of Ankr’s wrapped token, aETH.

The cool thing about aETH is that it represents your ETH investment plus earned rewards.

When I joined, I staked 1 ETH and received 0.99 aETH. This was a little confusing to me at first, but it made sense after a week or so — I could see that 1 aETH was now worth 1.01 ETH, and after another week, it had grown to 1.03 ETH.

That’s pretty cool. My 1 ETH is frozen until the launch of Ethereum 2.0, but I can watch the value grow by checking in with Ankr.

What’s cooler is that even though I’m staked with ETH2 and my assets are frozen, I still have the wrapped token to play with!

Let’s talk about SnowSwap!

I learned about SnowSwap from Ankr’s article on Medium, Stake aETH with our new partner SnowSwap. Well, that sounds just about perfect, right?

SnowSwap’s eth2SNOW liquidity pool solves two problems. First, it eliminates the ETH entry requirement for anybody interested in staking ETH2. You can trade for whatever fraction of an aETH you’d like, and any aETH you obtain can later be exchanged for the corresponding percentage of staked ETH plus rewards.

The second problem it solves is that it allows people who have staked their ETH to earn rewards immediately by serving as liquidity providers. Providing liquidity to the eth2SNOW pool offers a high APY, currently around 24%. Rewards are paid in SnowSwap’s native token, SNOW, so the profitability of rewards is tied to that.

Sound good? Let’s set it up!

First, you need to withdraw your aETH tokens from Ankr at the site above: eth2.ankr.com. Now head to SnowSwap and connect your wallet. Providing liquidity is a two-step process. First, exchange aETH for the LP token, eth2SNOW. Then, stake the eth2SNOW to begin earning rewards.

SNOW tokens have seen a lot of volatility in the past week — like just about all cryptocurrencies — and are currently worth about $46 each. The screenshot above is after just 10 days. At the presumably-budget-rate of $46, this still represents a $302 gain for the year. SNOW has been as high as $150 in the past month, though, so the final value earnings after a year could easily be 3x or more.

It’s also worth noting that SnowSwap is in its infancy and still running a beta version. I think this bodes well for its future, though, and I’ve seen estimates for SNOW as high as $700-$1500. The investment has the potential to be quite lucrative for the “frozen” ETH!

Conclusion

Using Ankr’s staking pool is a great way to start earning ETH2 rewards today, even though the rewards won’t be accessible until Ethereum 2 launches in 1 or more years. The wrapped token they return in exchange gives a distinct advantage, though, allowing you to provide liquidity and effectively earn double-rewards while you wait.

The gas fees to retrieve aETH, exchange for SnowSwap’s LP token, and stake the LP token were annoyingly high. It probably cost me $100 to do it all, but now that the resources are parked and earning, I feel pretty good about it.

Ethereum’s hurting right now because of its fees leading to an exodus to other chains like Binance Smart Chain, but they have a big lead on the rest of the pack. The competition will certainly chip away at it, but if Ethereum 2.0 can deliver on its promises before it’s too late, it’s going to see tremendous growth in value.

The pieces are in place, and now we wait and double-earn rewards along the way!

Here are some other ways to stake ETH2.0, each with their own staking rewards and benefits!

 

The ReadySetCrypto "Three Token Pillars" Community Portfolio (V3)

 

Add your vote to the V3 Portfolio (Phase 3) by clicking here.

View V3 Portfolio (Phase 2) by clicking here.

View V3 Portfolio (Phase 1) by clicking here.

Read the V3 Portfolio guide by clicking here.

What is the goal of this portfolio?

The “Three Token Pillars” portfolio is democratically proportioned between the Three Pillars of the Token Economy & Interchain:

CryptoCurreny – Security Tokens (STO) – Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

With this portfolio, we will identify and take advantage of the opportunities within the Three
Pillars of ReadySetCrypto. We aim to Capitalise on the collective knowledge and experience of the RSC
community & build model portfolios containing the premier companies and projects
in the industry and manage risk allocation suitable for as many people as
possible.

The Second Phase of the RSC Community Portfolio V3 was to give us a general idea of the weightings people desire in each of the three pillars and also member’s risk tolerance. The Third Phase of the RSC Community Portfolio V3 has us closing in on a finalized portfolio allocation before we consolidated onto the highest quality projects.

Our Current Allocation As Of Phase Three:

Move Your Mouse Over Charts Below For More Information

The ReadySetCrypto "Top Ten Crypto" Community Portfolio (V4)

 

Add your vote to the V4 Portfolio by clicking here.

Read about building Crypto Portfolio Diversity by clicking here.

What is the goal of this portfolio? 

The “Top Ten Crypto” portfolio is a democratically proportioned portfolio balanced based on votes from members of the RSC community as to what they believe are the top 10 projects by potential.
 
This portfolio should be much more useful given the ever-changing market dynamics. In short, you rank the projects you believe deserve a spot in the top 10. It should represent a portfolio and rank that you believe will stand the test of time. Once we have a good cross-section, we can study and make an assessment as to where we see value and perhaps where some diamonds in the rough opportunities exist. In a perfect world, we will end up with a Pareto-style distribution that describes the largest value capture in the market.
 
To give an update on the position, each one listed in low to high relative risk:
 
SoV/money == BTC, DCR
Platforms == ETH, XTZ
Private Money == XMR / ZEC / ZEN
DeFi == MKR / SNX and stablecoins
 
It is the most realistic way for us to distill the entirety of what we have learned (and that includes the RSC community opinion). We have an array of articles that have gradually picked off one by one different projects, some of which end up being many thousands of words to come to this conclusion. It is not capitulation because we all remain in the market. It is simply a consolidation of quality. We seek the cream of the crop as the milk turns sour on aggregate.

Current Top 10 Rankings:

 

 

Move Your Mouse Over Charts Below For More Information

Our Discord

Join Our Crypto Trader & Investor Chatrooms by clicking here!

Please DM us with your email address if you are a full OMNIA member and want to be given full Discord privileges.