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Topic 178 of 179

Liquid Restaking Tokens (LRTs)

How LRTs (ether.fi eETH, Renzo ezETH, Puffer pufETH, Kelp rsETH, and others) build on Lido-style liquid staking and EigenLayer restaking, why they emerged, their yield economics, and the specific risks that don't apply to plain liquid staking.

Beginner
8 min readUpdated October 2026Block Clarity Hub Editorial Team

Where LRTs Sit in the Stack

A liquid staking token (LST) like Lido's stETH represents ETH that's staked with an Ethereum validator, giving the holder liquid exposure to staking yield without locking their ETH directly. A liquid restaking token (LRT) goes one layer further: the underlying ETH is staked with a validator AND that validator's stake is also 'restaked' with EigenLayer, allowing the ETH to secure additional services (called AVSs — Actively Validated Services) and earn additional yield on top of base staking rewards. The LRT is a tokenised representation of both layers of yield. Major LRTs have included ether.fi's eETH, Renzo's ezETH, Puffer's pufETH, and Kelp's rsETH; by DefiLlama TVL on 11 October 2026, ether.fi (about $4.78B) and Kelp (about $1.03B) were far larger than Renzo (about $0.117B) and Puffer (about $0.029B).

Why LRTs Emerged

EigenLayer brought restaking to Ethereum mainnet as the mechanism for stakers and node operators to opt into securing additional services beyond consensus. But EigenLayer positions are traditionally illiquid — once you commit ETH to secure an AVS, it's tied up until you withdraw. LRTs solved this: users deposit ETH (or an LST like stETH), the LRT protocol restakes it via EigenLayer to a curated set of AVSs, and the user gets a liquid token they can trade, lend, or use as collateral. This turned restaking from a niche validator activity into a widely-accessible DeFi primitive within months.

The Yield Stack

LRT yield comes from three main sources: (1) base ETH staking yield (roughly 2.8–3.3% APR as of April 2026 — stake.fish, 21 April 2026), (2) restaking rewards paid by the AVSs the LRT protocol chose to secure (these vary widely by protocol and AVS and are not assured), and (3) points programs (both the LRT protocol's own points, redeemable at future token launches, and EigenLayer points, similarly speculative). Points programs were a prominent draw for LRT deposits in 2024-2025, and many depositors were farming points as much as yield. Restaking TVL has since fallen sharply: on DefiLlama, EigenLayer's TVL was about $6.52B on 11 October 2026, down from a peak of about $22.06B on 14 August 2025. This has structural implications discussed in later tiers.

  • LRTs are liquid tokens representing ETH that's staked AND restaked via EigenLayer
  • Users get exposure to base staking yield + AVS restaking rewards + points
  • Major LRTs: ether.fi eETH, Renzo ezETH, Puffer pufETH, Kelp rsETH
  • LRTs made EigenLayer restaking accessible as a liquid, tradeable token

Key Takeaways

  • LRTs build one layer on top of LSTs, which sit one layer above raw staking
  • The core value proposition is liquidity + composability of restaked positions
  • Yield sources: base staking + AVS rewards + points
  • Points programs were a prominent draw in 2024-2025; restaking TVL has since fallen sharply (DefiLlama, October 2026)
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References & further reading

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