How to mint rETH on Rocket Pool
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Dear Bankless Nation,
Eth2 is around the corner. It’s time to get prepared.
Rocket Pool is helping lower the barriers to entry by making Eth2 staking more inclusive by allowing anyone to stake with any amount of ETH.
The best part? Rocket Pool is creating is a tokenized representation of staked ETH called rETH. When you hold rETH it automatically accrues staking rewards.
If you want a head start on all this you can help Rocket Pool test their beta network now. In addition to the knowledge you’ll gain, participants can also earn RPL rewards (and POAP badges!).
Today Lucas shows you how to mint rETH on Goerli testnet so you can learn how to stake ETH and earn some RPL while you’re at it.
Let’s level up on Eth2 staking.
- RSA
P.S. Speaking of Eth2—we’re hosting an AMA with Danny Ryan from the Ethereum Foundation on Thursday, 12pm EST on Bankless YouTube. Mark your calendar!
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Meet the Nation — Rocket Pool!
A discussion on building a decentralized, inclusive proof of stake network for Ethereum with Co-Founder and CTO, David Rugendyke. Lean about rETH and RPL!
TACTICS TUESDAY
Tactic #61: How to mint rETH on Rocket Pool
Bankless Writer: Lucas Campbell, Editor & Analyst for Bankless
Rocket Pool is a decentralized staking solution allowing anyone to participate and earn from Eth2 staking. One of the notable features with Rocket Pool was the introduction of rETH—a tokenized representation of staked ETH which automatically accrues rewards over time.
While we’re still waiting on the mainnet launch of Eth2 (it’s coming), Rocket Pool recently launched an incentivized testnet for stakers and node operators to get some practice in and earn RPL rewards while they’re at it.
This tactic will show you how you can mint rETH on Goerli testnet and earn a portion of the beta rewards as well as prepare for the upcoming launch of Eth2 so you can put your ETH to work.
- Goal: Mint rETH on Goerli testnet
- Skill: Intermediate
- Effort: 20 mins
- ROI: A portion of the 3,000 RPL + POAP Badges! 🔥
Rocket Pool’s Incentivized Beta
The Rocket Pool incentivized beta launched on October 6th on the Medalla testnet and is anticipated to last until Eth2’s Phase 0 mainnet launch. With that, the incentivized testnet features three reward buckets for active participants:
- Staking (3,000 RPL) - Anyone who tries out Rocket Pool staking will be entitled to a pro-rata share of rewards split evenly among all participants. This is the easiest way to get involved and what we’ll show you how to do in this tactic!
- Node Operator Registration (3,000 RPL) - Anyone that’s able to set up and register a validator will be eligible to receive these rewards. Given this can be rather technical, it’s expected that users who complete this step will be rewarded with higher rewards compared to those minting rETH.
- Successful Validator Rewards (4,000 RPL) - While anyone who’s able to register a node will receive RPL rewards, those who are able to run and operate a successful validator will be eligible to earn the rewards for each validator created, proportional to the amount of staking rewards accrued.
In addition to the RPL rewards, Rocket Pool teamed up with POAP (the application behind Bankless Badges) to issue unique NFTs to beta participants. These include staker and node operator badges along with a highly-coveted MVP badge which will be given to select participants who go above and beyond expectations.
Who doesn’t love to rep unique & rare badges?
RPIP-003
While beta rewards will last until the launch of Eth2, The Rocket Pool community recently proposed RPIP-003 - a token economic and governance upgrade which introduces RPL inflation directed towards a suite of value-added actors within the Rocket Pool ecosystem. That means upon the launch of Eth2, Rocket Pool will be hosting a suite of incentivized actions, ultimately decided upon via a decentralized governance process. This potentially includes:
- Incentivizing ETH2.0 staking - Node operators can earn RPL for running an Eth2 validator on the Rocket Pool network.
- Incentivizing RPL stake to protect against slashing - Node operators can stake RPL to protect deposit pool funds from being slashed in the case the node ever goes offline or acts maliciously.
- Incentivizing Trusted Nodes - These select nodes transmit ETH2 data back to the ETH1 chain. Incentivizing the correct relay of this data is critical to the early phases of Rocket Pool development during the early stages of Ethereum 2.0.
- rETH/ETH liquidity incentives - Creating deep liquidity for rETH allows the tokenized stake to act as a composable building block in DeFi.
The introduction of RPIP-003 will establish long-term rewards for participating in the Rocket Pool ecosystem well beyond the incentivized beta. If you’d like to learn more about RPIP003, you can read about it here and join the Discord discussions to provide feedback and help ratify the proposal.
With that, let’s dive into how you can mint rETH on Rocket Pool and earn RPL rewards.
Mint rETH on Rocket Pool with Goerli Testnet
Before we get started, make sure to have Metamask downloaded and connect it to the Goerli Testnet!
- Once connected, head on over to the Goerli Faucet to get some test net ETH. You’ll have to post your Goerli testnet address on Twitter and paste the tweet’s URL into the search bar. Once completed, click on “Give me Ether” and the Faucet will take a few moments to verify the request and distribute your test net ETH.
- Once you’ve received your Goerli ETH, go to https://beta.rocketpool.net/ and enter the amount of ETH you want to swap into rETH. For this tactic, we’ll trade 5 ETH for 4.99 rETH.
🧠 If you received less rETH than the amount of ETH you put in, that’s totally normal! rETH and ETH have dynamic exchange rates. As the network earns rewards, 1 rETH will become worth more than 1 ETH, which in turn means 1 ETH will buy less than 1 rETH.
- Begin the transaction by clicking on the “swap icon”. Metamask will prompt you to confirm the transaction like any other normal Ethereum transaction.
Once confirmed, you can view the amount of rETH minted by looking at the Rocket Pool dashboard here or by adding the token on Metamask. If you’re interested in adding the token, you can do it with the following info:
Token Contract Address: 0x7977d4f555fBee46303682b17e72e3d94339b441
Token Symbol: rETH
Decimals of Precision: 18
And that’s it! You’re now staking ETH through a tokenized vehicle. Your ETH balance will slowly increase over time.
After a few weeks or months, you can secure some ‘profits’ by cashing out your rETH back into ETH. You can do it just as simply as you minted it. Head on over to https://beta.rocketpool.net/ and swap the trade direction by clicking on the arrow.
- Click the swap button and confirm the transaction through Metamask. Once verified on chain, you’ll have received your ETH back!
Congratulations - you’ve become an Eth2 staker on Rocket Pool’s incentivized testnet!
You don’t have to worry about which nodes your deposit is assigned to, how long you want to stake for, or really anything for that matter. You just hold onto rETH like any other ERC20 token and you’re automatically earning staking rewards.
Conclusion
Rocket Pool is cementing itself as a critical piece of infrastructure for Eth2. It allows anyone to easily become a validator or depositor, helping secure the network and bring inclusivity to Eth2.
For those more technically inclined, you can earn additional RPL rewards by running a node. Rocket Pool put together a detailed guide for Node Operators here.
If you’re interested in getting more involved with Rocket Pool or have any questions, hop into the official Discord.
Otherwise, enjoy your RPL rewards 🚀
Action steps:
- Mint rETH on Goerli testnet
- Try running a node on Rocket Pool using their official guide (advanced)
- Watch Meet the Nation to learn more about Rocket Pool
We just released episode 19 of State of the Nation!
📺 Watch State of the Nation #19: DRUMROLLING w/ @Jacobcantele and @0x_Lucas
METAMASK 1M USERS, Q3 TOKEN REPORT, AND MARKETS!
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Author Bio
Lucas Campbell is an Analyst for Bankless and leads Growth at DeFi Rate. He also engages with teams on token economic & governance design through 🔥_🔥 (Fire Eyes DAO), working with industry-leading projects like Aave, Rocket Pool and others.
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- RSA
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