For months, we have been witnessing a surge in the world of liquid staking, an upcoming burgeoning industry that went from a mere TVL of 10.2 billion USD to 44.8 billion USD in just 1 year (source: DefiLlama). This led our team to build a new primitive that would make it easier for developers and users to engage with and benefit from the liquid staking ecosystem.

We are excited to announce the launch of the rStake litepaper! rStake is a powerful new primitive for cross-chain liquid staking. rStake makes it easy for developers to build cross-chain DApps which focus on cross-chain liquid staking by providing them a boilerplate for launching next-gen liquid staking DApps for the omnichain world. 

Enter rStake, powered by Router's Cross-chain Intent Framework (CCIF), which proposes an intent layer designed to integrate with the application layer seamlessly. This allows developers to craft user-friendly applications across well-known Layer 1 and Layer 2 blockchains, encompassing both EVM and Cosmos-based chains. 

This development comes hand in hand with the exciting news of the upcoming Adapter Store, a platform that promises to be a boon for developers, featuring a myriad of adapters, including those powered by rStake for staking operations. This blog delves into what these developments mean for the blockchain community and the potential they hold.

However, before we start talking about the new primitive, let's clarify some key terms: 

• Cross-chain Liquid Staking:  Cross-chain liquid staking allows users to stake their assets on a blockchain from other blockchain and get liquid representation assets. 

• Adapters or Intent Adapter: Intent Adapters are smart contracts responsible for executing blockchain actions like swapping, bridging, or staking. 

• Intent Solvers: Intent Solvers are automated entities or actors designed to figure out the best ways to actualize specific on-chain goals or “intents.”

Spotlight on Staking: The rStake Primitive and its litepaper

The existing infrastructure restricts liquid staking to single-chain environments, where Ethereum users are confined to Ethereum-based staking protocols like Lido and Swell, and Avalanche users to Avalanche-specific options like Benqi. 

This fragmentation leads to a host of inefficiencies for cross-chain asset holders, including the complexities of navigating multiple platforms, the necessity of multiple transactions, excessive waiting periods, and prohibitive gas costs. These challenges underscore a pressing need for a more integrated and user-friendly solution.

rStake is a liquid staking primitive designed to transform developers' creation of cross-chain liquid staking applications. It abstracts the underlying blockchain networks for end-users, thereby allowing for a native experience. This further lowers the entry barrier for developers aiming to build innovative DeFi products while opening up a world of user opportunities. 

A critical component of the rStake ecosystem is Router’s Nitro, an ultra-low latency bridge that facilitates token and instruction transfers across chains. This dual functionality ensures that cross-chain staking requests are executed swiftly and securely, further streamlining the user experience.

For Developers: A Dream Come True

rStake empowers developers by offering a suite of tools and components, including the Router Multicall Adapter, rStake Intent Adapters, and the rStake Intent Solver. Together, these components form a cohesive framework that developers can leverage to build seamless cross-chain liquid staking applications. Whether it's integrating existing liquid staking protocols like Stader, Lido, or Ankr or crafting unique staking flows, rStake offers unparalleled flexibility and ease of development. 

StakeEase uses rStake adapters to stake into liquid staking protocols like Rocketpool, Lido, and Stader. Additionally, rStake's pathfinder algorithm forms the basis of StakeEase's path discovery algorithm. It enables us to find the best route for bridging/swapping/staking the user's tokens. We have added a custom adapter for restaking on top of rStake to complete the cross-chain restaking for the users.

— Miguel Rodriguez, Co-founder, StakeEase

For existing liquid staking protocols, integrating rStake opens up a realm of possibilities for providing users with a better, more seamless experience. By abstracting the complexities of cross-chain interactions, these protocols can significantly improve their accessibility, attract a wider user base, and foster a more interconnected DeFi ecosystem. You are no longer limited by the number of users on the chain you are building on, rather, the whole web3 user base can now be your potential target! 

For Users: Unprecedented Accessibility and Efficiency

From the user's perspective, rStake transforms the complex cross-chain staking into a simple and intuitive experience. By interacting with dApps built using rStake, staking assets across different blockchains becomes as easy as a few clicks, all while maintaining liquidity and earning staking rewards. This enhances accessibility and also improves the efficiency and appeal of participating in web3.

The paper further outlines future work, including optimizing rStake solvers, decentralizing efforts, expanding non-EVM chains, and developing a generalized solver. You can read more about the future work in the litepaper. 

These initiatives indicate a comprehensive roadmap aimed at enhancing the system's robustness, interoperability, and overall effectiveness. https://www.routerprotocol.com/rstake-litepaper.pdf

Try a sample DApp built using rStake — a DApp that allows users to stake their tokens on Stader from any chain. URL : https://stader-intents-testnet.vercel.app/

We invite you to stay connected with us for further updates and join our community across our various social platforms.

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