Kelp DAO (rsETH): liquid restaking rating breakdown
A modest but real restaking premium — 2.44% against plain staking’s 2.23% — and it sensibly charges no fee on deposits of tokens that have already paid someone else’s fee.
A modest but real restaking premium — 2.44% against plain staking’s 2.23% — and it sensibly charges no fee on deposits of tokens that have already paid someone else’s fee.
How the score is built
Each criterion is scored 0–10 and weighted. The median column is the middle score across every entry in this ranking, so a row reads as a position rather than a number.
| Criterion | What we measured | Weight | Score | Category median | Rank | Weighted gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Restaking risk, disclosed | null AVS slashing exposure, quantified · sourced · 2026-07-15 | 30% | 3 | 3 | 2 of 5 | 0.00 |
| Is “liquid” actually true? | ~0.2% exit depth vs token size · sourced · 2026-07-15 · source | 30% | 1 | 2 | 5 of 5 | -0.30 |
| Does it beat simply staking? | — | 20% | 8 | 8 | 1 of 5 | 0.00 |
| Custody and slashing cover | — | 12% | 5 | 5 | 3 of 5 | 0.00 |
| Do they tell you what they take? | — | 8% | 6 | 6 | 3 of 5 | 0.00 |
Measured 15 July 2026 · weights and method · decided by is “liquid” actually true?, worth -0.30 points against the median
Restaking risk, disclosed: 3/10
EigenLayer slashing has been live since April 2025, and redistribution now lets a service take your slashed funds rather than burn them. We ask whether the extra risk is quantified for the holder: which services the stake is delegated to, what the maximum loss is, and who decides. It essentially never is.
Scored 3 of 10 against a category median of 3, which places it 2nd of 5 among liquid restaking on this criterion. At a 30% weight that is exactly level with the median of the weighted total. The best score in the category is 10, the worst 2.
Is “liquid” actually true?: 1/10
Outstanding value against the depth genuinely available to sell into. ezETH wicked 73% in April 2024 on a fully-backed token because there was no market underneath it. Every token here is thinner than the liquid staking token it wraps, and the ratio is the score.
Scored 1 of 10 against a category median of 2, which places it 5th of 5 among liquid restaking on this criterion. At a 30% weight that is 0.30 points below the median contribution of the weighted total. The best score in the category is 5, the worst 1.
Does it beat simply staking?: 8/10
Measured against plain staking, not against other restaked tokens. A token paying less than a plain stake while adding a slashing layer is not a yield product, and it is scored as what it is.
Scored 8 of 10 against a category median of 8, which places it 1st of 5 among liquid restaking on this criterion. At a 20% weight that is exactly level with the median of the weighted total. The best score in the category is 8, the worst 1.
Custody and slashing cover: 5/10
Do you hold an asset or an IOU, who can change the operator set, and what covers a slashing event — a claim you own, a fund of stated size, or a governance vote after the fact.
Scored 5 of 10 against a category median of 5, which places it 3rd of 5 among liquid restaking on this criterion. At a 12% weight that is exactly level with the median of the weighted total. The best score in the category is 7, the worst 5.
Do they tell you what they take?: 6/10
Whether the advertised rate is net of the protocol’s cut, and whether the formula and the raw inputs are published so a holder can recompute it.
Scored 6 of 10 against a category median of 6, which places it 3rd of 5 among liquid restaking on this criterion. At a 8% weight that is exactly level with the median of the weighted total. The best score in the category is 8, the worst 4.
Its nearest neighbours in this ranking
| # | Entry | Is “liquid” actually true? | How it differs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Swell (swETH) | 2 | Ahead by 1 on is “liquid” actually true?. |
| 2 | ether.fi (weETH) | 5 | Ahead by 4 on is “liquid” actually true?. |
| 4 | Renzo (ezETH) | 2 | Ahead by 1 on is “liquid” actually true?. |
| 5 | Puffer (pufETH) | 2 | Ahead by 1 on is “liquid” actually true?. |
Questions about this score
How much rsETH could I actually sell?
+
Roughly $2.1m against nearly a billion dollars outstanding, on our measurement — about 0.2%. That is the thinnest ratio in this study, and it means a mid-sized holder attempting to exit would move the price against themselves substantially before filling.
Does Kelp charge fees on top of the underlying protocol?
+
Not on deposits of tokens that have already paid a fee elsewhere, which is a genuine fairness point in a sector where fee stacking is common — a meta-token can otherwise take its cut of yield that has already been reduced by another protocol's cut.