Swell makes liquid staking as simple as possible.
Nonetheless, the process can still be daunting for newcomers that may be holding or staking for ETH for the first time.
This walkthrough explains how to stake ETH with Swell in exchange for swETH, and deposit that swETH in liquidity pools to earn additional yield.
1. Connect your wallet
Swell is a non-custodial staking protocol, meaning that you retain control over your staked ETH in your own wallet. This wallet could be MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, or any WalletConnect-enabled wallet such as Trust Wallet or Argent.
Once you have opened a compatible wallet, navigate to app.swellnetwork.io and click Connect Wallet.
a. MetaMask
To connect, MetaMask users will need to enter their wallet password and hit confirm.
b. Coinbase and WalletConnect
Coinbase Wallet and WalletConnect users will be presented with a QR code which must be scanned in order to connect.
Useful links:
2. Stake your ETH
Once your wallet is connected, simply input the amount of ETH that you would like to stake. There is no minimum amount. But staking very small amounts may be uneconomical due to Ethereum gas fees.
On clicking Stake, a wallet window will load asking you to confirm the transaction details, including the total amount plus gas fees.Once confirmed, the transaction may take a moment to process on the Ethereum blockchain.
3. Receive swETH
Once your transaction is complete, you will receive a browser notification.
At this stage, your ETH has been staked with a node operator, and you have received a commensurate quantity of Swell's liquid staking token: swETH.
As a standard ERC-20 token, swETH can be stored in most Ethereum wallets. But you may need to add support for the token if you are using MetaMask. Do this by clicking the hamburger menu in the top right and selecting Add Token.
4. Hold swETH and accrue rewards
From here, you will accrue staking rewards by simply holding swETH.
As swETH is a reward-bearing token, your swETH balance will not change as you accrue rewards. Instead, the swETH:ETH exchange rate will move to reflect the growing value of your swETH.
To exchange your swETH back to ETH, you can trade on any of the liquidity pools supporting swETH. ETH withdrawals through Swell will be enabled in Q3, 2023.
5. Deposit swETH to liquidity pools for additional yield
Swell will soon be releasing inbuilt vaults that enable you to maximize your yields by automatically staking and deploying swETH to DeFi with a single click.
Until then, you can maximize your potential yield manually by depositing swETH into liquidity pools on Balancer, Maverick, and other integrated protocols.
Aura/Balancer
Aura Finance is a protocol built on top of Balancer to provide maximum incentives to Balancer liquidity providers. This walkthrough explains how to provide liquidity for swETH:ETH in our Balancer pool and earn boosted rewards from our Aura Gauge.
1. Deposit swETH and ETH on Balancer to redeem swETH:ETH Balancer Pool Tokens (BPT)
It is recommended to deposit 50% swETH and 50% ETH ($USD value) to minimize slippage.
2. Stake swETH:ETH BPT on Aura
Once you have your BPTs, navigate to the boosted swETH:WETH Pool on Aura to stake them.
Congratulations, you have provided liquidity for swETH:ETH on Aura and will begin receiving boosted rewards!
Maverick
Maverick is a novel automated market maker protocol which lets liquidity providers capture more fees by closely configuring their liquidity distribution. Our boosted Maverick pool offers fees and extrarewards to liquidity providers.
1. Navigate to the swETH:ETH boosted pool on Maverick
2. Click Add Liquidity and Stake.
3️. Approve swETH and ETH to deposit and then stake your LP
4️. Your LP position will then show in your portfolio
Congratulations, you have provided liquidity for swETH:ETH on Maverick and will begin earning fees and boosted rewards!
Useful links:
- Maverick Docs: How to add liquidity on Maverick
- Swell blog: migrating liquidity to Maverick Phase 2
Important note: By interacting with smart contracts, you acknowledge and accept the inherent risks, including code vulnerabilities that may lead to unintended consequences, loss of funds or unauthorized access; network risks impacting performance and reliability; legal and regulatory uncertainties; potential for human error resulting in irreversible losses; limited or no recourse through traditional legal channels; privacy risks arising from publicly accessible blockchain networks; interoperability issues among platforms and networks; and layered risks in DeFi strategies, which can compound complexity and consequences when combining multiple dApps. Exercise caution and conduct thorough research before participating in smart contract-related activities.
Need more help staking with Swell?
Read our documentation or ask the team questions directly in Discord.
