Staking vs Yield Farming: Which Strategy Fits Your Goals
Staking and yield farming both earn passive income from crypto — but they work differently, have different risks, and suit different investor profiles.
Both staking and yield farming generate passive income from your crypto holdings, but they are fundamentally different mechanisms with different risk profiles.
Staking: Simple, Lower Risk
Staking means locking tokens to participate in a proof-of-stake network's consensus mechanism. In return you earn newly minted tokens plus transaction fees. ETH staking currently yields ~4% annually, SOL staking ~7%.
Yield Farming: Complex, Higher Potential
Yield farming involves providing liquidity to DeFi protocols, earning trading fees, and often additional token incentives. The yields can be much higher (8-20%+) but involve additional risks: impermanent loss, smart contract vulnerabilities, and protocol token value risk.
- Staking: predictable yield, no impermanent loss, validator or slashing risk only
- Yield farming: variable yield, impermanent loss risk, smart contract risk
- Liquid staking (Lido): combines staking yield with DeFi composability
- Steyble Earn: one-click access to the best yields across chains