## Why Do You Need to Know About Liquid Staking?

In the blockchain world, **what is liquid staking** is not just an academic question but also a key to understanding how to earn additional income from your crypto assets. It is a solution to the problem that anyone who stakes has encountered: your funds are locked, unable to be used to generate more profit while waiting.

## From Traditional Staking to Liquid Staking

Regular staking works like this: you send crypto (usually Ethereum or other PoS tokens) to validate transactions and secure the network. In return, you receive rewards. However, during that time, your funds are "frozen" — you cannot sell, trade, or participate in other DeFi opportunities.

**Liquid staking** completely changes this game. Instead of just waiting, you receive liquid staking tokens (LST) representing your staked assets plus rewards. Now you have the freedom: trade LST, use them in DeFi, or even use them as collateral to borrow — all while earning staking rewards.

## EigenLayer: The Next Level Upgrade

If liquid staking is good, then **restaking** is even better. EigenLayer is a decentralized protocol operating on Ethereum, allowing you to convert LST into liquid restaking tokens (LRT). This way, you can earn rewards not only from Ethereum but also from other blockchain networks through EigenLayer.

The mechanism is simple: send LST to EigenLayer’s smart contract, receive LRT, and now your assets generate double rewards — from both the original staking and restaking. You still maintain liquidity and can trade LRT.

## What Is Liquid Staking Compared to Liquid Restaking?

It’s important to distinguish these two concepts:

**Liquid staking**: Tokenizing staked assets, freeing liquidity, and earning a single income stream (Ethereum staking rewards)

**Liquid restaking**: A step further, combining rewards from the original stake + restaking rewards from EigenLayer, creating multiple income streams simultaneously

Both retain liquidity, but the main difference is the level of profit optimization.

## Practical Applications

With **what is liquid staking** clear, you can:
- Stake Ethereum but still participate in other DeFi opportunities
- Earn rewards from multiple sources (stake + restaking)
- Use LST/LRT as collateral to borrow more funds
- Never miss opportunities because your assets are locked

Liquid staking and restaking are reshaping how people interact with blockchain — from small individual stakers to large investors. The best time to understand this mechanism is today.