stake.link liquid
Rejected venues wait the longest for re-review; a rejection has to earn another look before the scheduled date.
stake.link is a liquid staking protocol on Ethereum: depositors stake through its pools and receive a liquid token in return. At $65M TVL at the 2026-08-14 survey it is below our $100M materiality line. A client position sized for our sleeve would be a meaningful share of a venue this size, which is an exit risk on its own. Rejected on size; size alone decides it, whatever the protocol’s quality. TVL sustained above the line reopens the file.
- TVL sustained above $100M for 30 days
The research file
Mechanism
LINK deposited through the Priority Pool is assigned to Chainlink staking capacity operated by a consortium of fifteen node operators; stLINK is a rebasing receipt that distributes rewards. stake.link has expanded the same share-accounting architecture to other network assets, so the tracked liquid product is a multi-LST platform.
Control and operating evidence
Strategy contracts route stake, while a Governance Council, DAO and multisig hold critical authorities. stake.link publishes contract addresses, named multisig signers, CodeHawks/Cyfrin/Sigma Prime/Trust/Zellic audits, Hypernative monitoring and an Immunefi program. Chainlink staking and its capacity rules remain external dependencies.
Exit consequences
stLINK burns for LINK through a withdrawal pool. The Priority Pool can provide instant liquidity, but otherwise stake.link describes roughly one-to-seven-day processing while it cycles unbonding; a direct Chainlink exit can require 28 days. Secondary markets add depeg and AMM depth risk.
Why the class rule decides
DefiLlama recorded about $81.4M, below the materiality floor. Size decides before comparing this non-ETH LST and multi-network platform with client-approved staking products. Sustained scale reopens capacity, operator concentration, governance, slashing and stressed-withdrawal review.
Sources
The claims above trace to these. Where a number could not be independently verified, the thesis says so.
- stake.link Docs — platform and operator model · primary · accessed 2026-08-14
Supports: multi-LST platform, stLINK, operator consortium, auto-compounding - stake.link Docs — exits, controls and security FAQ · primary · accessed 2026-08-14
Supports: withdrawal timing, Priority Pool, multisig, audits, monitoring - stake.link Docs — staking-pool share mechanics · primary · accessed 2026-08-14
Supports: receipt shares, strategy routing, reward distribution, burn to withdraw - DefiLlama — stake.link liquid survey record · secondary · accessed 2026-08-14
Supports: survey TVL, Ethereum deployment, liquid-staking category
Inherited controls
The verdict above grades the protocol layer. Every position also inherits the asset it holds and the chain it settles on. The least safe layer sets the position’s grade, and the position table names which one that is.
| Chain | Verdict | Grade | Control constraint |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ethereum | Approved | sovereign | No sequencer, no upgrade key, no operator who can be compelled — rule changes require social consensus. |