Rocket Pool Upgrade Lowers Ethereum Staking Cap to 8 ETH

Ethereum staking service Rocket Pool has rolled out some updates following the successful Shapella fork last week

article-image

Vector-3D/Shutterstock, modified by Blockworks

share

Rocket Pool, the Ethereum-based DeFi staking protocol, has just pushed a major update granting users instant access to ETH staking rewards moving forward.

Atlas, which launched without issue Monday evening, brings changes and features following the successful rollout of Ethereum’s Shapella upgrade last week. Shapella enabled ETH stakers to withdraw their crypto for the first time.

This meant Rocket Pool could lower Ethereum staking amounts for its so-called “minipools.” These tailored validator nodes now accept ETH stakes as small as 8 ETH ($16,800), down from 16 ETH ($33,600). 

Staking individually to the Ethereum blockchain demands at least 32 ETH ($67,100). Rocket Pool also supports pooling of ETH to boost chances of earning greater rewards.

“Atlas has two themes, withdrawals and scaling Rocket Pool,” the team said in an Atlas live stream. “Node operators can now access their rewards they’ve generated over the last 14 months … if they want to, they can exit completely.”

Atlas brings with it automatic rewards distributions, a unified Grafana dashboard and support for an Ethereum consensus client known as Lodestar.

Rocket Pool users can separately stake any amount of ETH to receive a liquid staking derivative token, rETH. Similar to other staking services such as Lido, Rocket Pool’s minipools and rETH let investors with less capital participate in the staking process to earn rewards otherwise out of reach.

Further changes made it easier to engage with the Ethereum blockchain by providing greater flexibility in Beacon Chain management, the team said.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Featured.png

Research

Helium stands at a pivotal moment in its evolution as a decentralized wireless network, balancing rapid growth, economic restructuring, and global expansion. With accelerated growth in domestic DAUs and Hotspots supporting its network, Helium is leveraging strategic partnerships and innovative proposals to scale internationally. The recent implementation of HIP 138, “Return to HNT,” has unified its token economy under HNT, simplifying participation and strengthening liquidity, while HIP 139’s phase-out of CBRS refocuses efforts on scalable Wi-Fi offload. Meanwhile, governance shifts under HIP 141 raise questions about centralization as Nova Labs consolidates control over the roadmap.

article-image

In 2011, WikiLeaks faced a financial blockade imposed by the US government. It was Bitcoin’s first major test.

article-image

Kado’s founder Emery Andrew spoke to Blockworks about the acquisition and what’s next for the team

article-image

LayerZero’s Bryan Pellegrino chatted with Blockworks about the firm’s next steps and its 10-year runway

article-image

Colosseum co-founder Matty Taylor is seeing “high-performance [Solana] founders showing a lot of interest in private trading technology”

article-image

Executives weigh the growth potential they see in the public stock and private credit/equities arenas

article-image

Players can stake ME, trade tokens and link wallets to climb the leaderboard