Staking vs lending vs pool yield: where each one comes from

Where does staking yield come from?

Staking means locking a token to help run a proof-of-stake blockchain. On Ethereum, a validator is paid for attesting to the state of the network and for proposing blocks, and a block proposer also receives transaction fees and MEV. The network’s rules set the reward, so it is paid by the protocol itself and in the chain’s own token.

• Slashing. A validator that signs two conflicting blocks can have part of its stake destroyed. One that goes offline misses rewards and loses small amounts.
• Queues and lock-ups. Joining and leaving the validator set goes through queues that can take anywhere from hours to weeks.
• Pools and liquid staking tokens. If you stake through a pool, the rewards go to the pool’s validators, not to you directly, so you add counterparty and smart contract risk. A liquid staking token adds smart contract risk of its own.
• Token price. The reward is paid in a volatile token, so the value you receive moves with its price.

web3juice is built to compare pool and vault yields in DeFi; running a validator is outside what it tracks.

Where does lending yield come from?

In a lending market such as Aave, suppliers deposit an asset and borrowers pay interest to borrow it against collateral. Positions are over-collateralised, and interest rates adjust with utilisation, meaning the share of the pool that is borrowed. The supplier’s yield comes from the borrowers’ interest, less the share the protocol keeps.

• Borrower defaults. If collateral falls faster than liquidators can act, a market can be left with bad debt.
• Withdrawal limits. When most of a pool is borrowed, there may be little left to withdraw until borrowers repay or new deposits arrive.
• Rates that move daily. The rate follows demand to borrow, so it can drop quickly when demand fades.
• Smart contract risk. A bug or exploit in the market can lose deposits.

Where does liquidity pool yield come from?

A liquidity pool holds two or more tokens so that traders can swap between them. Every swap pays a fee that is shared among the people who provided the tokens, and many pools add reward tokens on top to attract deposits. The fee part depends on how much trading the pool sees; the reward part depends on a programme that can end.

• Impermanent loss. When the prices of the pooled tokens move apart, the pool can end up worth less than simply holding them. The impermanent loss calculator shows how much the fees would need to cover.
• Reward tokens. They are paid in another token whose price can fall. See base APY vs reward APY.
• Pairs of stablecoins have little price movement between the tokens, but if one of them loses its peg, the pool is left holding more of it.
• Smart contract risk applies here too, and so does the chance that a pool is small enough for one large withdrawal to change its rate.

How do the three compare?

How do you compare them on web3juice?

1. Filter to the asset and chain you are considering. Search and filters need no account.
2. Read the split. Check how much of each APY is base interest or fees and how much is reward tokens: see base APY vs reward APY.
3. Look past today’s figure. The 30-day median and range show whether the rate has been steady: see how to check a pool’s historical APY.
4. Check size and age. A small or shrinking TVL, or an old data point, changes how much weight a rate deserves.
5. Open the details. A free account opens a pool’s details and history, and lets you set an alert on its APY or TVL.
6. Price the move. The APY calculator turns a rate into an amount over the period you choose, before gas and fees.

What can a side-by-side rate not tell you?

An APY is a quote for today, not a promise. It also hides differences that matter more than the number: a rate paid in a volatile token is not the same as one paid in a dollar stablecoin, and a rate you can leave at once is not the same as one behind a queue. Compare what pays the rate and what can go wrong before you compare the figures.

Sources

• Ethereum.org: staking, read on 23 October 2026
• Aave documentation: Aave v3 overview, read on 23 October 2026
• web3juice: base APY vs reward APY, impermanent loss calculator and APY calculator

Research and monitoring only: web3juice never holds funds, asks for keys or executes trades. APYs change constantly and are not a promise of returns. Principal can be lost. Nothing on this page is financial advice.