DeFi with stLINK, wstLINK and wstPOL: Lending, Liquidity and Yield
stake.link liquid staking tokens keep earning staking rewards while you use them in DeFi. You can lend against them, provide liquidity, or let a vault compound LP rewards for you, all without unstaking.
Most protocols need the non-rebasing wrapper (wstLINK, wstPOL, wstESP) rather than the rebasing token. See stLINK vs wstLINK for why. The Curve stLINK/LINK pool is the exception: it takes stLINK directly.
Integrations at a glance
Section titled “Integrations at a glance”| Protocol | Use | Token | Chain | SDL incentives |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Curve | stLINK/LINK liquidity pool | stLINK |
Ethereum | Yes |
| Curve | wstPOL/WPOL liquidity pool | wstPOL |
Polygon PoS | Yes |
| Uniswap V3 | SDL/LINK liquidity pool | SDL |
Ethereum | Yes |
| Morpho | Borrow LINK against wstLINK |
wstLINK |
Ethereum | Yes, for early adopters |
| Folks Finance | Cross-chain borrowing against wstLINK |
wstLINK |
Multiple chains | — |
| Beefy | Auto-compounding Curve LP vault | stLINK/LINK LP | Ethereum | — |
The live list, with current APYs, is on stake.link/defi.
Liquidity provision
Section titled “Liquidity provision”Curve stLINK/LINK (Ethereum)
Section titled “Curve stLINK/LINK (Ethereum)”The stLINK/LINK pool is a stable pool for low-slippage swaps between LINK and stLINK. It is also the fastest way to get stLINK when the Priority Pool queue is long, or to exit without waiting for a withdrawal.
Liquidity providers earn:
- Curve trading fees.
- SDL rewards and stLINK/LINK LP tokens from the DeFi-PoL program. Stake your LP tokens on the incentive page.
- BUILD rewards: LP positions are treated as a 50/50 deposit of LINK and
stLINK.
Curve wstPOL/WPOL (Polygon PoS)
Section titled “Curve wstPOL/WPOL (Polygon PoS)”For stPOL holders. Wrap stPOL into wstPOL on Ethereum, bridge it to Polygon PoS, then deposit in the wstPOL/WPOL pool. The pool is incentivized through the wstPOL/WPOL incentive page.
Uniswap V3 SDL/LINK (Ethereum)
Section titled “Uniswap V3 SDL/LINK (Ethereum)”The main market for SDL, the protocol’s native token. You can provide concentrated liquidity for capital efficiency or use the full range for a hands-off position. Earn swap fees, then stake your LP tokens to receive SDL incentives.
Lending and borrowing
Section titled “Lending and borrowing”Morpho
Section titled “Morpho”Use wstLINK as collateral to borrow LINK in the wstLINK/LINK market on Morpho. You get liquidity without giving up your staking rewards. The market is incentivized with SDL for early adopters.
If you hold plain LINK, you can deposit it in the Alpha LINK Enhanced v2 vault to earn interest from borrowers.
Folks Finance
Section titled “Folks Finance”Folks Finance is a cross-chain lending protocol. Deposit wstLINK on one supported chain and borrow LINK or stablecoins on any other. wstLINK is deployed on Ethereum, Arbitrum One, Base and Polygon.
Yield vaults
Section titled “Yield vaults”The Beefy Curve LINK/stLINK vault takes your Curve stLINK/LINK LP tokens and auto-compounds the pool rewards.
How liquidity is incentivized
Section titled “How liquidity is incentivized”Deep liquidity keeps the market price of each LST close to its redemption value, and it lets lending markets liquidate positions safely. To fund it, the protocol takes a 3% DeFi-PoL (Protocol Owned Liquidity) fee from the staking rewards of stLINK and stPOL. The fee pays for LP incentives on pools such as Curve stLINK/LINK and wstPOL/WPOL. See the full fee breakdown.
stESP and wstESP liquidity is supported through governance-approved incentive programs. DeFi integrations for wstESP are rolling out. Check stake.link/defi and @stakedotlink for new integrations.
Using LSTs in DeFi adds risk on top of staking itself:
- Smart contract risk: each protocol you use has its own contracts and its own audits. Review them before depositing. stake.link’s own audits are listed in Security and Audits.
- De-peg and liquidation: the DEX price of an LST can briefly drop below its redemption value. If you borrow against
wstLINK, a sharp drop can trigger liquidation even though the underlying LINK is unchanged. Read What happens if stLINK de-pegs? - Impermanent loss: liquidity in a volatile pair such as SDL/LINK can be worth less than holding both tokens. Stable pairs like stLINK/LINK carry much less of this risk.
- Bridge risk: using
wstLINKorwstPOLon other chains depends on the bridge that moved them there.
Always do your own research. See general DeFi risks in the FAQ.