Glossary

Liquid staking

A DeFi mechanism where a user locks up a proof-of-stake cryptocurrency (like ALGO) and receives a tradable derivative token (such as xALGO) representing the staked amount plus accruing rewards, so the capital stays usable in other applications instead of being locked until unstaking.

Related stories

• Genfinity's recaps chart Algorand's staking surge — from 1,398 nodes to 3,894 Genfinity is the Web3 media brand whose monthly Algorand recaps turned the 4.0 upgrade, real-time staking, and AlgoKit 3.0 into a year of sourced, intermediate-friendly coverage.
• Messina.one closes mALGO deposits as bridge passes $28M lifetime volume Profile: Messina.one's Wormhole-based bridge has moved $28.2M since 2022, but its mALGO staking contract has deposits toggled off on-chain and the governance era it was built for ended in 2025.
• Valar's seven-post Medium blog mapped Algorand's staking era, then went quiet Valar's Medium publication ran seven posts between Feb and Jun 2025 explaining Algorand's shift from governance rewards to staking — then stopped, days before co-founder Uroš Hudomalj won a seat on the xGov Council it had previewed.
• Pera Wallet ships 7.0 rebuild as Algorand's wallet field splits Pera's 7.0 rebuild anchors Algorand's wallet field in Aug 2026: Pera leads on upkeep, Biatec ships the newest signing safety, Defly holds at maintenance, Lute stays Ledger-first, Rocca looms.
• Folks Finance holds $51M across nine chains while its $1B xChain V2 rebuild waits Folks Finance grew from Algorand liquid governance into a nine-chain lending protocol anchored by xALGO staking and the FOLKS token, now at roughly $51M TVL — its $1B cross-chain rebuild stays unreleased.
• Bitrue pays 6.5% APY on ALGO for new users; existing holders earn 0.5% Bitrue, an official Algorand Foundation staking partner, offers no-lockup ALGO staking at a 0.5% base APY with daily payouts — while new users earn 6.5% for 60 days, boostable to 7.8% by holding the exchange's BTR token.
• x402-winning Verun charges AI agents 0.01 USDC per trust verdict on Algorand Verun, the BCP Partners-built trust layer that won its track at Algorand's June x402 hackathon, scores AI agents 0-1000 via validator consensus and sells each verdict for 0.01 USDC, anchored on Algorand Testnet.
• Valar's no-custody staking marketplace shows 83.38M ALGO staked on Algorand Valar's peer-to-peer staking marketplace keeps ALGO in holders' wallets while node runners operate consensus keys; its live counter reads 83.38M ALGO at a 5.00% yearly rate.
• Folks Finance Academy teaches crypto from zero with quizzes in three languages Folks Finance's free educational hub pairs short video lessons on blockchain and DeFi with four-question quizzes, in English, Italian and Spanish. Live since May 2023, its real reach remains unverified.
• Folks Finance forum steers FOLKS token through its first two governance votes Folks Finance's quiet Discourse forum hosted the Algorand lending protocol's FOLKS launch planning, a debated $800k treasury deployment, two passed governance votes and an 11-asset delisting.
• Inside Valar Solutions, the hackathon winner now staking 82.98M ALGO on Algorand Profile of Valar Solutions GmbH, the Swiss team behind Algorand's 82.98M-ALGO peer-to-peer staking marketplace, Réti pool front end, xGov delegation platform — and a seat on the network's own advisory council.
• Pera Wallet rebuilds on one codebase as its card program resets Pera Wallet, Algorand's most-used self-custodial wallet, ships its 7.0 rebuild on one React Native codebase while its Immersve Mastercard program ends and a new one waits in the wings. A profile of the wallet, its staking and funding rails, and its open-source roadmap.