Ethereum’s shift to PoS made staking accessible, but running a validator requires 32 ETH and significant technical expertise. Rocketpool democratised that with a staking pool that splits the risk between node operators and rETH holders. The recent upgrades to the deposit pool and the smoothing mechanisms have made returns more predictable, and the decentralisation of the validator set is crucial for the health of the beacon chain. This vault digs into that democratisation of staking and what it means for network security.