Top staking coins: which cryptocurrencies to choose in 2026

Staking continues to gain popularity among cryptocurrency users. According to Staking Rewards, the share of Ethereum (ETH) coins locked in staking has exceeded 30%, while Solana (SOL) has reached 68%.

As the share of locked assets grows, the best staking coins exhibit lower volatility, as a significant portion of the supply is temporarily removed from free circulation.

Top coins for staking

1. Bitcoin (BTC)

Since the launch of new decentralized protocols such as Babylon, staking the leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin has become available, which is why it starts the list of the best coins for staking. Using a special smart contract, Babylon allows BTC to be transferred from the native network into its own protocol.

BTC staking in the Babylon protocol is available through specialized providers offering yields of up to 0.96% annually:

Staking4All;
stakefish;
Meria;
Nansen;
Allnodes.

2. Ethereum (ETH)

The ETH cryptocurrency remains the leading altcoin, with a market capitalization exceeding $353 billion as of January 2026. By this metric, Ethereum accounts for nearly 12% of the entire crypto market.

Ethereum is also one of the best coins for staking among investors. The number of validators on the Ethereum network is approaching 1 million, and the total amount of locked ETH exceeds $100 billion, a record for the crypto market.

Ethereum consistently leads the list of top staking coins by total value locked, making it a key benchmark for the entire PoS network market.

To stake ETH directly on the native network, at least 32 ETH must be locked, which at the time of writing exceeds $93,000. However, ETH can also be staked via third-party liquid staking protocols.

ETH can be staked through the following protocols:

Dinero — 3.91% annual yield ($25M TVL);
MEV Protocol — 3.71%;
Rocket Pool — 3.34% ($1.22B);
Ether.fi — 2.86% ($9.86B);
Coinbase — 2.85% ($1.3B).

Liquid staking protocols have made it possible to include ETH among the best staking coins, even for retail investors with small capital.

3. Tether (USDT)

Tether is the leading stablecoin by market capitalization and ranks third among all digital assets. In January 2026, USDT's capitalization exceeded a record $186 billion.

However, USDT is a token without its own blockchain and does not support staking in the traditional sense. Staking USDT is more similar to bank deposits: users deposit the asset with an exchange and receive interest paid from a portion of the exchange's revenue.

Despite the lack of native staking, USDT is included among the best staking coins due to its high liquidity and minimal price risk.

USDT can be staked on major crypto exchanges such as Binance, ByBit, Bitget, and Coinbase, or through liquidity pools on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) or lending protocols such as Aave, JustLend, and Compound. USDT staking pools with yields of up to 5.1% annually are also available in Trust Wallet and OKX Wallet.

4. Binance Coin (BNB)

BNB is one of the few altcoins capable of seriously competing with ETH and even temporarily surpassed the leading stablecoin, USDT, in market capitalization. For these reasons, BNB clearly belongs on the list of the best staking coins.

As with ETH, BNB cannot be staked directly. However, it can be staked via available staking providers:

CertiK — 1.5% annual yield ($937M TVL);
HashKey Cloud — 1.07% ($831M);
Figment — 0.84% ($1.02B);
Globalstake — 0.66% ($117M).

5. USD Coin (USDC)

USDC is the second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization at $74.8 billion, after USDT. As with Tether, USDC can be staked on exchanges or deposited into liquidity pools on decentralized exchanges.

OKX Wallet and Trust Wallet also allow users to stake USDC directly through their interfaces and offer pools with yields of up to 5.21% annually.

USDC is considered one of the best stablecoin staking options due to its high reserve transparency and support from regulated platforms.

6. Solana (SOL)

Solana rounds out the top four altcoins by market capitalization, excluding the stablecoins USDT and USDC. Solana's market capitalization exceeds $72 billion. Despite losing positions in 2026 to BNB, XRP, and USDC, Solana remains among the top ten cryptocurrencies on the market.

Additionally, Solana is one of the leaders in terms of the amount of assets locked in staking, which is approaching 70% of the total supply. This means less than one-third of all SOL is in circulation, making the altcoin one of the best coins for staking.

7. TRON (TRX)

TRX also continues to rank among the top ten cryptocurrencies, though it lags significantly behind market leaders in terms of capitalization. TRON has a well-developed ecosystem, and nearly half of the total TRX supply is staked, indicating strong interest. This makes TRX one of the best staking coins.

TRON can be staked through the following providers:

Nansen — 3.28%;
P2P.org — 3.2%;
Klin — 3.16%;
Luganodes — 3.14%;
Staking4All — 3.14%.

How to find the best staking coins yourself?

Specialized platforms such as Staking Rewards can help identify the best staking coins. This service allows cryptocurrencies to be sorted by staking yield (APY) and also displays a list of available providers. For stablecoins, services like De.Fi can help find suitable liquidity pools for staking.

Coins can also be staked directly in crypto wallets such as Trust Wallet, OKX Wallet, Ledger, and Atomic Wallet. These applications allow assets to be staked immediately after funding the wallet.

Major crypto exchanges such as Binance, Bybit, and Coinbase offer staking for many cryptocurrencies; however, deposit yields will be lower than those from direct staking in crypto wallets.

When choosing the best staking coins, it is essential to consider not only APY but also the level of network centralization, the number of validators, and lock-up periods.