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Stake on Liquid Lockers

This guide walks you through depositing governance tokens into a Liquid Locker and receiving sdTokens in return. For background on how Liquid Lockers work, see the Liquid Lockers overview.

Prerequisites

  • Governance tokens in your wallet (see Lockers for supported tokens)
  • Wallet connected to the Stake DAO app

Selecting a Locker

  1. Navigate to Lockers on the Stake DAO app
  2. Browse the available lockers for supported governance tokens
  3. Select the locker matching your token (e.g., CRV Locker for CRV tokens)

Locker Details

After selecting a locker, the detail page displays:

  • TVL: Total value locked in the locker
  • Yield breakdown: APR components from staking sdTokens
  • Contracts: Related smart contract addresses
  • Your position: Current holdings (when wallet connected)

Acquiring sdTokens

You can obtain sdTokens through minting or buying on a DEX.

Minting

Minting converts your governance tokens directly into sdTokens at a 1:1 ratio.

  1. Select the Mint tab on the locker page
  2. Enter the amount of tokens to deposit
  3. Approve the depositor contract (first time only)
  4. Execute the mint transaction
Options:
  • Stake: Automatically stakes your sdTokens in the liquidity gauge to begin earning rewards. You can withdraw from the gauge later.
  • Gas Optimized: Reduces gas costs by receiving 99.9% of your sdTokens immediately. The remaining 0.1% stays in the depositor until another user mints without this option. Enable this when gas savings exceed the value of the 0.1% difference.

Buying

All Liquid Lockers have associated DEX liquidity pools containing the governance token and its corresponding sdToken.

  1. Select the Buy tab on the locker page
  2. Compare the exchange rate to the 1:1 mint rate
  3. If favorable, execute the swap

Depending on market conditions, buying may yield more sdTokens than minting. After purchasing, stake your sdTokens in the liquidity gauge to begin earning rewards.

Delegating Voting Power

Your sdTokens grant voting power on the underlying protocol. You have two options:

  1. Vote manually: Participate in governance proposals directly through the Meta Governance page
  2. Delegate to Stake DAO: The protocol votes on your behalf and distributes vote incentives to you every two weeks

To delegate, navigate to the delegation section on the locker page and confirm the transaction.