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Bifrost – Polkadot’s Top Liquid Staking Protocol
Bifrost has established itself as the leading liquid staking protocol for DOT and Polkadot parachain assets. The Total Value Staked (TVS) across the ecosystem already shows its strong adoption:
• DOT: $87.92M
• ASTR: $2.05K
• MANTA: $1.38K
• GLMR: $70.96K
• BNC: $847.78K
• PHA: $7.18M
• ETH: $3.50M
• FIL: $8.67K
Screenshot from Bifrost vStaking Dashboard >>
Bifrost has clearly become the most prominent liquid staking protocol within the Polkadot ecosystem.
Cross-chain interoperability makes Bifrost’s omni-staking procedure work for cross-chain staked assets
It’s very natural for Bifrost Protocol to become the go-to Liquid Staking Protocol for Polkadot parachains to mint vToken LSDs, because communication between Bifrost and Polkadot parachains is established by default with XCM. As a Polkadot parachain itself, Bifrost can tap into this native interoperability to power its omni-staking framework.
Beyond Polkadot, recent developments have enabled communication with heterogeneous external blockchains like Ethereum and Binance via HyperBridge — a decentralized, permissionless interoperability solution built by the Polkadot community.
I’ve personally demonstrated this in action: using HyperBridge, I transferred my vDOT from Bifrost on Polkadot to my Metamask wallet on Binance Chain, which I later used to provide liquidity toi Uniswap's BNB-vDOT Liquidity Pool.
My comprehensive write-up on this DEFI Participation experience here -
From Polkadot to Binance: My First Steps with vDOT’s Cross-Chain Journey.
This practical example shows how Bifrost and HyperBridge are already delivering on the promise of cross-chain liquid staking assets that remain usable across ecosystems.
Omni-chain vToken mints
Bifrost’s omni-staking works through its SLPx pallet on Polkadot.
• Assets are staked on their native chain (e.g., ETH on Ethereum).
• Bifrost’s SLPx pallet then mints corresponding vTokens (like vETH) inside Polkadot.
This architecture ensures all minted vTokens are backed by staked liquidity on their original chains. For example, Bifrost already holds over $3M worth of staked ETH, backing its vETH supply.
Validator selection with community governance
When assets are staked on their native PoS chains, they still rely on validators from those chains. Bifrost doesn’t leave this process random—it uses an internal module called Validator Election Track (VET).
VET selects validators using parameters approved by governance, such as:
• Track record of performance
• Level of decentralization
• Self-stake amounts
• Missed block history
Only validators meeting these governance-approved criteria are chosen, ensuring both security and rewards for vToken holders. Any changes to these parameters must be approved through governance votes, giving the community direct control.
Read more about validator governance here.
How omni-staking works – architecture and flow
Let’s break down the framework behind omni-staking.
If an external protocol on Ethereum wants to enable vETH mints through Bifrost:
- It deploys a local smart contract pallet acting as its interface with Bifrost’s SLPx.
- This pallet handles requests like vETH minting, redemption, and user queries.
- When users stake ETH, their tokens go into a custody contract.
- Bifrost-selected validators stake the ETH on Ethereum.
- Once staked, the validators call SLPx on Polkadot, which mints vETH.
Unstaking and redemption works the same way, with validators unstaking ETH and triggering a burn of vETH before returning ETH plus rewards to the user.
Why one vToken format is a game changer
The biggest advantage of Bifrost’s omni-staking is uniformity. Every vToken—whether vDOT, vGLMR, vPHA, vBNC, vFIL, vMANTA, or vETH—is minted through the SLPx pallet and follows the same format.
That makes integration much easier. Any dApp that supports one vToken can support them all.
Compare this to protocols like Lido:
• stETH → ERC-20 format
• stPOL → Polygon token format
• stBNB → BSC token format
Each LSD has a different structure, so dApps must integrate with each chain separately. Bifrost solves this fragmentation by unifying everything into one token format.
Conclusion
Bifrost has already proven itself as the top liquid staking protocol for Polkadot. Its omni-staking model takes this even further by:
• Leveraging Polkadot’s native XCM for parachain interoperability.
• Using HyperBridge to extend to external blockchains like Ethereum and Binance.
• Ensuring validator selection is transparent and community-driven.
• Issuing vTokens in a single, uniform format.
With growing TVS across DOT, parachain tokens, and external assets like ETH and FIL, Bifrost is showing how liquid staking can evolve beyond single-chain limitations. It’s positioning itself not just as Polkadot’s leading protocol, but as a cross-chain liquid staking hub for Web3.