LidoLiquid staking
How is staking with Lido taxed in Germany?
In short
With Lido you hand over ETH and get stETH for it. For tax, that's a swap: you dispose of the ETH and acquire the stETH. Getting the ETH back later through Lido's withdrawal, or selling the stETH, is another swap.
Your stETH balance grows every day, but your shares in Lido's pool stay the same. So TaxMaxi doesn't count the growth as income. It counts the gain when you swap back: taxable under § 23 of the Income Tax Act (EStG) if you held the stETH for a year or less, unless your gains from all private sales add up to less than €1,000 for the year. After more than a year it's tax-free.
- As of:
- 26 October 2026
- Based on:
- § 23 EStG, BMF letter of 6 March 2025
What is Lido?
Lido is a liquid staking protocol on Ethereum. Instead of running a validator with 32 ETH yourself, you give Lido any amount of ETH. Lido spreads it across the validators of many node operators and gives you stETH back. The validators' rewards land in the pool: once a day Lido reports the new total, and your stETH balance goes up without a transfer showing in your wallet.
Behind the balance are shares in the pool. Their number doesn't change, only their value in ETH grows. That's exactly what wstETH is: the same shares as a token, one wstETH per share. You get back to ETH through a swap, on Curve for example, or through Lido's withdrawal: you hand in the stETH, get an NFT as a receipt and collect the ETH a few days later.
- The app stake.lido.fi You choose how much ETH to stake or withdraw and confirm in your wallet.
- The contract 0xae7a…fe84 Lido's stETH contract takes the ETH and gives you stETH for it.
- The validators many, run by node operators This is where the ETH is staked; their rewards make your shares grow in ETH.
For tax, only the swap counts: ETH leaves your wallet and stETH arrives. It makes no difference whether you stake through stake.lido.fi, through a wallet app or directly into wstETH.
Lido at a glance
- Type
- Liquid staking on Ethereum
- Contract
- 0xae7ab96520de3a18e5e111b5eaab095312d7fe84Lido: stETH
- Contract
- 0x7f39c581f595b53c5cb19bd0b3f8da6c935e2ca0Lido: wstETH
- Contract
- 0x889edc2edab5f40e902b864ad4d7ade8e412f9b1Lido: withdrawals
- Token
- stETHa crypto asset like any other
ETH for stETH on the blockchain
A real Lido stake from a public wallet, the way TaxMaxi reads it. Next to each item the wallet gives up or receives, you see what it means for tax.
- −1.443050274769703326 ETH Disposalat the euro value of what was received
- +1.264199948906297332 wstETH AcquisitionstETH, counted in Lido's shares like wstETH, starts the one-year period
- −0.0007074075283327 ETH Network feedeductible expenses (Werbungskosten) of the swap
Contracts called
- Lido: stETH0xae7a…fe84takes the ETH, stakes it and gives you stETH for it
For just over 1.443 ETH, the same amount of stETH arrived. TaxMaxi counts it in Lido's shares, the way wstETH does: just over 1.264 shares. That number stays put while the stETH balance grows every day, and the acquisition date and cost basis stay with it.
An example in euros
You've held ETH for more than a year, you stake it with Lido, and ten months later you get it back through the withdrawal. TaxMaxi counts your stETH in shares, which is why the example shows wstETH. The ETH price is the same on both days, only your shares have become worth more in ETH. This is how TaxMaxi works out the two swaps:
- 1 October 2023Bought 2 ETH for €3,000.00
- 15 January 2025Swap: 2 ETH given up
- 15 January 2025Received: 1.68 wstETH, worth €6,400.00
- 3 November 2025Swap: 1.68 wstETH given up
- 3 November 2025Received: 2.048 ETH, worth €6,553.60
- Proceeds value of the wstETH received
- €6,400.00
- Cost basis 2 ETH from 1 October 2023
- − €3,000.00
- Gain after 472 days, tax-free
- +€3,400.00
Swap on 15 January 2025: ETH given up
- Proceeds value of the ETH received
- €6,553.60
- Cost basis 1.68 wstETH from 15 January 2025
- − €6,400.00
- Gain after 292 days, taxable
- +€153.60
Swap on 3 November 2025: wstETH given up
The year 2025 comes to +€153.60. That is under the exemption limit of €1,000: if it's your only gain from private sales in the year, you pay no tax on it.
Worked out by TaxMaxi's tax engine, on the same principles as for your wallet.
The legal basis
Whether a swap costs tax is set by the Income Tax Act (EStG), above all § 23 EStG on private sales. How tax offices apply this to crypto is set out in the finance ministry's letter of 6 March 2025, which binds them.
The letter is divided into numbered paragraphs (Randnummern). Each principle below says where to find it; a click opens the letter at that spot.
- 1
-
2
One-year holding period
The year runs from the day of acquisition to the swap, and each swap starts it again for the token you receive. There's no extension to ten years. For tokens you acquire from 2027, a finance ministry draft would drop the holding period: What is set to change from 2027.
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
-
7
The exemption limit (Freigrenze)
If the sum of all your gains from private sales in the year stays under €1,000 (up to 2023: €600), it's tax-free. Above that, all of it is taxable, not only the part over the limit.
See the BMF letter, paragraph 53
Common questions
Is staking ETH with Lido taxable?
Yes, it's a swap like any other: you dispose of the ETH for stETH. If you held the ETH for more than a year, the gain on it is tax-free. Otherwise it counts in the year of the swap. For the stETH, the one-year holding period starts again on the day of the swap.
Do I have to report the daily growth of my stETH as income?
As TaxMaxi reads it, no. Staking rewards are income when something is credited to you (the finance ministry's letter of 6 March 2025, paragraph 48). With stETH the balance does grow, but your shares in the pool stay the same, as with wstETH. So the growth only counts at the swap, as part of the gain. Nothing says this outright: the BMF letter doesn't mention liquid staking tokens.
Is swapping stETH for wstETH taxable?
No. stETH and wstETH are the same shares in Lido's pool, one as a growing balance, the other as a token with a fixed count. So TaxMaxi doesn't read wrapping and unwrapping as a swap: the shares keep their acquisition date and cost basis. If you stake ETH directly into wstETH, though, that is a swap of ETH, just as with stETH.
When does a Lido withdrawal count?
On the day the ETH arrives in your wallet. With the request you hand the stETH to Lido's queue and get an NFT as a receipt, and nothing has been disposed of yet. When you collect, you swap the locked shares for the ETH at that day's prices (BMF letter, paragraph 55). The year for the ETH runs from that day.
What doesn't TaxMaxi read at Lido yet?
stETH from before April 2021, a collection whose request isn't in your wallet, and a receipt NFT you send to another address. TaxMaxi puts transactions like these in front of you in the review, and you say what happened.
What if I held the stETH for more than a year?
Then the gain on the swap back to ETH is tax-free, however much your shares grew in that time. For the ETH you receive, the one-year holding period starts again.
More Ethereum protocols
This page explains how TaxMaxi calculates. It is not tax advice and does not replace a tax advisor.