Crypto Gloss

Stride

Stride is a Cosmos app-chain specialized in multi-chain liquid staking — issuing liquid staking derivatives (stATOM, stOSMO, stINJ, stTIA, stDYDX, stDYM, and others) for assets from IBC-connected chains, enabling users to earn native staking yield while retaining liquidity to participate in Cosmos DeFi without a bonding/unbonding period lock.

Overview

Stride launched in 2022 as a dedicated liquid staking hub for the Cosmos ecosystem. Rather than building general DeFi (like Kujira’s multi-product approach), Stride focuses exclusively on solving one problem: the Cosmos bonding period. Most Cosmos chains require 14-21 day unbonding periods for staked tokens — during which tokens are illiquid and earning no trading opportunities. Stride mints liquid staking tokens that represent staked positions without bonding lock-up, backed by network security through IBC interchain accounts. Stride’s liquid staking tokens are the most widely integrated LSTs in Cosmos DeFi.

How Stride Liquid Staking Works

The following sections cover this in detail.

Staking Flow

  1. User sends ATOM (or other supported asset) to Stride via IBC
  2. Stride stakes ATOM on the Cosmos Hub across multiple validators using an ICS-27 interchain account
  3. User receives stATOM — a liquid receipt token representing staked ATOM
  4. stATOM can be: used as LP liquidity, posted as collateral, traded, held

Redemption (Unstaking)

Two options:

  • Standard redemption: Burn stATOM → receive ATOM after the 21-day unbonding period (free)
  • Liquid redemption (Osmosis pools): Trade stATOM/ATOM on Osmosis (or other DEX) at a small discount vs waiting — instant exit

Exchange Rate (Accumulating Model)

Stride uses an accumulating (non-rebase) model:

  • 1 stATOM starts at 1.00 ATOM
  • As staking rewards accrue, 1 stATOM becomes worth > 1 ATOM
  • stATOM holders gain yield via appreciation in the ATOM/stATOM exchange rate
  • No balance changes in wallets — just the exchange rate moving

Supported Assets

Stride supports liquid staking for IBC-connected chain tokens:

Liquid Token Underlying Chain
stATOM ATOM Cosmos Hub
stOSMO OSMO Osmosis
stINJ INJ Injective
stTIA TIA Celestia
stDYDX dYDX dYdX Chain
stDYM DYM Dymension
stSAGA SAGA Saga

Stride continuously adds new IBC-compatible chains as the Cosmos ecosystem grows.

Validator Diversification

A key security feature of Stride:

  • Stride stakes across many validators per chain (not just one)
  • Validator set selection governed by STRD holders
  • Prevents stake concentration risks and validator cartel formation
  • Stride’s interchain accounts rotate stake to maintain targeted validator weight distribution

Autopilot Feature

Stride’s “Autopilot” feature enables:

  • One-click liquid stake + DeFi deployment — stake ATOM → receive stATOM → automatically add to an Osmosis pool in same IBC transaction
  • Users can specify desired destination (Osmosis LP, Mars Protocol collateral) during the initial IBC transfer
  • Simplifies the UX from multiple steps to one IBC send

STRD Token

STRD is Stride’s governance and fee token:

  • Governance — STRD holders vote on new chain additions, validator sets, fee rates
  • Fee model — Stride takes approximately 10% of liquid staking yield as a protocol fee (not charged on principal)
  • Fee distribution — STRD stakers receive a portion of the 10% fee revenue extracted from liquid staking yield
  • Chain security — Stride became an Interchain Security (ICS) consumer chain of the Cosmos Hub in 2023

Interchain Security (ICS) Milestone

In 2023, Stride became one of the first protocols to bootstrap security from the Cosmos Hub validators via ICS:

  • Cosmos Hub validators now validate Stride blocks
  • Eliminates Stride’s own validator set security bootstrapping problem
  • STRD still exists as the governance token; ATOM validators earn STRD block rewards

Sources

Related Terms