Rocket Pool was founded by David Rugendyke in 2017, with development led by the Rocket Pool team. The project launched its mainnet in 2021 after years of development and auditing. The protocol is maintained by a distributed team of core developers and governed by RPL token holders through a decentralized governance model.

Rocket Pool launched its mainnet in October 2021, becoming one of the first fully decentralized liquid staking protocols. The protocol reached over $700M in TVL and expanded to Polygon and Arbitrum. The Atlas upgrade in 2024 enabled 16 ETH minipools, further decentralizing the network. RSETH was introduced as the canonical liquid staking token across multi-chain deployments.

RSETH operates on Ethereum as an ERC-20 token, deployed across Ethereum mainnet, Polygon, and Arbitrum. The token implements standard ERC-20 mechanics and is minted/burned by the Rocket Pool protocol smart contracts. Node operators run Ethereum validators using optimized setups to ensure network security and reward distribution.

RSETH supply is elastic, expanding as more ETH is staked and contracting through validator exits. The token ratio to ETH appreciates over time as staking rewards accrue to the validator pool. There is no fixed supply cap; RSETH is backed 1:1 by staked ETH positions managed by Rocket Pool node operators, with rewards automatically accrued into the exchange rate.

Rocket Pool governance rests with RPL token holders who vote on protocol upgrades, parameter changes, and the addition of new node operators. The protocol is designed to be censorship-resistant and decentralized, with no single entity controlling the minting or burning of RSETH. Governance proposals are executed on-chain through snapshot voting.

RSETH serves as a yield-bearing asset for DeFi applications, usable as collateral in lending protocols, providing liquidity in AMM pools, and earning additional yields through restaking strategies. It enables ETH stakers to maintain liquidity while earning staking rewards, and can be used across Ethereum, Polygon, and Arbitrum ecosystems for cross-chain yield optimization.