Every liquid staking protocol has to answer one question: who runs the validators. Lido answers with a curated operator set chosen by token governance. Coinbase answers with itself. Rocket Pool answers with anyone who posts collateral, which is the only answer that does not reintroduce a permissioned gatekeeper.
How the node economics work
Operators bond ETH alongside protocol-supplied ETH and post RPL as additional collateral. If they misbehave or are slashed, their bond absorbs the loss before rETH holders are affected. That skin-in-the-game structure is what makes permissionless operation safe, and it is why Rocket Pool can open validation to individuals without exposing depositors to unvetted operators.
What rETH costs and returns
The node operator takes a commission and the protocol takes a further cut, which together leave rETH holders with a lower net yield than stETH. In exchange, rETH accrues value against ETH rather than rebasing, which simplifies tax treatment in several jurisdictions and behaves better inside DeFi contracts.
Exit and liquidity
rETH can be redeemed permissionlessly through the protocol when the deposit pool has capacity, and traded on secondary markets otherwise. Depth is meaningfully thinner than stETH's, so exiting a large position quickly costs more.
Who should use it
Holders who weight Ethereum's decentralisation and are willing to accept slightly lower yield and thinner liquidity for it, and anyone wanting to run a validator with less than 32 ETH. For maximum liquidity and DeFi integration, stETH remains the practical choice.