Most liquid staking protocols pick one chain and go deep. Stader went wide, deploying across Ethereum, Polygon, BNB Chain, Near and others, with a distinct liquid token on each.
The Ethereum implementation
ETHx uses a permissionless operator pool where node runners bond collateral, similar in principle to Rocket Pool though with different parameters and a lower bond requirement. That makes the operator set genuinely open, which is more than most competitors offer, and the lower bond broadens participation at some cost to the loss-absorption buffer.
The cost of breadth
Every additional chain is another set of contracts to audit, maintain and secure, and another liquidity pool to bootstrap. Stader's per-chain liquidity is modest, so on any given network there is usually a deeper local option — Lido or Rocket Pool on Ethereum, and the chain-native leader elsewhere.
Record
Audited across deployments with no major exploit, and withdrawals functioning on the main networks. Fee is around 10% of rewards.
Who should use it
Stakers wanting one interface across several chains, and Ethereum users specifically attracted to the permissionless operator model at a lower bond. For depth and liquidity on a single chain, use the local leader.