One of the most significant events in the cryptocurrency industry was Ethereum's mainnet transition to Proof of Stake (PoS). This transition raised concerns due to the 32 ETH requirement to become an Ethereum validator for staking. Lido (LDO) emerged as a liquid staking solution in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space, lowering this high entrance barrier and enabling anyone to stake ETH and earn rewards.
What is Lido
Lido is a decentralized protocol offering liquid staking services for several PoS blockchains, including Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), Polygon (MATIC), and Polkadot (DOT). Liquid staking addresses a critical issue in PoS staking, namely illiquidity, which occurs when assets are staked and locked, becoming inaccessible for a specific period. Lido overcomes this challenge by offering users liquidity and non-custodial staking solutions, allowing them to retain flexibility and access to their staked assets. By May 2023, Lido's total value locked (TVL) exceeded $11.7 billion, positioning it as the leading liquid staking platform.
The Lido community governs the protocol through the LDO token, empowering holders to vote on improvements, upgrades, and network parameters. This decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) also oversees insurance and development funds.
The Lido team
Lido was launched shortly after the Ethereuem merge in December 2020 by Lido DAO. Lido is governed by the community members and holders of the LDO token. Members of Lido DAO have a proven track record in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space. Notable contributors include Semantic VC, P2P Capital, ParaFi Capital, BitScale, Julien Bouteloup, and AAVE.
How does Lido work
When users stake assets in Lido, they receive tokenized representations (like stETH or stDOT) in a 1:1 ratio. These tokenized assets remain liquid and accessible, allowing users to use them on other DeFi platforms, such as Maker DAO and Curve DAO. This enhanced liquidity expands users' opportunities and financial options.
LDO tokenomics
LDO is an ERC-20 token with a capped supply of 1 billion. LDO tokens are instrumental in Lido's governance; the more LDO tokens staked, the more voting power holders have in decision-making processes ranging from protocol upgrades to resource allocation.
LDO distribution
Upon launch, the 1 billion LDO tokens were distributed as follows:
- 36.32 percent to the Lido DAO treasury
- 22.18 percent to investors
- 20 percent to initial Lido developers
- 15 percent reserved for founders and future employees
- 6.5 percent to validators and signature holders
