Lido is a liquid staking derivatives protocol that allows users to stake their Ether and earn additional ETH as a reward in return for stETH tokens. However, before the April 13 Shapella upgrade, Ethereum didn't ermit validators to withdraw the Ether held by staking contracts. On May 15, the Lido decentralized autonomous organization voted to upgrade the version to 2 of their protocol, thus allowing withdrawals of Ether from Lido staking contracts.
The data from Parsec Finance shows that, shortly after the upgrade, approximately 260 stETH tokens worth $500K were withdrawn in only 3 hours. This is not a surprise as liquid staking has overall gained its popularity lately, becoming the number one decentralized finance category measured by total value locked.
Even though stakers can make use of the liquidity of their stake through Lido, the integration of the liquid staking protocol with Ethereum is far from over, as questions regarding the legal side arise in the United States concerning staking providers and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Nicholas Howard
- 2023-05-15
Lido Upgrade Unlocking ETH Withdrawal Ability
Lido has upgraded their protocol version to version 2, which allows for Ether to be withdrawn from stETH token staking contracts. This was celebrated almost immediately with over $500K of stETH tokens withdrawn in 3 hours.
