Lido (LDO) Emerges as the Top Player in Ethereum’s Liquid Staking Space, Reveals Glassnode

• Increase in Lido’s stETH has not reflected an uptick in new token holders thus concluding deposits are from existing investors.
• The value of the LDO token had dropped approximately 10 percent in the last 24 hours to trade around $1.91 on Friday.

The transition of the Ethereum (ETH) network from a Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) method has significantly decentralized the network. Previously, an Ethereum validator needed to purchase a complete mining rig or invest in a mining pool rig to earn passively from the network.

The hustle was largely criticized since it only favored the whale miners who could afford to update their mining hash rate power frequently to match up with the ever-rising difficulty. 

However, the Ethereum staking program through the beacon chain has significantly simplified the economics of network validators. Moreover, any ETH investor can become a validator by staking a minimum of 32 Ethers and earning passively.

The game is further rigged for small-scale investors through liquid staking programs like Lido (LDO) network. Notably, the Ethereum liquid staking program offers investors a hustle-free platform to earn high yields with fast withdrawals via STETH.

Notably, the Ethereum network has attracted more investors since the Shanghai upgrade that enabled the withdrawal of staked ether. According to on-chain data, more than 20.7 million Ether has already been staked by over 652k validators earning an average APR of about 5 percent.

Lido DAO Dominates Ethereum Liquid Staking

According to a recent report from Glassnode Insights, Lido’s stETH has emerged as a market preference for liquid staking since the Shanghai upgrade earlier this year. As of today, Lido ETH liquid staking program had a total of 

$14,146,550,859 locked assets in stETH, which accounted for the majority of its TVL. Other Lido staking programs include Polygon (MATIC), Solana (SOL), Polkadot (DOT), and Kusama network. 

After the Shanghai upgrade, the Lido DAO network also upgraded its node operations to enable withdrawals of staked ethers. On May 15, Lido DAO  released its V2 update, enabling holders of Lido’s stETH token to exchange it for ETH. Following the release, the Glassnode report noted that there was a redemption of more than 400k stETH worth approximately $721 million. The effect of the redemption was a significant contraction of the stETH supply. However, the report noted that the huge wave of new ETH deposits has more than compensated for the decline, pushing to a new ATH of 7.49M stETH. Glassnode noted.

When comparing to other liquid staking competitors, Lido stands out as the clear leader in the sector with its supply 16 times higher than its nearest competitor. That said, the supply of rETH, which is the liquid staking token of Rocketpool, has been growing three times faster than Lido’s since the beginning of this year.

The report further highlighted that new addresses holding stETH have not increased YTD amid rising staked units. Interestingly, the number of stETH addresses has been oscillating between 230-590 per day. As a result, Glassnode concluded that many new deposits made via Lido are driven by existing stETH token holders increasing their exposure.

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