{"id":224455,"date":"2022-03-12T10:00:47","date_gmt":"2022-03-12T10:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/?p=224455"},"modified":"2022-07-24T23:47:40","modified_gmt":"2022-07-24T22:47:40","slug":"what-made-lido-a-top-eth-staking-platform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/what-made-lido-a-top-eth-staking-platform\/","title":{"rendered":"What made Lido a top ETH staking platform?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lido<\/a> is a platform built on Ethereum 2.0\u2019s Beacon Chain. Users are rewarded with staking without locking up ETH and receive 1:1 in the token stETH, which they can further employ or leverage.<\/p>\n

In just 3 months, Lido has reached a record high TVL of $13.98 billion and jumped ahead of AAVE<\/a> and Convex Finance<\/a> to rank #3 among DeFi protocols.<\/p>\n

Let's break down whether Lido, with its rapid TVL growth, is a platform worth using.<\/p>\n

Lido Supports Multiple Blockchains, Has Innovative Tokenomics<\/h2>\n

Lido's business is a staking pool service for PoS blockchains, currently supporting Ethereum 2.0, Terra<\/a>, Solana,<\/a> and Kusama<\/a>. According to Footprint Analytics, as of March 1, Lido's TVL was at a record high of $13.98 billion, with Terra accounting for the largest share (56%), followed by Ethereum (41%).<\/p>\n

\"Footprint
Footprint Analytics – TVL of Lido<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By supporting these 4 blockchains, Lido can integrate many header protocols and issue token derivatives of the corresponding blockchains to provide liquidity to the equity holders' assets. Users can stake ETH, SOL, LUNA, and KSM to get the same percentage of Token stETH, stSOL, stLUNA, and stKSM, while also receiving an APR of 4.5% to 18%.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot
Screenshot Source – Lido website<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lido also issues the native Token LDO, which is priced at $2.08 as of March 1, a lower price compared to the four tokens mentioned above. LDO is mainly used for voting and governance, and is not on a larger decentralized exchange, so the overall price trend is not proportional to Lido\u2019s TVL.<\/p>\n

\"Footprint
Footprint Analytics – ETH & KSM & SOL & LUNA & LDO Token Price<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This differentiates Lido from protocols such as MakerDAO and Liquity. For example, MakerDAO rewards DAI for depositing ETH, while Lido requires staking tokens such as ETH, SOL, and Luna to receive a derivative token at the same price, which enjoys a decent annualized return and is not affected by the LDO price of the native token.<\/p>\n

Lido\u2019s Multiple Investment Options<\/h2>\n

If you want to participate in Ethereum 2.0 independently, you need to stake 32 integer multiples of ETH, which is very unfriendly for retail investors. Lido is more user-friendly in terms of the number of staking, as users can stake any amount of ETH to participate in Ethereum 2.0.<\/p>\n

As of March 1, the total number of ETH staked is 1.98 million. Let's take pledging ETH as an example and analyze how to earn more on Lido.<\/p>\n