Lido has launched its Identified Community Staker (ICS) program on the Ethereum mainnet, marking a significant step towards rebalancing validator capacity within its Community Staking Module (CSM). This new initiative aims to prioritize independent operators, ensuring that smaller, verified entities gain more favorable terms in the increasingly competitive staking landscape, while preserving the open access nature of the protocol.
Empowering Independent Stakers
The ICS program was designed to address the challenge faced by smaller, independent stakers after the earlier permissionless opening of CSM led to a surge of registrations from larger operators. To qualify, applicants undergo a robust verification process based on a points system, evaluating their experience (e.g., solo-staker lists, participation in operator programs), engagement (e.g., GitPOAP contributions), and proof of humanity. This "humanity" aspect leverages platforms like Human Passport, which boasts over 2.2 million users, to ensure genuine individual participation and mitigate sybil attacks without requiring direct identity disclosure. Applicants must meet minimum thresholds across categories and achieve a total of at least 15 points to be approved.
Exclusive Benefits and Future Outlook
Approved ICS operators unlock a range of priority terms not available on the default permissionless track. These include a higher 6% reward share on their initial validator keys, a reduced 1.5 ETH bond for the first key, priority deposits for up to 10 keys, and more flexible performance ranges. While the ICS program introduces these differentiated parameters, it's crucial to note that the CSM remains permissionless; operators can still participate without ICS. This new track functions as an additional operator type in CSM v2, which is set to expand the community staking share limit to 5%. Lido frames ICS as a strategic move to route early deposits and fee shares to verified independent individuals, fostering a more decentralized and resilient staking ecosystem, with the first approved addresses scheduled for nomination to the on-chain ICS list around early October.
