Lido DAO (LDO) is the governance token of Lido, a liquid staking protocol deployed on Ethereum (ERC-20).
Lido lets users stake ETH without running validator infrastructure themselves, issuing stETH in return, a token that keeps accruing staking rewards while remaining usable elsewhere in DeFi. Lido V3, launched on Ethereum mainnet January 30, 2026, added stVaults, modular staking infrastructure letting institutions run segregated vaults with dedicated validator infrastructure and optional stETH liquidity. The protocol is directed by Lido DAO, which uses LDO for on-chain voting on protocol parameters.
Lido's role centers on liquid staking rather than ETH staking generally, holding roughly 62% of the liquid-staking segment and about 21.18% of all staked ETH by mid-2026. Protocol TVL grew from 8.74M to 9.13M ETH over H1 2026.
Lido V3's stVaults extend this into institutional-grade segregated staking, with a stated goal of 1 million ETH staked through vaults by end-2026. LDO captures this position by governing protocol parameters, fee splits, and treasury deployment, rather than functioning as a staking-reward token itself.
LDO is a governance token, not a fee-payment or staking-collateral asset.
Holders use it to vote on Aragon-based on-chain governance proposals, with voting power snapshotted at the block before a vote begins to prevent flash-loan-based vote manipulation. A proposal passes only when the yes option reaches at least 5% of total LDO supply voting yes and wins a simple majority of participating tokens. LDO itself is not staked for protocol rewards; ETH stakers instead receive stETH.
Token supply inflation is low: with a fixed 1 billion max supply and no active minting mechanism, net emission is disinflationary as circulating supply approaches the cap rather than expanding further.
Lido's liquid staking protocol launched on Ethereum mainnet in October 2020, announced via a blog post, followed by the "Introducing LDO" post for the governance token.
Lido raised a $2M seed round in December 2020 from Semantic Ventures, ParaFi Capital, Terra, KR1, Stakefish, and Staking Facilities. In May 2021, a $73M round led by Paradigm (which alone bought $51M of LDO from the DAO treasury) added Coinbase Ventures, Three Arrows Capital, Jump Trading, Alameda Research, and Digital Currency Group. A further $70M round led by a16z followed in March 2022.
LDO is an ERC-20 token issued on Ethereum, which runs proof-of-stake consensus secured by staked ETH validators.
Lido does not operate its own blockchain or validator set; it is a liquid staking protocol built on top of Ethereum, pooling user ETH deposits across professional third-party node operators who run Ethereum validators on stakers' behalf. Bridged/wrapped LDO implementations also exist on Polygon PoS, Arbitrum One, and Optimism, but the Ethereum mainnet contract is the canonical, native token.
Lido was founded by Konstantin Lomashuk, Vasiliy Shapovalov ("vasa"), and Jordan Fish ("Cobie"), announced in an October 2020 blog post.
Lomashuk previously worked as a senior engineer at Parity Technologies; Shapovalov is described as an expert in blockchain systems architecture and security; Fish previously worked at ConsenSys on DeFi governance and incentive design. In 2024 reporting, the co-founders, via Paradigm, were reported to have separately backed a competing restaking protocol.
Lido is governed by Lido DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization rather than a conventional company.
Contributor work has historically been organized under Lido Labs Foundation, a Cayman Islands foundation company described as providing services adjacent to the DAO. Such foundation-wrapper structures are common among DAOs seeking to limit liability exposure. Ongoing U.S. litigation (Samuels v. Lido DAO) has found it plausible that Lido DAO itself, in its unwrapped on-chain form, functions as a general partnership, given its treasury, having hired over 70 employees, and its vote-based decision-making.
Lido DAO governs through on-chain Aragon voting, letting LDO holders decide on protocol proposals. Passing a proposal requires at least 5% of total supply voting yes, plus a simple majority of participating tokens.
A "Dual Governance" mechanism adds a minimum 3-day timelock after a vote passes, during which stETH holders can extend the delay or trigger a "rage quit," giving depositors a check beyond LDO voters alone. The DAO treasury (excluding LDO) stood at approximately $121.3M as of 2026-08-25; the DAO separately holds about 101.8M LDO.
Lido V3 launched on Ethereum mainnet January 30, 2026, introducing stVaults, modular infrastructure for institutional, segregated staking vaults with dedicated validators and optional stETH liquidity.
Day-one participants include node operators P2P.org, Chorus One, Pier Two, and Sentora, and institutional stakers Solstice, Twinstake, Northstake, and Everstake, alongside ecosystem partners Linea and Luganodes. Lido's stated 2026 goal is 1 million ETH staked through stVaults by year-end. In March 2026, the DAO proposed a one-time $20M LDO buyback funded with about 10,000 stETH from treasury.
Lido's smart contracts have been reviewed by multiple audit firms, including Certora, MixBytes, Statemind, Ackee, OpenZeppelin, ConsenSys Diligence, ChainSecurity, Oxorio, Hexens, and Sigma Prime. Lido V2 was separately audited by Sigma Prime, ChainSecurity, Oxorio, Statemind, Hexens, MixBytes, and Certora.
Lido runs an active Immunefi bug bounty offering up to $2M for qualifying critical findings. Structural risk factors include high holder concentration, with the top 10 addresses holding 50% of supply, and a liquidity-risk signal flagged HIGH relative to market capitalization.