Lido (LDO)

Liquid staking for everyone. Earn rewards, keep liquidity.

What is Lido?

Lido is the largest liquid staking protocol, allowing users to stake their ETH (and other assets) while receiving a liquid token (stETH) in return. Normally, staking ETH locks it up — you cannot use it for anything else. Lido solves this by giving you stETH, which earns staking rewards automatically while remaining tradeable and usable in DeFi.

Lido dominates the Ethereum staking market, with a significant share of all staked ETH going through the protocol. This makes it one of the most systemically important DeFi protocols — it plays a critical role in Ethereum's security by making staking accessible to users who do not have the 32 ETH required to run their own validator.

LDO is the governance token of the Lido DAO. Holders vote on protocol parameters, fee structures, node operator selection, and the overall direction of the protocol.

How Lido Works

When you stake ETH through Lido, you deposit your ETH into the protocol and receive stETH (staked ETH) in return — at a 1:1 ratio. Your stETH balance automatically increases daily as staking rewards accumulate. Meanwhile, you can use stETH in DeFi — lend it on Aave, provide liquidity on Curve, or use it as collateral. Lido distributes your ETH across many professional node operators, removing the need for you to run your own validator or lock up 32 ETH.

Lido Ecosystem

Largest liquid staking protocol by total value locked
stETH — liquid staked ETH usable across DeFi
Distributed across dozens of professional node operators
Governance through LDO token voting in Lido DAO
Multi-chain liquid staking expanding beyond Ethereum

Team & Development

Lido was founded in 2020 by Konstantin Lomashuk, Vasiliy Shapovalov, and Jordan Fish (known as Cobie in the crypto community). The protocol was developed by a collective of Ethereum community members and developers. Lido DAO governs the protocol, with major DeFi investors like a16z and Paradigm participating in governance.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is liquid staking?

Liquid staking lets you earn staking rewards while keeping your assets usable. When you stake ETH through Lido, you get stETH — a token that earns staking rewards automatically and can be traded, lent, or used as collateral in DeFi.

What is the difference between LDO and stETH?

stETH is the liquid staking token that represents your staked ETH and earns rewards. LDO is the governance token that lets you vote on how the Lido protocol operates. They serve completely different purposes.

Where do I store LDO?

LDO is an ERC-20 token on Ethereum. Store it in MetaMask, Trust Wallet, Ledger, or any Ethereum-compatible wallet.

Can I sell or swap LDO?

Yes. Swaps supports selling LDO for fiat and swapping it for other tokens.

Buy Lido on Swaps

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