The largest liquid staking protocol for ETH — stake any amount and receive yield-bearing stETH
Last updated: July 2026
Lido is the dominant liquid staking protocol for Ethereum, controlling roughly 28–33% of all staked ETH and making it the largest single DeFi protocol by TVL at over $20 billion. The core value proposition is straightforward: deposit any amount of ETH (no 32 ETH minimum), receive stETH tokens at 1:1 that automatically accrue staking rewards daily through a rebase mechanism, and retain full DeFi composability — stETH is accepted as collateral on Aave, Compound, MakerDAO, Curve, and dozens of other protocols. The underlying ETH is staked across a curated set of 30+ professional node operators selected by LDO token governance, which distributes risk across multiple independent validators. Lido charges 10% of staking rewards as a protocol fee, split between node operators and the DAO treasury. Lido also provides liquid staking on Polygon (stMATIC) and Solana (stSOL). The LDO governance token controls protocol parameters, node operator selection, and treasury allocation. Lido's dominance has sparked serious debate in the Ethereum community about validator concentration risk — if Lido's operators controlled 33%+ of staked ETH, they could theoretically disrupt Ethereum's consensus finality. This systemic concern has made staking diversity (supporting Rocket Pool, Frax, etc.) a significant governance issue.
Lido offers a free plan.
Lido
Free
| Feature | Lido |
|---|---|
| Liquid Token | ✓ |
| Minimum Stake | No minimum |
| Reward Frequency | Daily (rebase) |
| Defi Compatible | ✓ |
| Node Operator Model | Curated permissioned |
| Governance Token | ✓ |
| Multi Chain | ✓ |
| Slashing Protection | ✓ |
| Withdrawal Enabled | ✓ |
| Insurance Fund | ✗ |
Yes, Lido has a free plan.
Lido is used for the largest liquid staking protocol for eth — stake any amount and receive yield-bearing steth. It's primarily used by Web3 teams in the Staking & Liquid Staking category.
See our full alternatives comparison at web3tools.directory/alternatives/lido.
Lido has a rating of 4.5/5 based on 3840 reviews. Key strength: Largest liquid staking TVL — deepest stETH liquidity and DeFi integration. Main limitation: 28–33% of staked ETH controlled by one protocol — Ethereum centralization risk.