Liquid staking giant Lido Finance has recently brought attention to a community proposal suggesting the introduction of a staking feature for its LDO token. As a significant player in the DeFi space with a total value locked (TVL) nearing $12 billion, this proposal has been the focus of many industry watchers.
To recall, direct staking on the mainnet requires a minimum of 32 ETH or around $60,000 at current valuations. The cost and complexity have paved the way for liquid staking services like Lido, enabling users to effortlessly deposit and earn with any amount of ETH.
The recently proposed LDO staking mechanism essentially allows token holders to stake their LDO and earn rewards sourced from the protocol’s revenue. Lido presently generates income by charging users a 10% fee on earned rewards, apportioned equally between the project’s DAO and the node operators responsible for mainnet staking. If approved, the new staking feature would entitle participants to 20% to 50% of the Lido DAO’s revenue – up to half of the 5% service fee – which would be disbursed through LDO token buybacks.
However, this additional yield comes with potential risks. According to the proposal, LDO stakers would effectively serve as “insurance providers of last resort.” In the event of a mass-slashing occurrence depleting the project’s insurance fund, up to 30% of LDO stakers’ assets could be at stake. Slashing represents the penalty imposed on Ethereum validators for downtime or validation of fraudulent transactions, which requires a deposit to join the network. While Lido maintains that such an event is improbable given the quality of its validator set and its track record, the risk remains.
Token holders’ response to the idea has been varied, with sentiments ranging from dismissing it as “a Ponzi scheme” to welcoming it as “finally something useful for LDO.” Comparisons can be drawn to Aave’s safety module, where AAVE holders can stake tokens, accrue extra yield, and face a similar slashing risk in case of bad debt on the lending platform.
Given the community’s divided opinions, revisions to the proposal are to be expected. Nevertheless, it represents a promising first attempt at injecting more function into what is primarily a governance token. Keeping an eye on the developments in this space will be key for those invested in Lido Finance and the broader DeFi ecosystem.
Source: Decrypt
