Swap LDO at the Best Rate

What is LDO?

LDO is a voting instrument, not a claim on staking yield. Lido lets anyone stake any amount of ETH and receive stETH, a liquid token that accrues staking rewards while the underlying Ether works in validators run by professional and permissionless node operators. LDO holders steer that machine: they decide which operator modules exist, how protocol fees are set and spent, and when contracts are upgraded.

The token is a plain ERC-20 on Ethereum with a fixed supply of one billion, all minted at the DAO's launch in December 2020. Voting weight is proportional to tokens, and holders can delegate their weight without giving up custody.

How LDO works

Lido governance runs on Aragon contracts: proposals are discussed on the research forum, signaled off-chain, then ratified in binding on-chain votes, with a separate Easy Track lane for routine operational motions. The protocol charges a fee on staking rewards that is split between node operators and the DAO treasury, and LDO votes control both the rate and the split.

Since July 2025 a dual governance layer sits between the DAO and execution. stETH holders who object to a passed decision can lock their tokens in an escrow contract; crossing a first threshold delays execution, and deeper opposition escalates toward a rage-quit style exit that lets stakers leave before the change applies. It is a brake on LDO power, designed after years of debate about whether stakers needed protection from the DAO.

LDO supply and tokenomics

The launch allocation went to the DAO treasury (36.32%), investors (22.18%), initial developers (20%), founders and future employees (15%), and validators plus signature holders (6.5%), with a 0.4% airdrop to early stakers. Founding allocations were locked for one year and then vested linearly through a second year, so the last scheduled unlocks completed in December 2022.

There is no inflation and no burn: supply stays at one billion. The treasury's LDO is spent through governance votes, historically on contributor grants, incentives and ecosystem programs.

How LDO is governed

Everything operational about Lido passes through LDO votes: onboarding or ejecting node operators, activating modules such as the permissionless Community Staking Module, setting fee parameters, and approving the annual strategy and budget exercises the DAO runs in public. The GOOSE planning process and its yearly reports document what was approved and delivered.

Voting power is concentrated among early contributors, investors and funds, which the DAO itself acknowledges, and turnout decides many votes. Dual governance narrows the blast radius of a captured vote but does not change how weight is distributed.

What people use LDO for

LDO's utility is participation: it confers a share of control over the protocol that issues stETH, one of the most widely integrated assets in Ethereum DeFi, and nothing else by default.

• Voting directly on Aragon proposals and Easy Track motions.
• Delegating voting weight to an active governance participant.
• Proposing changes through the research forum and Snapshot process.
• Pairing in liquidity pools against ETH and stablecoins.

LDO risks and considerations

LDO carries no entitlement to Lido's fee revenue, so its value rests on governance rights over the protocol. Decisions that would route value to the token, like the buyback mechanisms discussed in DAO forums during 2025, exist only as far as governance approves and sustains them.

Concentrated voting power, regulatory scrutiny of staking services, and competition among liquid staking and restaking protocols all bear on the token. LDO markets on other networks are bridged copies of the Ethereum contract, so their integrity depends on the bridge in between.