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Services that stake on your behalf.
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8.2/10
Liquid Staking
Company file: Lido, owners, incidents →
Lido
The dominant liquid staking protocol, with about 9.8 million stETH outstanding and a receipt token accepted almost everywhere in DeFi. That dominance is also the standing criticism: roughly a fifth of staked ETH routed through one governance process. Most stake still goes to DAO-approved operators; the permissionless Community Staking Module has run since October 2024, capped at 5% of stake.
Best for: The deepest liquidity and the widest integration of any staking receipt
Company file: Lido, owners, incidents →How this score was reached
8.2 is the weighted average of the five pillar findings below. Does the job well with no material unresolved concerns.
- Custody & Security30%
- 7.8
- Cost & Fee Transparency20%
- 8.2
- Regulation & Legal Standing10%
- 6.6
- Performance & Reliability30%
- 9.0
- Access & Support10%
- 8.6
Non-custodial: withdrawal credentials point to a Lido contract, and the contracts have not been exploited. Most stake sits with DAO-approved operators; the permissionless Community Staking Module (live since 25 Oct 2024, bonded, share cap 5% since Oct 2025) and V3 stVaults (Jan 2026) widen the set but also add contract surface.
Keeps 10% of staking rewards, split between node operators and the DAO treasury, set on-chain and clearly published.
LDO holders govern, but since Dual Governance went live on 30 Jun 2025 stETH holders can escrow their tokens to delay decisions and exit first. Samuels v. Lido DAO, which treats the DAO as a possible general partnership, is still open.
The deepest secondary liquidity of any staking receipt, and stETH has held its peg through several stress events including large redemption waves.
Accepted almost everywhere in DeFi, well documented, and simple to hold.
Strengths
- Deepest secondary liquidity — exit is genuinely available at size
- Peg has held through several real stress events
- Accepted across essentially all of DeFi
Against it
- Most stake still goes to DAO-approved operators; the permissionless module is capped at 5%
- Roughly a fifth of staked ETH in one protocol is a network-level risk
- LDO holders still propose and vote; stETH holders can only delay
Depth, and the concentration behind it
stETH has the deepest secondary liquidity of any staking receipt, close to ten million stETH outstanding, and has held up through several redemption waves; the worst was June 2022, when it traded near 0.93–0.95 ETH before withdrawals existed. That depth is what turns a theoretical exit into a real one.
The criticism is about the network: roughly a fifth of staked ETH directed by one governance process. Most stake still goes to DAO-approved operators. The permissionless Community Staking Module (live since October 2024) is capped at 5% of stake, and since 30 Jun 2025 Dual Governance lets stETH holders delay DAO decisions and exit first. Our rubric scores what happens to you; the two answers diverge here.
Frequently asked questions
Is stETH safe?+
The contracts have not been exploited and holders have not lost principal to a protocol failure. Operator slashings (Launchnodes, Oct 2023; six CSM validators, Mar 2026) were covered by the operator. The concern is structural: concentration, and the extra contract surface V3 stVaults added in January 2026.
Is Lido’s operator set permissionless?+
Partly. The curated module of DAO-approved operators holds most of the stake. The Community Staking Module lets anyone run validators against a bond, but its share is capped at 5% (raised from 3% in October 2025).
Who controls Lido?+
LDO holders propose and vote on-chain. Since Dual Governance went live on 30 Jun 2025, stETH holders can lock tokens in escrow to delay decisions they object to and leave before a change takes effect: a brake, not a steering wheel.
Assessed by
Blockchain Security Researcher · September 27, 2026
◆ Disclosure
CoinRadar Daily is a non-commercial project. We have no commercial relationship with Lido, earn nothing from any link on this page, and carry no advertising or sponsorship anywhere on the site. Findings rest on public sources; we did not open an account or transact.
Rubric v2.0How we score →
The rest of the liquid staking table
- 01Lido — you are hereThe deepest liquidity and the widest integration of any staking receipt8.2
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How we score →Independent, rubric-scored tables for the services behind this story.
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