What is Lido DAO (LDO)?
LDO is the governance token of Lido DAO, the decentralized community that oversees Lido — a liquid staking protocol operating primarily on Ethereum. Lido lets users stake assets without locking them up: in return for staked ETH, users receive a liquid token that can be traded or used across DeFi while still earning staking rewards. LDO holders steer the protocol’s direction by voting on its core parameters.
What decisions can LDO holders influence?
Through the DAO, LDO holders vote on protocol fees, the selection and management of node operators, treasury allocations, and incentive programs. They also approve smart contract upgrades and decide which new blockchains the protocol should support. The governance process is staged: discussion begins on the research forum, moves to an off-chain Snapshot vote, and — for actions that require on-chain execution — concludes with an on-chain Aragon vote. A proposal needs both a minimum participation of 5% of the total LDO supply and a simple majority to pass.
How the Lido protocol works and where LDO fits
Lido pools users’ ETH and stakes it with a curated set of professional validators. In exchange, each user receives stETH, a token that mirrors the value of their staked ETH and grows automatically as staking rewards accumulate. Because stETH is liquid, it can be moved, sold, or used as collateral without waiting for funds to be unlocked. LDO operates one layer above this mechanism. It does not participate in staking directly; instead, it gives the community the power to set the rules — from fee parameters to validator selection and security budgets — keeping the protocol aligned with its users over time. LDO is an ERC-20 token on Ethereum with a fixed supply cap of one billion; no additional tokens can be minted.
