Lido DAO (LDO)

What Lido DAO is

Lido is a liquid staking protocol, and LDO is the token that governs it. Lido's documentation describes the protocol as "the leading liquid staking solution - providing a simple way to get rewards on your digital tokens," and names four moving parts: a staking pool that manages deposits, rewards and withdrawals; the staked token itself; the DAO; and the node operators, which the documentation defines as "entities that manage a secure and stable infrastructure for running validator clients" (source: Lido documentation, read September 2026).

The distinction that matters is between the two tokens. Staking ethereum through Lido gives you stETH. LDO is separate: an erc 20 governance token on Ethereum that the documentation describes as "a governance token used for the Lido DAO's voting process." Holding LDO does not earn staking rewards, and holding stETH does not give you a vote.

The point of a liquid staking token is that the deposit does not lock up. Lido's documentation puts it plainly: "Unlike staked tokens, the Lido st[token] are freely transferable instead of locked as in the case of native staking."

For where to buy Lido DAO from your country or state, see the availability tables on this page and the venues listed at Exchanges.

How it works

A deposit goes into a pool rather than into a validator you control. Lido's documentation says stakers "receive staking rewards within 24 hours of your deposit being made, without waiting for validator activation," because rewards are socialized across the pool rather than tied to the moment a specific validator turns on. The DAO selects which node operators run the validators, and configures the protocol parameters those operators work under.

stETH is a rebasing token. Its balance changes rather than its price. Lido's documentation states that "the stETH balance on the holder's address is not constant, it changes daily as oracle report comes in," and that rebases happen when the accounting oracle reports consensus-layer balances, usually once a day.

Underneath the changing balance is a fixed unit. The documentation defines a share as "a basic unit representing the stETH holder's share in the total amount of ether controlled by the protocol," and gives the conversion as shares[account] = balanceOf(account) * totalShares / totalPooledEther. Your share count stays put; what the shares are worth in ether moves.

The oracle report is bounded in both directions, which is a real safety property rather than a marketing line. Lido's documentation states that "the APR cannot exceed 27%, which means a daily rebase is limited to (27/365)%," and that a reported decrease in staked ether "cannot exceed 5%." A single corrupted or mistaken report therefore cannot mint or destroy an arbitrary amount of stETH.

wstETH exists for integrations that cannot cope with a changing balance. The documentation explains that with wstETH "the wstETH balance can only be changed upon transfers, minting, and burning," and that "the wstETH's price denominated in stETH changes instead." The current rate is read on-chain from wstETH.stEthPerToken(), and it updates after each stETH rebase.

Withdrawals run through a queue. A holder approves stETH or wstETH to the withdrawal queue contract and receives an unstETH NFT representing a place in line. Lido's documentation sets the request bounds at a minimum of "100 wei" and a maximum of "1000 eth," and advises that "larger amounts should be split into several requests, which allows us to avoid clogging the queue with an extra large request." The accounting oracle finalizes batches against available ether in the protocol buffer, and the documentation is explicit about the cost of waiting: "token holders don't receive rewards but still take risks during withdrawal. Rewards, acquired since the stETH was locked in the WithdrawalQueue, are burned upon the finalization." When the claim happens the NFT is burned.

Supply and tokenomics

The protocol takes a cut of staking rewards, not of the principal. Lido's documentation states that "Lido applies a 10% fee on staking rewards that are split between node operators and the DAO Treasury," and adds that this fee is subject to change by a DAO vote. That single number is the protocol's entire revenue model, and it is a governance parameter rather than a constant.

LDO's function is voting. Lido's documentation notes that the token contract carries snapshot accessors, balanceOfAt and totalSupplyAt, so voting power is measured at a past block. That detail exists to stop someone borrowing a large balance, voting with it, and returning it in the same transaction.

The documentation read for this page does not state an LDO total supply figure. Read it from the data on this page or from a current Lido disclosure rather than from a secondary source.

History

Lido's design has changed in one important direction: from a single hard-coded set of validators toward a DAO that chooses and replaces operators, and from a one-way deposit toward a functioning withdrawal queue. Both changes track Ethereum's own progress. Before withdrawals were enabled on Ethereum, staked ether could not come back out at all, and stETH traded as a claim on a deposit with no exit. The withdrawal queue turned that claim into a redeemable one.

The rebasing design is the older of the two token models, and wstETH was added because rebasing broke assumptions in lending markets, automated market makers and bridges that expect a balance to change only when someone moves it. Both tokens still exist, and integrations pick whichever one their accounting can handle.

Risks and what to watch

Operator concentration is the risk people argue about most. The DAO chooses who runs the validators, so the security of a large share of staked ether depends on that selection process and on how many independent operators are in it. client diversity sits underneath that: a validator set running one execution or consensus client shares that client's bugs.

slashing risk does not disappear because someone else runs the machine. Penalties for validator misbehavior are borne by the pool, and the oracle's 5% loss ceiling limits how much a single report can recognize, not how much can actually be lost over time.

Governance is a live dependency rather than a background one. The 10% fee, the operator set and the protocol's parameters are all decided by LDO holders, so concentrated voting power is worth tracking directly rather than assuming.

Finally, stETH is not ether, and the two can trade apart. The redemption path exists, but it runs through a queue whose length depends on how much ether is buffered and how many people are leaving at once.

Frequently asked questions

Is LDO the same as stETH?

No. stETH is the receipt for ether staked through Lido and it accrues staking rewards. LDO is a separate ERC-20 governance token on Ethereum used for voting in the Lido DAO.

What fee does Lido charge?

Lido's documentation states a 10% fee on staking rewards, split between node operators and the DAO Treasury. The fee applies to rewards, not to the deposit, and the documentation says it can be changed by a DAO vote.

Why does my stETH balance change on its own?

stETH rebases. Lido's documentation says the balance "changes daily as oracle report comes in." Underneath, your share count is fixed and the value of a share moves. wstETH is the non-rebasing wrapper for integrations that cannot handle a changing balance.

How do withdrawals work?

You request a withdrawal and receive an unstETH NFT representing your position in a queue. Requests must be between 100 wei and 1,000 ETH, and the accounting oracle finalizes batches from available ether. Rewards accrued while waiting are burned at finalization.

Where can you buy Lido DAO?

Availability depends on your country or US state. See where to buy Lido DAO for the exchanges serving your jurisdiction, and Exchanges to compare fees, kyc requirements and supported payment methods.