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Lido

Lido

AuditedVerifiedBluechip

Lido is the dominant liquid staking protocol on Ethereum. Stake any amount of ETH and receive stETH — a liquid receipt token earning daily staking rewards — with no validator requirements.

Liquid StakingEthereumArbitrumOptimismBasezkSyncLineaScrollTVL: $26.3BLast updated: Sep 16, 2026
Risk Rating
AAA
Safety Score
97

Risk Profile Overview

Overall Rating
(97/100)
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Active Risk Alerts

Live signals detected by Sentinel monitors across all five risk classes.

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Score history

Re-checked monthlyNo net change

This rating is re-checked every month. A point is recorded for every check, so a flat line means we looked and nothing moved. Hover anywhere on the chart to see what moved that month, and by how much.

100
96
91
Aug 2026Sep

The Problem

Staking ETH requires 32 ETH minimum, technical validator expertise, and locks capital indefinitely — excluding most users and making staked ETH unusable in DeFi.

The Solution

Lido pools any amount of ETH, delegates to professional validators, and issues stETH — a fully liquid receipt token usable as DeFi collateral that earns daily staking rewards automatically.

Why it Matters

Deepest stETH/wstETH liquidity in DeFi (Curve, Uniswap, Balancer), widest DeFi integration (collateral in Aave, Morpho, Spark, Maker), and the only LST with a staker-protective Dual Governance veto mechanism.

Protocol Metrics

TVL Trend
$26.26B

Related Research

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Frequently asked questions about Lido

What is Lido?+

Lido is a Liquid Staking protocol operating on Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, zkSync, Linea, Scroll. Lido is the dominant liquid staking protocol on Ethereum. Stake any amount of ETH and receive stETH — a liquid receipt token earning daily staking rewards — with no validator requirements.

How does Lido work?+

Lido pools any amount of ETH, delegates to professional validators, and issues stETH — a fully liquid receipt token usable as DeFi collateral that earns daily staking rewards automatically.

Is Lido safe?+

DeFi Sentinel rates Lido AAA with a safety score of 97/100, indicating highest safety tier. The score reflects five risk dimensions: smart contract & technical risk, economic design & market risk, governance & centralization, sustainability & competitive position, and reputation & social trust. Lido has 6 audits on record. DeFi Sentinel's analysis flagged 1 medium risk alerts across Governance & Centralization. As with all DeFi protocols, residual risk remains and users should review the full risk breakdown before depositing.

What is the safety score of Lido?+

Lido has a DeFi Sentinel safety score of 97/100 (rating AAA), last updated September 16, 2026. The score is computed across smart contract & technical risk (30%), economic design & market risk (25%), governance & centralization (20%), sustainability & competitive position (15%), and reputation & social trust (10%).

Which chains does Lido support?+

Lido is deployed on Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, zkSync, Linea, Scroll.

Has Lido been audited?+

Yes. Lido has 6 audit reports on record from firms including OpenZeppelin, Statemind, Ackee Blockchain. Audit reports and dates are linked under the Resources tab on this page.