Why Lido Finance [LDO] is still a king in the ETH staking world

Ethereum’s final transition into a proof of stake network is the most anticipated event in the blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystem this year.

It is therefore imperative to constantly assess how platforms like Lido Finance – which make it possible for its users to stake any amount of ETH in exchange for various reward incentives – perform. 

How has Lido been?

Following the six-month-long consistent decline in the total value locked (TVL) within the DeFi ecosystem, July marked the beginning of new things as TVL across many protocols started to recover.

At $68.98 billion, TVL has grown by 18% in the last month, data from DefiLama noted. 

After dropping by 74% between 4 May and 30 June, Lido Finance’s TVL has started to make a recovery, albeit slow.

At press time, TVL on the platform stood at $7.76 billion, rallying by 39% since 30 June. It ranked behind MakerDao, which led the whole ecosystem with a TVL of $8.8 billion.

With $7.76 billion in TVL, Lido Finance holds an 11% market share in the entire market of $68.98 billion in TVL. 

Source: DefiLlama

In the last seven days, Lido Finance registered a 5.1% growth in its TVL. The rally is primarily attributable to general growth in the price of many other crypto assets and increased staking with Lido on alt-chains.

As of this writing, the total amount of ETH staked so far stood at 13,218,597, data from Dune Analytics revealed. With 4,143,904 staked with Lido Finance, it represents 31% of the total ETH staked in the market.

Source: Dune Analytics

However, Lido’s share of total staked ETH has shrunk considerably since 29 May.

Source: Dune Analytics

In addition, the APR offered to those who stake in Lido has declined steadily since the beginning of the year. In January, this stood at 4.93%. Declining by 17% in about eight months, this was pegged at 4.07% at press time.

Source: Dune Analytics

On the revenue side, data from Token Terminal showed that in the last 180 days, DoD revenue made by Lido grew by over 15.4%. As of 8 August, daily revenue earned by the platform totaled $877,000.

Source: Token Terminal

What about the LDO token?

The price of the protocol’s native token has grown consistently in the last month. Trading at $2.225 at press time, LDO grew by 69% in the last 30 days.

Within that period, the token averaged a daily transaction volume of 89.38 million.

Source: Santiment