Want to participate in staking on Ethereum or other PoS blockchains but don't want your funds to be locked for a long time? Lido was created to solve this pain point.

PoS staking sounds great—deposit tokens to earn rewards—but there are two main challenges in practice. One is liquidity: once tokens are locked, you can't use them until they are unlocked, let alone leverage them in DeFi protocols to increase returns. The other is the entry barrier: setting up validator nodes requires technical expertise, and the amount of staked funds needed is not low, which keeps most retail investors out.

Lido's approach is straightforward—through a 1:1 tokenization mechanism, it converts your locked assets into a tradable version. This way, you can earn on-chain staking rewards and also use these tokenized assets on DEXs like Uniswap and Curve to continue earning, effectively earning double yields.

Founded in 2020, Lido started with Ethereum and has now expanded to major PoS chains such as Solana, Polygon, Polkadot, and Kusama. No matter which chain you choose for staking, Lido offers the same liquid staking solution—lowering entry barriers and unlocking the value of locked funds. This is why this scheme is becoming increasingly popular in the DeFi ecosystem.