Lido Finally Sets Date for stETH Withdrawals

Stakers will soon be able to swap stETH for ETH for the first time since 2020.

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Lido DAO announced it would soon have the final vote for the Lido V2 upgrade.
Half a billion dollars worth of ETH is set to be unlocked.
Lido assures ETH withdrawals would be serviced quickly.

The Ethereum Shapella upgrade that enabled staked ETH (stETH) withdrawals has only one final puzzle left. That puzzle is Lido.

The largest liquid staking derivatives (LSD) protocol has set a date for enabling staking withdrawals, with half a billion dollars worth of ETH set to enter the market.

Lido DAO, the governing body of the protocol, shared on Twitter on Tuesday that it’s planning to enable staked ETH withdrawals next week.

The DAO said that the final vote for the Lido V2 upgrade is set for May 12. The vote will last three days, and if there are no last-minute changes and the vote is successful, Lido will enable withdrawals on May 15.

There are around 270,000 ETH, worth $500 million at the current ETH price of $1,844, locked in Lido’s smart contracts. After the upgrade, stakers who staked with Lido will be able to swap their stETH back for ETH for the first time since the launch of the Beacon Chain in December 2020.

Lido assured that withdrawal requests are “likely to be serviced more quickly during the first three days.”

Lido allows users to stake less than 32 ETH and is the most popular staking service in the market. According to data from Nansen, Lido currently has over 6.1 million ETH deposits. stETH is the eighth largest cryptocurrency with a market cap of almost $12 billion.

The Shapella upgrade that went live on Ethereum mainnet on April 12 enabled Ethereum validators to either fully or partially withdraw their staked ETH. The withdrawal queue has virtually been cleaned, with beaconcha.in showing only one validator looking to exit the staking program.

On the Flipside

The 270,000 ETH currently locked in Lido’s smart contracts can fluctuate. However, it’s unlikely that there will be a mass exodus of stETH holders since Lido has seen an uptick in deposits following the Shapella upgrade.