Key Takeaways

• Lido Institutional provides secure, reliable staking for large-scale clients.
• Lido controls a significant 28.5% of the Ether staking market.

Lido Finance has introduced Lido Institutional, a new liquidity staking solution designed for large clients such as custodians, asset managers, and exchanges. The middleware product aims to provide enterprise-grade security and reliability while maintaining the liquidity and utility required for diverse institutional strategies.

Trusted by a growing list of prominent institutional partners, Lido already stands out as a premier choice for many institutions looking to engage in Ethereum staking.

Its middleware solution combines the reliability and security necessary for enterprise-grade staking with the…

— Lido (@LidoFinance) August 2, 2024

Lido Finance is currently the largest liquid staking protocol controlling over 28.5% of all staked Ether (ETH). The company stated that Lido Institutional combines the necessary reliability and security for enterprise-grade staking with the liquidity and utility required for various institutional strategies.The launch of Lido Institutional follows recent partnerships with infrastructure providers. In February, Lido teamed up with Taurus, and in July, it announced an integration with Fireblocks at the EthCC event. Both firms are now listed as custody solutions on Lido Institutional’s website.Lido Finance, launched in 2020, allows users to stake any amount of ETH as part of a pool and receive rewards, bypassing the 32 ETH minimum required for direct network staking. Users can also utilize their Lido Staked ETH (STETH) for other activities. The protocol takes a 10% fee on staking rewards, split between node operators and the DAO treasury.Despite its growing popularity, Lido faces regulatory challenges in the United States. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) claimed in a June complaint against Consensys that Lido and competitor Rocket Pool sell unregistered securities.

“Investors make an investment of ETH in a common enterprise with a reasonable expectation of profits from the managerial efforts of Lido and Rocket Pool, respectively,” the SEC said.

The SEC argued that investors make ETH investments with expectations of profits from Lido and Rocket Pool’s efforts, yet neither has filed a registration statement for these alleged investment contracts.