Lido Finance to discontinue Solana support

The liquidity staking Lido Finance will discontinue operations on the Solana blockchain following a DAO vote. Nearly 93% of its participants supported the decision.

After extensive DAO discussion followed by community vote, the sunsetting of Lido on Solana was approved by LDO holders and will begin shortly.

More information here: https://t.co/MyImL1qpap

— Lido (@LidoFinance) October 16, 2023

In early September, the Lido P2P team, behind the platform’s development on Solana, first proposed ending support for the network. Developer Yuri Medyakov, in a post, cited unstable financial metrics and low fee revenue.

He noted that from 2022 to 2023 the project invested about $700,000 in deploying on Solana, earning roughly $220,000 in revenue.

According to Medyakov, none of the development milestones planned for 2023-2024, including capturing a 2% stake of the staking market, could be achieved without additional support from the Lido DAO.

Another option was to continue operating, for which developers sought $1.5 million in funding for 12 months. The amount included:

• $200,000 per quarter to cover development costs;
• $600,000 for incentive programs and deployment support;
• $100,000 to create a customer support service that meets industry standards.

This scenario assumed Lido’s share in Solana staking would grow to at least 1%, yielding roughly $200,000 in revenue.

On September 28, the protocol team put both options to a DAO vote.

In line with the decision, developers began closing new staking deposits on October 16. On November 17, the node operator shutdown will commence.

The front-end support for Solana will be terminated on February 4, 2024. Until then, the P2P team will be allocated $20,000 per month to undertake the technical measures necessary to wind down operations on the network.

“The decision to close Lido on Solana does not reflect the belief of protocol participants in the potential and longevity of the blockchain ecosystem as a whole,” the team stressed.

And lastly — the decision to sunset Lido on Solana does not reflect the belief of Lido contributors in the potential and longevity of the Solana ecosystem as a whole.

More updates to follow soon ?️❤️

— Lido (@LidoFinance) October 16, 2023

Earlier, Glassnode assessed the impact of Lido’s liquid staking on Ethereum and allowed for further growth of the protocol’s share in the segment.