Liquid Staking Protocol Lido Cuts 15% of Staff to Boost Long-Term Sustainability

Ethereum-based liquid staking giant Lido has slashed its workforce by 15%, a move co-founder Vasiliy Shapovalov says is aimed at preserving the project’s long-term viability.

Key Takeaways:

• Lido cut 15% of its workforce to focus on long-term sustainability and cost control.
• The protocol continues to lead in liquid staking with $31B TVL and advanced staking features.
• A recent oracle key breach was contained without impact on user funds or protocol integrity.

In a statement posted Friday on X, Shapovalov said the layoffs will impact contributors across Lido Labs, Lido Ecosystem, and Lido Alliance.

“This decision was about costs — not performance,” he wrote. “While it may seem counterintuitive amid a market upswing, the move reflects a deliberate commitment to sustainable growth, operational focus, and alignment with the priorities of LDO tokenholders.”

Founded in 2020, Lido allows users to stake ETH while maintaining liquidity, removing the trade-off between earning staking rewards and having access to assets.

The protocol rolled out its Lido v3 upgrade earlier this year, introducing “stVaults,” modular smart contracts that let users customize their staking strategies.

Despite the job cuts, Lido remains one of the most dominant players in the liquid staking sector.

It currently holds $31 billion in total value locked (TVL) and generates approximately $90 million in annualized revenue, according to DeFiLlama.

The LDO token saw a 4.3% uptick in the past 24 hours, though it’s still down 21.6% over the week, reflecting continued volatility in the staking and DeFi space.

In May, Lido discovered a compromised oracle key linked to validator operator Chorus One.

As part of efforts to ensure long-term sustainability, Lido Labs, Lido Ecosystem, and Lido Alliance have made the hard decision to reduce the size of their contributor teams, impacting around 15% of the workforce.

This decision was about costs — not performance. It affects…

The breach, identified on May 10 after a wallet triggered a low-balance alert, led to the loss of 1.46 ETH but did not affect user funds or disrupt staking operations.

The affected wallet, created in 2021, lacked the same security protocols as other critical infrastructure.

Thanks to Lido’s 5-of-9 quorum oracle model, the threat was contained without compromising the protocol’s integrity.

All other oracle participants and infrastructure passed security checks.

Chorus One clarified that no customer assets were at risk, and the breached wallet was never used to hold client funds.

Last year, Lido announced its decision to end staking services on the Polygon network, citing limited user adoption, evolving DeFi trends, and a renewed strategic emphasis on Ethereum.

The decision to exit Polygon was attributed to multiple challenges, including high maintenance demands, insufficient staking rewards, and the increasing prominence of zkEVM technology in the DeFi space.

Lido’s team stated that the rise of zkEVM-focused solutions reduced demand for liquid staking on Polygon’s Proof-of-Stake (PoS) chain, impacting its growth potential within the DeFi ecosystem.

Lido’s exit from Polygon followed a similar move last year when it ceased operations on the Solana blockchain due to financial constraints and low fees.

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