The Lido Finance community voted to expand its services to the BNB Chain. This strategic move, finalized on August 9 through an on-chain vote by the Lido decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), represents Lido’s first venture beyond the Ethereum ecosystem.

Lido Finance is already a dominant player in the Ethereum staking market, holding a substantial 28.2% share of net ETH deposits. According to data from DefiLlama, Lido’s liquid staking protocol commands a remarkable $26.48 billion of the total $83.782 billion in the DeFi ecosystem.

On the other hand, the BNB Chain, which boasts a total value locked (TVL) of approximately $23 billion, is one of the top five blockchain ecosystems by TVL. This integration is expected to open new liquidity avenues for both Lido and the BNB Chain.

The integration of Lido’s stETH with the BNB Chain will be facilitated by Axelar and Wormhole, two of the most trusted bridging solutions in the blockchain space. Axelar and Wormhole will serve as the canonical solutions for bridging stETH to the BNB Chain, ensuring a secure and efficient transfer of assets between the two ecosystems.

Lido’s Staking Model

One of the key advantages of Lido’s liquid staking model is its ability to allow asset mobility while earning staking rewards. 

Unlike traditional staking models that require assets to be locked up, Lido’s model provides stETH tokens in return for staked ETH, which accrue interest and remain tradeable. This functionality, now extended to the BNB Chain, is expected to further enriche Lido’s offering and enhances its appeal in the competitive DeFi landscape.

Introducing Lido Institutional: Catering to Large Investors

In addition to its expansion to the BNB Chain, Lido Finance has recently launched Lido Institutional, a new liquid staking solution aimed at meeting the needs of large institutional clients such as custodians, asset managers, and exchanges. 

This middleware platform is designed to combine the reliability and security necessary for enterprise-level staking with the liquidity and utility required by sophisticated institutional strategies. 

The launch of Lido Institutional comes after months of preparation and strategic collaborations with infrastructure providers such as Taurus and Fireblocks, the latter of which was announced during the EthCC event in July.