Recent statistics indicate that in the past six months, a substantial 2.15 million ethereum has been allocated to liquid staking derivatives protocols. As of Jan. 6, 2024, Lido Finance holds a dominant share, exceeding 75% of the total deposited ether, with a massive addition of 1.7 million ethereum deposited since July 5, 2023.
Liquid Staking Protocols Surge, Locking More Than $27B of Ethereum
The arena of liquid staking protocols has witnessed significant expansion, both in the volume of ether deposits and ETH’s overall value increase, during the last half-year. Archived records from defillama.com on July 5, 2023, reveal that 10.16 million ether, valued at $19.69 billion, were locked in these protocols. Presently, the combined total has surged to 12.31 million ether, now worth $27.49 billion.
Ethereum’s liquid staking protocols enable participants to stake their ETH while preserving liquidity by acquiring a representative token usable across decentralized finance (defi) platforms. Upon staking ETH, users are issued a liquid derivative, such as Lido’s STETH or Rocket Pool’s RETH, symbolizing their staked capital along with any accrued rewards.
Half a year prior, Lido stood as the foremost liquid staking protocol regarding ether held, safeguarding 7.56 million ETH. Today, Lido’s holdings have escalated to 9.26 million. Rocket Pool’s holdings ascended from 810,502 ether as of July 5, 2023, to 1.09 million ETH by Jan. 6, 2024. Meanwhile, Binance’s liquid staking protocol underwent massive growth, soaring from 72,077 ETH to the current 779,785 ETH.
In this context, Lido’s ethereum reserves burgeoned by 21.16%, whereas the ether held by Binance’s liquid staking platform mushroomed by 981%. Stakewise observed a modest increase from 91,910 to 97,199 ether, and Coinbase’s staking service receded from the second-largest position to the fifth rank in the past six months.
Mantle and Swell have swiftly ascended the ranks, with Mantle now holding 174,532 ether in the sixth position, and Swell at the seventh with 142,725 ether. Both have surpassed Stakewise earlier in the year. With an addition of 2.15 million ether, valued at $4.83 billion, across the top 27 liquid staking protocols in six months, the momentum behind liquid staking shows no signs of waning.
What do you think about the liquid staking platforms witnessing an increase of 2.15 million ether over the last six months? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
