Lido lays off 15% of workforce for 'long-term sustainability,' cofounder says

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Quick Take

  • Ethereum staking protocol Lido announced layoffs to reduce contributor teams by 15% across Lido Labs, Lido Ecosystem and Lido Alliance.
  • Lido co-founder Vasiliy Shapovalov said the move was about costs rather than performance.

Ethereum liquid staking protocol Lido has announced a 15% workforce reduction to "ensure long-term sustainability," its co-founder, Vasiliy Shapovalov, said.

Shapovalov wrote in a Friday post on X that Lido Labs, Lido Ecosystem and Lido Alliance have decided to cut around 15% of their contributor teams.

"This decision was about costs — not performance," said Shapovalov. "This is a difficult decision, but one rooted in long-term resilience. 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."

Lido is a protocol built on Ethereum that debuted in 2020, designed to allow users to maintain liquidity with their staked ETH rather than having those funds locked away while participating in network security. In February, Lido v3 introduced modular smart contracts called "stVaults," set to enable users to design advanced staking strategies.

Lido is the second-largest protocol by total value locked operating in the liquid staking niche, with $31 billion locked and $90 million in annualized revenue, according to DeFiLlama data.

LDO token gained 4.3% over the past 24 hours but declined 21.6% for the week, according to The Block's price page.


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© 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

AUTHOR

Timmy Shen is an Asia editor for The Block. Previously, he wrote about crypto and Web3 for Forkast.News from Taiwan after spending more than three years in Beijing covering finance, entertainment business and current affairs at Caixin Global and Chinese tech at TechNode. His China-related reporting has also appeared in The Guardian. When he's not chasing headlines, you'll find him savoring hot pot and shabu shabu in a Taipei local haunt. Timmy holds an MS degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Send tips to [email protected] or get in touch on X/Telegram @timmyhmshen.

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To contact the editor of this story: Vishal Chawla at [email protected]

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