Ethereum stakers exit Lido for Ether.fi, Renzo

While Ethereum prices fell over 4% in the last 30 days, ETH holders have pivoted away from Lido Finance into restaking protocols.

According to a Dune Analytics dashboard tracking staking activity, Lido Finance had the highest Ethereum (ETH) outflow among similar protocols in the past month.

The page created by researcher Hildobby indicated that stakers withdrew over 284,800 ETH from Lido’s platform. Nevertheless, Lido retained its dominance over the Ethereum staking sphere with a 29.7% market share.

On-chain data revealed that ETH stakers are flocking to liquid restaking protocols. Lido recorded the largest monthly outflows, while Ether. fi and Renzo Protocol attracted the most significant inflows, at over 400,000 and 280,100 Ether, respectively. 

According to DefiLlama, Ether.fi and Renzo are the two largest liquid restaking platforms available. Ether.fi boasts a $3.1 billion total value locked (TVL), and traders have invested north of $2.1 billion into Renzo. Users have locked over $8 billion in these protocols.

Ethereum stakers bet on Eigenlayer points

The shift from Lido into liquid restakers like Ether.fi and Renzo underscores an interest in Eigenlayer points among defi participants. Liquid restaking protocols piggyback off Eigenlayer’s platform to allow stakers to secure other networks and solutions with ETH. 

The practice emerged from staking, a defining feature of Ethereum’s blockchain following the Merge in September 2022, the switch from a proof-of-work consensus mechanism to proof-of-stake. Under the new paradigm, stakers replaced miners as the chief guardians of Ethereum’s chain by locking up ETH with validators to bootstrap security. 

Eigenlayer expanded on this initiative by repurposing staked ETH toward a more expansive basket of protocols and chains tied to Ethereum. The protocol rewards participants with points, and the leading thesis suggests that these points may be converted into a token airdrop in the future.