DeFi DIY: How to Stake Ethereum on Lido Finance

Welcome to DeFi D.I.Y., a new recurring feature where Decrypt’s DeFi whiz walks you through how to use a specific DeFi tool or platform. Today: staking Ethereum on Lido.

Not everyone has the 32 ETH needed to stake directly onto the Beacon Chain, or Phase 0 of the network’s transition to Ethereum 2.0 and a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism.

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To serve this community of smaller token holders, several projects have emerged that let users stake any sum they want. Moreover, you can still earn a bit of yield on those holdings.

(Also, for the full spiel on Ethereum 2.0, check out our Learn piece here.)

Top services that offer low-volume staking include RocketPool, Stafi, Lido, and several crypto exchanges. The yield for each service differs, of course, but it’s all relatively straightforward.

Let’s dive into Lido specifically because it’s become the most popular staking service, hosting more than 32% of all 12.7 million Ethereum staked on the Beacon Chain, according to Dune Analytics. In dollar terms, that means Lido currently hosts $24.3 billion at current prices.

The staking process on Lido is simple.

Click the “Stake now” button and head over to the staking dashboard. From there, you can choose between various proof-of-stake networks, including Solana, Kusama, Polygon, and Ethereum’s Beacon Chain.

Once you choose Ethereum, you’ll then be prompted to connect a Web3 wallet like Coinbase Wallet, WalletConnect, or MetaMask, among others.

A word of warning: If you’ve been playing around with Aribtrum, Fantom, or Avalanche, don’t forget to swap back to Ethereum Mainnet in your wallet! Lido doesn’t currently support these networks, so deploying capital could result in the permanent loss of funds.

This is what your screen should look like: