Andreessen Horowitz has invested $70 million in Lido Finance, an Ethereum staking solution. Through the funding, the venture capital firm aims to boost the adoption of decentralized staking solutions for Ethereum 2.0. It should be noted that Ethereum 2.0 brings about a significant change to the network’s consensus process. It introduces proof-of-stake (PoS) and other enhancements that may enhance scalability and cut fees.
Staking Ether, as per Andreessen Horowitz, is difficult because of the high cost of running the node. Users must stake at least 32 ETH in order to become a complete validator. The firm is also staking a portion of its Ethereum assets on the Beacon Chain through the protocol. The Beacon Chain recently registered its 300,000th validator.
Andreessen Horowitz highlighted that staking with Lido eliminates a significant number of operational obstacles that institutional investors have encountered. Through Lido, investors can stalk smaller amounts without the hassle of operating their own software and hardware. However, the company takes a cut of the staking rewards in return for the services it provided. Andreessen Horowitz says Lido provides a way to earn extra yields before the 4.9% APY. A token – STETH which represents the locked ETH is issued. This token can be used on other DeFi platforms.
There is about $10 billion worth of Ethereum staked with Lido. This gives it an 80% market share of the liquid staking ecosystem. Besides Ethereum, Lido supports liquid staking for Solana, Kusama, and Terra blockchains. It also intends to launch on the Polygon blockchain later this month.
