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Lido cuts 15% of staff across its three teams
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The move aims to control costs, not a result of poor performance
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Comes despite rising revenue and total value locked
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Reflects long-term focus during a market upswing
Lido Announces Workforce Reduction
Lido, the Ethereum-based liquid staking protocol, is reducing its workforce by 15% across three units: Lido Labs, Lido Ecosystem, and Lido Alliance. Co-founder Vasiliy Shapovalov explained the decision in a post on X, emphasizing that the layoffs are aimed at cost reduction and are not performance-related.
“This decision was about costs - not performance,” Shapovalov said. “It reflects a commitment to sustainable growth and long-term resilience.”
Why Lido Is Cutting Back
The announcement comes at a time when the crypto market is rising, making the move seem counterintuitive. However, Shapovalov said the strategy is to keep operations focused and aligned with the interests of LDO tokenholders.
Lido currently holds $31 billion in total value locked (TVL) and earns about $90 million annually, according to DeFiLlama. Despite its strong position, the team is choosing to trim costs to remain efficient.
Lido’s Product Evolution and Market Position
Lido launched in 2020 to let users stake ETH and still keep liquidity. In February, it introduced Lido v3 with smart contract modules called “stVaults,” allowing advanced staking strategies. It is currently the second-largest protocol in the liquid staking space.
While the LDO token rose 4.3% in the last 24 hours, it is still down more than 20% for the week, reflecting broader market volatility.
