Lido's Explosive Growth Sparks Debates Over Centralization Risks

Liquid staking protocol Lido LDO/USD on Monday announced that the platform's Total Value Locked (TVL) surpassed $20 billion for the first time since April 2022, and the number of first-time ETH stakers on Lido exceeded 200,000 in November.

However, this rapid growth has sparked debates within the Ethereum ETH/USD community regarding Lido's increasing influence.

Lido's TVL experienced a notable upswing of over 18%, driven by an increase in net ETH deposits and a surge in ETH's price, according to Lido's report.

This growth is a testament to the platform's expanding influence in the DeFi ecosystem.

Additionally, Lido's Ethereum staking token Lido Staked Ether ( stETH), including its wrapped version (wstETH), observed a 10.34% increase, reaching 3.52 million stETH.

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This growth was primarily driven by the token's rising popularity across various lending protocols.

Lido's expansion continued with new collaborations and integrations.

Notable developments included the listing of LDO on Hashkey Exchange and the integration of wstETH into Aave AAVE/USD V3 on Base.

Concerns In The Ethereum Community

Despite these achievements, Lido's dominant position in the Ethereum staking landscape has raised concerns.

The platform's significant share of staked ETH has led to discussions about the potential centralization risks and the impact on Ethereum's decentralized ethos. 

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