Lido Staked ETH Market Cap Hits All Time High

Lido’s Staked Ethereum (stETH) market cap reached an all-time high of over $12 billion.

According to BeinCrypto data, Lido stETH is now the eighth largest digital asset by market cap — ahead of top cryptocurrencies like Dogecoin, Solana, and Polygon.

The Cryptocurrency’s market cap first topped 12 billion on April 14 before dipping above and below the milestone figure several times during the week. Earlier in the week, DeFillama reported that over 6 million ETH had been locked on the DeFi protocol.

Liquid Staking Deposits Grow Post-Shapella

Since Ethereum enabled withdrawals for its users through the Shapella upgrade, liquid staking derivatives (LSD) protocols have seen the total value of assets locked (TVL) on their platforms rise.

The 82 liquid staking protocols tracked by DeFillama have a cumulative TVL of $17.06 billion — with Lido being the dominant player in the sector. These protocols have seen their TVL grow by an average of 10% in the last seven days.

A relatively new liquid staking protocol, Agility, has seen its TVL grow to $336.29 million from $62.9 million recorded on April 12, according to DeFillama data. The protocol’s growth indicates the growth and interest LSDs have generated post-Shapella upgrade.

Meanwhile, IntoTheBlock pointed out that there has been an unexpected staking share increase for institutional staking providers and Asian exchanges. According to its data, the biggest gainers were Asian centralized exchanges, Huobi and OKX.

Liquid staking platforms Lido and Rocket Pool have seen their staking share decline by double digits since the upgrade.

Staked Etherreum Deposits Outpace Withdrawals

According to the Nansen dashboard, staked Ether deposits outpaced withdrawals during this period. For example, around 80,000 ETH was deposited in the last 24 hours, while less than 5,000 ETH were withdrawn. This suggests that rather than a great unstaking, the Shapella upgrade has initiated more of a reshuffle of Ethereum staking pools.

Meanwhile, blockchain analyst Lookonchain reported that some addresses withdrawing their staked ETH were immediately re-staking them.

BeInCrypto reported that regulatory actions in the United States forced firms to withdraw their staked ETH. According to the report, US-based firms like Kraken, Coinbase, and bankrupt lender Celsius led the first wave of withdrawals.