Lido

Lido receives a B risk grade (23/100) from Hindenrank, where lower scores indicate lower risk. Lower risk — DeFi's most battle-tested staking protocol, but its sheer size makes it a systemic risk to Ethereum itself The largest liquid staking protocol in crypto, letting you stake ETH and receive stETH that earns rewards while staying liquid for use across DeFi. It manages $18.3B with 28% of all staked ETH across 683+ operators. Dual governance (launched July 2025) gives stETH holders veto power over protocol changes. Its B grade reflects exceptional battle-testing and documentation, offset by the systemic risk of one protocol controlling so much of Ethereum's security.

The key risks identified for Lido are: (1) With 28% of all staked ETH, Lido is approaching the 33% threshold where a single protocol could interfere with Ethereum's consensus mechanism (2) 683+ operators now run validators across curated and permissionless modules, but top operators still hold large stake concentrations. If several fail at once, stETH could trade at a discount like it did in June 2022. (3) stETH is used as collateral everywhere in DeFi. A depeg would trigger cascading liquidations across Aave, Maker, and dozens of other protocols.

Lido scores 23/100 across eight risk dimensions: Mechanism Novelty: 0/15, Interaction Severity: 3/20, Oracle Surface: 2/10, Documentation Gaps: 1/10, Track Record: 2/15, Scale Exposure: 9/10, Regulatory Risk: 3/10, Vitality Risk: 3/10. The highest risk area is Scale Exposure at 9/10.

Among 81 rated Liquid Staking protocols on Hindenrank, Lido ranks #7 by safety (lowest risk score = safest). Its 23/100 risk score and B grade place it among the safer Liquid Staking protocols.

Lido scores 2/15 on the Track Record risk dimension, indicating some history of security incidents or exploits. Higher scores reflect more severe or frequent incidents. Review the full risk report for details.