Lido Liquid Staking Protocol Launched its Community Staking Module (CSM) on the Ethereum (ETH) mainnet on October 25. The CSM allows any user staking ETH to become a solo validator.
CSM aims to reduce barriers to Ethereum staking by allowing individuals to operate Ethereum validators with less technical know-how and an Ether deposit requirement of less than 32 ETH.
However, CSM is currently in the “Early Adoption” phase, allowing only selected community stakeholders to participate, with the entirely permissionless phase expected to go live soon.
When approving the settings for the mainnet release, 109 Lido DAO governance members allocated 71 million LDO tokens in favor, while 86 members voted against.
Lido is currently the largest decentralized application in terms of total value locked, with over $24 billion in its smart contracts, according to at DefiLlama.
Notably, CSM underwent a testing period on Ethereum’s Holesky testnet launched on July 1. The three-month trial welcomed more than 370 unique node operators, including 70 solo stakers, in the first 10 days.
Improve accessibility
The Ethereum staking landscape faces an old challenge consisting of the high capital and technical expertise typically required to operate a validator.
Unlike conventional solo staking, which requires a bond of 32 ETH – equivalent to $79,000 at current prices – CSM reduces the threshold to 2.4 ETH to start and 1.3 ETH for later validators.
Additionally, potential validators can use the Lido interface and do not need to configure their own operation.
Thus, by allowing a wide range of participants to access the network, the CSM contributes to the decentralization of Ethereum.
Dmitry Gusakov, CSM technical lead and Lido protocol contributor, said:
“The Community Staking module allows more people to contribute to the security and decentralization of Ethereum, creating a healthier and more resilient network. We are committed to removing barriers so that everyone, regardless of their financial or technical background, can contribute to the security of Ethereum.
The CSM is based on the Staking Router, a modular architectural upgrade that allows anyone to develop on-ramps for new node operators.
