Ethereum (ETH) deployment has seen a surge in recent months after its recent upgrade dubbed Shanghai, and the network has also seen the continued dominance of its so-called cartel Lido Finance, according to the latest report from blockchain intelligence firm Glassnode.
Some observers thought that April’s Shanghai upgrade – which allowed users to pick up and withdraw their tokens – would mean a rush for the exits. Glassnode’s analysis shows that the opposite happened.
According to Glassnode, daily stakes deposits into Shanghai increased from 460 to 8,108 daily, posting an impressive increase on June 2 with 13,595 deposits. Over the past month, Ethereum deposits have averaged 2,267 per day.
The biggest winner continues to be the aforementioned Lido Finance, which caused quite a stir noticeable Conversations on Crypto Twitter due to its outsized footprint in the network’s staking pools – and the Driven This type of centralization presents itself.
Liquid staking refers to escrowing Ethereum in a log, which then pools it with other users’ deposits and then pledges the ETH on their behalf. In return, users receive another token representing their wagered position, which accumulates its own rewards. In the case of Lido, users receive staked Ethereum, or stETH.
Controversy erupted last month when many in the community – including the Ethereum Foundation – protested that Lido’s pools were getting too big.
Some called to actionbut little has changed since then.
Although Lido suffered a temporary drop in its size after the upgrade, it quickly bounced back to hit a new all-time high of 7.49 million stETH. This figure outperforms the second largest pool, RocketPool (rETH), which holds 461,000 stETH, by a staggering 16x.
The numbers also show that the supply of rETH has grown 300% faster this year compared to stETH. Glassnode also notes that while Lido has the highest supply, most liquidity, and has the greatest network effects, it has not seen an increase in new users.
Since the upgrade, there has also been a shift in stETH flowing over DeFi protocols. The token has a diminishing spot in certain DEX liquidity pools and has seen a sizeable drop in its largest pool (stETH-ETH curve pool) – a 39% drop in total locked value, a figure that hasn’t been seen since the collapse of Terra-Luna was no longer achieved. On the other hand, the use of collateral in lending protocols has increased, suggesting a potential strategy for investors to maximize staking returns.
With the stakes rising — and regardless of the annual trend in favor of RocketPool or Lido’s reduced presence in some areas of DeFi — the Ethereum cartel persists for now.