Lido DAO (LDO)
Unlock Schedule
Lido DAO (LDO) Token Unlock & Vesting Schedule
As of October 16, 2026, 1 billion of the 1 billion LDO (100.00%) have been released. No further releases are scheduled; the schedule was fully unlocked on December 17, 2022.
The chart shows gross modeled releases of every allocation: vesting unlocks, new issuance and reserve distributions, each allocation counted once. These have different meanings; a scheduled release is not evidence that tokens entered circulation or were sold. Review the coverage, sources and assumptions below.
Each color segment in the chart corresponds to a specific allocation group described in the Allocations section below. Underlying assumptions and data models used to reconstruct this schedule are explained in detail under Assumptions, while broader utility insights and token use cases are covered in Tokenomics & Utility.
Tokenomics & Utility
Supply, allocation, and voting
One billion LDO tokens were minted when Lido DAO launched. The initial allocation was 36.32% to the DAO treasury, 22.18% to investors, 20% to initial developers, 15% to founders and future employees, and 6.5% to validators and signature holders. These figures describe the original allocation, rather than the holdings of those groups today. (blog.lido.fi)
LDO is an ERC-20 token on Ethereum. A holder’s voting weight is proportional to the amount of LDO they hold. Votes can shape fees, operator and oracle assignments, upgrades, and treasury use. The treasury supports work such as research, development, and ecosystem programs. Staking rewards, meanwhile, are reflected through stETH; holding LDO alone does not make it a staked-ETH position. (docs.lido.fi)
For the core pool, Lido’s documented protocol fee is 10% of staking rewards, divided between node operators and the DAO treasury. Token holders can change protocol parameters through governance. In 2026, the DAO also approved NEST, an automated system designed to use part of qualifying treasury surplus to acquire LDO under limits set by a DAO vote. Tokens acquired in its initial mode go to the DAO treasury. (docs.lido.fi)
Assumptions
Lido minted 1 billion LDO at launch: four founding-member allocations unlocked gradually from December 2021 to December 2022, while its treasury allocation was available to the DAO from launch. The chart can date those founding-member unlocks, the early-staker airdrop’s reported availability month, two documented Curve incentive periods, and certain treasury transfers. Other treasury sales, grants, referrals, liquidity incentives and contributor rewards have documented budgets or partial historical figures but lack enough payment or vesting dates for a complete monthly curve. Estimated timing is labeled, and treasury-funded programs are subsets of the original supply rather than new LDO issuance.
- DAO treasury: Releases depend on future governance or treasury decisions.
- Early-staker airdrop: Timing not yet established.
- 2021 Paradigm and strategic-partner treasury sale: Releases depend on recipients claiming tokens or on grants being awarded.
- Paradigm portion of 2021 strategic sale: The sources give the amount but no release dates.
- Other institutions and angels in 2021 strategic sale: Releases depend on recipients claiming tokens or on grants being awarded.
- 2022 Dragonfly treasury sale: The sources give the amount but no release dates.
- Early Curve stETH/ETH liquidity incentives: Timing not yet established.
- Initial 1inch LDO/stETH LP rewards: The sources give the amount but no release dates.
- ARCx liquidity incentives: The sources give the amount but no release dates.
- DeversiFi liquidity markets: The sources give the amount but no release dates.
- Lido referral rewards: Only secondary sources describe the timing, so it is not confirmed.
- Lido referral rewards: Releases depend on future governance or treasury decisions.
- reWARDS cross-chain liquidity incentives: Releases depend on future governance or treasury decisions.
- Contributor Token Reward Plan: The original schedule was changed and the new timing is not yet published.
- Contributor Token Reward Plan: Releases depend on recipients claiming tokens or on grants being awarded.
- 1. https://blog.lido.fi/introducing-ldo/
- 2. https://blog.lido.fi/lido-dao-treasury-fund/
- 3. https://blog.lido.fi/lido-development-update-four-months-of-lido/
- 4. https://blog.lido.fi/lido-development-update-3-months-of-lido/
- 5. https://blog.lido.fi/lido-development-update-2/
- 6. https://research.lido.fi/t/proposal-16-retroactive-airdrop-0-5-ldo-to-early-steth-users/69?page=2
- 7. https://research.lido.fi/t/proposal-ldo-treasury-diversification/458
- 8. https://research.lido.fi/t/proposal-ldo-treasury-diversification-part-2/506
- 9. https://research.lido.fi/t/lido-treasury-diversification-part-3/1059
- 10. https://research.lido.fi/t/treasury-diversification-2-part-2/2657?page=2
- 11. https://research.lido.fi/t/lego-a-proposal-to-continue-lego-for-the-forthcoming-quarter/896
- 12. https://research.lido.fi/t/observing-cross-chain-incentives/3409
- 13. https://research.lido.fi/t/add-vesting-to-referral-rewards/1245
- 14. https://research.lido.fi/t/request-to-authorise-a-22m-ldo-ceiling-for-a-four-year-contributor-token-reward-plan-trp/3833
- 15. https://research.lido.fi/t/transfer-trp-to-lido-labs-foundation-and-amend-trp-terms/10647
- 16. https://research.lido.fi/t/transfer-trp-to-lido-labs-foundation-and-amend-trp-terms/10647?page=2
Tokenomics Overview
Market Data
Tile coloring: Green indicates positive changes, red indicates negative changes, and neutral indicates no significant trend or unavailable data.
Perpetuals: 4 markets on Binance, OKX, Hyperliquid and Lighter · $30.8M open interest
 Binance (CEX) | 7.2M | 98K/123K |
 OKX (CEX) | 1.9M | 75K/84K |
 HTX (CEX) | 1.6M | 1.3K/1.2K |
 Bybit (CEX) | 1.5M | 28K/47K |
 KuCoin (CEX) | 434K | 20K/23K |
 Kraken (CEX) | 416K | 105K/71K |
 MEXC (CEX) | 379K | 111K/68K |
 Coinbase (CEX) | 344K | 44K/64K |
Binance (CEX) | 311K | 14K/18K |
 Gate.io (CEX) | 274K | 90K/109K |
 Bitget (CEX) | 253K | 47K/63K |
Binance (CEX) | 218K | 25K/33K |
Gate.io (CEX) | 153K | 6.9K/12K |
 Uniswap V3 (Ethereum) | 123K | 1.4K/1.4K |
Kraken (CEX) | 105K | 23K/37K |
MEXC (CEX) | 56K | 101K/70K |
OKX (CEX) | 24K | 73K/91K |
Uniswap V3 (Arbitrum) | 12K | 1.3K/1.3K |
Uniswap V3 (Arbitrum) | 12K | 421/420 |
Bybit (CEX) | 9.6K | 3.8K/4.7K |
Binance (CEX) | 7.4K | 3.6K/3.4K |
KuCoin (CEX) | 5.6K | 1K/1.8K |
Uniswap V3 (Ethereum) | 5.3K | 2.7K/2.7K |
OKX (CEX) | 2.7K | 22K/30K |
Allocations
Description
#134
Lido DAO is a decentralized organization that manages liquid staking protocols for Ethereum and other networks. It uses its governance token, LDO, to decide on key parameters and reward node operators and oracles.
| Sector: | Liquid Staking |
| Blockchain: | Ethereum |
Tokenomics Overview
Market Data
Tile coloring: Green indicates positive changes, red indicates negative changes, and neutral indicates no significant trend or unavailable data.
Perpetuals: 4 markets on Binance, OKX, Hyperliquid and Lighter · $30.8M open interest
Binance (CEX) | 7.2M | 98K/123K |
OKX (CEX) | 1.9M | 75K/84K |
HTX (CEX) | 1.6M | 1.3K/1.2K |
Bybit (CEX) | 1.5M | 28K/47K |
KuCoin (CEX) | 434K | 20K/23K |
Kraken (CEX) | 416K | 105K/71K |
MEXC (CEX) | 379K | 111K/68K |
Coinbase (CEX) | 344K | 44K/64K |
Binance (CEX) | 311K | 14K/18K |
Gate.io (CEX) | 274K | 90K/109K |
Bitget (CEX) | 253K | 47K/63K |
Binance (CEX) | 218K | 25K/33K |
Gate.io (CEX) | 153K | 6.9K/12K |
Uniswap V3 (Ethereum) | 123K | 1.4K/1.4K |
Kraken (CEX) | 105K | 23K/37K |
MEXC (CEX) | 56K | 101K/70K |
OKX (CEX) | 24K | 73K/91K |
Uniswap V3 (Arbitrum) | 12K | 1.3K/1.3K |
Uniswap V3 (Arbitrum) | 12K | 421/420 |
Bybit (CEX) | 9.6K | 3.8K/4.7K |
Binance (CEX) | 7.4K | 3.6K/3.4K |
KuCoin (CEX) | 5.6K | 1K/1.8K |
Uniswap V3 (Ethereum) | 5.3K | 2.7K/2.7K |
OKX (CEX) | 2.7K | 22K/30K |