Major Ethereum staking project Lido is consolidating around a fifth of all staked ETH onto Ethereum's larger post-Pectra 0x02 validators, as part of a major protocol upgrade on Monday.
This represents a consolidation of more than 8 million ETH, worth about $16 billion.
These larger validators can hold up to 2,048 ETH instead of the previous 32 ETH maximum, enabling Lido’s professional node operators to secure more stake with fewer individual validators.
In addition to boosting the amount of staked ETH on 0x02 validators to roughly 52%, from about 32% today, the move will significantly reduce Ethereum's total validator count by roughly one third, “easing load on the network,” Lido said.
While disconnected from R&D efforts at the Ethereum Foundation and recently launched ETH Labs unit, Lido noted the upgrade comes as Ethereum developers continue to research and activate ways to make the base layer leaner and faster, an effort broadly known as Lean Ethereum.
