Lido Finance expects it will support staked ether withdrawals by mid-May

Lido Finance, the largest liquid staking protocol for ETH, will enable staked ether (stETH) withdrawals in May, a few weeks after the scheduled release of the Shanghai-Capella (Shapella) upgrade. This should spread out the amount of ether that will get unlocked into a few stages.

While withdrawals from ETH validators will be launched by the end of April, stETH withdrawals on the Lido protocol are expected to be available around mid-May after on-chain code audits are completed.

"stETH withdrawals won’t launch on mainnet until all audits concerning on-chain code are completed (expected end of April). Adding another 2 weeks as a safety margin, the current expectation is for mainnet withdrawals to be live around mid May," the Lido Finance team said.

Lido Finance allows users to earn staking rewards while also unlocking the value of their staked ether through a derivative token called staked ether (stETH).

The Shanghai-Capella upgrade is an important development for Lido Finance users as it allows them to withdraw their staked ETH from validators on the Lido protocol, easing liquidity concerns related to stETH. Currently, users are unable to withdraw stETH after staking and can only stake and hold their ETH for long periods — although they can sell the derivative they receive on the open market, typically at a slight discount.

The total value of ETH staked with Lido Finance has surpassed $10 billion, with increased activity in recent weeks ahead of the anticipated Ethereum upgrade.

Shanghai-Capella upgrade on Goerli testnet

On Tuesday, the Shanghai-Capella upgrade was launched on the Goerli testnet as a final rehearsal before the mainnet launch. The upgrade allows ETH withdrawals from Goerli testnet validators, which is the primary feature of Shanghai-Capella.

Lido Finance has not yet begun testing withdrawals on Goerli and will commence a four-week testing period on the testnet next week.

The Lido DAO is currently conducting seven audits, and the codebase is expected to be finalized soon. The Lido upgrade's target date was pushed back to next week, following a delay in addressing audit results.