Lido suspends staking on Polygon: key dates and details

By Daniele Corno

Leading DeFi protocol Lido Finance, discontinues liquid staking services on Polygon's blockchain, here are the dates and what needs to be done

The processes of change

Lido Finance, the leading liquid staking protocol , has announced the phase-out of its service on Polygon PoS. The decision was approved by a vote of the LDO community after a lengthy discussion. The main cause? Low user adoption and high costs to maintain the protocol.

The Lido on Polygon sunset process has begun.https://t.co/icgidJsbqF

See below for an overview of upcoming timelines and requirements 📆📜

— Lido (@LidoFinance) December 16, 2024

As of December 16, 2024, Lido will discontinue new deposits. Users will be able to withdraw their MATICs until June 16, 2025 using the official Lido interface.

After this date, withdrawals will only be possible through explorer tools and direct interaction with smart contracts. For inexperienced users, it is therefore recommended to remove their assets from staking by the announced dates.

In addition, rewards for stMATIC holders will be discontinued. A brief pause in operations is expected between January 15 and 22, 2025, when the protocol will be temporarily suspended.

The rationale behind the decision and the future of Polygon

Lido launched the service on Polygon in 2021, but the results have been disappointing. Demand for liquid staking remained low, while the DeFi ecosystem shifted to zkEVM solutions . These changes have further reduced interest in Polygon PoS.

In addition, the latest governance decisions, such as GOOSE and REACH, have pushed Lido to focus on Ethereum. Currently, Lido dominates with over $39 billion in LTV, confirming it as the absolute leader in liquid staking and the entire DeFi.