Lido Revenue Drops 23% as LDO Buyback Review Heads to 2Q26
Lido revenue fell 23% to $40.5M in 2025, with net staking fee revenue at $37.4M, driven by higher staking outflows and lower Ethereum staking APR. Lido also reported $45.5M in total expenses (down 13%) and a treasury of about $157.5M (down ~$14M), following cost controls including 15% workforce cuts.
Lido DAO is evaluating an LDO buyback program expected to be discussed in 2Q 2026. The LDO buyback would use protocol-generated staking rewards (not external funding) to buy LDO on the open market, then deploy tokens into liquidity pools such as the LDO/wstETH pair. The proposal is not finalized.
Traders should watch Lido’s weakening revenue momentum as a near-term sentiment headwind for LDO, while the LDO buyback review process in 2Q26 could create intermittent upside catalysts if governance details improve expected token demand and liquidity.
Bearish
Lido’s 23% YoY revenue decline signals weakening staking fee capture amid higher outflows and lower Ethereum staking APR. For LDO traders, this typically pressures near-term sentiment because protocol revenue is a key driver of expectations for sustainability and governance-driven token support.
While the proposed LDO buyback (to be considered in 2Q26) is a potential support mechanism—using protocol-generated rewards to create incremental buying pressure and improve liquidity—the plan is not finalized and the market may price the timeline and uncertainty first. Short term, traders may react more to the deteriorating fee trend than to the long-dated governance process. Long term, if governance approves meaningful buyback size/frequency and outflows stabilize, the effect could shift toward neutral-to-positive—but the balance from the latest news leans negative for LDO.