Lido migrates 8M ETH to 0x02 validators

Lido announced it has migrated over 8 million ETH, roughly $16.5 billion, onto Ethereum’s newer 0x02 validator format and launched Curated Module v2, a protocol upgrade that requires curated node operators to lock ETH bonds as collateral.

The migration shifts a large share of Lido’s staked ETH from the older 0x01 validators to 0x02 validators enabled by Ethereum’s Pectra hardfork. Pectra raised the per-validator stake cap from 32 ETH to up to 2,048 ETH, allowing operators to combine many small validators into far fewer high-capacity ones. Lido reported the share of its stake on 0x02 validators rising from about 32% to roughly 52% and said the consolidation will reduce the network’s validator count by nearly one third once migration completes.

Curated Module v2 extends a bonded requirement to the professional node operators that secure the majority of Lido’s stake. Under the upgrade, curated operators must lock ETH bonds to cover risks including slashing, execution-layer reward violations and operational failures. Bonds were previously required in Lido’s permissionless Community Staking Module, which launched in 2024; CMv2 applies the bonded requirement to curated operators for the first time.

A related protocol upgrade, CSM v3, introduces an operator category called Identified DVT Clusters for verified community stakers that run validators split across independent operators using distributed validator technology from providers such as Obol or SSV. Because a validator is split across multiple independent operators, the bond required for DVT clusters is smaller relative to the stake they secure.

Lido said the rollout begins now and will be paced by Ethereum’s activation queue over coming months. Stakers who hold stETH do not need to take any action and their balances are unaffected by the migration. The company has also flagged a later phase, expected in the first quarter of 2027, to create a marketplace where node operators can compete for stake based on fees and performance.

Isidoros Passadis, chief of staking at Lido Labs Foundation, described the changes as the largest upgrade to Lido Core since Lido V2 and added that node operators will back the stake with their own capital while operating far fewer validators.

The stake moved represents about one fifth of all ETH currently staked on Ethereum. Ether traded about 4.5% higher after the announcement, reaching roughly $1,980 and lifting its market capitalization to about $237 billion.