In the 30 days leading up to this date, Lido Finance’s Liquid Participation Protocol has seen a 10.57% increase in Total Value Locked (TVL). The protocol’s influence in the Defi space has also increased, with 19.08% of the $49.66 billion locked in Defi being held by Lido. While the rise in TVL can be attributed to the price of Ethereum rising, the protocol has also seen a notable deposit from Tron Founding founder Justin Sun.
Onchain Data Shows Tron Founding Founder Justin Sun Stimulated Lido’s TVL
Lido’s Liquid Staking Protocol has seen an increase of 7.56% over the past week. It currently has a total value locked of $9.48 billion as of March 2, 2023. According to the Lido web portal lido.fi, Ethereum deposits make up 9.3 billion of the total value. This makes up 19.08% of the $49.66 billion locked in Defi today.
Lido is the largest Defi protocol by TVL, with Makerdao, Curve, and Aave following behind. Of the 7.6 million ether ($12.44 billion) locked up in liquid staking platforms, Lido controls 74.87% of the total value. In terms of liquid staking protocols, Lido is followed by Coinbase’s Wrapped Ether protocol, Rocketpool, Frax Ether, and Stakewise.
One factor that has contributed to the increase in locked value is the 3.8% rise in the price of Ethereum against the US dollar, which has led to the rise of Staked Ethereum (STETH). However the protocol has seen substantial deposits this week. On-chain data shows that the protocol’s founder was also present. Tron founder Justin Sun reportedly deposited at least 303,000 Ethers into the Lido protocol.
Bitcoin.com News previously reported on the 150,000 ethers that were first deposited by the Tron founder. Blockchain security audit and analysis firm Peckshield noted that after the deposit of 150,000 ether, addresses tagged with Sun’s name added more Ethereum to the Lido protocol. Some speculated that the initial deposit plus subsequent deposits would result in the Tron founder’s entry into the Lido protocol amounting to approximately 210,100 ether.
However, according to transaction data from the on-chain analytics tool Arkham Intelligence, Sun’s total ether stake may be much higher than 210,000 ETH. Arkham’s analysis of the transactions suggests that Sun holds 303660 STETH, amounting to $494 million based on STETH exchange rates on March 2, 2023.
In addition to STETH, Sun’s tagged addresses show that he also owns 25,657 Ethereum (ETH), worth $41.64 million. Currently, the annual percentage yield (APY) for Lido is 4%. If the addresses are owned by Sun, the Tron founder is receiving 4% interest on around $500 million of Ethereum staked.
What do you think about the Lido deposits reported by Justin Sun and the surge this week? Please share your thoughts about this topic in the comments below.
