Lido Expands Beyond ETH Staking With New Stablecoin Vault

Edgen Crypto

·Mar 12 2026, 17:36

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Key Takeaways

Lido, the largest liquid staking protocol, has launched EarnUSD, its first stablecoin vault for USDT and USDC. This move diversifies its product suite beyond its core ether staking business, aiming to attract capital from the significant stablecoin segment of the DeFi market.

Lido launched EarnUSD, a new vault allowing users to deposit USDC and USDT for automated yield generation across various DeFi strategies.
This strategic expansion aims to capture a portion of the stablecoin market, which now constitutes roughly 50% of DeFi activity on Ethereum.
The launch is part of a broader revamp of the Lido Earn program, simplifying yield generation and reducing the protocol's reliance on ether-based products.

Lido Targets 50% of DeFi Market with Stablecoin Push

Lido, the largest liquid staking protocol on Ethereum, has officially expanded its offerings with the launch of EarnUSD, its first investment vault dedicated to stablecoins. The new product accepts deposits of the market's two largest stablecoins, USDC and USDT, and automatically allocates them across a portfolio of decentralized finance (DeFi) strategies to generate yield. This launch is part of a broader overhaul of the Lido Earn program, which now simplifies yield generation into two primary vaults: EarnUSD for stablecoins and EarnETH for ether-based assets like ETH, WETH, and Lido's own stETH.

Strategic Pivot Reduces Reliance on Ether Staking

The move into stablecoins marks a significant strategic shift for Lido, which has historically built its dominance on ether liquid staking. With dollar-pegged tokens now accounting for approximately half of all DeFi activity on the Ethereum network, the EarnUSD vault opens a major new user base and potential revenue stream for the protocol. By managing the complexities of strategy selection and execution, Lido aims to provide a more hands-off way for users to earn returns on their stablecoin holdings.

Stablecoins are a fundamental part of DeFi, and until now we weren’t serving those users.

— Marin Tvrdić, Lido Ecosystem Foundation.

The launch positions Lido to compete more broadly for capital within the DeFi ecosystem, diversifying its business model and strengthening its market leadership beyond a single asset class.