Liquid staking protocol Lido launches The Community Staking Module (CSM) was launched on the Ethereum (ETH) mainnet on October 25th. CSM allows every user who stakes ETH to become a sole validator.
CSM aims to reduce barriers to Ethereum staking by allowing individuals to operate Ethereum validators without much technical know-how and with an Ether deposit requirement of less than 32 ETH.
However, CSM is currently in an “early adoption” phase, with only selected community stakeholders allowed to participate, and a fully permissionless phase expected to begin soon.
Approving the parameters for the mainnet release was voted in favor by 109 Lido DAO governance members who allocated 71 million LDO tokens, while 86 members voted against.
Lido is currently the largest decentralized application by total value locked, with over $24 billion in smart contracts. According to To Defilama.
In particular, CSM underwent a testing period on Ethereum's testnet Holesky that began on July 1st. The three-month trial saw over 370 unique node operators participate in the first 10 days, including 70 solo stakers.
Improved accessibility
The Ethereum staking environment faces an old challenge consisting of the large amounts of capital and technical expertise typically required to run validators.
Unlike traditional solo staking, which requires a 32 ETH bond (equivalent to $79,000 at current prices), CSM reduces the starting threshold to 2.4 ETH and 1.3 ETH for validators thereafter.
Additionally, potential validators can use Lido's interface, so they don't need to set up their own operations.
Therefore, CSM contributes to the decentralization of Ethereum by allowing a wide range of participants into the network.
Dmitry Gusakov, CSM Technical Lead and Lido Protocol Contributor:
“The Community Staking module will enable more people to contribute to the security and decentralization of Ethereum, building a healthier and more resilient network. We are committed to breaking down barriers. So anyone can contribute to Ethereum's security, regardless of their financial or technical background.
CSM is based on the Staking Router, a modular architecture upgrade that allows anyone to develop onramps for new node operators.
