Connecting People with DAO: Lido's Community Lifeguards Initiative in Review

Nearly a year after being introduced, the Lido DAO Community Lifeguards Initiative (CLI) has just released its Q1 2024 report. The CLI's mission is to boost Lido's Ethereum staking protocol by attracting new stakers, fostering a vibrant community, and advocating for Lido Node Operators.

The CLI program was subjected to a community snapshot vote in May 2023 and received an overwhelmingly positive response, with 55 million LDO cast in favor and 833 LDO against the proposal.

The Lifeguard Team

The backbone of the CLI program is its Community Lifeguard team, which provides guidance and support to new users unfamiliar with Lido's staking procedures. This can involve answering questions, offering tutorials, and assisting with the technical aspects of setting up a validator node. Lifeguards also contribute to developing informative resources for the Lido community, including articles, FAQs, and tutorials.

Lifeguards play a crucial role in organizing and promoting events, such as workshops and hackathons, to attract new talent to the Lido ecosystem. The CLI also launched a Community Staking Podcast in September 2023 to democratize staking-related technology.

Lido Node Operators influence the protocol's strategic direction through the Lido DAO, with Community Lifeguards acting as their voice. These lifeguards are actively involved in governance discussions and working groups, bridging the communication gap between node operators and the core Lido team. They ensure that both groups are well-informed, facilitating a governance process that is both transparent and effective.

The Simple DVT

One of the CLI's most significant contributions has been supporting the development and implementation of the Simple Distributed Validator Technology

💡

Distributed Validator Technology (DVT) is an Ethereum technology that allows multiple node operators to manage distinct nodes but collectively perform validator duties. It does this by splitting the private key used to secure a validator across many computers organized into a "cluster". This collaborative approach enhances the resilience of the system by reducing single points of failure but also bolsters security through a shared key control mechanism.

The Lido module utilizing the DVT features, the Simple DVT, was deployed on Ethereum's mainnet on April 16. A tailored economic model for DVT is designed to encourage participation and sustain development. According to community members, the Simple DVT will promote solo stakers' direct participation with Lido, and will be the foundation for growing node operators.

The success of the Simple DVT implementation paves the way for future developments like the Community Staking Module (CSM), which is currently in progress. This module aims to simplify the staking process, making it accessible to a broader range of participants and ensuring Lido's infrastructure remains decentralized, secure, and inclusive.

Community Lifeguards Initiative as an Element of DAO Governance

Judging from the Lido community resources, the CLI has demonstrably delivered on its core objectives in its first quarter. This success revolves not only around attracting new Lido stakers and coordinating the important upgrades, but also around fostering a strong community atmosphere and empowering Node Operators – making the DAO governance effective. With many DAO projects failing to deliver on decentralized governance, the Lido community's ongoing advocacy and support play a crucial role in maintaining Lido's position as a leader in decentralized finance technologies.