On July 27, Lido’s liquid staking protocol rolled out the Curated Module v2 upgrade, under which it will migrate more than 8 million ETH (~$16 billion) to new 0x02-format validators.
Lido Core 2026 Upgrade
The biggest evolution of Lido Core brings improvements across the staking modules to keep the protocol aligned with Ethereum’s roadmap and ensure long-term protocol sustainability.
No action is required from stakers — the upgrade is protocol-level.
↓ pic.twitter.com/VS5M59QiGh
— Lido (@LidoFinance) July 27, 2026
0x02 will raise the per-node cap from 32 to 2,048 ETH, allowing Lido node operators to service more staked tokens with fewer network participants. After the migration, the share of ETH placed under the new standard will increase from ~32% to ~52%, and the total number of validators on Ethereum will drop by about one-third, reducing load on the blockchain.
What Curated Module v2 changes
Isidoros Passadis, head of staking at Lido Labs Foundation, called the upgrade the most significant change to Lido Core since the second version of the protocol. Curated Module has been in place since the platform launched in 2020 and, as of July 2026, accounts for about 90% of tokens staked on the platform. Until now the module relied on reputation: DAO selected professional operators and expected them to cover any losses themselves.
The new version adds collateral. Operators will begin posting their own ETH as a bond that can be seized in the event of slashing, prolonged downtime, execution-layer reward violations, and other failures. The amount is lower than in Lido’s open modules, but it puts operator capital behind performance and gives stakers measurable protection, the developers said. The upgrade supplements rather than replaces the reputation model.
The second change is grouping operators into categories with different incentives:
- Decentralization Operators — launch nodes in underrepresented regions and on uncommon combinations of clients and infrastructure;
- Extra Effort Operators — contribute to the protocol beyond running validators: with capital, service roles such as the Lido oracle or Deposit Security Committee, and participation in votes;
- Public Good Operators — develop and maintain Ethereum consensus- and execution-layer clients.
The last category formalizes what the DAO was already doing: seven client development teams are already in the Curated Module and, as of July 1, 2026, had received a total of 8,710 stETH (~$21 million) in rewards.
The third set of changes concerns governance. Previously, even routine administrative actions such as changing an operator address required an on-chain vote, which slowed responses to urgent issues. Those tasks are now delegated to the operators themselves and the Curated Module Committee. The DAO retains the operator pool composition, key parameters, and a veto right.
The migration from the old module will take time: Ethereum’s validator activation queue exceeds 40 days. In January, Lido developers estimated the transition at six months and foregone rewards over that period at roughly 738.5 ETH.
The previous module will remain as a fallback and will be phased out. In the second phase of CMv2, the team promises flexible stake distribution among operators, individualized fees, and a strikes system — a market model where the amount of delegated tokens depends on fees, performance quality, and contributions to the ecosystem.
What happens to other modules
At the same time, the third version of the Community Staking Module (CSM) — an open module for solo stakers and small teams — was released. It accounts for more than 770,000 ETH and about 335 active operators — roughly 8.5% of Lido’s TVL and 1.9% of staked ETH.
The key change is a new participant type, Identified DVT Cluster (IDVTC), for those running distributed validators via Obol or SSV. Its bond is between 1.5 and 0.5 ETH per key, and capital efficiency is up to 3.1 times higher than solo staking.
The update also allows specifying multiple reward addresses with different shares — useful for clusters that split payouts among participants. The cap on the public staking share is now adjusted via Easy Track instead of Aragon votes.
The third module — Simple DVT — is being wound down: 72 regular clusters have been closed following a vote. Their operators can remain in the protocol via CSM — either through the general path as an Identified Community Staker or as part of a new IDVTC cluster. The DAO approved a grants program for them. Super Clusters, which include advanced operators and Curated Module participants, were not affected.
Lido expects to launch a separate module for 0x02 validators in the public track in the fourth quarter of 2026: the current upgrade does not enable this, although CSM v3 code already supports the format. Stakers do not need to take any action; all changes occur at the protocol level.
In late January, the Lido team deployed the v3 upgrade with stVaults modular infrastructure on mainnet.
