What 450 Questions and a WisdomTree ETP Has To Do With Lido

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_{Uncertainty is one tag that the crypto market can’t seem to shake, and lately with the ongoing downturn, that feels truer than ever before. It’s no wonder then that clients and crypto-curious investors alike are looking for safer bets. But Kean Gilbert, head of institutional relations at Lido, argues that offering deeper liquidity alongside staking solutions is what’s required to attract capital in a risk-off market.} 

_{Gilbert’s argument is backed by more than 18 months of conversations with asset managers and institutions across Europe for his company’s product. He claims he was most often asked about liquidity, as a staking solution on its own isn’t enough if there isn’t enough capital to backstop redemptions.}

_{"The institutions won't come unless you have that depth of liquidity," Gilbert said. For protocols still in earlier stages, that sequencing question is worth taking seriously.}

_{Gilbert says Lido's retail-first trajectory was strategically valuable on this front, even if it wasn't entirely intentional. With roughly $20 billion in TVL, Lido today has the depth of liquidity that institutional clients require before they'll commit. Competitors that have tried to go directly to institutions run into a chicken-and-egg problem, since large investors want proof of liquidity before they’ll allocate capital, but liquidity is hard to build consistently without a large user base.} 

_{The current market is also working out given Lido's specific strengths. With investors suddenly finding risk-off postures more fashionable, due diligence has gotten more rigorous, which is where Lido's track record is proving a selling point.} 

_{"I think people kind of joke that people in crypto have a short memory when it comes to hacks," Gilbert said. "I do feel it's different this time." Institutions, he noted, won't sacrifice security for extra yield. In a market where people are asking harder questions, that's an easier conversation to have.}

_{Investors understandably want to engage with safer products alongside brands they know. Gilbert's clearest evidence of institutional momentum is the WisdomTree staked ETH ETP, which has already grown 25% from its $50 million base when it launched in Europe in December.} 

_{Gilbert’s pitch is that stETH's depth makes a 100% staked product viable, versus the 40%-60% staking rates typical of European ETPs that leave a buffer of capital unstaked for redemptions. "It's very easy for me to go into a sales meeting and say, you can go from fifty to a hundred using stETH," he said.}

_{Interestingly, Gilbert said the most important relationships in institutional staking aren't those you build with asset managers, but the ones you cultivate with custodians. Qualified custodians like Fireblocks, BitGo, Anchorage and Coinbase Custody are where large institutions outsource crypto safekeeping, so if an asset doesn't have native custody support, those institutions won't touch it. Lido has native integrations with several of these providers, and Gilbert frames that infrastructure as foundational to everything else.} 

_{Staking has been active in European ETPs for years, since regulation has been a bit clearer on the continent for longer than in the U.S., and the investor base skews institutional. But the U.S. is catching up, with staking recently cleared for Ethereum ETFs, and VanEck filing for a Lido-staked ETH product. In Asia, particularly Singapore and Hong Kong, Gilbert noted that he’s having substantive conversations, but things are moving more slowly.}

_{Despite ETH well below its highs, and retail sentiment weakening, Gilbert said he doesn't spend much time thinking about prices. His focus is more on getting more ETH into Lido and driving staking adoption.}

Check out the next section for more details and the full episode.

For today’s episode, I interviewed Kean Gilbert, Head of Institutional Relations at the Lido Ecosystem Foundation, to talk about how liquid staking is finally breaking into traditional finance. 

From the WisdomTree staked ETH ETP in Europe to VanEck's recently filed S-1 for a Lido staked ETF in the US, Kean breaks down why institutions are asking sharper questions than ever before, how depth of liquidity is the single biggest driver behind Lido winning institutional mandates, and why he sees there's no good reason to hold unstaked ETH when you can get the same exposure with 3%.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Introduction to Lido

03:00 Growth of Ethereum Staking and Institutional Interest

05:59 Understanding DAO Structures and Institutional Education

09:05 Tokenization and Its Impact on the Industry

11:58 The Role of Custodians in Institutional Crypto

14:58 Risk Management in Staking and Smart Contracts

17:56 The Role of Staking in Current Markets

19:04 Integration of Staking with Traditional Finance

20:04 Regional Perspectives on Staking Adoption

21:55 Timeline for Global Adoption of Staking

22:22 Market Outlook and Building in Bear Cycles

24:43 ETF Interest and Market Dynamics

25:54 The Importance of Retail in Staking

27:17 Unlocking the Next Wave of Adoption

28:56 Impact of Tokenization on Business Operations

30:41 The Evolution of Institutional Conversations

33:40 Long-Term Thinking in Crypto

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