A41(Node Operator) - Intention to Wind Down Operations & Request for DAO Vote

Node Operators
1

Hello Lido community,

A41 is writing to formally notify the community that we intend to wind down our validator operations across all networks and conclude our remaining activities by January 31, 2026. After careful internal review, we have decided to wind down our validator operations and proceed with an orderly closure in coordination with the DAO. As such, we believe the most transparent and community-aligned path forward is to execute an orderly exit with the support of the DAO.

Request for DAO Action

We kindly request that the Lido DAO set A41’s target limit to 0 (soft mode), enabling the protocol to direct exit requests toward our validator set. This will allow us to begin the wind-down process in a controlled and predictable manner.

While we expect this mechanism to handle the majority of the process, we also acknowledge that the pace of protocol-driven exits may not be sufficient to fully complete the wind-down within our planned timeline.
In that scenario, we will coordinate closely with Lido DAO contributors and undertake voluntary exits as needed to complete the process in a timely and safe way.

Operational Support Window

A41 will continue to maintain full infrastructure support, monitoring, and responsiveness throughout the entire transition period.
We commit to operating reliably and securely through the end of January to ensure a clean handover and safeguard validator performance during the exit queue.

We are deeply grateful for the opportunity to support the Lido ecosystem over the past years. It has been a privilege to work alongside the contributors, validators, and community members who continue to push the Ethereum ecosystem forward.

We will remain fully cooperative and communicative throughout this process to ensure a seamless transition. Thank you for your understanding and support.

7 Likes
Staking Router Module Proposal: Simple DVT
2

Hi Kevin, thank you for the transparency and sharing this news with the community.

A41 have been a wonderful node operator to work with, and personally I’m sad that you will be winding down operators. Thank you for the upfront notice; I’m confident that a combination of targetLimit and voluntarily-timed exits will be sufficient for you to wind down operations within your intended time frame (Jan 31st) while causing minimal drag on staking rewards and congestion pressure in the exit queue.

I see no issue with proceeding with the request to set targetLimit to 0, so concur that we should proceed with an onchain proposal to do so at the earliest availability.

Thanks once again for considering how to gracefully wind down operations, and we wish you and the rest of the team best of luck in all your future endeavors.

6 Likes
3

The Vote #195 has started!

The vote includes setting A41 Node Operator soft target validators limit to 0, and will be open for your “For” or “Against” input until the end of the main phase: Dec 18, 14:07 UTC.

For instructions on how to verify the vote items, please follow this guide.

4

The Vote #195 has passed, and Dual Governance Proposal #7 has been executed! :dizzy:

Voting results:
:green_circle: Yes — 55,231,140 (5.52%)
:red_circle: No — 10 (0.01%)

5

A41 Verification message posted here:
https://etherscan.io/verifySig/299636

2 Likes