Identification
Nansen (link) is a blockchain analytics and infrastructure company founded in 2020, operating at the intersection of on-chain data and staking infrastructure. We maintain one of the largest and most valuable on-chain datasets in the industry, with over 500 million labeled wallet addresses. Since acquiring StakeWithUs last year (link), Nansen’s staking operations have grown 60X, becoming a top validator by assets delegated, managing approximately $2 billion (as of Oct 30) across 20+ networks.
Business Case
Nansen has one of the largest social and user followings in the staking ecosystem, anchored by a strong retail community that actively participates through our analytics platform, AI app, validator operations, and the Nansen Points program (link). With over 200,000 individual stakers, we have established one of the most engaged retail bases in on-chain staking.
Building on this foundation, we are developing a new product suite to increase on-chain utilization of staked assets and enable institutional partners, funds, and DAOs to gain curated exposure to key market themes. This initiative complements the stVault framework, positioning Nansen to bridge retail and institutional participation in the next phase of Ethereum staking — fully aligned with the GOOSE-2 objectives of the Lido DAO.
We are applying as a professional operator with the goal of reaching the Tier-1 operator threshold within six months of launch (Q1 2026). Supported by our trusted infrastructure, expanding partner network, and established retail reach, Nansen is well-positioned to grow staking participation across the full user spectrum while advancing Lido’s mission of decentralization and transparency.
Note: Nansen is also an active Lido governance participant (link).
Ops & Decentralization
Client Mix / Versions
We operate a diverse Ethereum client setup to minimize correlated-client risk and ensure network resilience.
Consensus Clients: Lighthouse (primary) and Teku (secondary)
Execution Clients: Nethermind (primary) and Besu (secondary)
All clients run the latest stable mainnet releases, deployed through phased rollouts with rollback capabilities. Continuous monitoring tracks peer health, version consistency, and validator performance.
Infrastructure Footprint
Validator infrastructure runs exclusively on dedicated bare-metal servers located in Europe, ensuring low latency, high reliability, and full physical control of hardware.
We operate a single-node operator setup where validators are remotely signed via Web3Signer, backed by HashiCorp Vault for secure key storage.
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Keys are never exposed on validator hosts.
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Vault policies enforce strict access control and seal/unseal procedures.
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Web3Signer runs in hardened, isolated environments with controlled network access.
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Validator hosts use UFW firewalls and WireGuard for backend communication.
This architecture delivers high availability with strong cryptographic and operational security for all validator keys.
Geo / Jurisdiction Diversity
All validator nodes are hosted in GDPR-compliant European data centers.
The five Obol cluster participants are distributed across multiple European countries, providing redundancy and mitigating correlated downtime or jurisdictional risks.
MEV Posture
We maintain a responsible and compliant MEV posture aligned with OFAC-sanctions requirements.
MEV-Boost is configured with OFAC-compliant relays (e.g., Flashbots, Aestus, Agnostic, UltraSound).
Non-transparent or private relays are excluded to preserve censorship resistance and neutrality.
Relay configurations are periodically reviewed for regulatory compliance.
Fallback local block-building is enabled to ensure proposer availability during relay outages.
Links
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Website: https://www.nansen.ai
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Validator Overview: stakingrewards.com/provider/nansen
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Auditor: PwC Singapore
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Certifications: SOC 2 Type II (in progress – 2026 target)
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Documentation: Validator architecture and compliance documentation available to Lido contributors upon request.