As of August 1, 2023, the MixBytes team will no longer develop and technically support the Lido on Polkadot and Kusama liquid staking protocols.
While both the Lido DAO and MixBytes remain proud of what we have accomplished and grateful to all the users and partners who trusted our solution, the decision was made because of several challenges, including market conditions, protocol growth, limited capacity, and priority alignment.
We intend to make the sunsetting process as straightforward and seamless as possible for our users and partners who have supported us.
Below is a structured timeline outlining each step of the process and will be open to receiving and answering your questions. The timeline explained here is the preliminary timeline for Lido on Polkadot. Lido on Kusama will proceed 2 weeks ahead of Lido on Polkadot after the first step.
2023-03-15 — New staking deposits no longer accepted into Lido on Polkadot and Kusama protocols.
2023-06-15 — Reward issuance and redemptions halted. Assets remain accessible via UI for protocol if previously unbonded.
2023-06-22 — Unbonding is enforced. Assets automatically unstaked from the relay chain.
2023-07-24 — Funds relocated to parachains, and can only be claimed via UI for protocol.
2023-08-01 — Official termination. An alternative host for the UI will be arranged by the community.
We are seeking 20K USD* per month from Lido DAO to support our technical maintenance efforts for the five months.
We continue to believe in and support Polkadot’s potential as a blockchain network and remain dedicated to pursuing development and contributing to the ecosystem.
Not possible to be more specific on “market conditions, protocol growth, limited capacity, and priority alignment” ? What market condition? what stat of protocol growth? what limited capacity? what priority alignment?
hi, soyome.
i understand that it is the MixBytes does not support Lido On Polkadot and Kusama. does it mean that Lido itself will end the staking business on Polkadot and Kusama? i am a little bit confused
As per market conditions and protocol growth — that incudes both overall economic factors that lowered both DeFi growth in general and in DotSama in particular and also the protocol adoption. The other points refer more to distributed attention across Lido protocols that diverted attention away from DotSama ecosystem, which is totally understandable.
In general, it is more about unmet financial expectations for this initiative. You may also find more in this blog post.
Only Lido on Polkadot and Kusama protocols will be gracefully sunset, and nothing else on Moonbeam or Moonriver is affected, so feel free to utilise your xcDOTs and xcKSMs any other way!
It is sad to see Mixbytes’ decision to take these necessary measures, but it is justifiable given the rationale presented. As a staunch advocate for Polkadot, I must acknowledge that the utility of LST and staking protocols with respect to decentralization may not be as robust as those found in Ethereum, Polygon, and other comparable platforms.
Furthermore, it is worth noting that the DeFi ecosystem within Polkadot is still relatively underdeveloped, thus limiting the potential applications and benefits of LST to promote increased use cases and stakeholder commitment.
While this is a somber moment, it is my hope that our paths may intertwine once more through collaborative efforts in the future. The professionalism and excellence demonstrated by Mixbytes throughout our partnership have been truly commendable, and I extend my warmest wishes for success in all forthcoming endeavors.
In light of these circumstances, I believe the request made to the DAO is quite reasonable, as the subsequent support for the shutdown and unstaking process will undoubtedly have implications on revenue and put additional strain on available budgets. Thus, it seems prudent to lend our support and understanding to Mixbytes during this challenging period.