Lido DAO
LDO#105LDO is the governance token of Lido, the largest liquid staking protocol for Ethereum.
- Market cap
- $370.64M
- Volume 24h
- $78.03M
- All-time high
- —
- Circulating supply
- 829.57M
Passes our 8 Shariah criteria. Needs caution: interest (riba) and business model.
- 6 pass
- 2 caution
- 0 fail
Verdict history
- HalalCurrent
First publication
Fundamentals, market picture and news will appear here.
Halal analysis
Can a Muslim hold Lido DAO?8 Shariah criteria
6 pass · 2 caution · 0 failLDO pays no interest and Lido's fee comes from staking rewards, but Sharlife rates Lido non-compliant for involvement in lending.
Riba is interest or any guaranteed increase on a loan. LDO itself has no staking, reward or interest function. Lido's income is a 10% fee on Ethereum staking rewards, which come from proof-of-stake validation with slashing risk, not from loans; CryptoUmmah scores riba 84.2/100 on that basis. However, Sharlife, the first-priority authoritative source, rates Lido 'Non-Shariah' and says its involvement in lending contradicts Shariah rulings; its detailed reasoning is paywalled, and stETH is widely used as collateral in lending markets.
Because an interest link is asserted by the authoritative source but its extent is not shown, the criterion is at caution rather than fail.
LDO is the working governance token of a large, live protocol.
This criterion asks whether the asset has real value as property (mal). LDO is used to govern Lido, which held about $26.65 billion in deposits on 1 October 2026; holders choose node operators and set protocol parameters. Sharlife's objections concern lending and the staking method, not the nature of the token itself, so there is no coin-specific reason to lower this criterion; the general debate about crypto is reflected in confidence.
LDO has no gambling mechanics; it governs a staking service.
Maysir is gambling: gaining or losing by chance rather than through productive exchange. LDO has no lottery, prediction or meme features, and Lido provides a real service. CryptoUmmah calls any maysir incidental. No coin-specific gambling feature is documented, so the criterion is at the maximum.
Lido earns a share of staking rewards, but Sharlife rates its liquid staking method grey and links Lido to lending.
This criterion asks how the protocol earns and whether any of that income is impermissible. Lido's revenue is a 10% fee on staking rewards, split between node operators and the DAO treasury, and a November 2025 proposal would use part of it to repurchase LDO. Staking rewards for validation are not interest. But Sharlife, the authoritative source, rates Lido's staking method grey because users earn rewards without locking their assets, and cites involvement in lending. These are concrete objections from the authoritative source, so the criterion is at caution.
Code, audits and governance are public, but staked ETH depends on third-party node operators, as the October 2026 MetaMask incident showed.
Gharar is excessive uncertainty or hidden information. Lido's code and audits are public and its governance votes are on-chain, and LDO's supply is fixed at 1 billion. A concrete uncertainty remains in reliance on node operators: on 1 October 2026 MetaMask began exiting about 17,000 validators (about 523,000 ETH) it runs for Lido after a security incident in its own infrastructure, and the stake may take up to 45 days to return. Lido said stETH holders need not act and pointed to a reserve fund. This keeps the criterion in the pass band with a reduced score.
LDO is used to govern the Lido protocol.
This criterion looks at what the asset is actually used for. LDO's use is governance of a staking service: voting on node operators, parameters and the treasury. That is a permissible use, and no impermissible use of LDO itself is documented, so the criterion is at the maximum.
Fully paid spot LDO is widely available and can be held in any Ethereum wallet.
This criterion asks whether the asset can be owned in a permissible way. LDO is an ordinary ERC-20 token held by 66,299 addresses on Ethereum and traded spot with full payment and delivery on exchanges and decentralised markets. Ownership does not depend on derivatives or leverage, so the criterion is at the maximum.
Lido makes Ethereum staking accessible to people without their own validators; no concrete harm is documented.
Maslahah weighs benefit against harm. Lido lets ordinary holders take part in securing Ethereum without running a validator, and its Community Staking Module opens node operation to solo stakers. No source collected shows the protocol being used for fraud or sanctions evasion, and the October 2026 incident occurred at a node operator, with Lido saying no action was needed by stETH holders. The criterion is at the maximum.
How you can use it
Tap a card for the ruling and sourcesBuying LDO with full payment and immediate delivery is widely available, and the tokens can be held in any Ethereum wallet. Spot is acceptable for a HALAL asset, though Sharlife's non-compliant rating is a reason for caution.
Not available: no exchange-traded fund holding LDO was found as of 1 October 2026. A fund that holds LDO itself would be judged like spot.
LDO is a governance token and is not used as a means of payment. Tier-1 bodies such as Indonesia's MUI rule that using cryptocurrency as currency is not permissible.
LDO cannot be staked for network rewards; Lido's staking product is for ETH, not LDO. Products marketed as LDO 'staking' get their return from somewhere else, usually lending, and must be checked.
Margin trading in LDO is offered by some exchanges but is never acceptable: it is a deferred exchange with borrowed money and leverage (AAOIFI SS 20).
LDO futures and perpetual contracts are traded on large exchanges, but futures, perpetuals and options always fail under AAOIFI SS 20: deferred exchange without delivery, usually with leverage.
Lending LDO through exchange or DeFi lending programmes pays depositors interest from borrowers. This is riba.
LDO pays holders nothing itself. Yield products on LDO get their return from lending and fail.
Scholars quotes
The opinion on this is the same as doing the same with any halal assets such as shares – 1) is permissible, 2) is more debatable and there are differing opinions on short-term trading.As I mentioned at the beginning of this article it is not necessary to substantiate the permissibility of something as long as there are no prohibited factors involved in it or surrounding it.Penggunaan cryptocurrency sebagai mata uang hukumnya haram, karena mengandung gharar (ketidakjelasan), dharar (bahaya) dan bertentangan dengan Undang-Undang nomor 7 tahun 2011 tentang Mata Uang dan Peraturan Bank Indonesia nomor 17 tahun 2015 tentang Kewajiban Penggunaan Rupiah di Wilayah Negara Kesatuan Republik Indonesia.Sebagaimana mata wang yang lain, mata wang digital hendaklah tidak digunakan sebagai bayaran kepada barangan, perkhidmatan dan aktiviti tidak patuh Syariah seperti pembelian dadah, pelacuran, perjudian dan pendanaan aktiviti keganasan serta penggubahan wang haram.The SAC has also resolved that investment and trading of Digital Assets that fulfil the above requirements and which are traded on Digital Asset Exchange (DAX) registered with SC are permissible.Third: In light of the above and given the significant risks associated with this type of currencies and the instability of their transactions, the Council of the Academy recommends pursuing research and studies on issues affecting its ruling.Bitcoin is a digital currency that does not meet the legal and Sharia criteria that make it a currency subject to the rulings of dealing with official legal currencies recognized internationally.بناءً على ذلك: فلا يجوز شرعًا تداول عملة "البتكوين" والتعامل من خلالها بالبيعِ والشراءِ والإجارةِ وغيرها، بل يُمنع من الاشتراكِ فيها؛ لعدمِ اعتبارِها كوسيطٍ مقبولٍ للتبادلِ من الجهاتِ المخُتصَّةِ، ولِمَا تشتمل عليه من الضررِ الناشئ عن الغررِ والجهالةِ والغشِّ في مَصْرِفها ومِعْيارها وقِيمتها، فضلًا عما تؤدي إليه ممارستُها من مخاطرَ عاليةٍ على الأفراد والدول.According to research and opinion of experts so far, cryptocurrency is not considered ‘ maal ’ (wealth) in Sharia.Muhammadiyah memandang transaksi dan investasi kripto pada dasarnya mubah (boleh) tetapi dengan syarat tertentu.Our current position is 'tawaquf'; we can't say it is halal or haram, but we say it is better not to engage in itIts involvement in lending contradicts with the Shariah's rulings.AI-assisted analysis checked against sources. Not a fatwa or investment advice.
Where it trades
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