What is Lido?

The Lido protocol is a decentralized finance (DeFi) solution designed to bring liquidity to staked assets on various blockchain networks, primarily focusing on Ethereum. It enables users to stake their Ethereum (ETH) tokens and receive liquid tokens in return, known as "stETH," which represent the staked ETH. This allows users to maintain exposure to ETH's value while also participating in staking rewards, even though their assets are locked in the underlying proof-of-stake (PoS) network.

What is Lido DAO?

Lido DAO operates as a decentralized organization governed by its token holders. The Lido DAO token, LDO, is used for governance and decision-making within the DAO. LDO holders can participate in the DAO's governance by voting on proposals, such as adjusting staking parameters, adding support for new assets, or upgrading the platform's functionality.

What is LDO?

The Lido DAO token, known as LDO, is an ERC-20 token and is the native governance token of the Lido protocol. LDO holders have the power to influence and participate in the decision-making processes of the Lido protocol's development, including voting on proposals, protocol upgrades, fee adjustments, and other important matters. The total supply of LDO tokens is capped at 1 billion tokens.

Risk statement

Before trading any crypto assets it is important to understand the risks. This overview is a starting point for you to perform your own research prior to investing in a crypto asset.

No securities regulatory authority or regulator in Canada has evaluated or endorsed the Crypto Contracts or any of the crypto assets made available through the platform. 

Wealthsimple has performed an assessment of whether LDO can be supported by Wealthsimple’s platform, including whether LDO is a security and/or a derivative and is being offered in compliance with securities and derivatives laws.

We evaluated LDO based on publicly available information, including (but not limited to):

• The creation, governance, usage and design of LDO, including the source code, security and roadmap for growth in the developer community and, if applicable, the background of the developer(s) that first created Lido;
• The supply, demand, maturity, utility and liquidity of LDO;
• Material technical risks associated with LDO, including any code defects, security breaches and other threats concerning LDO and its supporting blockchain (such as the susceptibility to hacking and impact of forking), or the practices and protocols that apply to them;
• Legal and regulatory risks associated with LDO, including any pending, potential, or prior civil, regulatory, criminal, or enforcement action relating to the issuance, distribution, or use of LDO; and
• Statements made by regulators or securities regulatory authorities in Canada and other jurisdictions regarding whether LDO, or generally about whether the type of crypto asset, is a security and/or a derivative.

Wealthsimple monitors ongoing developments related to crypto assets available on its platform for significant changes that may affect Wealthsimple’s original assessment of those assets, including Wealthsimple’s assessment of the application of securities and derivatives laws. Any significant changes relating to LDO may result in changes to this Crypto Asset Statement and/or Wealthsimple’s ability to support LDO.

Like all other crypto assets, there are some general risks to investing in LDO. These include short history risk, volatility risk, liquidity risk, demand risk, forking risk, cryptography risk, regulatory risk, concentration risk, electronic trading risk and cyber security risk. Please review the Wealthsimple Crypto Product Risk Disclosure for additional discussion of general risks associated with the crypto assets made available through the platform.

We emphasize that this Crypto Asset Statement is not exhaustive of all risks associated with trading LDO. Investors should perform their own assessment to determine the appropriate level of risk for their personal circumstances.

Wealthsimple is offering Crypto Contracts in reliance on a prospectus exemption contained in the exemptive relief decision Re Wealthsimple Investments Inc. dated December 18, 2023 (the Decision). 

The statutory rights of action for damages and rescission in section 130.1 of the Securities Act (Ontario), and, if applicable, similar statutory rights under securities legislation of other jurisdictions of Canada, do not apply in respect of this Crypto Asset Statement to the extent a Crypto Contract is distributed under the prospectus relief in the Decision.

 

Last updated: January 1, 2024