Lido (LDO) integrates with Hex Trust… expands staking access for Asian institutional investors

Lido (LDO), the world's largest Ethereum (ETH) staking protocol, announced on the 17th that it has expanded access to Ethereum liquid staking for institutional investors in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region through cooperation with Hong Kong digital asset financial services firm Hex Trust.

Through this cooperation, Hex Trust has begun integrating and supporting stETH on its custody platform. stETH is a tokenized asset representing Ethereum deposited through Lido, designed to reflect staking rewards while remaining freely tradable and usable. Users can utilize it in the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem for lending, collateral, restaking, and other uses. Lido currently has $38 billion (approximately 52 trillion won) worth of ETH deposited, which accounts for about one-quarter of the total staked amount.

The two parties emphasized that this integration allows institutions to securely custody assets within a regulatory environment while easily utilizing stETH. Institutional clients can stake ETH and receive stETH without operating separate infrastructure, and can use it as collateral. The industry views this integration as a turning point that could resolve the conflict between crypto custody security and revenue generation faced by the financial sector.

Calvin Shen, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of Hex Trust, said, "Efficiency and security are essential for institutional investors. Our integrated custody solution, provided with a 'one-click' experience, reduces operational burden and counterparty risk from on-chain activity. This allows clients to focus on investment strategy rather than infrastructure management."

Kean Gilbert, Head of Institutional Relations at the Lido Ecosystem Foundation, said, "Hex Trust's integration is another step in broadening access to stETH. It will be an infrastructure model that balances security, scalability, and liquidity to broaden institutional access."