Lido V3 & Luganodes: Expanding Institutional Ethereum Staking with stVaults
Product Overview
Luganodes is an institutional-grade staking provider, built out of the Lugano Plan B Program, an initiative by Tether and the City of Lugano.
Luganodes delivers proven reliability through geographically distributed, Tier IV bare-metal/hybrid data centers, maintaining a 100% validator participation rate. It is backed by independent SOC 2 Type II and ISO/IEC 27001 certifications, and further protected by institutional slashing insurance through Chainproof at no additional cost.
The Luganodes stVaults bring compliance-ready ETH staking to Lido V3, a new staking primitive built for asset managers, ETF and ETP issuers, DAOs, and enterprise treasuries. They let institutions deploy dedicated, segregated validator infrastructure under a non-custodial framework, staking their ETH through Luganodes-run validators.
Each vault is isolated and private, with the client in full control of its configuration and parameters. Clients retain custody of their withdrawal credentials and mint stETH on their own terms, and each client's assets stay segregated, with clear accounting per vault.
The Institutional Staking Tradeoff
Institutional ETH staking has historically required a compromise between liquidity and performance optimization.
Direct staking offers operator selection and potentially stronger validator outcomes, but leaves capital illiquid: withdrawals must clear the Ethereum Exit Queue, which could stretch to weeks when exits surge, as they did in September 2025 (over 46 days). On the other hand, traditional liquid staking provides immediate liquidity, but removes operator choice and averages validator performance across a broad pool.
For many platforms and asset managers, the inability to combine liquidity with performance-driven operator selection has constrained the development of staking-native yield strategies.
stVaults resolve the native staking vs. pooled staking tradeoff, enabling institutional stakers to tap into stETH liquidity while maintaining full control.
Why Lido stVaults
stVaults introduce a new architecture where institutions can retain liquidity and composability without giving up control over validator selection and attribution. Lido V3 stVaults provide the foundational infrastructure required to meet institutional requirements at scale:
- Unparalleled liquidity: By enabling the minting of stETH against assets held in staking vaults, stVaults allow institutions to maintain optional liquidity alongside staked ETH.
- DeFi ecosystem adoption: Broad support for stETH and wstETH across the DeFi ecosystem allows institutions to deploy liquidity efficiently while continuing to earn staking rewards.
- Security of the Lido protocol: Lido's battle-tested, audited infrastructure provides an institutional-grade security foundation. Lido is Web3SOC certified by Cantina.
Vault-level isolation and on-chain attribution provide the reporting clarity and operational control institutional clients require, supporting stronger compliance and auditability.
Integration and Security Approach
Luganodes is an identified Lido V3 Node Operator under the stVault Professional Operator category.
In the Luganodes stVaults, ETH is staked through Luganodes' institutional infrastructure, and validator monitoring, performance management, and operational overhead sit with Luganodes.
Standard Ethereum staking risks apply; for the full breakdown, see Lido's Risk Assessment Framework for stVaults.
The following measures have been implemented to support the security of Lido V3 and Luganodes stVaults*:
- Compliance and certifications: ISO 27001:2022, SOC 2 Type II, and GDPR-aligned operations, with regular third-party audits including Quantstamp
- Key management: Remote signers, with keys held in secured environments rather than on validator hosts
- Slashing insurance: Luganodes provides Chainproof coverage to institutional clients
- Smart contracts: Lido V3 stVaults smart contracts have undergone audits by Certora (including formal verification), MixBytes, Consensys Diligence, Composable Security, Ackee Blockchain, and Sigma Prime. An ongoing Immunefi bug bounty offers white hats up to $2M in rewards.
- Built-in operational controls: the stVaults’ design gives Vault Owners end-to-end control of the funds: supply/withdraw ETH, mint/repay stETH, monitor vault health parameters and metrics, trigger ETH withdrawals from validators, and perform rebalancing and vault closure or disconnect from the Lido protocol (Web UI support for these actions arriving in H2 2026).
* Audits, bug bounties, and operational controls are intended to reduce but do not eliminate underlying protocol or market risks. Additional risks may remain or be unidentified.
What It Means for Institutions
Luganodes brings institutional ETH staking to Lido V3 stVaults: isolated, non-custodial vaults that keep custody and operator choice with the institution, with stETH liquidity on demand.
To set up Luganodes stVaults, get in touch with the Luganodes team. For more on Lido V3 stVaults, visit lido.fi/stvaults.