Unlock Exclusive Benefits as an Identified Community Staker
The Identified Community Staker (ICS) application is now live on mainnet!
While the Community Staking Module (CSM) hasn’t been upgraded to v2 yet, both existing operators and aspiring CSM participants can begin submitting applications here.
The application is a mechanism that allows operators to identify themselves as individuals. Those who qualify as an Identified Community Staker (ICS) and run validators using CSM, can unlock enhanced parameters compared to general permissionless operators.
Important: Whether or not an operator applies as an ICS, CSM remains fully permissionless — anyone can still participate without applying.
Paving The Way For Home Stakers
Since becoming fully permissionless in January, CSM has seen strong demand, with 450 operators registered - including some larger operators drawn by attractive staking terms, such as low bond requirements and enhanced capital efficiency. This demand has left less room for independent stakers to join CSM and get their validator keys deposited.
However, the primary goal of CSM is to empower home and community stakers by bringing new, independent participants into Ethereum staking, and CSM v2 aims to strengthen this mission by further supporting and expanding their numbers.
To enable this, there should be a way to identify who qualifies as a Community Staker — and that’s where the application comes in.
ICS: How It Works
The application is based on the Community Stakers Identification Framework, which introduces a score-based system designed to provide a straightforward and robust way for operators to identify themselves.
Applicants are scored based on three broad categories:
- Experience: Demonstrated experience in independent Ethereum staking
- Engagement: Community involvement or contributions to the ecosystem
- Humanity: Indicators of individual via third parties, as opposed to institutional behaviour
Each category includes a variety of proof sources, with each source contributing a certain number of points. To qualify, an applicant must meet the minimum threshold in each category and achieve a total combined score of at least 15.
For a detailed breakdown of proof types and scoring, refer to the Extended Framework.
Ecosystem-Driven Proofs
The ICS evaluation framework places significant emphasis on the data and assessment mechanisms drawn from the wider ecosystem.
- Experience data is sourced from EthStaker/StakeCat, Obol network, and SSV network and historic CSM participation.
- Community engagement is evaluated by HighSignal, and ecosystem contributions are verified via GitPoap.
- Humanity verification is conducted through Human Passport and Circles.
Human Passport is one of the Proof-of-Humanity sources used in the application. It is an identity verification application and Sybil resistance protocol with more than 2.2M users. It enables users to collect verifiable credentials, or Stamps, that prove their unique humanity without exposing personally identifying information.
A custom interface is provided for applicants to view their Unique Humanity Score according to an ICS-specific weighting model, designed to align the ICS scoring framework with the Human Passport system while maintaining proportionality with the original weights where possible. In some cases, weights have been increased to reflect a higher level of confidence applicable to ICS.
This score is calculated after Stamps are collected, either proactively or passively, and is converted to corresponding ICS points during the application process.
Benefits of ICS
As per DAO-approved CSM v2 fee structure, ICS will enjoy tailored conditions aimed to benefit Community Stakers, including:
- 6% reward share for the first 16 keys (compared to the flat 3.5%)
- Reduced bond requirements from 2.4 to 1.5 ETH for the first key
- Deposit priority for the first 10 keys
- Wider acceptable validator performance
Beyond the benefits above, you can view additional exclusive parameters here.
Is it worth the effort? Absolutely. For independent stakers, verifying as an Identified Community Staker is more than just a label — it’s the key to an easier, more rewarding experience within CSM. Better rewards, lower bonds, priority access — it’s well worth the effort to apply.
Apply as an ICS
The application process is straightforward, involving four main steps:
- Submit your application through the CSM widget.
- Connecting the address for which you want ICS status
- Optionally adding up to five addresses with supporting proofs
- Optionally including contact information
- Wait for review. If approved, you’ll see the status update with the estimated date of the next ICS list update. If not approved, you'll receive feedback to revise and resubmit.
- Wait for the ICS list to be updated. Your address will be included in the next on-chain ICS list via Easy Track governance.
- Claim ICS Node Operator type. Once the EasyTrack motion gets enacted.
Note: You may begin submitting applications now. The first review round will conclude on October 1. Following this, the CSM committee together with Lido contributors will nominate the addresses associated with approved applications and execute on-chain updates to the ICS list via the Easy Track governance mechanism, around October 8. Applications submitted after October 1 will not be reviewed and approved in the first round.
Next Steps
The full CSM v2 upgrade — including an increase in CSM share limit to 5% — is right around the corner. Submitting your application now affords the opportunity for approval in the first review round — positioning you to be among the earliest, excluding EA-migrated operators, to access ICS-specific benefits after the upgrade.