Lido Finance Launches v2 Upgrade, Institutional Infrastructure Continue to Attract Funding and Partnerships

Market Update Markets saw a retracement as retail sales data for April came in lower than expected, triggering fears of weak earnings from retailers. $SPX and $NDAQ slid 0.3% and 0.6% lower than yesterday's close, while the $QQQ continued its ascent from nearly two weeks ago, up 0.5%. Digital asset markets saw a similar decline, with $BTC dipping below $27k for the second time in the past month, and $ETH trading at $1.8k at time of writing. Of the Top 100, $CFX (+22%), $KAVA (+22%), and $LDO (+16%) have been the top gainers in the past week. Conflux unveiled its regulatory-compliant blockchain sim card, Kava announced its impending mainnet upgrade, while Lido launched its v2 upgrade, expanded on further below.  Lido Finance, the leading liquid staking protocol on Ethereum, has launched its v2 upgrade. The upgrade allows users to withdraw Ether (ETH) at a 1:1 ratio with staked ether (stETH), streamlining redemption of stETH for its underlying ETH backing it. It is made possible by introducing the Staking Router, which enhances the protocol's modular infrastructure and bolsters the network's decentralization. Over 6.1 million ETH (~$12 billion) is currently staked on Ethereum via Lido. Concurrently, bankrupt crypto lending platform Celsius transferred 428,000 stETH (~$780 millio