Stader ETHx Project Update

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Biggest Stories of 2025

• Bought-back SD Deployment: The Stader community passed a proposal determining the allocation of SD tokens acquired through quarterly buybacks, selecting a hybrid model that distributes 50% to SD stakers in the Stability Pool and 50% to active Cabbage traders, with 562,000 SD tokens to be distributed over 12 months 1. This established the protocol's ongoing policy for recycling buyback tokens back to active participants (September 3, 2025).
• SD Utility Pool Utilization Rate Change to 4%: The community passed a proposal reducing the SD Utility Pool utilization rate from 6% to 4%, continuing a prior reduction that was described as effective from a capital efficiency standpoint and aimed at getting closer to zero-inflation 34. This parameter change directly affects the economics of SD delegation and node operator coverage (September 3, 2025).
• Utilization of SD Tokens Acquired from Buybacks (Discussion): The Stader Ecosystem Lead opened a forum post soliciting community feedback on how to use SD tokens acquired via quarterly buybacks, outlining options including buyback and burn, distribution to SD stakers, distribution to Cabbage traders, and a hybrid approach 5. The post noted the protocol was emitting roughly 100,000 to 150,000 SD per month while quarterly buybacks accumulated around 50,000 SD per month, framing the decision as a way to reduce reliance on ongoing emissions (August 14, 2025).
• Stadernode Upgrade: The Stader Labs team announced a mandatory upgrade for all ETHx permissionless node operators to Stadernode v1.6.5 by May 7, 2025, intended to remain compatible with the Pectra upgrade scheduled for the same date at epoch 364032 6. This ensured node operators stayed aligned with Ethereum's network changes (May 5, 2025).
• Sunset ETHx Native Staking on Arbitrum: Voting concluded on a proposal to discontinue the ETHx native staking option on Arbitrum, which passed with 100% of votes in favor 7. The solution operated through a child-pool mechanism requiring active management that was no longer justified given low total value locked, though users could still stake on mainnet, bridge to Arbitrum, and use its low gas fees 8 (March 25, 2025).
• Utilization Rate Change of SD Utility Pool (10% to 6%): Voting concluded on a proposal to reduce the Stader Utility Pool utilization rate from 10% to 6% in a staggered fashion, which passed with 100% of votes in favor 9. The proposal explained that roughly 90% of delegated SD was being utilized by validators, and the change was expected to increase coverage for node operators and scale up the pool and overall rewards for SD delegators 10 (March 1, 2025).