Diva cancels Ethereum staking mainnet, tells early stakers to withdraw
Ethereum staking project Diva will shut down without a mainnet launch after running out of funds and tells early stakers to withdraw about 654.5 ETH.
ETHEREUMDEFINEWS
Sofia Marchetti
10/29/20261 min read
Diva Staking, an Ethereum liquid staking project, said on Oct. 28 that it will wind down without ever launching on mainnet and told depositors in its Early Staker Vaults to withdraw their funds through Enzyme, the platform that runs the vaults. "There is nothing left to wait for," the team wrote, according to DeFi Prime.
The two pre-launch vaults hold roughly 654.5 ETH, The Defiant reported. Users deposited either ETH or stETH. The ETH was held until launch, while stETH deposits kept earning staking rewards, CoinGabbar noted.
Diva said its money ran out in mid-2024 and that three people kept working without salary or revenue after that. No large backer agreed to fund the launch, and the team said it could not pay for further audits. The protocol ran on the Hoodi testnet for four months without a failure, but the developers said the AI tools that helped them finish the software also make vulnerabilities easier to find. They chose to close rather than go live with risks that earlier audits might have missed.
What depositors need to know
The vaults are non-custodial, and under the DIP-02 terms holders can withdraw at any time, subject to a default 24-hour lock-up. Vault shares cannot be transferred to other addresses. The shutdown statement sets no deadline and gives no date for closing the Enzyme interface. No exploit or loss in the vaults has been reported.
DIVA tokens were non-transferable and never traded. Under the original terms, accrual depended on a formal mainnet launch date, which can no longer be met, and no alternative distribution has been announced.
The exit removes a smaller challenger from a staking market led by a handful of large operators. Developer figures cited by CoinGabbar, which were not independently verified, put Lido's share at about 21%, BitMine at 11.5%, Coinbase at 10.9% and Binance at 7.9%. Depositors are advised to use only the official Enzyme route and ignore unsolicited refund or airdrop offers.
Source: Diva Staking, DeFi Prime, The Defiant, CoinGabbar