Cosmos-Based Stride Governance Token, STRD, Surges 330% YTD, Outperforming ETH and LDO

Cosmos-based Stride has been on a roll lately. According to a recent Nansen report, the protocol currently commands more than 80% of the market share within the Cosmos ecosystem.

Despite the prolonged market-wide bearish trend, Stride’s governance token – STRD – has surged 330% year-to-date. STRD surpassed both Ethereum (ETH) as well as the native token of Lido (LDO) in YTD price performance. The latter happens to be Stride’s rival and a leader in the Liquid Staking Derivatives (LSD) space.

Cosmos-Based Stride Outperforms Ether and LDO

In a report shared with CryptoPotato, Nansen revealed that STRD has a market cap of around $72.29 million and an FDV of $82.58 million, making its FDV/TVL ratio just 2.1.

Its analysis suggested that STRD may be undervalued considering its real yield revenues towards STRD stakers, its new value capture mechanisms through transaction fees, and MEV, in addition to other near-term catalysts that increase the addressable market of Stride to billions of untapped markets.

However, the token’s surge surpassing Ether and LDO can be attributed to the recently launched Liquid Staking Module that enabled ATOM stakers to instantly liquid-stake their ATOM without any bonding periods. Since launching, the number of ATOM tokens liquid staked through the protocol has increased by almost 30% in just over two weeks.

Meanwhile, the total value locked (TVL) in Stride has also experienced significant growth this year, having only accelerated since the launch of the liquid staking module on the Cosmos Hub, according to the blockchain analytics platform.

Data from DeFiLama shows that Stride presently boasts a TVL of $36.94 million, with staked ATOM accounting for nearly 80% of these tokens.

Cosmos-Based Tokens Performance

While speaking with CryptoPotato, Jake Kennis, Senior Research Analyst at Nansen, observed that the crypto market witnessed a general decline, with top assets registering double-digit losses. Cosmos-based tokens followed a similar trajectory, displaying increased volatility as some underperformed while others exhibited notable gains in value.

“In Q3, with the specific timeframe of July 1st to September 30th, we have seen an overall downtrend in the crypto market with BTC and ETH down 11.69% and 13.76% respectively. As for Cosmos tokens, we have seen a similar trend with a bit more volatility of coins underperforming to the downside but also outperforming to the upside.”

The exec further added that some tokens that have outperformed Ether include CANTO: 50.86%, ASTRO: 19.3%, SOMM: 17.5%, DYDX: -5.7%, and INJ: -6%.