Mellow Vaults Overview
Mellow vaults are smart contract primitives that package strategy execution, risk constraints, and integrations into a single vault interface. Vaults define how capital moves, what actions are permitted, and which external venues the strategy can use, with enforcement handled by smart contracts.
Mellow vaults operate under a curated model. Depositors provide capital, while designated curators define and operate the strategy within predefined onchain constraints. Curators cannot arbitrarily change strategy behavior. Their actions are bounded by the vault’s configuration, permissions, and limits. This separation of roles allows strategies to be actively managed while keeping risk parameters explicit and enforced at the vault level.
Mellow supports multiple vault product lines that reflect the evolution of this architecture. Core Vaults are the primary framework for current structured product deployments, while other vault types cover specialized use cases such as DVT-oriented staking exposure, restaking, and active liquidity management. The section below maps each product line to its intended use case and documentation entry points.
Core Vaults
Core Vaults are isolated, programmable vaults that encode a complete onchain strategy together with its execution, risk limits, and withdrawal logic inside a single framework. Each vault enforces asset whitelists, per-strategy permissions, oracle checks, and batch-based accounting, ensuring predictable execution and auditable risk boundaries. Strategies can span multiple DeFi protocols and, where required, centralized exchanges via institutional custody rails, without breaking trustless custody for users.
stRATEGY Vault – first Core Vault product The stRATEGY Vault allocates deposited tokens across liquid DeFi opportunities to amplify staking rewards, with curator actions constrained by a predefined control set. It references Core Vaults as the underlying technology surface.
When to start here
You need a production-grade framework for curated structured products
You want explicit controls and a stable vault framework even as strategies evolve
DVstETH vault
DVstETH is a wrapped liquid staking token powered by Lido wstETH that enables depositors to reuse staking receipts across DeFi. It relies on Distributed Validator Technology (DVT) concepts where validator keys are split into shards across independent nodes to improve key-security assumptions.
When to start here
You want wstETH-based exposure with a DVT incentive layer and a dedicated DV vault product line
Restaking Vaults
MultiVaults
MultiVault aggregates multiple isolated vaults – subvaults – into a single top-level vault. LPs deposit into the MultiVault and receive composite LP tokens. The MultiVault can redistribute assets across subvaults based on configured strategy rules, enabling cross-protocol liquidity rebalancing.
The MultiVault architecture is described as an ERC4626 extension with additional features such as limits, whitelists, and locks for deposits and withdrawals.
When to start here
You need a single user-facing vault that can rebalance across multiple isolated vault components
Interoperable vaults
Interoperable Vaults extend the vault model cross-chain. Users deposit on EVM networks and receive vault shares, while restaking execution occurs on Ethereum mainnet. The system uses LayerZero OFT messaging with custom modifications to support deposit and withdrawal flows across L1 and L2 environments.
When to start here
You want the MultiVault-style vault UX on multiple chains while centralizing restaking on Ethereum
Simple LRT
Simple LRT is a system of contracts built around a vault contract – MellowSymbioticVault or MellowVaultCompat. It modifies ERC4626 and introduces queued withdrawals handled by a dedicated SymbioticWithdrawalQueue contract.
When to start here
You want an ERC4626-like surface with explicit withdrawal queue semantics
Mellow ALM
Mellow ALM covers two related components:
Mellow Permissionless Vaults A set of smart contracts that allows anyone to create a multi-ERC20 vault and a strategy across DeFi protocols and EVM chains. It defines distinct actor roles such as liquidity providers, strategists, and governance.
Mellow ALM Toolkit A toolkit for concentrated liquidity management on AMMs such as Uniswap and others. It focuses on bootstrapping liquidity and optimizing liquidity positions, with a workflow where users set strategy parameters and the system manages ongoing operations.
When to start here
Your product is AMM liquidity management rather than restaking or LRT-focused vault design
Once live, each vault dynamically allocates capital across various yield-generating opportunities:
Restaking Rewards (except for DVstETH vault)
Through restaking protocols, stakers can choose to accept additional slashing conditions on their staked ETH for rewards from protocols whose state is secured by stakers’ assets.
Typical design enables the validation of various modules, including consensus protocols for L2s and appChains, data availability layers, virtual machines & application layers, creating new revenue opportunities for restakers.
Restaking protocols share the abundant security of Ethereum consensus by spilling it over to these modules, enhancing the reliability of their consensus and adding extra revenue source to restakers.
DeFi Liquidity Incentives: Vault strategies can route a portion of assets into liquidity pools (Uniswap, Curve, Balancer) or lending markets (Aave, Compound), capturing swap fees, gauge rewards, and interest.
Protocol Native Incentives: Some vaults integrate directly with incentive programs—for instance, by depositing into newly launched yield-bearing tokens or participating in loyalty point systems—unlocking bonus distributions from governance or ecosystem grants.
Launching LRTs will be permissionless for curators/users
Although LRTs permit delegation to multiple AVS operators, permissioned LRT holders and LRT node operators have little to no choice in how these delegation sets are formed or how risks are managed.
Holders can only make adjustments by changing the amount of LRT to which they are exposed.
Allowing LRT curators to issue new LRTs with refined risk/reward ratios in a permissionless manner makes the possibility of malfunctions causing ripple effects and liquidation cascades across the entire ecosystem remote and unlikely.
Fees mechanism for curators
LRT curators are incentivized to set a competitive fee on restaking revenue. Mellow plans to aid LRT curators to launch permissionless LRTs with deployment, maintenance and DeFi integrations.
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