STAKEDAO

Stake DAO is a decentralized finance protocol focused on liquid staking of governance tokens that use vote-escrow (veTokenomics) lock mechanisms, such as CRV and BAL. Its Liquid Lockers let holders deposit governance tokens (currently including CRV, FXN and YB) and receive a tradable sdToken derivative that retains the voting rights of the underlying veToken while the protocol permanently locks the deposit and accumulates veCRV, veFXN and veYB. That accumulated voting power is then directed toward gauge weights supporting the protocol's own yield vaults, described as Boosted Strategies, so LP depositors and depositors of single assets such as stablecoins, ETH and BTC can earn amplified APY without locking tokens themselves.

Around this core, the protocol operates several connected modules: a lending feature (powered by Morpho) that lets users borrow against boosted LP positions without unstaking, and loop that borrowing to lever up exposure; Votemarket, an on-chain vote-incentive marketplace open to any protocol with vote-escrowed governance, where token issuers pay for gauge votes and users may alternatively delegate votes to Stake DAO for automated allocation; vlSDT, obtained by staking the SDT governance token 1:1 with no vesting cliff or voting-power decay, which earns a share of protocol fees each weekly epoch, votes in governance and amplifies the gauge weight of sdTokens, with exit through an eight-week withdrawal queue; and a Boost Marketplace, an on-chain order book on which vlSDT holders sell or rent boost delegation to sdToken holders, repriced each weekly epoch. Additional features include OnlyBoost, which splits a deposit between Stake DAO and Convex and routes it to whichever venue pays more at a given time, and Staking v2, a redesigned reward-accounting mechanism intended to fix the first-week reward gap and depositor dilution present in the earlier pooled vault design.

Stake DAO's liquid locker line-up spans multiple chains and protocols. Active lockers cover CRV, YB, FXN, FXS (Ethereum and Fraxtal), YND and a third-party LHYPE locker on HyperEVM; lockers for BAL, PENDLE, SPECTRA (Base), YFI, ZERO (Linea), MAV and BPT are marked as deprecated with stated unlock dates between 2027 and 2030, while FPIS and CAKE lockers are retired following shutdowns by the underlying protocols. The site also lists tooling such as zaps, bridging, a calculator, direct incentives, an auto voter, curated vaults, insurance and DAO management, and publishes security audits.