Lido, the leader in the Ethereum staking market, recently published a Request for Comments (RFC) for its Lido v3 whitepaper, with the most notable innovation being a new architecture called "stVaults".
The core goal of stVaults design is to decouple staking methods (such as node operator selection, fee structure, risk preferences) from the stETH liquidity layer. It provides users with unprecedented customized staking options while maintaining Lido's stETH liquidity.
stVaults: Modular Design and Risk Management
According to the stVaults design document, the architecture uses a layered structure to ensure protocol safety and provide design flexibility without impacting the stability of the Lido core protocol. stVaults will serve as a highly composable building block, expected to generate more diverse staking strategies, protocols, and institutional-level products.
Risk management is key to stVaults design. For example, by introducing mechanisms like reserve ratio (RR), a 30% RR means that 100 ETH in a Vault can only mint 70 stETH. Lido aims to limit potential slashing risks within each Vault and ensure stETH's 1:1 redeemability with ETH, as described in the whitepaper RFC.
Other mechanisms such as forced rebalance threshold and share limit will also work together.
V3's Potential
stVaults design particularly focuses on institutional applications, allowing direct validator selection and optional liquidity access, which is especially attractive for staking ETFs and structured products.
Currently, Lido has launched the V3 testnet on the Holesky Ethereum testnet for developers to test stVaults and create customized staking solutions.
Lido DAO will ensure the governance and security of this new architecture through dual governance and multi-signature oracle systems. Lido is actively seeking community feedback on stVaults design and risk management models, particularly on balancing stETH risks, redeemability, and node operator selection. They invite external input to refine the final design, with discussions and comments available on the official forum.
