Stake DAO

Yield Aggregator

Stake DAO is a yield management platform that helps users maximize their yield on popular assets by harvesting and compounding rewards.

Risk Rating
Average
Protocol Code Quality
Protocol Maturity
Protocol Design
Summary
What we like
Stake DAO is a non-custodial platform that curates top DeFi strategies, staking, trading, and more, all within an easy-to-use dashboard.
What we like less
Most of Stake DAO's smart contracts are owned by an EOA (externally-owned account), which requires more trust assumptions.
What it means for you
The platform's liquid lockers allow you to access liquidity for locked tokens that earn yield while retaining governance power.
Information
Exploit/Hacks
None
Info
  • Website
  • Token: SDT
  • Tags: Yield Aggregator
Key Metrics
  • TVL: $74.9M (Rank #79)
  • TVL Ranking by Yield Aggregator: #0
  • Blockchain: Ethereum, Binance, Polygon, Avalanche, Harmony
  • Chain TVL
    • Ethereum: $70.15M
    • Binance: $4.01M
    • Polygon: $473.56K
    • Avalanche: $244.7K
    • Harmony: $0
Risk Assessment
Average
Protocol Code Quality
  • Code reviewed by at least one experienced auditor; ChainSecurity audited in Febraury 2022
  • Public team promotes accountability
  • No documented protocol hacks since launch
Protocol Maturity
  • Core protocol launched in 2021; maturity over one year minimizes technical risk as smart contracts are well battle-tested
  • Top 10% by total value locked reduces risk
  • Core contracts can be upgraded with just an EOA wallet
  • Timelock is less than 48hrs, which provides users with less time to exit if any malicious upgrades are approved
  • At least one critical governance issue documented
  • Low voting power concentration reduces risk
Protocol Design
  • No death spiral concerns
  • This protocol is susceptible to risks related to yield optimizers which deploy custom strategies to automatically manage user funds
Things to know about Stake DAO

How Stake DAO works

Stake DAO curates top yield farming strategies across DeFi into one simple-to-use dashboard. Users can start earning by selecting a strategy and depositing the corresponding asset. The platform recently released a new product, Liquid Lockers, that allows token holders of vote-escrow protocols (veTokens) to deposit their governance tokens to receive sdTokens, which is a liquid derivative of the underlying vote-escrow token. The current landscape for veTokens limits users to a choice between voting power or yield. With Liquid Lockers, users can unlock liquidity without having to compromise on yield or voting power. The depositing of veTokens for sdTokens is a one-way conversion, as the protocol will continuously relock the assets for the maximum duration (generally 4 years). As the Liquid Lockers accumulate more assets, and thus more governance power, the voting rights are granted to the respective sdToken holders. sdToken holders can stake them on Stake DAO to earn the native protocol fees, 8% of all boosted rewards, the ability to sell voting power for bribe fees, and additional SDT incentives.

How Stake DAO makes money

Stake DAO takes a 15% performance for every strategy on its platform plus a 1% harvester fee. Of the 15% fee, 8% is redistributed to users staking in liquid lockers, 5% to SDT lockers (veSDT), and 2% to the DAO treasury. The remainder is distributed to strategy liquidity providers (LPs). The platform also administers a 0.5% withdrawal fee when users remove funds from a particular strategy and distribute all proceeds to SDT lockers (veSDT).

How you make money on Stake DAO

You can earn yield by depositing assets into one of the platform's yield farming strategies. SDT holders can stake on the platform to receive veSDT to earn a portion of all performance fees generated.