The Lido Labs Foundation unveiled stVaults on the Ethereum mainnet on Friday.
stVaults marks the move from a single product model to shared staking on the protocol by opening its infrastructure to external builders.
Simply put, stVaults allows other teams to plug into the Lido staking system instead of building their own from scratch. Until now, developing an Ethereum staking product typically involved setting up validators, integrations, and liquidity independently, which can be a costly and complex process. stVaults aims to lower this barrier by allowing builders to use the Lido’s existing plumbing while customizing how staking works for their users.
stVaults are isolated staking environments that allow teams to run custom validator setups and optionally mint stETH, while remaining connected to Lido’s liquidity and DeFi integrations. Lido said its core staking protocol remains unchanged, with stVaults operating alongside it.
The rollout comes as Ethereum staking moves beyond single products to more specialized setups. These include institutional-level staking with tighter controls, application-specific staking products, and layer 2 networks integrating staking directly into their infrastructure, all without fragmenting liquidity between competing pools.
Initial deployments include Consensys’ Layer 2 network, Linea, which uses stVaults to stake a portion of bridged ETH and redirect rewards to liquidity providers and ecosystem incentives. Blockchain analytics company Nansen is also using stVaults to launch its first Ethereum staking product.
“stVaults shows how Ethereum staking is evolving. Different users now need different configurations,” said Isidoros Passadis, Head of Staking at Lido Labs Foundation. “With stVaults, the Lido Protocol can meet these needs in a single framework while maintaining the liquidity and transparency that stETH is known for.”
Read more: Lido goes modular with Vault-based “V3” upgrade
