New York, USA, November 6, 2025, Chainwire
The new vault architecture introduces standardized rails for DeFi and CEX strategies, with stETH at its core as the flagship asset.
Mellow today announced the launch of Core Vaults, a next-generation Vault architecture designed to provide institutions and curators with a programmable surface to build and deploy on-chain structured products.
Opportunities to generate revenue across DeFi protocols and centralized exchanges are abundant, but the landscape is highly fragmented and difficult for institutions to navigate. Core Vault brings them together in a single framework with standardized strategy design, built-in risk controls, and plug-and-play integration across protocols and exchanges. At launch, the system pegs Lido’s stETH, Ethereum’s most widely used staking token, as its flagship asset.
“Structured products will become the mother tongue of institutional DeFi. Core Vault provides allocators and builders with a vocabulary that is modular, transparent, and fluent for any market situation.” – Nick S., Mellow Founder.
Institutional infrastructure
Core Vault addresses one of the most persistent challenges facing professional allocators: the need for clarity, control, and compliance in often cluttered environments.
- Granular controls – per-vault limits, asset whitelisting, and permissions verified by independent actors
- Programmable flexibility – Curators can execute delta-neutral, leveraged, restaking, or liquidity provisioning strategies across DeFi and centralized venues.
- Smooth integration – Protocols and exchanges connect out of the box without the need for custom adapters or additional engineering.
- Custodial Payment Rail – Integration with Copper ClearLoop and Binance Ceffu enables CEX execution while safely storing your assets
- Built-in risk management – AML and KYC modules, two layers of oracle security, and audit-backed contracts included out of the box
- Built for decentralization – a progressive roadmap towards permissionless oracles, autonomous execution, and curatorial roles with minimal trust
- Instant access to trusted actors – Signature queue enables deposits and withdrawals in a single transaction for rapidly changing opportunities
Actual Evidence: Lido stRATEGY Vault
One of the first strategies built on Core Vault is Lido stRATEGY Vault, available under the “Earn” tab at https://stake.lido.fi/earn.
Users can deposit ETH, WETH, or wstETH and receive strETH in return, representing a share of the vault. The capital will then be programmatically allocated across established DeFi facilities such as Aave, Ethena, and Uniswap. Rewards occur in the background and are supplemented by Mellow Points.
In fact, stRATEGY Vault shows how Core Vault can be used in practice. Instead of managing multiple dashboards and manual integrations, depositors interact once and have access to a diversified risk isolation strategy built on Ethereum’s largest liquid staking token.
“Lido Protocol’s stETH already powers much of DeFi, and stRATEGY Vault builds on that foundation. Leveraging Mellow’s Core Vault provides users with an easy way to access a diverse set of strategies built around stETH in one place.” – Jakov Buratović, DeFi Master, Lido Ecosystem Foundation.
why is it important
The launch of Core Vault comes at a time when institutional investor inflow into Ethereum is accelerating. U.S. spot ETH ETFs have attracted billions of dollars in recent months, while Europe’s MiCA and impending stablecoin regulations are creating clearer rules.
Educational institutions want structured access and clear risks, not a hodgepodge of venues. Core Vault unifies this landscape and brings fragmented revenue opportunities into a single trustless framework. The protocol connects without the need for custom adapters or additional engineering. The vault design abstracts execution and reduces integration timelines to near zero.
For institutions, it provides auditability and trustless storage. For curators and protocol teams, it frees up a broader design space where curators can plug in protocols without writing a single line of code. It also provides end users with an accessible and user-friendly route to strategies leveraging stETH and other assets.
About Mellow
Mellow is a modular infrastructure protocol for building on-chain products. Founded in 2021, Mellow enables asset managers, curators, and protocols to design and operate vaults with full control over strategy, risk, and fees. The platform supports both DeFi and centralized exchange integration, with features such as risk isolation, compliance tools, and plug-and-play connectivity. Backed by leading investors, Mellow has evolved from its early automated liquidity management efforts to become a leading provider of vault infrastructure for institutional investors.
Users can learn more:
Paper: https://mellowprotocol.notion.site/Mellow-Thesis-Infrastructor-for-the-Next-Trillion-in-Onchain-Assets-23c02ad8627680949c63e0bbd4562646
Vault documentation: https://mellowprotocol.notion.site/Mellow-Core-Vaults-23302ad8627680d794b4dbfd4d6810ec
About Lido
Lido is an open source liquid staking middleware that provides a way to participate in the validation process of a blockchain network and earn rewards from this activity. With a mission to democratize staking, Lido middleware allows users to connect to node operators and stake digital assets without maintaining separate hardware. Lido users can interact with various third-party DeFi applications that individually integrate and support Liquid Staking tokens. For more information, please visit https://lido.fi.
X Lido: https://x.com/LidoFinance
Lido on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lidofi/
contact
communication leader
Ilya Astashevsky
mellow
[email protected]