The Lido Labs Foundation unveiled stVaults on the Ethereum mainnet on Friday.
stVaults marks a shift from a single-product model to a shared commitment to the protocol by opening up the infrastructure to third-party builders.
In simple terms, stVaults lets other teams plug into Lido’s staking system instead of building their own from scratch. Until now, developing an Ethereum staking product has typically meant setting up validators, integrations, and liquidity on your own, which can be a costly and complex process. stVaults aims to lower this barrier by allowing builders to use Lido’s existing plumbing while customizing how staking works for their users.
stVaults are isolated staking environments that allow teams to run custom validator configurations and optionally generate sETH, while staying 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 deployment moves beyond one-size-fits-all products to more specialized setups. These include institutional-level staking with tighter controls, application-specific staking products, and layer 2 networks that embed staking directly into their infrastructure, all without fragmenting liquidity across 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 show how Ethereum staking is evolving. Different users now need different setups,” said Isidoros Passadis, head of staking at the Lido Labs Foundation. “With stVaults, the Lido protocol can support these needs within a single framework, while maintaining the liquidity and transparency that stETH is known for.”
Read more: Lido goes modular with Vault-based ‘V3’ upgrade