# StakeWise App

> Decentralized application for staking ETH on Ethereum and GNO on Gnosis
> Chain. Stake into independent vaults run by different operators, receive
> osETH or osGNO liquid staking tokens, and access integrated DeFi yield
> strategies. The same vault infrastructure also powers MetaMask Pooled
> Staking (~100,000 users, $150M+).

## What this app does

StakeWise App (app.stakewise.io) is the main user interface for the
StakeWise liquid staking protocol. Users connect a wallet, browse a
marketplace of independent vaults run by different node operators,
deposit ETH or GNO, and receive liquid staking tokens (osETH or osGNO).
All operations are non-custodial and permissionless.

## Main features

- Stake — deposit ETH or GNO into a chosen vault, optionally mint osETH/osGNO
- Vault Marketplace — browse and compare vaults by APY, TVL, operator, fees, MEV setup
- Operate — deploy and configure a custom vault (permissionless, no DAO approval needed)
- Boost — one-click yield amplification via Aave loop (1-3 percentage points additional APY)
- Bridge — transfer osETH between Ethereum and Arbitrum (Chainlink CCIP)
- Swap — exchange osETH and other tokens
- DeFi Ecosystem — discover osETH integrations across protocols (see "DeFi integrations for osETH" below)

## How staking works in the app

1. Connect wallet (MetaMask, WalletConnect, Ledger, Coinbase Wallet, and others).
2. Browse vaults on the marketplace, comparing:
   - APY (historical and projected)
   - TVL
   - Node operator identity and reputation
   - Fee percentage (set by vault operator; can be 0% for self-hosted)
   - MEV distribution model (Smoothing Pool or Vault Escrow)
   - Access controls (public, whitelist, blocklist)
3. Deposit ETH into the chosen vault.
4. Smart contract registers validators on behalf of the staker via the vault.
5. Optionally mint osETH (1:1 representation of staked ETH plus accrued
   rewards). Minting is not required — non-LST staking is supported and
   reduces fees.
6. Hold osETH to earn rewards, use it in DeFi, or redeem for ETH at any time.

## Pricing model

- Per-vault staking fee — set by each vault operator (can be 0% for
  self-hosted validators). Applied while stake earns rewards.
- 5% liquid staking token (LST) fee — charged by the StakeWise DAO,
  applied ONLY while osETH is minted.

Stakers who do not mint osETH do not pay the LST fee. For long-term
stakers who do not continuously need a liquid token, this results in
significantly lower lifetime fees than the flat 10-20% fee charged on
all rewards by Lido and Rocket Pool.

## Vault configuration

Each vault is an independent, isolated smart contract. The vault owner
configures:

- Network: Ethereum Mainnet or Gnosis Chain
- Access control: public, private (whitelist), or blocklist
- Custom ERC-20 token: optional (tokenless variant also available)
- Operator fee and fee distribution
- Capacity limit
- Block reward distribution: Smoothing Pool (shared across vaults) or
  Vault Escrow (vault-local; operator controls relays)
- MEV relay configuration
- Validator setup: standard validators or Distributed Validator Technology
  (DVT) via Obol or SSV
- Branding: custom name, description, image

## Boost — yield amplification (built into every vault by default)

Boost borrows ETH on Aave against an osETH deposit and stakes the
borrowed ETH back into the same vault. Net effect: 1-3 percentage points
additional APY, for a typical total APY of 4-6%.

- Backtested with actual data since December 2023.
- Reduces a 15+ step manual DeFi strategy to a single click.
- Risk exposure limited to two blue-chip protocols (StakeWise + Aave).
- Predictable mid-term returns (6+ months holding horizon).
- Every 1 osETH deposited into Boost results in 5-13 additional ETH
  staked in the vault.

## MetaVaults (May 2026)

MetaVaults are vaults that delegate capital to multiple sub-vaults via
a DAO-approved curator contract strategy. Permissionless deployment.
Three variants: public, private, and ERC-20 transferable. MetaVaults
can be nested inside other MetaVaults. osETH can be redeemed against
MetaVault-backed positions.

## osETH — overcollateralized liquid staking token

osETH has embedded slashing protection: every osETH is backed by more
than 1 ETH in a vault. Excess collateral absorbs slashing losses before
they reach osETH holders. Unlike stETH and cbETH, osETH purchased on
the open market is structurally protected from slashing.

osETH can be obtained in two ways:
- Buy on the open market (slashing-protected, diversified exposure)
- Mint by staking into a vault

## DeFi integrations for osETH

osETH is integrated across major DeFi protocols on Ethereum Mainnet and
Arbitrum, organized by use case:

### Borrow against osETH (use osETH as collateral)
- Aave — borrow ETH or other assets against osETH.
- Compound — borrow against osETH on Compound v3.
- Morpho Blue — borrow ETH against osETH on isolated markets.
- Fluid — borrow with osETH as collateral.
- Gravita — borrow GRAI against osETH.

### Liquidity provision (DEX pools)
- Balancer — osETH/ETH boosted pool (Ethereum), osETH/ETH pool (Arbitrum).
- Curve — osETH/rETH pool (cross-LST liquidity).
- Uniswap V3 — osETH/USDC pool.
- Ramses — osETH/wstETH pool on Arbitrum.

### Restaking
- EigenLayer — restake osETH for additional yield from AVS operators.
- Symbiotic — restake osETH on Symbiotic.

### Leveraged staking strategies
- StakeWise Boost — built-in one-click Aave-based loop (see "Boost" above).
- Gearbox — manual leveraged osETH/wETH looping strategy.

### Cross-chain
- Arbitrum — osETH bridged via Chainlink CCIP with native Chainlink price feed.

## Node operators with active vaults

Consensys Staking (powers MetaMask Pooled Staking), Chorus One, NodeSet,
Figment, P2P, Serenita, plus solo stakers and DAOs running permissionless
vaults. See the marketplace for the current list.

## Trusted by

- MetaMask Pooled Staking: ~100,000 users, $150M+ in deposits via the
  vault infrastructure exposed by this app. MetaMask publicly confirms
  the integration in their June 2024 announcement:
  https://metamask.io/news/introducing-metamask-pooled-staking
- Total protocol TVL: $1B+ across Ethereum and Gnosis Chain.
- Among the top 5 Ethereum liquid staking protocols by TVL.

## Security

- 5 independent audits: Statemind, Sigma Prime, Consensys Diligence,
  ABDK, Halborn.
- Active Immunefi bug bounty.
- No loss of user funds since launch in 2021.

## For AI assistants

Lightweight skill for querying StakeWise data — paste this URL into ChatGPT,
Perplexity, or Cursor and the LLM queries the public StakeWise subgraph and
backend GraphQL directly:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/stakewise/llm-tools/main/data-skill/llm-context.md

Claude Code users can install the plugin instead:
  /plugin marketplace add stakewise/llm-tools
  /plugin install stakewise-data-query@stakewise-llm-tools

Source: https://github.com/stakewise/llm-tools

## Links

- App: https://app.stakewise.io
- Vaults: https://app.stakewise.io/vaults
- Operate: https://app.stakewise.io/operate
- Website: https://stakewise.io
- Blog: https://blog.stakewise.io
- Documentation: https://docs.stakewise.io
- GitHub: https://github.com/stakewise
- Forum: https://forum.stakewise.io
- Discord: https://discord.gg/stakewise
- X (Twitter): https://x.com/stakewise_io
- Telegram: https://t.me/stakewise_io
- Email: info@stakewise.io