Lido V3 & Stakely: Public & Institutional ETH Staking With stVaults
Product Overview
Stakely is a blockchain infrastructure provider that has operated validators since 2020 for users, protocols, and institutions, with infrastructure distributed across Europe.
Stakely is launching two products built on stVaults, Lido protocol’s modular staking infrastructure:
- A public staking vault that pairs ETH staking with EarnETH, open to anyone;
- Dedicated institutional vaults with configuration tailored to each client.
The Staking Tradeoff
Staking ETH has historically required a compromise between liquidity and control. Direct staking offers operator selection and potentially stronger validator outcomes, but leaves capital illiquid: withdrawals must clear the Ethereum exit queue, which can stretch to weeks when exits surge. Traditional liquid staking provides immediate liquidity, but removes operator choice and averages validator performance across a broad pool.
stVaults resolve the native staking versus pooled staking tradeoff, letting stakers tap into stETH liquidity while keeping control over validator selection and attribution.
Why Lido stVaults
- Unparalleled liquidity: By enabling the minting of stETH against assets held in staking vaults, stVaults allow optional liquidity alongside staked ETH.
- DeFi ecosystem adoption: Broad support for stETH and wstETH across the DeFi ecosystem lets institutions deploy liquidity efficiently while continuing to earn staking rewards.
- Security of the Lido protocol: Lido’s battle-tested, audited infrastructure provides an institutional-grade security foundation. Lido is Web3SOC certified by Cantina.
Stakely Public Staking Vault
Stakely’s public vault is built with the DeFi Wrapper, Lido’s toolkit for end-user staking products on stVaults. Participants deposit ETH through a Stakely-branded interface at staking.stakely.io and receive an ERC-20 pool share token that represents their share of the vault.
The deposited ETH is staked and earns staking rewards. On top of that, via the DeFi Wrapper, stETH is minted against the vault’s staked ETH and deposited into EarnETH, Lido’s ETH DeFi strategy, which allocates it across a curated set of established DeFi protocols for additional rewards. This happens automatically, so participants hold a single position and never receive or manage stETH themselves.
DeFi strategies carry risks beyond plain staking, and participants should review the product terms before taking part.
Dedicated Institutional Vaults
Stakely also offers non-custodial institutional vaults.
With a dedicated vault, an institution keeps its ETH segregated and defines how the vault is configured: fee terms, operating permissions, liquidity design, and the technical parameters that fit its model. The institution selects Stakely as its Node Operator while keeping its own custody model, permissions, and controls.
Stakely runs the validators, and the setup is non-custodial: Stakely does not act as custodian of the institution’s assets. On-chain attribution ties the position to a specific vault, operator, and set of parameters, supporting clearer reporting and review. This makes dedicated vaults relevant for asset managers, treasuries, platforms, custodians, and ETF or ETP issuers. Institutions can contact the Stakely team to design a deployment.
Integration & Security Approach
Stakely is a Lido curated Node Operator and an identified Node Operator for stVaults, under the stVault Basic Operator category.
In both products (public and institutional), ETH is staked through Stakely’s infrastructure, and validator monitoring, performance management, and operational overhead sit with Stakely.
Standard Ethereum staking risks apply; for the full breakdown, see Lido’s Risk Assessment Framework for stVaults.
The following measures have been implemented to support the security of Lido V3 and Stakely stVaults*:
- Compliance and certifications: ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II certification, and Staking Rewards AAA verification, with a public trust center at security.stakely.io.
- Infrastructure and monitoring: a distributed architecture with continuous monitoring and access controls designed to reduce operational risks.
- Slashing coverage: Stakely operates a Staking Insurance Program that reimburses eligible slashing losses on its validators, subject to program terms.
- Smart contracts: Lido V3 stVaults smart contracts have undergone audits by Certora (including formal verification), MixBytes, Consensys Diligence, Composable Security, Ackee Blockchain, and Sigma Prime. An ongoing Immunefi bug bounty offers white hats up to $2M in rewards.
- Built-in operational controls: The stVaults’ design gives Vault Owners end-to-end control of the funds in the vault: supply/withdraw ETH, mint/repay stETH, monitor vault health parameters and metrics, trigger ETH withdrawals from validators, and perform rebalancing and vault closure or disconnect from the Lido protocol (Web UI support for these actions arriving in H2 2026).
*Audits, bug bounties, and operational controls are intended to reduce but do not eliminate underlying protocol or market risks. Additional risks may remain or be unidentified.
What It Means for Stakers & Institutions
Stakely brings two ways to stake on stVaults: a public vault that pairs ETH staking with EarnETH, open to anyone, and dedicated institutional vaults with tailored, non-custodial configuration.
To use the public vault, visit staking.stakely.io. Institutions can contact the Stakely team to design a dedicated vault. For more on stVaults, visit lido.fi/stvaults.