stRATEGY amplifies staking rewards by allocating deposited tokens across highly liquid and diverse DeFi opportunities, while strengthening the stETH ecosystem. All curator actions follow a pre-defined but continuously evolving set of controls, enabling flexible asset management with a high degree of transparency and integrity.

The stRATEGY APY comes from continuous rewards generation across its underlying apps and protocols (e.g. lending, staking, liquidity provision). All these rewards are automatically compounded into the vault, so your strETH tokens grow in value over time without requiring manual action. Details can be found here.

Please note that APY figures are only estimates and subject to change at any time. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Rewards are influenced by factors outside the platform’s control, including changes to blockchain protocols and validator performance.

The stRATEGY Vault offers boosted Mellow Points for the first 4 weeks after launch (starting November 6, 2025):

• For every $1 of value in your strETH, your wallet earns 0.00075 Mellow Points per hour.

After the initial 4 weeks, the rate adjusts to:

• For every $1 of value in your strETH, your wallet earns 0.00025 Mellow Points per hour.

Loyalty points are updated hourly, and you can track the full details here.

When you deposit your tokens, you receive strETH tokens that represent your portion of the vault. Your strETH token balance never decreases to cover fees, instead, fees are reflected in the value of each strETH token:

• Platform fee (AUM fee): 1% annually, pro-rated for the time your deposited tokens stay in the vault, is built into the strETH token’s price.
• Performance fee (allocated to Mellow): 10% of the rewards accrued is deducted from gains before it’s reflected in the strETH token’s price.

So, while your strETH token balance stays the same, the value per token adjusts to account for fees and performance.

As with any DeFi application, there are inherent risks. In this case, the vault is exposed to risks that can generally be categorized into two areas: protocol-level (technical) risk and strategy-level (operational) risk.

1. Protocol-Level Risk (Smart Contract and Platform Risk)

   These are risks arising from vulnerabilities or failures in the smart contracts used by the vault itself or by the third-party DeFi protocols it integrates with. The vault attempts to mitigate this risk by interacting only with protocols that have undergone extensive security audits, have robust practices, and have demonstrated reliability through long-term, large-scale usage.

2. Strategy-Level Risk (Operational Risk)

   These are risks related to how the vault allocates assets in various DeFi strategies. Current strategies include ETH lending, leveraged staking, and liquidity provision in ETH–wstETH pairs. Each has associated risks and mitigation measures:
   • Lending Risk: Lending ETH in third-party protocols carries the risk of bad debt or insolvency events at the protocol level. This risk is mitigated by using lending protocols like Aave who have deep liquidity and deep experience in risk management.
   • Leverage Risk: Leveraged staking may introduce the risk of liquidation. This risk is mitigated by using correlated tokens (e.g., using wstETH as collateral to borrow ETH) which reduces the impact of market price volatility such as the risk of liquidation due to changes in the value of the underlying assets. Additionally, the specific leverage ratio is routinely monitored by the DeFi curation team to remain within safe thresholds.
   • Liquidity Provision Risk: Providing liquidity on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) can result in value loss due to changes in the relative prices of assets (impermanent loss). This risk is mitigated by using correlated pairs like wstETH and ETH where deviations in the price ratio are minimal, which reduces price divergence risk.

Important: The risks described above are not exhaustive. Other risks may exist and could arise unexpectedly. While contributors to the protocol implement best-in-class security practices and continuously monitor risk exposure, no system is entirely risk-free, and some risks may remain despite all mitigation efforts. Anyone considering using the vault should conduct their own research and seek independent professional advice to ensure they fully understand the potential risks and implications before participating.

The curator for stRATEGY is Mellow, their role is overseeing strategy execution, risk management, and the overall performance of the vault.

You can deposit ETH, WETH, or wstETH to receive strETH share tokens of stRATEGY vault. Once submitted, your deposit request will appear as pending in the Lido UI. When your funds enter the vault strETH tokens are generated, and can be claimed in the Lido UI. Not claiming your tokens won’t affect the rewards accrual.

Deposits are typically fulfilled within ~24 hours under normal conditions. When I request the deposit and it’s pending, when I start getting the rewards? Once your deposit request is processed and stRATEGY tokens are issued, your funds immediately begin participating in the vault and earning rewards, with token value adjusting over time.

Note that strETH tokens continue to accrue rewards in the vault whether or not you claim them!

You can have only one active request per depositable token. This means you can have a maximum of three deposit requests at the same time, one each for ETH, WETH, and wstETH. To create a new request for a given token, you’ll need to cancel the existing one first.

Yes. If your deposit request has not yet been fulfilled, you can cancel it in the Lido UI.

Yes. Once your strETH is available for claiming, you can submit another deposit request. However, please note that when you create a new request, the claimable amount will be automatically transferred to your wallet as part of the new deposit transaction.

The strETH token represents your share of the stRATEGY vault. Its value reflects the amount you deposited and the vault’s performance.

You can transfer it between wallets and also use it in DeFi, e.g. Pendle LP positions.

The withdrawal process has two steps:

• Request withdrawal by issuing a withdrawal request from strETH to wstETH tokens. Withdrawals are typically fulfilled within ~72 hours under normal conditions.
• Claim: Claim your wstETH after the withdrawal request has been processed.

Typically, it takes up to 3 days, though it may be faster. You can check progress in the Withdrawal section of the Lido stRATEGY UI.

Withdrawals are processed in wstETH because this format allows the vault to reduce the time to claim and complete a withdrawal. By receiving wstETH, you will continue to accrue staking APR while you hold it. Also, wstETH is widely accepted in DeFi, so you can use it across protocols, bridge it to other networks, or convert it into ETH through Lido withdrawals, or secondary markets.

Yes. You can transform your wstETH to ETH using the Request and Claim tabs, trading platforms on Lido Withdrawal tab, or any other aggregator.

There’s no additional fees. However, as with any Ethereum transaction, you’ll need to pay a network gas fee.

Yes. Once you create a withdrawal request, and before your payout is allocated, your funds continue earning in the vault. As a result, the final claimable amount of wstETH may differ slightly from the initially requested seeing amount and it could be higher or lower.

You can have multiple withdrawal requests.

No, once the withdrawal request was created, it can’t be cancelled.

Accrued rewards, as well as possible additional rewards, are automatically accounted for in the price of strETH token. Mellow points will become claimable in the future. Rewards are automatically included in your strETH token balance and are realized upon withdrawal into a wstETH-related amount. Mellow rewards based on points accrued will be claimable in the future.