# Stake DAO > Stake DAO is a DeFi protocol that boosts LP yield by accumulating deep governance power through Liquid Lockers. Users deposit into boosted yield vaults built on Curve, f(x) Protocol, and YieldBasis, or lock governance tokens (CRV, FXN, YB) to mint tradable sdTokens, without locking anything themselves. The app lives at https://app.stakedao.org, live protocol data at https://hub.stakedao.org, and documentation at https://docs.stakedao.org. This is the full-content companion to https://www.stakedao.org/llms.txt. It inlines the canonical explanations so an answer engine can cite Stake DAO without a second fetch. All numeric values (APR, TVL, boost, token peg) are deliberately excluded because they change continuously. Fetch them live from the endpoints listed under Live machine-readable data below. ## What is Stake DAO Stake DAO is a DeFi protocol that boosts LP yield by accumulating deep governance power through Liquid Lockers. It gives users access to boosted strategies on Curve, f(x) Protocol, and YieldBasis without requiring them to lock tokens themselves. The protocol is non-custodial and permissionless. ## The flywheel Every part of Stake DAO feeds the next. More deposits deepen the protocol's locked governance power, which deepens the boost, which attracts more deposits. The DAO's permanently locked governance positions (veCRV, veFXN, veYB) are the engine behind every boosted Strategy. ## Products ### Boosted Strategies A Boosted Strategy is a yield vault that uses Stake DAO's accumulated governance power to direct gauge weight toward your LP positions, amplifying APY beyond what any unboosted vault can offer. Rewards are credited instantly to all depositors rather than streamed over a 7-day window. URL: https://app.stakedao.org/yield ### OnlyBoost OnlyBoost automatically splits your deposit between Stake DAO and Convex, routing it to whichever pays the best yield at any given time, so you always get the strongest boost available from a single deposit instead of managing two separate positions. ### Liquid Lockers Liquid Lockers let you deposit governance tokens (CRV, FXN, or YB) into Stake DAO. You receive a tradable sdToken in return while Stake DAO permanently locks the underlying token to accumulate veCRV, veFXN, and veYB. Featured lockers include CRV, YB, FXN, and SPECTRA. URL: https://app.stakedao.org/lockers ### vlSDT vlSDT is vote-locked SDT. Stake SDT to receive vlSDT with no vesting cliff and no voting-power decay. vlSDT holders earn weekly protocol fees, vote in governance, and can sell or delegate boost through the Boost Marketplace. Exit is available via an 8-week withdrawal queue. URL: https://app.stakedao.org/sdt ### Boost Marketplace The Boost Marketplace is an on-chain order book where vlSDT holders sell boost delegation and sdToken holders bid to acquire it. Price discovery is fully transparent and on-chain, refreshed every weekly epoch. URL: https://app.stakedao.org/sdt/boost/marketplace ### Votemarket Votemarket is an open incentive layer for any protocol with vote-escrowed governance. Protocols create on-chain campaigns to pay for gauge votes, and voters, including Stake DAO's sdToken holders, earn rewards for directing their influence. It is not limited to the SDT ecosystem. URL: https://votemarket.stakedao.org/curve ### Lending Borrow against yield-bearing collateral without unwinding the underlying yield position. URL: https://lending.stakedao.org/ ### Staking v2 Stake DAO's original staking design (the same mechanic Convex still uses today) pools LP deposits into a vault that accumulates boosted rewards and streams them out over the following week. That design has a flaw: a new depositor earns nothing in their first week since rewards only arrive the week after, and anyone who withdraws before then forfeits their share to whoever stays. New deposits also dilute the reward stream for depositors who were already there. Staking v2 fixes this with real accounting: it tracks exactly who deposited what and when, and routes rewards to exactly the depositors who earned them. ## FAQ ### What is Stake DAO? Stake DAO is a DeFi protocol that boosts LP yield by accumulating deep governance power through Liquid Lockers. It gives users access to boosted strategies on Curve, f(x) Protocol, and YieldBasis without requiring them to lock tokens themselves. ### What are Liquid Lockers? Liquid Lockers let you deposit governance tokens (CRV, FXN, or YB) into Stake DAO. You receive a tradable sdToken in return while Stake DAO permanently locks the underlying token to accumulate veCRV, veFXN, and veYB. ### What is a Boosted Strategy on Stake DAO? A Boosted Strategy is a yield vault that uses Stake DAO's accumulated governance power to direct gauge weight toward your LP positions, amplifying APY beyond what any unboosted vault can offer. ### What is OnlyBoost? OnlyBoost automatically splits your deposit between Stake DAO and Convex, routing it to whichever pays the best yield at any given time, so you always get the strongest boost available from a single deposit instead of managing two separate positions. ### What is Staking v2? Stake DAO's original staking design, the same mechanic Convex still uses today, pools LP deposits into a vault that accumulates boosted rewards and streams them out over the following week. That design has a flaw: a new depositor earns nothing in their first week since rewards only arrive the week after, and anyone who withdraws before then forfeits their share to whoever stays. New deposits also dilute the reward stream for depositors who were already there, effectively riding on rewards those earlier depositors earned. Staking v2 fixes this with real accounting: it tracks exactly who deposited what and when, and routes rewards to exactly the depositors who earned them. ### What is vlSDT? vlSDT is vote-locked SDT. Stake SDT to receive vlSDT with no vesting cliff and no voting-power decay. vlSDT holders earn weekly protocol fees, vote in governance, and can sell or delegate boost through the Boost Marketplace. Exit is available via an 8-week withdrawal queue. ### What is the Boost Marketplace? The Boost Marketplace is an on-chain order book where vlSDT holders sell boost delegation and sdToken holders bid to acquire it. Price discovery is fully transparent and on-chain, refreshed every weekly epoch. ### What is Votemarket? Votemarket is an open incentive layer for any protocol with vote-escrowed governance. Protocols create on-chain campaigns to pay for gauge votes, and voters, including Stake DAO's sdToken holders, earn rewards for directing their influence. Not limited to the SDT ecosystem. ## For AI agents - [Stake DAO Agent Skill](https://docs.stakedao.org/ai-skill): Open-source, read-only skill that gives an agent Stake DAO knowledge plus live Hub API access. Install for Claude Code with `git clone https://github.com/stake-dao/stakedao-skills.git ~/.claude/skills/stakedao`, then ask `/stakedao `. - [Skill repository](https://github.com/stake-dao/stakedao-skills): SKILL.md at the top level. - [API index](https://hub.stakedao.org/llms.txt): Self-describing endpoint discovery. - [Docs index](https://docs.stakedao.org/llms.txt): Concept and how-to index. ## Live machine-readable data - [Vaults (JSON)](https://hub.stakedao.org/v1/vaults): Live list of Staking v2 vaults with APR, TVL, boost, chain, and underlying coins. This feed covers v2 vaults only, it is not the protocol-wide TVL. - Protocol-wide TVL as displayed on the landing page is the sum of four sources: v2 vaults (the hub feed above), legacy strategies (https://raw.githubusercontent.com/stake-dao/api/refs/heads/main/api/strategies/curve/index.json, plus the balancer, passive, pendle and yearn files at the same path), curated vaults where curator is stakedao (https://raw.githubusercontent.com/stake-dao/api/refs/heads/main/api/strategies/curated/morpho/index.json, plus lagoon and ipor), and lockers (below). Sum the tvl field of each entry. - Independent aggregate: DeFi Llama tracks Stake DAO as two entries, https://api.llama.fi/protocol/stake-dao-yield and https://api.llama.fi/protocol/stake-dao-curator. Cite these when a single protocol-level TVL figure is needed and note the split. - Lockers JSON: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/stake-dao/api/refs/heads/main/api/lockers/index.json - APR, TVL, boost, and peg values are time-sensitive. Refresh at retrieval time, never cite a cached snapshot. ## Docs and resources - Documentation: https://docs.stakedao.org - Audits: https://docs.stakedao.org/audits - Governance: https://gov.stakedao.org - X / Twitter: https://x.com/StakeDAOHQ - Telegram: https://t.me/StakedaoHQ - Discord: https://discord.gg/qwQfw4kmYy - Medium: https://stakedaohq.medium.com/