# 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.

## Overview

Stake DAO permanently locks governance tokens (CRV, FXN, YB) to accumulate vote-escrowed positions (veCRV, veFXN, veYB). That governance power is redirected to boost gauge weight on depositors' LP positions, so a Boosted Strategy pays a higher APY than any unboosted vault. Depositors keep liquidity through sdTokens and never lock anything themselves. The protocol is non-custodial and permissionless.

## Products

- [Boosted Strategies](https://app.stakedao.org/yield): Yield vaults that use Stake DAO's accumulated governance power to direct gauge weight toward depositor LP positions, amplifying APY. OnlyBoost auto-splits a deposit between Stake DAO and Convex to route to whichever pays the best boost.
- [Liquid Lockers](https://app.stakedao.org/lockers): Deposit CRV, FXN, YB, or SPECTRA and receive a tradable sdToken while Stake DAO permanently locks the underlying to accumulate veCRV, veFXN, veYB.
- [vlSDT](https://app.stakedao.org/sdt): Vote-locked SDT with no vesting cliff and no voting-power decay. Holders earn weekly protocol fees, vote in governance, and can sell or delegate boost. Exit via an 8-week withdrawal queue.
- [Boost Marketplace](https://app.stakedao.org/sdt/boost/marketplace): On-chain order book where vlSDT holders sell boost delegation and sdToken holders bid to acquire it. Price discovery is on-chain, refreshed every weekly epoch.
- [Votemarket](https://votemarket.stakedao.org/curve): Open incentive layer for any protocol with vote-escrowed governance. Protocols create on-chain campaigns to pay for gauge votes, voters earn rewards for directing influence. Not limited to the SDT ecosystem.
- [Lending](https://lending.stakedao.org/): Borrow against yield-bearing collateral without unwinding the underlying yield position.

## 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 <question>`.
- [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): Liquid Locker list with TVL and sdToken metadata.
- APR, TVL, boost, and peg values are time-sensitive live data. Refresh at retrieval time from the endpoints above, never from a cached snapshot.

## Key concepts

- sdToken: a tradable receipt token (sdCRV, sdFXN, sdYB) minted 1:1 when a governance token is deposited into a Liquid Locker. The underlying is locked permanently by Stake DAO.
- Boost: the multiplier applied to base gauge rewards, funded by Stake DAO's vote-escrowed governance holdings.
- Staking v2: reward accounting that tracks exactly who deposited what and when, so rewards route to the depositors who earned them, unlike the 7-day streaming model that Convex still uses.
- SDT: the protocol's native governance and fee-sharing token.

## Docs and resources

- [Documentation](https://docs.stakedao.org): Concepts, guides, and integration reference.
- [Audits](https://docs.stakedao.org/audits): Security audit reports.
- [Governance](https://gov.stakedao.org): Governance proposals and discussion.

## Social

- [X / Twitter](https://x.com/StakeDAOHQ)
- [Telegram](https://t.me/StakedaoHQ)
- [Discord](https://discord.gg/qwQfw4kmYy)
- [Medium](https://stakedaohq.medium.com/)