Technical Architecture
Vault Deployment
Each Vault in the StakeWise protocol is deployed as an upgradeable ERC-1967 ↗ proxy contract. The proxy is the contract users interact with. It holds all persistent state — including user balances — and stores Vault-specific configuration set during initialization, which defines its core operational characteristics. Vaults are created through factory contracts such as VaultFactory ↗ by:
- Deploying a proxy that reserves storage for all Vault data and sets its initial configuration during the initializer call.
- Pointing the proxy to a shared implementation contract that contains the Vault's logic and module integration.
- Registering the Vault in the VaultsRegistry ↗ — the canonical on-chain list of all valid Vaults and factories.
Important
To mitigate economic attacks during the vulnerable initial phase of a Vault's lifetime, the factory requires a security deposit of 1 gwei at creation.
Deep Dive
All Vault factory addresses can be found in Networks →.
Modular Design
The constructor parameters set during deployment link the Vault to essential StakeWise infrastructure and the Ethereum Beacon Chain. Each Vault is built from specialized modules that split responsibilities into distinct areas, including:
Validator lifecycle — adding, approving, and exiting validators.
Deposit and withdrawal — staking to and withdrawing from the Beacon Chain.
Fee enforcement — calculating and applying protocol and operator fees.
MEV capture — routing execution-layer rewards either to a Vault-specific escrow or to a Smoothing Pool.
Architecture Note
This modular architecture ensures that all Vault types (ETH, GNO, private, ERC-20) share consistent behavior and allows new features to be added without breaking existing Vaults.
State Tracking
Vaults maintain an internal accounting ledger that tracks the value of all user stakes. This ledger is updated whenever user activity or protocol events affect stake values, such as deposits, withdrawals, reward distributions, or MEV payouts. Updates occur automatically when users interact with the Vault, and operators can trigger updates manually when necessary, for example, to refresh valuations before osETH minting.
Upgrade Flexibility
Every Vault is an independent staking pool, and its smart contracts cannot be unilaterally changed or upgraded by the StakeWise DAO. Because the proxy pattern separates storage from logic, upgrades can be applied without affecting user balances or redeploying the contract. Only the implementation contract changes, while the proxy — holding all state — remains untouched.
The DAO may release new Vault contract versions to improve efficiency or safety, but upgrading is always optional — Vaults can opt to keep their current version. All upgrades are subject to community governance approval, providing strong guarantees for user protection and protocol integrity.
The Vault architecture is deployed in parallel on both the Ethereum and Gnosis networks through equivalent contract implementations,
such as EthVault and GnoVault.