Vaults
Understand how Nest vaults work and why they’re non-custodial and composable.
Nest vaults are the foundation of the protocol. Each vault is a non-custodial smart contract that holds diversified, yield-generating assets. They’re designed to be transparent, compliant, and composable—powering both individual users and DeFi applications.
What Is a Vault?
A Nest vault is a smart contract that:
Mints vault tokens in exchange for stablecoins
Allocates funds to a selection of tokenized RWAs
Accrues yield via asset performance
Allows users to redeem vault tokens for their underlying value
Vaults are fully onchain, audited, and non-custodial—meaning Nest never takes control of your funds.
Understanding APY in Nest Vaults
Each vault displays an Estimated APY—a forward-looking projection based on the strategy’s asset mix and past performance data, including offchain activity from real-world assets. This figure helps users assess the expected return, but it is not guaranteed and may fluctuate over time.
In the early stages of a vault’s lifecycle, returns can vary significantly as capital flows in, positions are established, and the strategy stabilizes. During this period, short-term yield may differ from long-term expectations.
To promote transparency, we also calculate and monitor the Current APY, which reflects actual yield earned onchain over the past 7 days. While not shown as the primary figure, this data is available for users who want deeper insight into recent performance.
Smart Contract Architecture
Nest vaults are built on BoringVault, a lightweight, open-source standard that emphasizes:
Security: Battle-tested implementations
Composability: Easy integration across DeFi protocols
Transparency: All positions and performance data are onchain
Vault tokens are standard ERC-20 tokens, making them easy to use in wallets, DeFi platforms, and integrations.
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