Outlook

This section identifies trends and areas of uncertainty relevant to vault evaluation. Claims are tagged as observations (current evidence) or projections (directional expectations).

Curator Professionalization

Observation: The curator function is separating from infrastructure development. Dedicated curation firms now operate across multiple platforms rather than building proprietary infrastructure.

What to track: Curator performance data across platforms; methodology documentation; incident response history independent of infrastructure provider.

Institutional Infrastructure Adaptation

Observation: Vault infrastructure is adding capabilities for institutional requirements: permissioned access, compliance integrations, standardized reporting, and formalized security programs.

What to track: Feature availability against your compliance requirements; security program maturity; reporting format compatibility with your systems.

Integration Flexibility

Observation: Some protocols are enabling external teams to develop integrations independently after auditing.

What to track: Integration approval processes; audit requirements for new integrations; your exposure to integrations not vetted by the platform team.

Tokenization Growth

Observation: Tokenized asset products have grown significantly in recent years, with treasury-backed products among the largest categories.

What to track: Issuer credit quality; redemption mechanics and timelines; legal structure enforceability in your jurisdiction.

Areas of Uncertainty

These topics affect vault evaluation but lack clear resolution. Understanding the uncertainty helps calibrate expectations.

Regulatory Treatment

Current state: Treatment varies across jurisdictions and continues to evolve.

What to track: Vault domicile and applicable regulations; your jurisdiction’s treatment of vault shares; curator registration requirements; cross-border restrictions affecting your participation.

Emerging Standards

Current state: Technical standards are emerging for vault interfaces. ERC-4626 has broad adoption; ERC-7540 (asynchronous) and ERC-7575 (multi-asset) are newer proposals with limited deployment. Operational, security, and regulatory standards remain informal or fragmented. (Example: Tokenized Vault Foundation)

Practical approach: Monitor technical standards as they develop and adoption grows. Expect operational standards to develop over time. Absence of formal standards increases the burden on independent diligence.

Stress Resilience

Current state: Many vaults have not been tested under severe ecosystem-wide stress.

What to track: Withdrawal queue behavior during past volatility; oracle performance during price dislocations; protocol pause history; your maximum acceptable exit time under stress.

Capacity Constraints

Current state: Some yield opportunities have natural capacity limits.

What to track: TVL growth rate versus yield compression; strategy capacity disclosures; underlying opportunity depth relative to vault size.