ETH vaults lagged staking while dollar strategies beat Treasuries, Glassnode finds

ETH vaults in Glassnode’s September comparison trailed staking even as the balance in its wider vault sample rose about 15% to $10 billion. Curators managing dollar-denominated vault strategies beat Treasuries for a third consecutive month, according to the research firm’s October 30 performance review.

Vaults pool deposits into yield strategies overseen by curators, or managers. The split puts a practical question ahead of the advertised yield: what could the depositor have earned while keeping the asset they already wanted to own? For an ETH holder, earning more tokens through a managed strategy is useful only in relation to alternatives such as staking. A dollar saver faces a different comparison.

Glassnode’s balance figure, its highest since November 2025, describes the vaults represented in its data. It does not establish whole-market growth or isolate how much came from new deposits, changing asset values or changes in coverage. A growing pool of assets and a strategy that beats its benchmark are separate findings.

A depositor who intends to retain ETH exposure is choosing how to put that holding to work. Comparing an ETH vault with staking preserves that starting decision. Comparing it with a dollar interest rate also introduces a decision about whether to hold ETH at all.

CryptoSlate’s October 24 staking analysis made that distinction between accumulating tokens on an existing holding and shopping for cash income. Glassnode’s new September comparison brings the question inside managed DeFi: did the additional strategy deliver more than staking?

The ETH vaults in Glassnode’s comparison did not clear staking’s return hurdle. That makes the relevant test the return above staking, after allowing for the vault’s additional risks.

The dollar result carries a different implication. Beating Treasuries shows a return premium against that comparator, but says nothing on its own about whether the premium adequately paid for the vault’s additional risks. The next question is what generated the income and what could interrupt access to the money.

The yield-data provider vaults.fyi’s benchmark explainer separates USD and ETH yields by network. Its current methodology weights up to five of the largest qualifying vaults by their total value locked, with a $1 million minimum for each. Its legacy Ethereum mainnet ETH benchmark instead uses four fixed liquid-staking tokens.

The construction matters: those series cannot be assumed to be Glassnode’s staking comparator. Currency and return dates must match before any return gap can be measured.

The accounting is particularly consequential for strategies built on liquid-staking assets. Part of the total return can come from the underlying staking position and part from what the vault does with it. Treating the strategy’s extra yield as the entire ETH return can understate performance; adding staking again to an inclusive total can overstate it.