SLPx 2.0 & vETH 3.0: The Next-Generation Infrastructure for Universal Liquid Staking

The expansion of cryptocurrency staking beyond isolated blockchains has brought liquidity fragmentation, limited composability, and capital inefficiency to the forefront. With the launch of vETH 3.0, Bifrost introduces SLPx 2.0 — a reimagined liquidity protocol designed to standardize and scale multi-chain liquid staking. This upgrade marks a fundamental evolution, delivering instant minting, near-zero cross-chain costs, native DeFi compatibility, and a scalable architecture built for a multi-chain future.

Introducing vETH 3.0: The Multi-Chain Liquid Staking Standard

vETH is Bifrost’s liquid staking derivative (LST) for Ethereum. The vETH 3.0 upgrade transforms it into a fully cross-chain, yield-bearing asset with key enhancements:

Native Multi-Chain Liquidity: Stake ETH and utilize vETH across Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polkadot, and more—eliminating the need for manual bridging.

DeFi-Native Design: Full compliance with the ERC-4626 vault standard ensures permissionless, plug-and-play integration with leading lending protocols, yield aggregators, and DEXs.

Enhanced Security & Performance: Validator operations are secured via Distributed Validator Technology (DVT) through the SSV Network, supporting a competitive base APY of approximately 3.5%.

Next-Gen Foundation: Entirely powered by the new SLPx 2.0 architecture.

vETH 3.0 is more than a product update; it is a functional blueprint for modern, interoperable liquid staking.

The Evolution of SLPx: From Bridge to Liquidity Backbone

SLPx is Bifrost’s core protocol for minting and redeeming Liquid Staking Tokens (LSTs) across multiple chains. It converts locked staking capital into active, cross-chain collateral. While SLPx 1.0 established cross-chain liquidity, the rise of multi-chain DeFi exposed its limitations: delayed minting, costly redemptions, poor scalability, and lack of standardized DeFi integration.

SLPx 2.0 was engineered to solve these structural challenges, introducing two foundational innovations:

ERC-4626 Vault Standard: Ensures all issued vTokens are natively compatible with the broader DeFi ecosystem.

Async Pool Architecture: Decouples user interactions from underlying cross-chain operations, batching settlements for efficiency.

The SLPx 2.0 Advantage: Five Pillars of Superior Infrastructure

Instant Minting & Redemption

Users receive vTokens immediately upon staking. Redemptions are processed through an automated asynchronous queue, settling in batches to reduce latency from minutes to seconds while maintaining capital efficiency.

Near-Zero Cross-Chain Fees

By batching cross-chain operations instead of executing per transaction, SLPx 2.0 drastically reduces costs. What once required standard bridge fees now incurs minimal overhead, making small or frequent transactions economically viable.

Native DeFi Composability

As ERC-4626 compliant assets, vTokens function as plug-and-play financial primitives. This eliminates the need for custom adapters and enables seamless integration with protocols like Aave, Balancer, and Compound.

Scalable Multi-Chain Liquidity Management

The system shifts from tracking individual user balances across chains to managing unified, chain-level liquidity pools. This reduces complexity, improves operational efficiency, and enables rapid expansion to new L1 and L2 networks.

Eventual Consistency for Optimal UX

SLPx 2.0 prioritizes user experience and system resilience by adopting eventual consistency for exchange rates via an XCM Oracle. While this may introduce brief, minor rate discrepancies, it delivers significantly faster interactions, lower costs, and a more robust system—a pragmatic trade-off for scale.

Dual Architecture: Ensuring Stability and Progress

Bifrost maintains a dual-architecture strategy to balance innovation with reliability:

SLPx 2.0 will power all future liquid staking products, driving forward the next wave of features.

SLPx 1.0 remains fully operational, supporting specific use cases such as Commission Channel functionality, full on-chain traceability, and legacy integrations.

This approach guarantees both backward compatibility and a clear path for groundbreaking development.

The Road Ahead: A Standardized Layer for Global Staking

The evolution continues with plans for deep integration with HyperBridge, extending support to an ever-growing list of L1 and L2 ecosystems. The long-term vision is clear: to create a modular, standardized liquidity layer for staking that enables seamless DeFi composability and unprecedented capital efficiency at a global scale.

Conclusion: Building the Future of Cross-Chain DeFi

vETH 3.0 and SLPx 2.0 represent a foundational shift in liquid staking infrastructure. Whether you are an ETH holder seeking enhanced yield and liquidity, a DeFi developer in need of standardized LST primitives, or a protocol integrating advanced staking modules, this upgraded stack provides the essential foundation for the next era of cross-chain finance.