Aave

Based

Morpho

DeFi

USDC

Vault curators are reaching peak levels of activity, becoming a key growth driver for DeFi. Curators have been growing their footprint, expanding the value locked in the Morpho protocol.&nbsp;
Vault curators are becoming a notable element in the growth of DeFi. The rise of top curators boosted the value locked on Morpho, leading to a greater expansion of DeFi lending.&nbsp;
As Cryptopolitan <a href="https://www.cryptopolitan.com/risk-curators-took-off-in-2025-but-led-to-recent-defi-lending-vault-troubles/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">reported</a> earlier, risk curators or vault curators took off in 2025, but faced stress tests for some of the vaults. Vault curators had to be careful about resource utilization and the risks of their high-yield vaults.&nbsp;
<figure style="width: 100%" class="wp-caption alignnone">
 <img loading="lazy" src="https://www.cryptopolitan.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/SteakhouseJan162926.png" alt="Vault curators become the growth driver for DeFi" width="1532" height="491">
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 Steakhouse Finance increased its value under management, with most inflows into its USDC vaults. | Source: <a href="https://tokenterminal.com/explorer/studio/dashboards/40c3f8db-6ff3-4db8-953b-f1644bb3f183" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Token Terminal</a>
 </figcaption>
</figure>
The growth of the sector boosted all curators, though specific risk managers noted even larger growth for their own activity. Curators are no longer just technically spreading funds to different vaults, but are actively managing risks.&nbsp;
Based on Token Terminal <a href="https://x.com/tokenterminal/status/2012103557596745859" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">data</a>, curators saw a rapid increase in total deposits, with some of the top projects doubling their value locked.&nbsp;
<h3 id="span-style-font-weight-400-steakhouse-leads-vault-curators-span">Steakhouse leads vault curators</h3>
Steakhouse is the leading vault curator, with the highest value locked. Around 52.5% of the value deposits are in USDC, with smaller vaults using USDT or ETH.&nbsp;
Steakhouse recently broke above $1.8B on all its vaults, extending its growth despite short-term shocks and several smaller vaults that suffered from low liquidity.
The Steakhouse vaults have actively unrolled to Coinbase users, with new apps and wallets added as partners. The expansion of USDC and demand for passive yield turned Steakhouse into the top risk curator.&nbsp;
The Steakhouse USDC vault on Morpho has a top safety profile, with a 3.6% yield. The vault holds <a href="https://app.morpho.org/ethereum/vault/0xBEEF01735c132Ada46AA9aA4c54623cAA92A64CB/steakhouse-usdc" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">$436.95M</a>, with over $110M in available liquidity, remaining accessible to borrowers, as well as lenders that may want to withdraw their stake.&nbsp;
<h3 id="span-style-font-weight-400-morpho-added-1-1b-in-january-span">Morpho added $1.1B in January</h3>
Morpho reflected the attractiveness of curated vaults. The <a href="https://dune.com/morpho/vaults-curators-analysis" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">role</a> of Steakhouse, Gauntlet, Spark, and Smokehouse was to attract new users.&nbsp;
Morpho locked in $6.91B in mid-January, up from a local low of $5.79B at the end of 2025. The growth also happened with the rise of Morpho V2. The new version will allow even more flexible lending by also bringing off-chain lending agreements to the protocol. Morpho V2 also allows custom rates, terms of the loan, grace periods, and collateral adjustments.&nbsp;
Onchain lending is expected to expand in 2026, driven mostly by Aave and Morpho. In total, risk curators carry <a href="https://defillama.com/protocols/risk-curators" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">$6.58B</a>, as the value locked recovered in early 2026. Just behind Steakhouse Financial, Gauntlet, Sentora, MEV Capital, and others are still expanding their influence. 
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Vault curators hit peak activity as Morpho drives DeFi lending growth

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