Renzo is launching Reserve, a managed vault that acts as an institutional bridge into DeFi yield. It sits between custody and DeFi and turns institutional requirements into safe, automated controls.
Reserve, Powered and Curated by Renzo, is built for:
- Onchain verification
- Automated strategy management
- Institutional customization
It is where serious capital can access DeFi yields without hand-managing every risk toggle or chasing siloed strategies across chains.
The First Strategy: Superstate USCC with Aave Horizon
The first strategy on Renzo Reserve is the “Superstate USCC” vault: a managed vault built around Superstate’s Crypto Carry Fund (USCC). USCC, with over $500M in AUM, is Superstate’s tokenized crypto carry fund, offered to Qualified Purchasers and managed by an SEC-registered investment adviser.
The vault allocates to USCC as its core yield engine and may optionally use Aave Horizon to borrow against USCC when conditions are favorable.
This structure gives all users exposure to the yield generated by an institutional-grade, tokenized fund through a separate, regulated onchain vault without directly investing in USCC itself.
Full holdings are public and updated here.
As of Nov 21, 2025, For Illustrative Purposes Only
The Core Strategy
The Superstate USCC vault is built on top of the yield engine inside Superstate’s USCC fund. USCC earns yield through a delta-neutral crypto basis strategy executed using regulated CME futures markets. The fund’s primary job is the following:
- Buys spot BTC, ETH, SOL, and XRP
- Sells matching CME futures to lock in the basis
- Allocate to USTB (T-Bills) when the basis isn’t attractive
As a result, the Vault earns yield from multiple sources:
- Futures basis as contracts converge
- Staking rewards
- U.S. Treasury income
In the Renzo Reserve vault, this base strategy can be enhanced when conditions are favorable. The vault may mint USCC and borrow against it on Aave Horizon (up to 2× leverage) to increase yield.
Institutional investors are seeking transparent and verifiable yield opportunities. Reserve provides them with a managed, rules-based solution to access onchain yield while remaining fully compliant with their investment mandates. By launching first with Superstate’s USCC, we are establishing a high benchmark for the quality and standards of the strategies we intend to deliver.
– Lucas Kozinski, Renzo co-founder
Why This Matters Now
October 2025 was rough for a lot of DeFi participants. It exposed real structural issues:
- Unbounded recursive borrowing
- Opaque curator decisions
- “TVL inflation” that hides risk instead of surfacing it
The result?
Users feel misalignment with the protocols they deposit into: The protocol optimizes for TVL and narrative, but the user just wants responsible, sustainable yield that matches their risk tolerance.
Reserve and Superstate USCC are built to correct that. For example, while $19 billion in crypto assets were liquidated across major exchanges on October 10, 2025, USCC was unaffected by these events. The fund does not hold any perpetual futures and is not exposed to auto-deleveraging mechanisms.
Renzo recognizes that the next phase of DeFi is built on high quality assets. Through their institutional-grade vault structure, they provide access to USCC crypto carry yield in a convenient manner. We’re excited to partner with Renzo to unlock more stability and yield for investors onchain.”
– Jim Hiltner, Superstate Co-founder
How Renzo’s Superstate USCC Is Different
A few important key design choices:
- CME, not CEXs
Superstate’s USCC fund uses term futures on CME. Many competitors route risk through centralized crypto exchanges instead and don’t ‘lock in’ basis by shorting term futures with expiries maturing in weeks or months (whereas perps reset funding rates regularly). This creates different yield profiles, different counterparty risks, and different resiliency in stressed markets.
- Regulated, with clear accountability
Superstate is an SEC-registered investment adviser overseeing an institutional-grade fund. Superstate is governed by a regulatory framework that creates real accountability to its investors. Renzo Reserve plugs into that and exposes it onchain.
- No infinite recursion
There is no runaway looping. Leverage only turns on when borrow rates are net-positive for the user and it is hard-capped.
- Transparent risks and no “strategy drift”
Risk factors are disclosed upfront. Positions and controls are onchain and auditable. Curators do not quietly change the strategy in the background to chase short-term yield.
Aligned With Depositor Goals
If your goal is responsible, predictable yield, with clear guardrails and access to an institutional-grade product run by a regulated and licensed asset manager, Renzo Reserve’s Superstate USCC is designed for you.
You get:
- A delta-neutral, rules-based strategy
- CME execution, not CEX dependence
- Onchain visibility into the vault
- A path to yields that were historically limited to qualified purchasers
First Strategy on Reserve, Not the Last
Superstate USCC is the first strategy to launch on Reserve. It sets the tone for what “Powered and Curated by Renzo” means:
- Institutional-grade
- Rules-based
- Transparent
- Institution-friendly, without leaving DeFi behind
This launch is our starting point, and it defines the standard for every strategy that will follow.
Renzo Protocol 