Why ERC-4626 Changed DeFi Forever | The Vault Era Explained
Why ERC-4626 Changed DeFi Forever
Vaults didn’t become the standard in DeFi by accident. For years, protocols tried to simplify yield generation, but fragmentation, risk, and poor user experience held DeFi back. Everything changed with the introduction of ERC-4626 — a shared standard for tokenized vaults.
Today, ERC-4626 is the foundation of the Vault Era and the backbone of Concrete vaults, delivering one-click, institutional-grade DeFi through a simple and secure interface.
👉 Learn more at https://concrete.xyz/
1️⃣ The Problem Before ERC-4626
Before ERC-4626, DeFi vaults were powerful but messy.
Every protocol implemented custom vault logic
Deposits and withdrawals behaved differently everywhere
Integrations were fragile and difficult to maintain
User experience was confusing and inconsistent
More custom code meant more bugs, exploits, and risk
Each vault was a new experiment. Developers had to reinvent the wheel, users had to relearn interfaces, and institutions had no reliable framework they could trust.
DeFi needed standardization.
2️⃣ What Is ERC-4626? (Plain Language)
ERC-4626 is a standard for tokenized vaults that makes earning yield through vaults consistent, safer, and easier to integrate across DeFi.
In simple terms:
You deposit assets into a vault
You receive standardized vault shares
Those shares represent your portion of the vault and its yield
Everything — deposits, withdrawals, accounting, and integrations — follows the same rules.
3️⃣ Why ERC-4626 Was a Turning Point for DeFi Vaults
ERC-4626 didn’t just improve vaults — it unlocked an entirely new era.
Vaults became easier to build correctly
Users could trust predictable behavior
Integrations across DeFi became simple and composable
Vaults could scale across chains and ecosystems
Most importantly, ERC-4626 enabled vaults to become the default building block of managed DeFi.
This was the birth of the Vault Era.
4️⃣ How Concrete Vaults Use ERC-4626
Concrete vaults are built directly on ERC-4626, and that choice defines the entire platform.
Because of ERC-4626, Concrete vaults offer:
A consistent deposit and withdrawal experience
Transparent accounting of vault shares
Easier audits and monitoring
Full interoperability across DeFi
Safer upgrades and strategy changes
Concrete has taken the ERC-4626 DeFi vault standard and built institutional-grade vault infrastructure on top of it.
👉 Explore the platform at https://concrete.xyz/
5️⃣ ctASSETs: ERC-4626 Vault Shares on Concrete
On Concrete, vault shares are called ctASSETs.
Through the ERC-4626 lens:
When you deposit into a Concrete vault, you receive a ctASSET
ctASSETs are ERC-4626-compliant vault shares
They represent your share of the vault plus its yield
As the vault earns, the ctASSET appreciates in value
Instead of tracking complex strategies, users simply hold ctASSETs — a clean, transparent representation of managed DeFi exposure.
6️⃣ One-Click DeFi Powered by ERC-4626
ERC-4626 enables Concrete’s core philosophy: one-click DeFi.
Thanks to standardized vault behavior:
Strategy complexity is fully abstracted
Users make one deposit instead of managing multiple positions
Compounding and rebalancing are automated
Risk and execution are handled by professional vault infrastructure
ERC-4626 is what allows Concrete to turn advanced managed DeFi into a single, simple action.
7️⃣ Why ERC-4626 Makes Concrete Institutional-Grade
Institutions care about structure, predictability, and risk control — exactly what ERC-4626 delivers.
For institutions, Concrete vaults offer:
Predictable vault interfaces
Clear accounting and reporting
Easier risk review and compliance
Lower operational risk
Familiar fund-like structures on-chain
ERC-4626 allows Concrete vaults to behave more like on-chain investment funds rather than experimental DeFi products.
Conclusion: ERC-4626 Is the Foundation of Managed DeFi
ERC-4626 didn’t just standardize vaults — it made managed DeFi scalable, composable, and trustworthy.
Concrete builds on this foundation to deliver:
ERC-4626-based Concrete vaults
ctASSET tokenized vault shares
One-click access to institutional DeFi
A safer and more accessible future for users and institutions alike
The Vault Era is here — and it’s built on ERC-4626.
🔗 Discover Concrete vaults: https://concrete.xyz/
