Renzo Review 2026: Liquid Restaking, Vaults and Enterprise Tools

Renzo is a liquid restaking protocol that launched on DefiLlama's listings in December 2023 and was built on EigenLayer. Its own description now covers more than that: an institutional-grade onchain platform for staking, restaking and capital deployment, split into Reserve Vaults, a Staking Suite and an Enterprise Suite.

DefiLlama shows about $108.8 million in total value locked, up 2.2% over seven days. The protocol is listed on 13 chains, including Ethereum, Linea, Arbitrum, Solana, Base, Optimism, BNB Chain, Sei and Monad. Its token is REZ.

Its homepage available is minimal, so most product detail here comes from DefiLlama's description and search snippets. That is enough to identify what Renzo is, but not to judge strategy performance, yields or fee levels.

In ordinary Ethereum staking, ETH is locked to help secure the network. Restaking, pioneered by EigenLayer, lets that staked ETH also secure other services in exchange for extra rewards. Renzo sits on top of this. Users deposit ETH or liquid staking tokens, and Renzo handles the restaking and the choice of operators on their behalf.

In return, depositors receive a liquid token that represents their position, so they can keep using it in DeFi instead of leaving it idle. The newer Reserve Vaults and Enterprise Suite extend the idea to managed strategies and larger capital deployments, though the project does not give strategy details.

The extra yield comes with extra risk. If an operator is penalised (slashed) or a smart contract fails, depositors can lose funds, and the liquid token can trade away from its underlying value.

Renzo's fees are not stated publicly reviewed. Liquid restaking and vault products commonly take a fee, often as a share of rewards or yield, but the specific rates for Renzo's products are not published here.

Before depositing, check the app and official documentation for current fee terms. Also allow for network gas costs on the chain you use, and for any swap costs if you exit through a secondary market instead of redeeming directly.

DefiLlama lists two audits for Renzo, and the project's documentation points to public smart-contract source code on GitHub. The project does not say who the auditors were, when the audits took place or what they found, so treat the audit count as a starting point only.

Users face smart-contract risk, operator slashing risk through restaking, and market risk if the liquid token trades below its underlying value. Renzo's ezETH token was reported to trade below its underlying value on secondary markets in April 2024 during heavy selling, which shows the kind of exit risk involved. Public sources reviewed do not otherwise list incidents, regulatory status or custody details. Check the official docs and recent news before depositing.

Renzo is for ETH holders and DeFi users who are comfortable with smart-contract and slashing risk and want restaking yield while keeping a liquid position. Its Enterprise Suite also targets institutions looking for managed onchain capital deployment. It is a poor fit for anyone who needs guaranteed principal or simple, fixed fees.