Eris Protocol is a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol that functions as a yield optimizer and liquid staking provider, operating primarily within the Cosmos ecosystem. The protocol focuses on providing users with auto-compounded yields on their digital assets, with a significant presence on both the Terra and Terra Classic blockchains.

Overview

Eris Protocol aims to simplify and enhance yield generation for users by offering a suite of decentralized applications (dApps). Its core mission is to "expand the limits of what is possible with yield" by providing services for liquid staking, automated compounding, and advanced yield strategies. ^[1]. The protocol's main value propositions include allowing users to maintain the liquidity of their staked assets, maximizing returns through automated reward reinvestment, and abstracting the complexity of validator selection through a curated management system. ^[2].

A defining characteristic of the project is its dual-chain presence following the de-peg of Terra's UST stablecoin and subsequent chain-split in May 2022. Eris Protocol continued its operations on the original chain, which was rebranded as Terra Classic, while also deploying its services on the new Terra blockchain. This demonstrates its resilience and commitment to the Terra ecosystem. The protocol is also described as a "Slow-burn Arbitrage Protocol," indicating a focus on strategies that may leverage price discrepancies to contribute to the token burn mechanisms of its host chains, such as the LUNC burn tax on Terra Classic. ^[1].

Eris Protocol positions itself as a community-oriented project, stating that it is "fully self funded" with no backing from venture capital (VC). This model supports its tagline of being built "By the community for the community." ^[2]. The project's smart contracts are open-source and available for public review on its official GitHub repository. ^[1].

History

The project's public presence was established around April 2022, the month its official account on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) was created. ^[3]. Having been active prior to the Terra ecosystem's major disruption in May 2022, Eris Protocol is one of the projects that navigated the subsequent chain split. It maintained its dApps on the original Terra chain (Terra Classic) and simultaneously launched on the new Terra (Phoenix) chain. ^[1].

In late 2025 and early 2026, the protocol announced several key developments. On December 22, 2025, Eris Protocol revealed a strategic partnership with Creda Finance as part of a campaign called the "Phoenix Directive." This collaboration was aimed at improving DeFi composability and capital efficiency on the Terra network. Eris Protocol stated at the time, "This collaboration brings deeper composability and capital efficiency to the Terra DeFi ecosystem." ^[3].

Following this, on January 5, 2026, the "Terra Portfolio Tracker," developed by Phoenix Directive, was launched with integrated support for Eris Protocol positions. This allowed users to track their holdings of Eris's liquid staking tokens, including ampLUNA, and their amplified yield positions. ^[3]. Later that month, on January 17, 2026, the protocol received positive commentary from external observers, with one account noting it was "going from strength to strength" and offered "arguably some of the best yields available right now" in the Cosmos ecosystem on Terra. ^[3].

Technology and Products

Eris Protocol offers a suite of interconnected DeFi products designed to generate, manage, and optimize yield from staked assets.

Liquid Staking (Amplifier)

Amplifier is the protocol's core liquid staking and auto-compounding product. It allows users to stake native proof-of-stake (PoS) tokens, such as LUNA or ATOM, and receive a liquid receipt token in return. This receipt token, known as a Liquid Staking Derivative (LSD) or Liquid Staking Token (LST), represents the user's staked principal plus accruing rewards. An example of this is ampLUNA, which is issued for staked LUNA. ^[2].

The key mechanism of Amplifier is its auto-compounding feature. The protocol automatically harvests staking rewards and reinvests them into the underlying staked position. This causes the value of the amp token to continuously increase relative to the underlying asset. This process is designed to generate a higher APY than manual claiming and re-staking and aims to be more tax-efficient by potentially minimizing taxable events associated with reward claims. The amp tokens remain fully liquid, meaning they are transferable, tradable on decentralized exchanges, and can be used as collateral in other DeFi protocols, all while continuing to earn staking rewards. ^{[2] [1]}.

Advanced Yield Strategies

Eris Protocol provides several tools that allow users to implement more complex yield strategies beyond simple liquid staking.

Amp Extractor (Yield Splitting)

The Amp Extractor product enables the practice of yield splitting. This feature allows users to take a yield-bearing asset, such as an amp token, and separate it into its two core components: a Principal Token (PT) and a Yield Token (YT). The PT represents the underlying principal of the asset, redeemable at a 1:1 ratio upon maturity, while the YT represents the future yield that the asset is expected to generate over a specific period. This splitting mechanism allows for advanced strategies, such as creating fixed-yield products by selling the YT, or speculating on future staking reward fluctuations by trading YTs. ^[1].

Amp Compounder

Amp Compounder consists of a set of auto-compounding vaults designed to automate the process of maximizing yield for various assets, not limited to Eris's own LSTs. Users can deposit different types of yield-bearing assets into these vaults, which then automatically execute a strategy of harvesting rewards and reinvesting them. This service saves users from the manual effort and transaction fees associated with frequent compounding, thereby increasing their effective APY. ^[1].

Amp-Z

Amp-Z is described as a product for advanced yield strategies that gives users more granular control. According to the protocol, it provides an environment to "mix and match strategies to fit your risk profile and goals, from passive compounding to active leverage management." The stated goals for Amp-Z are to deliver "More composability. More efficiency. More control" to DeFi users. ^[3]. While available on the Terra chain, specific technical details of its mechanism are not fully elaborated in introductory materials. ^[2].

Arbitrage and Liquidity

The protocol features tools specifically designed for arbitrage and for incentivizing network liquidity.

Arbitrage Tools (Arb Vault & Manual Arb)

Eris Protocol operates as a "Slow-burn Arbitrage Protocol," offering an Arb Vault and a manual arbitrage tool. These products are designed to execute "slow burn arbitrage" strategies. This suggests that the tools facilitate arbitrage opportunities that may be specifically designed to leverage price discrepancies in a way that contributes to a token-burning mechanism on the host chain. This is particularly relevant to the Terra Classic chain and its LUNC token burn tax. The Arb Vault automates this process. These tools are available on the Terra and Osmosis blockchains. ^{[2] [1]}.

Liquidity Hub

The Liquidity Hub is a system for incentivizing liquidity on the protocol, deployed on the Terra blockchain. It utilizes a ve(3,3) tokenomics model, which is a design inspired by the Solidly decentralized exchange. This model is engineered to manage token emissions and reward long-term liquidity providers by allowing them to lock governance tokens in exchange for increased rewards and voting power over where incentives are directed. ^[2].

Alliance Liquidity Hub

This product serves as an interface for interacting with the "Alliance" module, a Cosmos-SDK feature pioneered by the Terra blockchain. The Alliance module allows different blockchains to form economic alliances, enabling the assets of one chain to be staked to help secure another. Through the Alliance Liquidity Hub, users can stake assets to earn rewards while simultaneously contributing to the economic security of multiple interconnected blockchains within the Terra Alliance. ^[1].

Governance

Eris Protocol employs a distributed governance model that empowers holders of its liquid staking (amp) tokens. Holders of these tokens can vote to influence the protocol's delegation strategy for the underlying assets. Specifically, they can vote on how the protocol allocates the staked PoS tokens among its curated list of network validators for a given blockchain. ^[2].

This governance functionality is supported across several chains within the Cosmos ecosystem, including:

• Terra
• Juno
• Kujira
• Osmosis
• Injective
• Archway
• Sei
• Nibiru

The documentation also refers to an "Amp Governance" product, which suggests the potential existence of a native governance token used for voting on protocol-wide proposals, treasury management, and future development, though the primary described mechanism centers on amp token holders influencing validator choice. ^[1].

Validator Management

To simplify the staking experience for users, Eris Protocol abstracts the process of validator selection. Instead of requiring users to choose individual validators, the protocol manages a curated pool of high-quality validators to which it delegates the staked assets. ^[2].

The protocol's team vets validators based on a set of public criteria, which include:

• Community Involvement: Active participation and support within their respective blockchain communities.
• Products and Infrastructure: The quality and reliability of the infrastructure they provide to the network.
• Commission Rates: The fees they charge for their staking services.
• Decentralization Contributions: Their role in promoting the decentralization of the network.
• Governance Participation and Uptime: A consistent record of voting on governance proposals and maintaining high server uptime. ^[2].

Ecosystem and Partnerships

Eris Protocol is deeply integrated within the Cosmos ecosystem, with a particular focus on the Terra and Terra Classic networks.

Supported Blockchains

The protocol offers its services, in varying capacities, across multiple sovereign blockchains. These include Terra, Terra Classic, Osmosis, Juno, Kujira, Injective, Archway, Sei, and Nibiru. Product availability differs from chain to chain. ^[2].

Strategic Partnerships and Integrations

• Creda Finance: In December 2025, Eris Protocol announced a strategic partnership with Creda Finance, a fellow project on the Terra blockchain. The collaboration's stated goal is to enhance capital efficiency and create deeper composability between DeFi applications on Terra. ^[3].
• Phoenix Directive: Eris Protocol is closely associated with the Phoenix Directive, a campaign or entity within the Terra ecosystem. The protocol participated in the campaign leading up to its partnership with Creda Finance and is integrated into the Phoenix Directive's Terra Portfolio Tracker, which launched in January 2026. ^[3].
• Astroport: Eris Protocol exists within the same DeFi landscape as Astroport, a major decentralized exchange on Terra. Social media activity indicates interplay between the two, likely involving the creation and incentivization of liquidity pools for Eris's amp tokens on the exchange. ^[3].

Security

Eris Protocol states that it has undergone third-party security audits to ensure the integrity and safety of its smart contracts. The full audit reports are made available on the protocol's website. The audits were conducted by the blockchain security firms SCV-Security and Oak Security. ^[2].