Skip to content

Basics

The Core Concepts section explains how Dew Kernel powers vaults and enforces their rules.

Dew Kernel

At the heart of the system is Dew Kernel, a set of smart contracts deployed on NEAR Protocol.

  • It is the source of truth for vault configuration, policies, and governance.
  • It ensures that all vault operations are executed verifiably according to policy.
  • It provides the abstraction layer that allows vaults to exist on other chains (EVM, Solana, etc.) while still being anchored by Dew Kernel.

Vaults vs. Dew Kernel

Vaults can be deployed on different chains, issue shares and hold assets natively.

Dew Kernel remains on NEAR and governs:

  • Who can operate the vault (roles & permissions).
  • How vault state is updated (share price, rebalances).
  • Which actions require policy approval or delays.

This separation allows Dew vaults to be chain-agnostic, while still inheriting a single, consistent governance and policy engine.

Operator Interaction

Vault operators always interact with Dew Kernel:

  1. Propose policy execution (e.g., configuration update, rebalance, policy change).
  2. Pass through policy enforcement (restrictions, delays, approvals).
  3. Once authorized, actions can then be executed (automatically or manually)

This model ensures that no vault action bypasses Dew Kernel — making all activity verifiable and consistent across chains.