Aera
Vault protocol · run by Gauntlet
Non-custodial treasury vaults incubated by Gauntlet, which acts as the manager; the Xai Foundation hired it by name, and the vaults can be followed in public.
About Aera
Aera is non-custodial vault infrastructure founded by Tarun Chitra, who created Gauntlet; it raised $8 million led by Bain Capital Crypto in 2023 to help DAOs manage treasuries. Gauntlet now presents it as its own vault infrastructure and acts as the “guardian” that runs strategies. Its focus has widened from DAO treasuries to earn vaults for institutions and fintechs.
aera.finance ↗Our verdict
Xai announced the mandate itself, the manager cannot withdraw funds, and vault documentation and dashboards are public.
How each block was graded
Mandate
The Xai Foundation and Gauntlet both announced the August 2024 partnership under which Gauntlet, as guardian on Aera, runs Xai’s treasury strategies. An Arbitrum DAO proposal led by karpatkey and Aera sits in the forum’s finalised category, but the page does not state the vote result.
| What we found | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Xai Foundation press release: Gauntlet, as a guardian on Aera, to hedge risk and manage liquidity for Xai (21 Aug 2024) | prnewswire.com | 2026-09-21 |
| Moonwell forum: Gauntlet, as guardian of Moonwell’s Aera vault, moves it to a stablecoin yield strategy (25 Feb 2025) | forum.moonwell.fi | 2026-09-21 |
| Arbitrum DAO proposal “Strategic Treasury Management on Arbitrum”, led by karpatkey and Aera; vote result not stated on the page | forum.arbitrum.foundation | 2026-09-21 |
Money
Value in Aera vaults is tracked publicly: about $249M on 21 Sep 2026. Vaults are non-custodial and guardians cannot supply or withdraw funds, change their own allowed actions or appoint other guardians.
| What we found | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Total value locked in Aera V2 and V3 vaults: $249.1M (read 21 Sep 2026) | defillama.com | 2026-09-21 |
| Guardians cannot supply or withdraw funds, change their whitelisted actions or elect other guardians; the vault owner elects guardians | docs.aera.finance | 2026-09-21 |
Transparency
Gauntlet publishes documentation of the vaults it curates and public risk dashboards, the vaults sit in a public app, and strategy changes are posted on client DAO forums.
| What we found | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Gauntlet VaultBook: public documentation of 80+ curated vaults, including Aera (updated 3 Apr 2026) | vaultbook.gauntlet.xyz | 2026-09-21 |
| Public vault app and risk dashboards linked from the Aera product page | gauntlet.xyz | 2026-09-21 |
| Strategy update posted on the Moonwell forum (25 Feb 2025) | forum.moonwell.fi | 2026-09-21 |
Strengths & weaknesses
What works
- ✓A client announced the mandate itself
- ✓The manager cannot withdraw funds; its allowed actions are set by the vault owner
- ✓Vault documentation and dashboards are public
Where it loses grades
- ✕Aera is the vault; the manager is Gauntlet, so the two are graded together
- ✕Its focus has moved towards earn vaults for fintechs and institutions
- ✕No result found for the Arbitrum treasury proposal
A DAO that wants an outside manager to run strategies while the DAO keeps ownership of the vault.
A team that wants an independent manager separate from the firm that built the vault.
The rest of the dao treasury & liquidity managers ranking
Same three blocks, same rules, same review run — this is what Aera is being compared against.
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