Vaults

What it is

A Suede Vault is a funding and participation wrapper around a creator's rights. A creator opens a vault against a project, publishes the terms, target, term length, revenue share, payout cadence, and cap, and supporters allocate capital knowing exactly what they are participating in. Settlement standardizes into USDC on Base, and supporters can bring assets from supported chains through Suede Swap.

The one-sentence version: vaults let fans and backers fund creative work with the terms on the table, without the creator selling their ownership.

What makes it different from a label advance

A traditional advance trades capital for control: the label recoups from your royalties on their accounting, on their timeline, with terms most artists never fully see. A vault inverts the visibility. Terms are published before allocation, revenue share and caps are explicit, and the rights record underneath, registration, contributors, splits, stays creator-owned. Vaults wrap rights; they do not absorb them.

The standard shapes

Vaults come in a set of standard archetypes rather than infinite bespoke terms, because standardization is what makes terms comparable:

• Argonaut: the flagship shape. 24 months, 20% revenue share, capped at 3.0x.
• Sprint: for an imminent release. 7-day campaign, 80% revenue share, no cap.
• Standard: a balanced raise. 90-day term, 50% revenue share, 1.5x cap.
• Long bond: for a rising catalog. Runs until 2x is returned, 30% share, 2.0x cap.
• Perpetuity: a lifetime trust trade. No end date, 10% revenue share, no cap.

The current archetype list and live terms are on the vault mechanics page; treat that page as canonical if it and this summary ever disagree.

How the money flows

1. A creator opens a vault against a registered project, with proof context and rights status attached.
2. Supporters allocate. Cross-chain assets route through Suede Swap and settle as USDC on Base.
3. Revenue attributable to the project flows through the vault's published share until the term ends or the cap is hit.
4. Payouts follow the published cadence. No spreadsheet layer, no statement that contradicts the terms.

What to check before participating

Vault terms are visible precisely so you will read them. Before allocating: the revenue share percentage, what revenue it applies to, the term length, the cap, and the review notes on the project itself. A visible term you did not read is not the platform's fault. And the general rule of anything involving creator revenue applies: participation is support with defined economics, not a guaranteed return.

For creators

Open a vault when you have a concrete project and a real audience, not as a substitute for either. The vault intake at vaults/create walks through project metadata, proof context, rights status, and term selection. Your registration and splits stay intact underneath the vault, which also means your contributors' shares are honored in what flows through.