Theoriq Launches AlphaVault, an AI-Powered DeFi Vault Promising Accountable Passive Yield

Theoriq has officially launched AlphaVault, an AI-powered DeFi vault designed to autonomously manage and rebalance user capital while providing full transparency for every decision. Announced on Friday, December 5, the vault aims to solve a core contradiction in decentralized finance: the promise of "passive" income that still demands constant, highly technical upkeep from users.

The system is built on a modular, scalable multi-agent architecture, with its cornerstone being the Allocator Agent. This agent dynamically shifts capital across yield opportunities from integrated partners, including Lido Earn's stRATEGY Vault and Chorus One's MEV Max. A key safety feature is the use of "policy cages"—strict on-chain smart-contract rules that prevent the AI from ever stepping outside predefined risk parameters for asset types and position sizes.

AlphaVault's launch follows an extensive simulation where Theoriq pressure-tested its architecture across 2.1 million wallets and processed 65 million AI requests, proving it could handle real-world complexity while avoiding the opaque "black box" pitfalls that plagued earlier AI-driven finance platforms.

The platform's native token, $THQ, is central to its economic and governance model. A three-tier token system governs AI agent behavior: agents must stake sTHQ to access the protocol, earn delegated αTHQ from the community which determines their capacity and fees, and face slashing penalties (token burning) for misbehavior or underperformance. This creates strong economic incentives for high-quality performance. As Total Value Locked (TVL) grows, $THQ is designed to power staking rewards, fee sharing, and governance mechanisms, eventually evolving into a reputation system where users stake tokens on trusted AI agents.

To bootstrap initial adoption, Theoriq has initiated a TVL Bootstrapping phase, rewarding early depositors with points redeemable for $THQ tokens. The company has earmarked 1% of the total $THQ token supply for these participants. This strategy mirrors common DeFi liquidity-building practices, with the capital eventually becoming live capital managed by AlphaVault's autonomous agents.

The launch occurs against a backdrop of a maturing yet volatile DeFi landscape. The ecosystem hit a record $237 billion in TVL in Q3 2025, but contracted sharply to around $182 billion by late November. Despite this volatility, user participation remains strong, with over 14.2 million wallets engaged this year and Ethereum capturing roughly 63% of all DeFi activity.

In an interview with crypto.news, Pei Chen, Executive Director and COO of Theoriq, elaborated on the tokenomics and safety measures. Chen stated that the slashing framework for agents is still being designed for a future release, with a focus on creating a "transparent, rule-based system" that isolates risk to the specific αTHQ delegated to an agent to avoid socialized losses. Ron Bodkin, a former Google executive leading Theoriq, highlighted the industry's fundamental challenge: "Most people came to DeFi hoping their money would work for them. But somehow it turned into them working for their money." Theoriq positions AlphaVault as a step toward true autonomous finance, shifting the focus from chasing maximum APYs to reducing the manual workload required from users.