Underscore Protocol
Your Money Never Sleeps
One protocol. Two products.
Earn Vaults — two yield profiles built on the same share-based architecture: Core Vaults for passive AI-managed yield, and Amplified Vaults for Ripe-powered yield amplification.
Programmable Wallets — Agentic wallets where AI agents and operators pay, rebalance, and move funds within your rules. No custody. No private keys. No unrestricted access.
Your funds earn while you sleep. No manual management. No missed opportunities.
Earn Vaults
Underscore Earn Vaults come in two forms:
Core Vaults — AI-managed passive yield wrapped into standard ERC-4626 shares
Amplified Vaults — built on top of Core Vault shares using Ripe to add a second yield layer with USD-based debt safety
Deposit assets, receive Earn Vault shares, and let the strategy run underneath.
Composable — Earn Vault shares work anywhere in DeFi: trade them, bridge them, use as collateral
Productive collateral — Borrow on Ripe while your collateral keeps earning yield
Scalable — 100,000 users share one strategy. AI rebalances once. Everyone benefits.
Perfect for: Passive yield seekers, protocols needing productive collateral, and apps adding straightforward or amplified yield features
→ Learn more: Earn Vaults: Core Vaults and Amplified Vaults
Programmable Wallets: Money For Agents
Most agents can recommend. Underscore lets them execute — with real funds, without ever holding your private keys.
Programmable Wallets give AI agents and operators onchain execution rights within strict boundaries. Managers define permissions. Payees handle recurring spend. Digital Cheques handle one-off payments with optional review delays. Everything is enforced onchain by smart contracts.
Authorize agents to manage yield, swap, borrow, repay, claim rewards, and pay. Restrict by asset, protocol, budget, cooldown, expiry.
Granular permissions — Allow only what you specify
Hard spending limits — Daily, monthly, and lifetime caps
Time-based controls — Auto-expire after set periods
Instant revocation — Your control is absolute
Example: A yield agent can rebalance across Aave, Morpho, and Euler with a $25,000 daily limit.
Pre-approve recurring recipients like market data feeds, model providers, compute vendors, contractors, payroll, subscriptions. Set per-payment caps, period limits, allowed assets, cooldowns.
Pre-approved recipients with individual limits
Automated payments while funds earn yield
Pull payment support for subscriptions and service fees
Period-based caps preventing overspending
Example: Your trading agent keeps its data feed, inference API, and GPU provider online with fixed USDC allowances.
Turn transfers into controlled payment commitments. Small spends clear immediately. Larger payouts sit behind review delays and stay cancellable.
Security delays for large amounts
Cancel anytime before payment
Transparent onchain for both parties
No funds locked until actual payment
Example: Your agent buys a $3 dataset instantly. Larger payouts wait behind a review window.
Unlimited access for your most trusted addresses.
No restrictions for whitelisted addresses
Time-locked additions for security
Instant removal if ever needed
Perfect for: Multi-wallet strategies, hardware wallet, cold storage
Underscore lets agents execute with real money without ever giving them custody, private keys, or unrestricted access. Budgets, recipient rules, asset restrictions, review delays, and expiry windows are enforced onchain in open-source smart contracts.
→ Learn more: Programmable Wallets
How It All Works Together
Your Underscore infrastructure isn't just one thing — it's an ecosystem of intelligent features working in harmony.
An Agent's Day
3 AM: Your yield agent notices Morpho offering 1% better yield than Aave. It automatically rebalances $25k, staying within its $25,000 daily limit. You're asleep.
6 AM: Your trading agent's data feed subscription renews. $200 USDC pulls automatically from its Payee allowance. The agent keeps running.
10 AM: The trading agent needs a one-time dataset for backtesting. It creates a $3 Digital Cheque — clears instantly, under the review threshold.
2 PM: A larger $5,000 compute job needs payment. The agent creates a cheque with a 3-day review window. You can cancel if something looks wrong.
11 PM: Your portfolio rebalanced 3 times today across 5 protocols. Your agent paid for its own services. You didn't lift a finger. No keys were shared.
A Human's Day
10 AM: Monthly rent is due. Your landlord (configured as Payee) pulls exactly $2,500 USDC. Not a penny more. Your remaining funds keep earning yield.
2 PM: You need to pay a contractor. Create a $5,000 cheque with 3-day delay. If they don't deliver, cancel it.
4 PM: Time to fund your trading wallet. Move $20k to your other Programmable Wallet (whitelisted) instantly.
Who Uses Underscore
Underscore isn't a consumer app — it's infrastructure for agents, apps, and protocols. Think of it like AWS for DeFi — but fully non-custodial.
Applications Building on Underscore
Fintech Apps: Like Hightop, which uses Underscore to deliver digital banking for AI agents, made simple for humans — letting agents pay, get paid, keep cash productive, and move money while users stay in control
Vault Integrators: Apps adding AI-managed yield without building infrastructure — integrate Core Vaults for passive yield or Amplified Vaults for a second yield layer
Wallet Providers: Adding advanced DeFi features and programmable delegation to existing wallets
The Hightop Example
Hightop demonstrates the power of building on Underscore:
Digital banking for AI agents, made simple for humans: Hightop gives users a clean product for agent money while Underscore provides the programmable control layer underneath
Wallets, gas, and money movement stay behind the scenes: Hightop abstracts Programmable Wallets infrastructure, gas, and money movement while Underscore enforces limits, permissions, and payment rules onchain
Earn Autopilot and portfolio execution run on Underscore: Core Vaults, Amplified Vaults, and Underscore Legos handle yield, swaps, and policy-aware asset execution across 25+ supported assets, while Ripe powers the lending layer and the leverage rails behind Amplified Vaults
x402-ready flows are live, and cards are coming soon: Hightop already supports API-native inbound payments for agents and is extending the same control model to virtual cards
Most users will never interact with Underscore directly. They'll use apps like Hightop that leverage our infrastructure to deliver seamless experiences.
→ Learn more: Who Uses Underscore
Common Questions
Is my wallet upgradeable? No. Your wallet code is immutable for security. New features come through Lego integrations. If new features come, you can migrate to a new Programmable Wallet.
What are Legos? Standardized integrations with DeFi protocols. When new protocols launch, your wallet can use them immediately.
Can I use multiple wallets? Yes. Whitelist them for instant transfers between your wallets.
What about L2s? Currently Base L2 only. More chains coming.
How do fees work? Small fees on swaps (0.25%) and external reward claims (20%). Earn Vaults charge 20% performance fees on yield profits only. No fees on transfers, deposits, or idle funds. 100% of protocol revenue buys back $RIPE in the open market. See Protocol Economics for details.
What happens if I lose my owner wallet? If you've set up managers and whitelisted addresses beforehand, managers can still transfer funds to your whitelisted addresses (like hardware wallets), providing a recovery path.
Can managers steal my funds? No. Managers operate within blockchain-enforced limits. They can only perform authorized actions within your spending caps and cannot withdraw to external addresses or modify their own permissions.
How do I handle emergency transfers? Pre-whitelist your hardware wallet or secure addresses. Unlike payees (with limits) or cheques (with delays), whitelisted addresses can receive unlimited transfers instantly for emergencies.
Payment Methods Comparison
Understanding which payment tool to use for different situations:
Use Case
Instant unlimited transfers to trusted addresses
Automated recurring payments
One-time payments with control
Payment Limits
None — completely unlimited
Customizable per-recipient
Set per cheque
Setup Time
Time-locked addition (configurable)
Immediate with limits
No setup needed
Key Benefit
Emergency access & multi-wallet strategies
Set once, runs automatically
Cancel anytime before cashed
Best For
Hardware wallets, cold storage, other wallets
Agent services, salaries, subscriptions
Agent purchases, contractors, large transfers
Risk Level
Highest — can drain wallet
Medium — capped by limits
Low — cancellable
Getting Started
Quick Start
Want passive yield? (2 minutes)
Connect your wallet to Underscore
Choose a vault profile: Core Vaults for passive yield, or Amplified Vaults for yield amplification
Deposit — AI handles everything from here
Building an AI agent? (10 minutes)
Deploy a Programmable Wallet
Add your agent as a Manager with permissions and budget
Configure Payees for recurring service costs (data feeds, compute, APIs)
Use Digital Cheques for one-off payments
Want full control? (5 minutes)
Deploy your Programmable Wallet
Add managers, payees, or whitelist addresses as needed
Start using 20+ DeFi protocols from one place
Explore Features
For Passive Yield: Start with Core Vaults — deposit and let AI optimize. No wallet setup required.
For Amplified Yield: Explore Amplified Vaults to keep BTC or USDC exposure while adding a second yield layer through Ripe.
For AI Agents: Deploy a Programmable Wallet and configure Managers for execution, Payees for recurring costs, and Cheques for one-off spend.
For Full Control: Deploy a Programmable Wallet and explore features that match your needs:
For Automation: Set up Managers to delegate operations
For Recurring Payments: Configure Payees for automated transfers
For One-Time Payments: Use Cheques with cancellation ability
For Multi-Wallet Strategies: Add addresses to your Whitelist
For Earning Rewards: Learn about revenue sharing and bonuses
Technical Documentation
For developers and integrators: Complete Technical Documentation
Build on Underscore's infrastructure with detailed guides on smart contract architecture, Lego Partner integrations, and security models. Over 30 production contracts documented with integration examples.
For live protocol parameters and contract deployments, use the Params Explorer.
Community & Support
Discord: discord.gg/underscore
Twitter/X: @underscore_hq
GitHub: github.com/underscore-finance
The Future of Financial Operations
AI agents need more than APIs — they need money. The ability to pay for services, capture yield, and move funds autonomously within safe boundaries.
Underscore delivers what crypto promised: programmable money that works as hard as you do. Your agents executing strategies within unbreakable boundaries. Your funds earning across protocols while maintaining liquidity for payments. Your security protecting without restricting.
Earn Vaults + Programmable Wallets. Your money never sleeps.
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