Every Morpho vault has a curator deciding what the money can touch

The curator is the key decision-maker

Depositing into a vault on @Morpho is not just a choice of protocol. It is a choice of curator. A curator configures vault risk parameters and liquidity allocation rules, deciding which adapters and underlying markets to enable, how capital is allocated, and how risk is managed within the vault structure.

Morpho splits lending into two layers: Morpho Blue, an immutable primitive for isolated markets, and Morpho Vaults, a curator layer that allocates deposits across those markets. Infrastructure is fixed, meaning no governance can change a deployed market, while strategy is plural, so any curator can run a vault and any depositor can pick which curator to trust.

The roles inside each vault are deliberately separated. The curator configures adapters, caps, fees, allocators, and gates, with most of those actions subject to timelocks. The allocator executes asset allocation between enabled adapters within curator-set limits and cannot introduce new risks, but can influence yield and liquidity by moving assets between approved sources. Sentinels provide emergency de-risking capabilities: they can revoke pending timelocked actions, decrease caps, and deallocate assets without holding the allocator role. The owner controls top-level permissions and can appoint the curator and sentinels, but has no direct control over assets or risk parameters.

Fees, timelocks, and what depositors should check

Performance fees are capped at 50% of interest, and management fees at 5% annually, limiting maximum fee exposure for depositors. Both are visible on-chain, and vaults typically price well below those ceilings to compete on net yield.

Nearly all significant curator actions are subject to a timelock, providing transparency and giving depositors a window to exit if they disagree with a proposed change. A change is first submitted to the vault contract, then enters a waiting period defined by the timelock, during which it cannot be executed and anyone can review it on-chain. Sentinels can revoke malicious proposals before execution, and emergency functions such as decreasing caps can be called immediately for protective risk management, but emergency overrides are only available for actions that reduce risk, never for actions that could increase it.

When depositing into a Morpho vault, it is important to conduct thorough due diligence on the vault's settings and its allocation strategy, and to stay up to date with any changes. The curator model concentrates risk decisions in named, accountable hands, which makes researching who is behind a vault one of the most important steps before committing capital.

Sources:
Morpho Docs: Curator | Morpho Docs: Risk and Security | Morpho Docs: Vault V2