Rhea LST (rNEAR, xRHEA)
Research, firm shelf, model-client eligibility, and advisor selection are recorded separately. The scheduled date is the outside bound; new evidence can reopen the file sooner.
Rhea LST (rNEAR, xRHEA) is outside the current firm shelf because its structure maps to the rejected-chain policy class. This is a firm-policy classification, not an adverse quality rating and not a client trade instruction. The factual mechanism, control, loss, and exit evidence is retained below.
- The Near verdict changes
- rNEAR gains material liquidity on a chain the registry approves
The research file
Mechanism and applicability
Rhea offers ’stake $NEAR and receive $rNEAR’ and ’stake $RHEA and receive $xRHEA’, each ’while earning staking rewards’. Two pools held about $47M at review. rNEAR is a liquid-staking receipt on NEAR validators; xRHEA is a governance-token staking receipt whose return depends on RHEA emissions and price.
Control and incident boundary
Rhea points to an audits page in its developer guide; DefiLlama records two audits. The receipt contracts, the validator set they delegate to, and the RHEA token all sit on NEAR, so the chain grade’s upgrade and bridge findings apply in full.
Exit and current measurement
Unstaking NEAR follows the protocol’s epoch unbonding; xRHEA exits into RHEA, a thin governance token. Neither leaves NEAR without Omni Bridge.
Firm shelf classification
The rejected-chain class is outside the current firm shelf. Research describes the product; firm policy determines shelf eligibility; client constraints determine the candidate set; and the advisor alone selects any action or amount.
Sources
The claims above trace to these. Where a number could not be independently verified, the thesis says so.
- Rhea Finance — staking products · primary · accessed 2026-09-22
Supports: stake NEAR receive rNEAR, stake RHEA receive xRHEA, staking rewards - Rhea Finance developer guide — audits · primary · accessed 2026-09-22
Supports: published audits - DefiLlama — RHEA LST protocol data · secondary · accessed 2026-09-22
Supports: Liquid Staking category, Near only, reported TVL
Inherited controls
The research above describes the protocol layer. Every position also inherits the asset it holds and the chain it settles on. The most administered layer sets the position’s effective control grade; that is a control description, not a quality or suitability score.
| Chain | Verdict | Grade | Control constraint |
|---|---|---|---|
| NEAR Protocol | Adverse | hybrid | upgrade authority sits with whoever cuts the nearcore release and the 100 block producers who adopt it; the bridge exit depends on an MPC set and Wormhole, not on NEAR consensus alone. |