What is a vault — and what's a “vault share”?

A vault is a shared pot that runs a strategy with everyone's money pooled together. When you deposit USDC you receive a vault share — a token that represents your slice of the pot.

You don't get a fixed number of dollars back; you own a portion of the vault. As the vault makes money, each share is worth more USDC; if it loses, each share is worth less. To cash out, you redeem your share and get USDC back — your portion of the pot at that moment.

The share is simply your claim on the vault — not a separate thing you have to manage.