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What is Sherwood Protocol (WOOD)?

Quick Facts

  • Token: WOOD — the native protocol token of Sherwood Protocol
  • Blockchain: Robinhood Chain (EVM-compatible)
  • Core function: Guardian network security, governance, and fee distribution
  • Vault standard: ERC-4626 non-custodial vaults
  • Governance model: Optimistic governance with on-chain depositor voting
  • Guardian mechanic: Stake WOOD to review proposals; earn fees or get slashed
  • RWA roadmap: Planned integration with tokenized stocks and ETFs

Introduction

Sherwood Protocol is a decentralized, agent-managed fund infrastructure built on Robinhood Chain. It allows autonomous AI agents to act as fund managers, proposing and executing on-chain investment strategies on behalf of pooled depositors.

The platform's tagline — 'the capital layer for agentic finance' — captures its ambition: turning any AI agent into a verifiable, accountable fund manager.

History & Background

Sherwood Protocol launched in 2026, coinciding with the broader wave of AI agent projects entering the crypto space. The protocol was designed from the ground up to run on Robinhood Chain, a new EVM-compatible network.

The project takes cultural inspiration from the Robin Hood archetype while building serious programmable fund infrastructure for AI-driven capital management.

How Sherwood Protocol Works

At the core of Sherwood is an ERC-4626 vault. Depositors pool capital into the vault, and a registered AI agent proposes investment strategies — such as lending, liquidity provision, staking, or perpetuals.

Shareholders vote on proposals through optimistic governance: if no sufficient objection is raised, the strategy executes. Before execution, staked WOOD Guardians simulate the proposal's calldata to detect malicious or unauthorized calls.

Guardians who correctly block harmful proposals earn rewards. Those who approve a proposal that the broader guardian cohort then blocks have a portion of their stake slashed. This slash-bonded model keeps Guardian incentives honest.

Tokenomics

WOOD serves three core functions within the protocol:

  1. Security — Guardians stake WOOD as collateral to participate in proposal review.
  2. Rewards — Honest Guardians earn a share of protocol performance fees and epoch-based block bounties, distributed via a Merkl distributor.
  3. Governance — WOOD holders control protocol parameters using ERC-20Votes-style checkpointed vote weight.

Performance fees are bought back into WOOD and distributed to Guardians weekly. WOOD is entirely separate from the individual vault shares issued to depositors.

Circulating Supply ? 1.00 billion WOOD
Total supply ? 1.00 billion WOOD
Max supply ? -- WOOD
Updated 2w ago

Ecosystem & Use Cases

Sherwood targets two key user groups: AI agents looking for a trust-minimized way to manage on-chain capital, and depositors seeking structured, agent-executed yield strategies.

The protocol supports strategies across lending, LP, staking, and perpetuals markets. The roadmap also includes integration with tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) such as stocks and ETFs.

Team, Governance & Community

The protocol is governed on-chain by WOOD holders. The team operates a multisig that receives performance fees, converts them to WOOD, and distributes them to Guardians. Community participation is centered around the @sherwoodagent Twitter presence and the official docs at docs.sherwood.sh.

Advantages

  • Non-custodial design using ERC-4626 vaults keeps depositor funds verifiable on-chain.
  • Slash-bonded guardian network creates strong, economic incentives for honest proposal review.
  • Real protocol fee revenue flows back to WOOD stakers, linking token value to actual usage.
  • AI-native architecture positions Sherwood at the intersection of DeFi and autonomous agents.

Risks & Challenges

  • Early-stage network: Sherwood launched on Robinhood Chain, which is a relatively new and unproven environment.
  • Guardian coordination risk: Insufficient guardian participation could weaken security guarantees.
  • Smart contract risk: Complex vault and governance mechanics increase the potential attack surface.
  • AI agent reliability: Strategy quality depends on the integrity and capability of registered agents.

Long-Term Vision

Sherwood Protocol envisions a future where AI agents autonomously manage diversified on-chain portfolios, with human oversight provided by the guardian network rather than centralized intermediaries. The planned expansion into tokenized RWAs — including equities and ETFs — signals an ambition to bridge traditional finance with fully programmable, agent-driven capital allocation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sherwood Protocol is a decentralized platform that allows AI agents to act as fund managers, proposing and executing on-chain investment strategies for pooled depositors. It runs on Robinhood Chain and uses ERC-4626 non-custodial vaults.

WOOD serves three purposes: it is staked by Guardians as security collateral, it distributes protocol performance fee rewards to honest Guardians, and it grants governance rights over the protocol.

Guardians are WOOD stakers who simulate and review strategy proposals before they execute on-chain. They earn rewards for correctly blocking malicious proposals and face slashing if they approve harmful ones.

If a Guardian approves a proposal that the broader guardian cohort then votes to block, that Guardian loses a portion of their staked WOOD. This slash-bonded mechanic keeps incentives aligned toward honest review.

Guardians earn up to a 5% share of performance fees on every settled strategy, plus epoch-based bounties for upheld veto votes. Both are distributed off-chain via a Merkl distributor and claimed at merkl.xyz.

Sherwood Protocol is deployed on Robinhood Chain, an EVM-compatible network. Trading for WOOD is available on Uniswap and Sushiswap on the Robinhood chain.

Registered agents can propose strategies across lending, liquidity provision (LP), staking, and perpetuals markets. The protocol also plans to support tokenized real-world assets like stocks and ETFs.

Yes. Sherwood uses ERC-4626 vaults, a standard that keeps depositor funds verifiable and non-custodial on-chain. Strategy execution is enforced by smart contracts, not by any single party.