DeFi Protocol Yearn.Finance Launches New Vault Aimed At Improving Liquidity

Despite the DeFi sector hitting another all-time high in terms of total value locked (TVL), not all projects receive equal attention and inflow of collateral. 

According to data from DeFi Pulse, Yearn.Finance’s TVL value has fallen 63% - from $967 million in early September to $354 million as of press time. For example, one of the most popular yield farming pools under Yearn.Finance, the yETH pool, marked a shocking yield plummeting – from 90% to a mere 1%, which resulted in a massive liquidity loss. Furthermore, those who want to withdraw their funds may end up with nothing to withdraw, considering the gas fees and the 0.3% withdrawal fee. 

Source: DeFi Pulse

Yearn.Finance responded to the liquidity issue by introducing a new vault, called yveCRV “backscratcher”. The protocol explained that “this is a new kind of meta vault, this kind of vault symbiosis has been the ultimate goal of yearn, so finally seeing one come online is really exciting.”

Exploring further the new vault, crypto analyst and Twitter user Ceteris Paribus stated the yveCRV backscratcher is much more than an ordinary vault. It combines the "backscratcher" functionalities of the existing veCRV vault, restricting withdrawals to a four-year period. However, the new vault would add a small percentage to all boosts to stablecoin and Bitcoin Curve vaults. 

“Optimal use of Curve remains the key yield farming strategy for several pools today. Yearn needs a huge and growing pool of locked veCRV to support high yields across multiple vaults as deposits of stablecoin and bitcoin increase,” Yearn.Finance added. 

The veCRV token is a governance token for the Curve Finance DAO protocol. CRV token holders receive veCRV tokens by locking up their CRV tokens, The idea is that the new pool will provide additional rewards for long-term lockup.

However, given the dynamic pace of movement in the DeFi sector, a four-year time period for locking value may be too long. Many protocols have experienced drastic growth and many experienced a decline in customer interest throughout the past couple of months. CRV, on the other hand, marked an almost two million increase in balance just in the span of a few days time, so users may perceive the news as a positive sign.