Definitions

Annual Percentage Rate expresses simple interest over one year without assuming compounding. Yield.ly labels APR explicitly when the source provides it.

Annual Percentage Yield expresses how much an opportunity would earn over one year if the current rate continued and compounded. Yield.ly shows total APY with separate base and reward components when the source provides them.

Base APY is the portion of yield from the core market mechanism, such as lending interest or staking rewards, before token incentives. Yield.ly surfaces base APY separately so reward-heavy listings are easier to spot.

Infrastructure that moves assets or messages between chains, introducing separate operational and security dependencies.

Bridge risk is loss or delay from moving assets between chains through bridges or custodial issuers. Bridge exposure appears in risk and exposure narratives for cross-chain or wrapped deposits.

A product where a platform or intermediary holds assets on your behalf rather than self-custody through your wallet.

Data confidence reflects how complete, fresh, and consistent the underlying observations are. Data confidence feeds ranking and appears in filters and detail views.

A depeg is when a priced asset, often a stablecoin or liquid staking token, trades away from its intended reference value. Stablecoin labels do not imply lower observed risk. Depeg history appears in evidence when available.

How complete and verified the underlying risk evidence is. Risk concern and evidence confidence are separate dimensions.

Governance risk comes from token-holder or admin control over protocol parameters, fees, or upgrades. Governance and admin-key evidence feeds observed-risk dimensions on protocol-backed opportunities.

Impermanent loss is the difference in value between holding pool tokens versus holding the underlying assets separately as prices move. Yield.ly marks IL applicability on LP opportunities and explains exposure in detail views.

Lending markets pay yield when borrowers pay interest to use deposited assets as liquidity. Lending opportunities include base versus reward APY and borrower-market TVL from DefiLlama.

Borrowing or recursive positions that amplify exposure and can trigger liquidation if collateral values move adversely.

Liquid staking lets you hold a receipt token representing a staked position that can move in DeFi while earning staking yield. Liquid staking opportunities are labeled by product type with exposure and withdrawal notes in detail views.

Forced closure of a leveraged position when collateral no longer meets required ratios, often at a loss.

Liquidity pools hold paired assets so traders can swap. LPs earn fees and sometimes incentives. LP opportunities show impermanent-loss classification and exposure type in qualification evidence.

A lockup period restricts when deposited assets can be withdrawn without penalty or delay. Lockup days appear in opportunity characteristics when reported by the data source.

Native staking locks or delegates assets directly to validators or the chain staking system to earn network rewards. Native staking rows show lockup days and liquidity characteristics when providers report them.

A product where you retain direct control of assets through your wallet, subject to smart-contract and market risks.

Observed risk is Yield.ly's evidence-based summary of measurable factors. It is not a safety rating or guarantee. Every qualified opportunity shows an observed-risk band with explanations, unknowns, and evidence coverage.

Oracles feed external prices or data to smart contracts. Many DeFi markets depend on them for liquidations and accounting. Oracle dependence appears in risk dimension evidence when documented for a protocol.

Meets Yield.ly current requirements for default discovery based on liquidity, freshness, identity, lineage, and related checks. Qualified is not an endorsement.

How stable the current rate has been relative to recent history and how much of it comes from base versus incentive yield.

Using staked assets to secure additional services or protocols, adding slashing and dependency layers on top of base staking.

Reward APY is the extra yield from token incentives, points, or emissions on top of base market yield. Yield.ly flags reward-heavy opportunities and shows reward share when data allows.

The share of total yield attributed to token incentives or emissions rather than base market activity.

Available through broader search but does not meet all default-discovery requirements.

Smart-contract risk is the chance that code bugs, economic design flaws, or upgrades cause loss or frozen funds. Yield.ly summarizes audit evidence scope in risk dimensions without calling any contract safe.

An asset designed to track a reference value, often one US dollar. Stablecoin labeling describes asset type, not safety.

Total APY is the headline yield rate shown for an opportunity. When base and reward components exist, total may be source-provided or derived as base plus rewards depending on provider convention.

Total Value Locked is the dollar value of assets deposited in a market, pool, or vault at the latest observation. Yield.ly shows TVL beside every rate and uses liquidity thresholds in qualification.

Waiting period after initiating withdrawal from staking or similar products before assets become available.

Upgradeable contracts can change logic after deployment through proxies or admin keys. Upgradeability is an evidence dimension, not a binary safe or unsafe label.

A vault aggregates deposits into an automated strategy that routes assets across underlying markets. Vault rows show the deposit asset, strategy type, and observed risk evidence where available.

A withdrawal queue orders exit requests when instant liquidity is not available, common in staking and some vaults. Withdrawal behavior is described in exposure narratives on staking and vault detail pages.

A wrapped asset is a token on one chain that represents an asset from another chain or custody model. Exposure graphs on detail pages describe wrapper and bridge steps when mappings are verified.

Yield farming actively pursues token incentives across protocols, often with frequent rotation. Reward-heavy listings are flagged in qualification warnings rather than promoted as default picks.

The underlying activity generating yield, such as lending interest, trading fees, staking rewards, or token emissions.