The Emergence of Principal-Protected Yield in DeFi

Introduction

After two years of free money, DeFi yields have fallen to unimpressive levels. The days of depositing stables into a Yearn vault for 20% APY seem long gone. Crypto yields are now struggling to compete with government bonds. Users have been forced to venture further out on the risk curve to generate worthwhile returns. This usually entails prolonged exposure to cross-chain bridges and obscure yield farms – a recipe for disaster.

Principal-protected vaults are an emerging niche of DeFi structured products that attempt to provide risk-averse investors with yield that compares to more aggressive strategies elsewhere.