what's YO?
YO is a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol designed as a yield optimizer, automating the process of maximizing returns for users across multiple blockchain networks. It operates through a system of vaults that dynamically allocate capital to the highest-yielding opportunities in stablecoin and other asset pools, while incorporating risk assessments to balance potential rewards with security. Users deposit assets into YO vaults, which then compound yields by reinvesting earnings and adjusting positions based on real-time market conditions. The protocol supports assets like yoUSD, yoETH, and yoEUR, which are optimized versions of stablecoins and ETH derivatives. These vaults integrate with various DeFi primitives, such as lending markets, liquidity pools, and staking mechanisms, to source yield from protocols including Pendle, Euler, and Avantis. YO emphasizes multichain compatibility, allowing seamless operations across networks like Ethereum and Base, with features like leveraged exposure and incentive multipliers to enhance user participation. At its core, YO differentiates itself by using advanced risk ratings and exponential capital allocation strategies to ensure efficient yield generation without manual intervention. This makes it accessible for users seeking passive DeFi strategies, while maintaining transparency through on-chain operations and community governance elements.
YO's yoBTC vault reached 134 BTC ATH ($10M), runs giveaways, and moved support in-app for security.
contract
base
The yoBTC vault reached an all-time high of 134 BTC deposited, worth approximately $10 million.
Running a giveaway of a Solana Seeker device to one yoSOL holder as a promotional campaign.
Retired Telegram support bot and Discord support tickets, moving all user support exclusively in-app to reduce impersonation risk and protect users from scam accounts.
Integrated with OpenCover's vault-native risk transfer primitive on Base as one of the first three covered vaults.
Reached $1 million TVL in yoSOL vault within three weeks of launch.
Integrated with Monad by launching yoETH support on the Monad network.
Co-founder and CIO participates in two speaking engagements at Vault Summit on 2026-04-01: a panel on creating demand for vault strategies through consumer finance at 11:15 am CEST and a solo talk on DeFi yield returns, strategies, and risks at 2:35 pm CEST.
Integrated yoETH, yoUSD, yoBTC, and yoEUR yield-bearing tokens with PistachioFi, enabling yield generation for PistachioFi users.
Integrated with earnbutton, a plug-and-play DeFi yield widget on Base that provides one-tap access to yield via YO Protocol.
Deployed 2.75% of yoUSD capital in RLP, exposing it to the Resolv exploit that minted 80M unbacked USR tokens. Maintains withdrawal fee due to unresolved Resolv issues regarding the RLP plan, with no confirmed resolution timeline; yoUSD TVL sits at $44M.
yoSOL delivered 6% 7-day APY (March 19-April 6, 2026) via rebalancing across seven yield sources, 5.47% weekly, and 8.3% APY since launch. yoETH 4.37%, yoGOLD 2.87%, yoBTC 3.67% weekly.
Powers the yield engine for Avvio, a global account app covering 160+ countries that launched early access via TestFlight on 2026-03-19.
Preparing to submit a CoinGecko listing request for yoSOL token.
Launched yoSOL non-EVM vault on Solana on 2026-03-20, providing algorithmically optimized SOL returns.
Featured among top BTC yield opportunities in a market overview, with all strategies highlighted as transparent along with all rebalances to minimize trust concerns.
Added superOETHb on Base for idle liquidity in yoETH vault.
Exited Morpho Gauntlet WETH position on Unichain from yoETH vault.
Opened $YO token claims with rewards distribution active in February 2026.
Fully deployed yoGOLD product with native yield earning capability in February 2026.
Reached more than $8 million in total deposits into yoVaults from Turtle users across Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Base.
Integrated with Turtle, offering Turtle Club members a 2.4% boost on deposits into yoVaults for 20%+ stablecoin APR.
Co-founder and CEO will speak at Vault Summit during EthCC about scaling DeFi with onchain vaults.
Integrated with Monarch to enable 1-click leverage access for the yoUSD/USDC market on Morpho, including APY trends, supply and borrow metrics, historical transactions, and live positions data.
Released v1.0.4 of @yo-protocol/core and @yo-protocol/react NPM packages with simplified and more streamlined functionality.
Created Skills for both core and React packages that can scan existing codebases and automatically migrate integrations to the new version.
Offers 10% YO token rewards for yoGOLD vault deposits and 2.42% 7-day APY on XAUT deposits.
Released a new UI feature allowing users to compare yoVault performance against other DeFi cohorts to benchmark yield across the market.
Completed hackathon on DoraHacks from 2026-02-26 to 2026-03-19 for DeFi savings products using YO SDK, receiving over 50 submissions and awarding $3,000 USD plus 30,000 YO to winners Yoyo, YO Treasury, and Nestora.
Integrated with vaultsfyi for onchain share price tracking to support APY calculations and yield optimization.
yoGOLD is earning 1.58% native APY on XAUt-based deposits.
Integrated Maple Finance as a yield source for yoUSD, utilizing syrupUSDC for institutional lending yield through fixed-rate, short-duration, overcollateralized loans.
Integrated with ShinjoApp, which routes deposits into YO vaults and uses the generated yield for daily prize draws while keeping principal withdrawable.
Has processed over $30M in crosschain deposits through Across Protocol since launching in May 2025.
Utilizes Across Protocol to provide yoBTC yield functionality.
Uses Aave's EURC lending market as a yield source for the yoEUR product.
Released a new deposit and withdrawal user interface with improved asset selection and chain selection for yoVault token receipt, plus real-time status tracking for crosschain deposits.
Reached all-time high of 757 XAUT deposited in yoGOLD vault with over 400 depositors, remaining DeFi's largest yield-bearing gold product.
Head of BD and Partnerships Matt Kulpinski represents YO Labs at EthereumDenver conference.
Launched Pendle markets for yoETH and yoUSD, offering 6.5% native APY plus 12% YO reward yield for yoUSD, maturing late September 2026.
Underwent independent security reviews from Spearbit, Hunter Security, Offbeat, Aether, and Paladin Security over the past year.
Integrated with Goldsky to power real-time deposits functionality.
Begins Phase 2 rewards campaign February 12, 2026, offering 14% APY on yoVaults, yoETH, yoUSD, yoBTC, yoEUR, yoGOLD. yoUSD deposits earn 5.6% native APY; yoBTC Vault offers 11% APY.
Increased allocation toward Ethereum over the last 30 days for yoEUR optimization, driven by deep liquidity, leverage demand, and efficient capital on L1 versus L2.
The yoETH vault integrates with Origin Protocol ARM to generate yield.
Achieves approximately 15% APY yield through the Clearstar Labs ETH Reactor with 100% allocation to yoETH.
Opened airdrop claims for eligible participants, with window open until 2026-05-06 for users who deposited into YO or participated in eligible DeFi activities prior to 2026-01-29.
Released vault activity filtering features allowing users to filter by activity type (deposit/withdraw), time period (24h/7d/30d), network (Ethereum, Base), and top holders.
Integrated with Euler to enable borrowing and looping as reward-earning activities for YO.
TGE occurred on 2026-02-05.
Introduces $YO as the governance token powering its yield engine, with 8% of $YO allocated for Genesis Airdrop to depositors in Yo vaults.
Hosting a community AMA on January 30, 2026 at 14:00 UTC to discuss the YO token launch, rewards program, and roadmap.
Integrated with Moneda to provide yield opportunities on USD and Euro assets through Moneda's Smart Earnings Account.
Added support for Arbitrum yield sources.
Suffered a $3.73M loss from an exploit involving extreme slippage during a stkGHO to USDC swap, where 3.84M GHO exchanged for 112K USDC on 2026-01-13.
Partnered with IDX Digital Assets in December 2025.
Sponsors gas fees for users of the Mini App on Base.
Generated over $2.8M in cumulative yield for depositors through vaults in 2025.
Experienced zero hacks or exploits throughout 2025.
Integrated Resolv Labs' USR stablecoin and RLP leveraged yield asset as new yield sources for the yoUSD vault.
Raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Foundation Capital with participation from Coinbase Ventures, with funds allocated to expand cross-chain capabilities and strengthen infrastructure.
YO Labs raises $10 million in Series A funding led by Foundation Capital with participation from Coinbase Ventures to expand cross-chain capabilities and infrastructure.
$10 million Series A financing secured, led by Foundation Capital with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Scribble VC, and Launchpad Capital.
Native deposits for all five yoVaults go live on Ethereum Mainnet, completing the rollout of direct deposit functionality across the entire vault product line.
The XAU₮ cap on Aave has been raised to $25 million, and yield activation is imminent.
GOLDEN WEEK campaign goes live with $500 in gold-backed rewards for yoGOLD deposits via Enso.
GOLDEN WEEK promotional campaign runs until December 17, offering $500 in gold-backed prizes for users who hold $10 of yoGOLD daily, with each day counting as one entry.
A Twitter Space is scheduled for December 15th at 6PM UTC/1PM ET with Clearstar Labs and IPOR to discuss yoGOLD's functionality and DeFi applications.
Integrated developer platform with infrastructure engine for 100+ DeFi opportunities, released TypeScript SDK for multi-chain, multi-asset functionality. Integrated yield engine into SkillsMP as agent-ready workflows, enabling DeFi agents with earning capabilities. Released a CLI tool for AI agents and developers, available via npm install as @yo-protocol/cli.
Native Ethereum deposits are now live for all vaults, enabling users to deposit, receive tokens, and earn yield directly on Ethereum with fewer steps.
Native Ethereum deposits launch for all yoVaults, enabling users to deposit on Ethereum and receive yoTokens on Ethereum with the same vaults and yield but fewer steps.
The vault now houses 50 troy ounces of gold (approximately 3 pounds) onchain.
yoUSD reaches $30M TVL milestone. Native Ethereum deposits launch with yoETH, and HyperEVM integration completes.
Launched yoGOLD, a yield-bearing tokenized gold vault developed with IPOR and Clearstar Labs that refines Tether Gold XAUT and earns ~1.5% native yield.
Pre-deposits for yoGOLD vault open with a $10 million cap, early depositors receive boosted points, and deposits mint 1:1 against XAUt on Ethereum or through Enso.
Pre-deposits are now open for yoGOLD with a $10 million cap, early depositors receive boosted points, and deposits mint 1:1 against XAUt on Ethereum or through Enso.
Integrates Portals.fi, enabling direct single-transaction deposits into vaults with bundled bridge, swap, and deposit operations.
CoinGecko price display malfunction affects yoUSD, yoBTC, yoEUR, and yoGOLD along with dependent wallet interfaces, with the team confirming funds are safe and vault operations continue normally.
Price display issue on CoinGecko affects yoGOLD, yoUSD, yoBTC, and yoEUR visibility across wallets using their API; vaults operate normally and funds remain safe.
Launched yoGOLD, a yield vault for tokenized gold in partnership with Tether Gold, enabling earning yield on XAUt.
Launches institutional-grade yield vault for tokenized gold, backed by Tether Gold (XAU₮) with yield from IPOR strategies and Clearstar Labs execution.
Winner of November's monthly referral competition receives $500 in yoTokens plus 5,000 YO Points for generating the highest TVL through referrals.
The 3x YO Points Black Friday weekend event ends today at 6:59PM ET, after which the points multiplier for holding yoTokens (yoUSD, yoETH, yoBTC, yoEUR) reverts to 2x.
A baseline 2x YO Points multiplier applies to all yoToken holders (yoUSD, yoETH, yoBTC, yoEUR) after the 3x Black Friday promotion concludes at 6:59PM ET.
yoETH has no exposure to Yearn's yETH product, with all funds confirmed safe and vault operations continuing normally.
yoETH integrates with Equilibria platform, enabling full vePENDLE boost, automated reward distribution, and deposits via WETH, yoETH, or Pendle LP/PT on Base.
All deposits earn 3× YO Points during a Black Friday promotion from Thursday 7pm ET through Monday 6:59pm ET.
nuvolari_ai integrates with YO, combining deterministic AI with the risk-adjusted vault architecture to provide personalized execution and curated yield across 100+ sources for teams building with YO.
yoETH adds Lido Finance's wstETH as a new yield source, providing access to ETH staking rewards through the wrapped, non-rebasing version of stETH.
A new yield source launches for yoBTC through Stake DAO's cbBTC/WBTC Strategy, utilizing Stake DAO's yield infrastructure and dominant position in the Curve ecosystem to maximize yields.
EarnbaseFinance shows yoEUR at the top for euro yields with over $1m TVL, sourcing from 9 vaults total (Morpho vault plus eight more).
Native deposits launch on the platform, eliminating mandatory bridging and allowing users to deposit WETH on Ethereum to receive yoETH directly.
Backed by Paradigm, Circle, and Solana; actively hiring Web3 backend and Rust developers for fully remote positions.
Onchain app Axal (@getaxal) integrates YO as its yield backbone, implementing verifiable, risk-rated yield directly into its user experience.
A new incentives campaign launches on Pendle markets offering 7% APY for yoETH, 15% APY for yoUSD, and 7% APY for yoEUR, with all rewards paid in yoTokens.
Co-founder and CIO Mehdi Lebbar attends EFDevcon, seeking meetings with developers to build on YO or explore yield layers.
The Zerion quest promotion offering 2.5x YO points and Zerion XP boost ends today.
yoUSD offers 17% boosted Pendle APY and 4x YO Points through Equilibria integration on Base.
Quest with Zerion goes live, offering lifetime 2.5x boost on YO Points and Zerion XP for deposits into yield strategies.
YO announces a special launch with Zerion scheduled for tomorrow, with yoVaults already integrated into the Zerion app.
yoUSD confirms no exposure to Stable Labs' USDX or Elixir deUSD, with all vault assets remaining secure and verifiable onchain.