Yearn Data Insights: Deposits Driven by Partnerships, Two Consecutive Monthly Losses in 2025

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Yearn.Finance, the flagship project of Andre Cronje, made history in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space by launching without traditional fundraising and distributing its YFI tokens fairly to early users. Known for its strong yield-generating mechanisms, Yearn quickly became a gateway for many into DeFi. When Cronje recently announced his exit from the crypto industry, it triggered short-term market concerns. However, he had already stepped away from active development long before, handing over governance to the community.

So, how has Yearn.Finance performed since Andre’s departure? A deep dive into recent metrics reveals both resilience and emerging challenges.

👉 Discover how top DeFi protocols generate sustainable yields in volatile markets.

Yearn’s Resilience After Andre’s Exit

Despite the emotional weight of Andre Cronje’s public exit from crypto, Yearn’s Total Value Locked (TVL) only dropped by 6.1% across all chains within two days of the announcement. This modest decline suggests that user confidence in the protocol remains relatively stable — a testament to the strength of its decentralized governance model.

Core developer banteg clarified that Cronje hadn’t contributed code to Yearn in over a year. Today, the project is maintained by 50 full-time developers and 140 community contributors, ensuring continuity. In a lighthearted nod to market sentiment, Yearn’s official Twitter even referenced SBF’s famous “buy the dip” tweet, suggesting users consider accumulating YFI at $20,000.

While this reflects optimism, underlying financial trends tell a more complex story.

TVL Growth Stalls: Down 62.9% From Peak

Yearn’s revenue model hinges on earning a share of yield generated from user deposits — meaning TVL directly impacts profitability.

As of early March 2025, Yearn operates on three main chains: Ethereum, Fantom, and Arbitrum. According to DefiLlama:

Though multi-chain expansion has helped Yearn grow its total TVL from $1.16 billion to $2.97 billion over the past year — a 156% increase — momentum has stalled. The protocol hit its all-time high in December 2024, and since then, TVL has fallen by 62.9%.

This drop aligns with broader DeFi trends, including declining liquidity incentives and increased competition from protocols like Convex and Aura. Yet Yearn continues to innovate, recently upgrading its Curve stETH vault contracts and optimizing yield strategies across chains.

Deposit Concentration: Heavy Reliance on Key Partners

The current backbone of Yearn is Vaults V2, with legacy products like Vaults V1 and Earn largely inactive ($14.7M and $46.1M TVL respectively). On Ethereum alone, Vaults V2 hold $2.49 billion in deposits, concentrated in six major vaults:

An analysis of token distribution via Etherscan reveals that most deposits come from partner protocols, not retail users.

For example:

This pattern indicates that Yearn’s growth is increasingly driven by strategic partnerships rather than organic user inflows. These partners likely receive revenue-sharing incentives, encouraging them to deposit large volumes.

However, this creates dependency risks. If any major partner shifts strategy or withdraws capital, it could significantly impact Yearn’s TVL overnight.

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The Hidden Issue: TVL Double Counting

A critical but often overlooked flaw in Yearn’s metrics is TVL inflation due to recursive deposit cycles.

Here’s how it works:

  1. A user deposits ETH.
  2. Yearn’s strategy supplies it to the Curve stETH/ETH pool.
  3. The resulting CrvstETH LP token is deposited back into a Yearn vault.
  4. Both the original ETH vault and the CrvstETH vault count the same underlying asset.

This leads to double (or even triple) counting of value across different vaults. While common in DeFi, it distorts performance indicators and may mislead investors.

Yearn developers are aware of this issue and plan to address it in future audits and reporting updates — improving transparency and accuracy in on-chain analytics.

Financial Performance: Two Months of Losses in 2025

Yearn generates income through:

Historically, these fees enabled strong profits — in May 2021, Yearn earned over $10 million in a single month, rivaling traditional fintech firms.

But recent data paints a worrying picture:

Why the losses?

Despite falling revenue, operational expenses have not decreased:

Additionally, Yearn spent more on YFI buybacks than it earned in January — a red flag for financial sustainability.

Since November 2020, Yearn has spent $13.6 million buying back YFI tokens, with the last confirmed purchase on January 22, 2025. While buybacks can support token price, they must be balanced against cash flow health.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: Is Yearn.Finance still profitable?

A: No — as of February 2025, Yearn reported consecutive monthly losses due to declining revenue and high fixed costs, including grants and buybacks.

Q: Who controls Yearn now that Andre Cronje is gone?

A: Yearn is fully community-governed, supported by 50 core developers and over 140 contributors. Andre had no active role for more than a year before his public exit.

Q: Why is Yearn’s TVL falling?

A: Despite multi-chain expansion, TVL dropped 62.9% from its peak due to reduced yields, increased competition, and broader DeFi market cooling.

Q: Are Yearn’s financial reports transparent?

A: Yes — all transactions are on-chain and auditable. However, TVL calculations currently include some double-counting, which the team plans to fix.

Q: How does Yearn make money?

A: Through management (2%) and performance (20%) fees on vault earnings. These funds cover operations and historically funded YFI buybacks.

Q: Should I invest in YFI?

A: As with any DeFi asset, assess risks carefully. YFI lacks central backing, faces stiff competition, and recent losses raise sustainability questions — though its brand and tech remain respected.

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Final Thoughts

Yearn.Finance has proven resilient in the face of leadership changes. Its community-driven model has maintained stability, and strategic partnerships continue to fuel deposit growth.

Yet challenges loom:

To regain momentum, Yearn must improve financial discipline, refine reporting transparency, and reinvigorate yield strategies in an increasingly competitive landscape.

For now, it remains a pivotal player in DeFi — not because of any single founder, but because of the robust ecosystem it helped build.

Core Keywords:
Yearn.Finance, TVL decline, YFI token, DeFi protocol, vault strategies, partner deposits, financial losses