Recently, I saw a bunch of yield aggregators offering pretty attractive APYs. My first reaction wasn't excitement, but rather to check where they’re actually putting the money: is it lending pools earning interest, or are they stacking derivatives, re-staking, bridging back and forth... Basically, behind the APY isn’t “strategy,” but contract risk plus counterparty risk. Even if the interest rate isn’t sharply high, if the contract has issues, it’s the same risk.

My mom asked me a couple of days ago, “Isn’t this just like Yu’e Bao?” I could only reply half-heartedly: Mom, the high returns are usually exchanged for risk; there’s no free lunch.

Now, with Meme coins and celebrity shoutouts, attention is shifting again, and newcomers are especially easily lured by “high yield screenshots.” As an old lending dog, I’d rather earn less than be the last one holding the bag. I want to understand the liquidation line and the correlations first.