Lately, someone has been sending me a screenshot of the APY from my yield aggregator. Let’s be honest: no matter how pretty the numbers look, you still have to check what contracts are behind them and how many hops the money has gone through. You think you’re “storing,” but it could actually be authorization, lending, re-staking, or switching pools—in that whole chain, if anything goes wrong with a particular route, or any counterparty starts acting up, the blame can end up on you. Now when I click in, my first glance isn’t at the annualized rate—it’s at permissions, where the funds are going, the exit path, whether I can withdraw at any time, and whether withdrawing could get stuck… Anyway, I’d rather earn a little less than treat it like a testnet.

It also reminded me of that whole NFT royalty dispute: it’s the same kind of argument. Everyone wants to get more / pay less, and in the end, the secondary depth and liquidity take the hit first. I’ve already switched my avatar to a dull gray—I’m just going to hang in there for now.