“Completely valueless” YFI token rises by 53% overnight

By Decrypt Staff

YFI, the governance token of yearn.finance, continues to rise. In the past 24 hours, it’s risen by a staggering 53%, from lows of $4,198 to highs of $6,435.

And all this for a token described by its team as “a completely valueless 0 supply token,” according to a blog post on June 17. “We reiterate, it has 0 financial value.” 

yearn.finance is a decentralized finance protocol that lets its users earn interest on cryptocurrency deposited within its smart contracts. According to metrics site DeFi Pulse, yearn.finance is the sixth-largest DeFi protocol, with $585.3 million wrapped up in its smart contracts.

YFI is its governance token. It rewards depositors for using the protocol, kind of like a loyalty scheme. It also lets holders vote on the future of the network. 

YFI came out at the end of June. Other large DeFi protocols, including Compound and Aave, followed with their own governance tokens, which also soared in value. In fact, the whole of DeFi boomed after these governance tokens took off; as of August 16, $5.95 billion is locked in DeFi smart contracts; when YFI launched, just $1.68 billion was locked up in DeFi. 

YFI’s rise is its second this week. Between Monday and Tuesday, YFI rose from $4,507 to $5,868, an increase of 30%. But today’s rise could be YFI’s largest yet.

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