Polychain Capital Invests $8.2 Million Into Ethereum Token YFI

Crypto fund Polychain Capital has picked up a further 141 YFI—the token that powers Yearn Finance—in a move yesterday that expanded on its investment in the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol. The firm purchased 329 YFI just last week, according to Messari researcher Mason Nystrom, and the token’s prices have jumped by more than 100% since then.

Yearn Finance has emerged as the quintessential DeFi project in the past few months, with the token boasting no pre-sale to venture capital firms or investors and its creator, Andre Cronje, holding no tokens at the time of issuance. This led to a positive narrative for the token among crypto circles.

That, combined with usability on the Yearn Finance protocol for usecases ranging from token swaps and automated investment management, to credit lending and loans, has propelled YFI into one of the fastest-growing cryptocurrencies of all time. Its launch in July saw YFI go from nearly $30 (excluding the free distribution to some early users of yEarn) to upwards of $42,000 in September—a 55,295% increase as per data on price tracker CoinGecko.

But while the skyhigh prices didn't last long—they have dropped nearly 80% since YFI's peak—crypto funds like Polychain Capital have been making moves. The fund has picked up a total of 470 YFI this month alone, with its investment worth over $8.2 million at press time.

YFI’s low supply cap of just 30,000 tokens make Polychain Capital one of the largest holders of the token. The fund can now boast owning 1.6% of the entire supply, all purchased from the open market.

The low supply also makes the token susceptible to wild price swings. YFI went from its issuance to an all-time high in under two months, it then fell to $7,300 in the months after, before rising to its current price of $17,400 in five days.

But those moves don’t seem to faze investors. A host of upcoming features on Yearn Finance, such as lower fees, support for staking on Ethereum 2.0, and the purchase of decentralized options, has kept the demand (and hope for higher prices) up.

At least until the next bear market.