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The YIELD App Q2 Report: Users double as assets treble from March

14 min read

It's been an exciting year for YIELD App so far! Since we set out in February on our mission to make the high-yielding world of digital finance available to everyone, we have seen more than 45,000 users join us (45,076 to June 30, 2021) to earn stable and consistent passive income on their digital assets. This is up from 26,000 users at the end of March, representing total growth of 73% over the second quarter of the year. 

Together, these users have entrusted us with $145.8 million of assets excluding YLD as of June 30, 2021. This is more than a three-fold increase from $45.7 million at the close of the first quarter of this year. Including YLD, on-platform assets stand at $163.6 million as of 30 June 2021.

YIELD App managed $145.8 million of assets excluding YLD assets as of June 30, 2021

 

The launch of our Ethereum fund in March was a particular success. As of June 30, 2021, we are managing 43,255 ETH with a USD value of $90.8 million. This compares to 19,000 ETH at the end of March, which then had a market value of around $32.4 million and today is valued at circa $39.9 million.

Deposits of ETH rose from 19,000 at the end of March to 43,255 at the end of June 2021

Our core stablecoin strategy continues to attract assets. The total amount of USD Coin (USDC) held on our platform now stands at $32.4 million, while USD Tether (USDT) stands at $22.5 million. This is up from $8.6 million and $5.7 million respectively at the end of the first quarter of the year. 

This strong growth is thanks in no small part to our high and market leading annual percentage yield (APY) of 20% on these assets, which we have maintained since our beta-launch in December 2020 and which continues to swell our community.

Stablecoin deposits have quadrupled since Q1

 

YLD rewards and rebalancing 

The YIELD App APY structure and Tier Rewards Program mean that users are rewarded in part with our YLD token, with those that hold more YLD tokens in their wallet earning higher overall APYs. Since our inception, we are pleased to report that over 7.5 million YLD tokens have been earned by our users, with a current market value of $2.2 million.

As part of our work to support the YIELD App ecosystem and ensure that it continues to thrive, more than 17.1 million YLD tokens have been rebalanced through our treasury rebalancing program. This is up from 1.4 million as of March 28, showing strong and sustained activity throughout the second quarter. Users can monitor our rebalancing program via the following address: https://etherscan.io/token/0xf94b5c5651c888d928439ab6514b93944eee6f48?a=0x1a11848434cafa84a676e70459015407ec15b542

Corporate clients and partnerships 

The past three months have seen us extend our high-yield offering to a growing number of corporate clients. YIELD App is now helping more than 30 businesses manage their corporate treasuries, including crypto gaming platform Lepricon, which we partnered with in April this year. This is an important and significant expansion for YIELD App, demonstrating our commitment to making stable, reliable and rewarding investment strategies available to everyone.

It is also a testament to the growing interest in cryptocurrency that exists among companies, and not just those in the cryptocurrency, FinTech, and digital spaces. Indeed, this quarter has seen YIELD App partner with one of Europe’s most established private membership clubs. 

Our partnership has seen YIELD App roll out a bespoke educational webinar series for the firm’s staff in their quest to help raise standards in support of education, inclusion, and participation in the rapidly expanding digital economy. Staff will be onboarded to our platform in the second half of the year, with compelling DeFi investment offerings and powerful incentives sponsored by the firm. Details will be announced in a joint press statement in the coming weeks. 

Listings and campaigns 

YIELD App continued to expand the presence and reach of the YLD token over the second quarter through listings on three key cryptocurrency exchanges: top Ethereum decentralized exchange SushiSwap, QuickSwap – the prime DEX of layer 2 solution Polygon – and leading Asia-based exchange Gate.io. The latter came after more than 15.4 million Gate.io users voted for YLD’s listing. 

As part of our SushiSwap listing, we launched a special, limited duration Sushi Onsen pool that allowed users to stake their LP tokens gained from providing liquidity to the YLD-ETH Sushi pool for SUSHI token rewards. Following the launch, we also gave YIELD App users the opportunity to win up to 2,000 YLD for staking in the pool between April 19 and April 30. Close to 100 members that staked in the pool qualified for the competition.

Our most recent listing on Gate.io was also accompanied by a slew of giveaways, including YLD airdrop rewards totaling USD $5,000 for the top 10 users that voted for the listing, as well as a further $5,000 in YLD for those depositing YLD tokens on Gate.io and via a number of social media and AMA giveaways. 

In April we also ran a highly successful competition for users depositing ETH onto our platform: “ETH’s Raining YLD.” The campaign saw 10 randomly selected users that deposited a minimum of 0.2 ETH between April 2 and May 2 win 5,000 YLD tokens each, with a further 20 users winning exclusive YIELD App merchandise.

The YIELD App community   

We have continued to see strong growth across our community and social media channels this quarter, with our total community now standing at more than 87,000 followers. 

 

Our Asia community continues to grow and expand, with YIELD App extending its reach through Taiwan and South Korean in the second quarter of the year.

 

Media and events 

The second quarter of the year also saw us roll out a number of exciting competitions and giveaways. These included “Where’s Waldo?”: the YIELD App Easter egg hunt challenge in which YIELDers had to find three hidden Easter eggs printed with the YIELD App logo. More than 223 entrants joined the competition on Twitter, with the first three spotters winning 300 YLD tokens each.

The “Where’s Waldo?” YIELD App Easter Egg Hunt

 

We also ran a series of three webinars on technical analysis for Tier 4 and 5 users conducted by leading crypto influencer and long-time YIELD App supporter Joel “Coach K” Kovshoff. In his lively and engaging sessions, Coach K covered all the fundamental principles of technical analysis, with participants rewarded with exclusive YIELD App merchandise. Tier 4 and 5 users can view these again using the links sent to them via email. We will be running more sessions in the coming weeks, of which we will also notify Tier 4 and 5 users via email. 

In May we also held our first-ever live stream AMA on our YouTube channel with our CEO Tim Frost and CFO and COO Justin Wright, hosted by our Head of Communications Rebecca Jones. In the same month, we also launched a new regular panel show: “Fridays with YIELD App”. Kicking off with UK Bitcoin commentator Keith Wareing and top YouTube influencer Crypto Rover, the show will see experts from across the crypto community regularly join us to discuss the hottest topics in the industry.

To mark Father’s day on June 20, 2021, we ran an exclusive giveaway across Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram under the hashtag #DeFiDad. Honoring all the great dads of the crypto sphere, the YIELD App team asked our community to tell us what they love most about their dad and/or what they love about being a dad. We had some really heartwarming responses, with one user commending the campaign and entries.

Warm praise for our DeFi Dad campaign

 

Compliance and licenses 

The second quarter has also seen YIELD App move further along on its regulatory journey. We completed our Estonian acquisition and reactivation of the virtual currency license for YIELD App OÜ, paving the way for the introduction of new services including FIAT-CRYPTO-FIAT swaps, among others.

Regionally, we have opened a dialogue with a leading Tier 1 European regulator for registration and approval as a licensed Digital Asset Service Provider. We are also reviewing additional categories of licensing within Europe to provide suitable regulatory oversight of our growing suite of products and services.

Globally, we have completed the incorporation of our Managed Fund entity in Cayman: TGT LP, advised by our Cayman Island Monetary Authority S.I.B.A. registered and approved investment manager, YIELD DFAS.

As we have seen in recent months, scrutiny of exchange platforms and services has grown significantly, particularly with respect to minimum standards and best practices for Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) monitoring and reporting. YIELD App’s development team is currently working through the automation of new enhanced KYC features, including live video interviews and additional API integration with our blockchain analysis partners. 

As with all regulated businesses and sectors, the license application and approval process can be lengthy. Increased interest in DeFi, crypto trading markets, and the passive income sector coupled with central banks’ growing interest in issuing their own digital currencies have increased the need for responsible, forward-thinking cryptocurrency businesses to be licensed and operate to the highest standards.

This fast-evolving regulatory landscape brings increasing complexity and frequently extended lead times to complete end-to-end approvals for new licenses. However, having set out our intentions from the start to travel this path, YIELD App has a unique advantage in navigating these changes. To support our efforts, we have recruited a highly experienced Global Head of Compliance, who will further support our ambitions and accelerate our global regulatory reach.

Market conditions and portfolio 

As most crypto users will be aware, the second quarter of the year witnessed one of the most aggressive pullbacks in crypto history. After hitting an all-time high of $63,576 on April 14, Bitcoin - crypto’s bellwether coin - plunged at breakneck speed by nearly 50% to a low of $31,711 on June 22 before settling in its current range of between $33,000 to $35,000 (as of 30 June).

This was caused by a combination of factors: from the musings of Elon Musk, to China’s latest cryptocurrency crackdown, to simply a necessary correction from what was a parabolic rally for Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market in general. Unlike the somewhat devastating crash of 2018, however, crypto found a floor in the form of the DeFi sector thanks to its heavy weighting in stablecoins. 

Indeed, during May, YIELD App saw a significant uptick in stablecoin deposits into our platform, with net deposits of USDT increasing by 15%, while net deposits of USDC more than doubled. Across the industry, the trend was broadly the same, with data from Dune Analytics showing a one-way trend for growth in users of stablecoins in DeFi.  

In addition to an uptick in deposits, at YIELD App we saw no significant disruption to our portfolio or our APY generation during May’s period of high volatility. It did, however, reinforce our long-term strategy of diversification throughout and beyond the DeFi ecosystem. We will continue to explore diverse investment opportunities that can deliver the most stable, sustainable, and high-yielding portfolio possible for our users in any and all market conditions. 

Ethereum and Bitcoin funds 

A widespread compression of yields in the second quarter did, however, prompt a change in the rate available on our YIELD App Ethereum Fund, which we adjusted to a base APY of 7.5% while holding the maximum additional APY available in YLD rewards at 10%. This is part of our ongoing mission to deliver high, stable, and sustainable yields for our users as we continue to build and grow our platform, products, and services over the long term. 

As we pen this report we are also preparing for the launch of our eagerly anticipated YIELD App Bitcoin Fund, which we expect to meet with the same strong demand that greeted our Ethereum fund. The YIELD App portfolio team has worked hard throughout Q2 in challenging market conditions to deliver the Bitcoin Fund complete with the type of solid and sustainable strategy our users have come to expect from us. 

Product and platform development

The second quarter saw us continuing to work on implementing fiat on and off-ramps into the platform: an essential part of bringing YIELD App’s inviting digital wealth proposition to everyone, everywhere. The second half of the year should see this work come to fruition with fiat gateways through which clients can deposit using a credit card or via bank transfer with SEPA, SWIFT, or even some local payment methods. Withdrawals to bank accounts will be enabled soon after.

Our development team has also continued working furiously behind the scenes to deliver the upgrades to our platform that will ensure we continue to achieve our long-term goals and objectives. This suite of updates will include an in-house wallet, full-cycle swaps, and automatic compounding on all of our assets, as well as a new, even slicker user interface and a mobile app. 

This ongoing package of upgrades will ensure the security and stability of our platform and mean we can grow YIELD App to be one of the world’s leading digital asset wealth management platforms. Such ambitions are not reached without thorough planning and diligent and careful implementation, which remain the key focuses of our entire team. A high-quality, solid product is what our users have come to expect from us, and we will not settle for delivering anything less.

Since our beta launch in December 2020 and our Ethereum fund launch in March this year, YIELD App has not faltered in delivering DeFi’s leading APYs on USDC, USDT, and ETH all within a stable, intuitive, and easy to use platform. Our mission remains to open up the high-yielding opportunities available on digital assets to everyone, everywhere. We remain fully invested in the new digital, blockchain-led economy and are building a product that will carry users old and new into this bold new financial future.

The final word: YIELD App CEO, Tim Frost 

“The second quarter of the year has, perhaps, been the busiest for the YIELD App team. Following the fervor of our initial launch in Q1, we have built a solid team of experts and professionals sourced from across the digital and financial world that is now putting us directly on the long-term growth path that we have always planned for. I am personally proud of everything we have achieved in these few short months and I am truly excited for the second half of the year.

“As our long-term investors and users will know, YIELD App does not have small ambitions. We plan to be one of the top wealth management platforms for digital assets in the world and every effort that we put into product development, regulatory changes, marketing, community, and beyond is part of that overarching vision. 

“We don’t believe in quick fixes, short-term results, or cutting corners: we are building a platform that can take cryptocurrency and digital assets into a brave new future and we are excited to see tens of thousands of users coming along on that journey. We remain committed to serving the interests of these users today, and tomorrow.”


To download a PDF copy of The YIELD App Q2 Report, please click HERE


Do you want to earn the market’s leading APYs on your digital assets? Sign up for a YIELD App account today



DISCLAIMER: The content of this article does not constitute financial advice and is for informational purposes only. The price of digital assets can go down as well as up, and you may lose all of your capital. Investors should consult a professional advisor before making any investment decisions.

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Unlock the full potential of cryptocurrency and grow your digital wealth