APY.Finance

APY.Finance operates as a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, positioning itself as a robo-advisor for yield farming. The platform was conceived to address significant barriers to entry in the yield farming space, including complexity, high costs (gas fees), and the time-consuming nature of strategy management. The project gained early recognition by securing 2nd place at the HackMoney 2020 hackathon. A significant milestone was its liquidity mining program launch on October 1, 2020, which attracted $67 million in total value locked (TVL) within the first hour.

The company was founded by CEO Will Shahda, a software engineer with deep roots in the Ethereum and DeFi communities since their early stages. His journey into creating APY.Finance began after participating in the HackMoney hackathon in April 2020, where he and his team identified the growing complexities and untapped opportunities in yield farming. In September 2020, APY.Finance successfully raised $3.6 million in a private seed funding round from notable investors including Alameda Research, Arrington XRP Capital, and CoinGecko.

The core of the business is to provide a service where users can deposit stablecoins like DAI, USDC, or USDT into a single liquidity pool. The protocol then automatically allocates these pooled funds across a diversified portfolio of yield farming strategies. This model serves individuals who are new to DeFi or those who lack the time and expertise to manage complex strategies themselves. By pooling user funds, the platform socializes gas costs, making it more affordable for individual participants to engage in yield farming. The platform's smart routing system assesses strategies based on a proprietary risk score, aiming to optimize for risk-adjusted returns rather than just the highest potential yield.

Upon depositing funds, users receive APT tokens, which represent their share of the liquidity pool and accrue the generated yield. The protocol is governed by its native token, APY. APY token holders have the power to vote on key platform parameters through a phased decentralization roadmap. This governance model allows the community to influence aspects such as system fees, strategy risk scores, and the introduction of new strategies, ensuring the platform evolves with the decentralized finance landscape. Revenue for token holders is envisioned to be generated from a percentage of the yield, as determined by community governance.

Keywords: DeFi, yield farming, robo-advisor, liquidity pool, stablecoins, decentralized finance, smart contracts, APY token, crypto portfolio, automated strategies, risk management, gas cost optimization, decentralized governance, Will Shahda, HackMoney, Alameda Research, Arrington XRP Capital, Ethereum, DAI, USDC, USDT