Yearn Revenues Projected to Surpass TradFi’s Fueled By Thriving Community

On-Chain Markets Update by Lucas Outumuro, IntoTheBlock

Yearn Finance is quickly turning into an asset management behemoth. Propelled by its thriving community, Yearn’s fundamentals are looking stronger than its traditional finance counterparts.

After recently hitting a new all-time high of $5 billion+ in TVL, Yearn also broke its highest monthly revenues.

Source: Yearn Newsletter

Making over $10 million in revenue in May only, Yearn is projected to generate $123.12 million in annualized revenue. In comparison, roboadvisors Betterment and Wealthfront reportedly accrued $50 million and $30 million in annualized revenues respectively, although for 2019 and 2018 (unfortunately more recent data was not available).

In terms of revenue per dollar deposited, and valuations relative to their revenues, Yearn also fares significantly better.

Protocol/CompanyRevenue ($MM)AUM (TVL) [$MM]Revenue/AUMP/SYearn$123$5,0392.44%

9.17Betterment$50$29,0000.17%30.00Wealthfront$30$12,0000.25%N/ABlackrock$16,205$8,676,0000.19%8.18Yearn data projected based on May 2021 revenues and valuation as of June 21, 2021

Sources: IntoTheBlock, Yearn Newsletter, CoinGecko, MacroTrends, FinExtra, Growjo, Betterment, Wealthfront and Blackrock values as of 2019, 2018 and 2021 respectively

While these comparisons are certainly not apples to apples, it is worth highlighting the strong financials within less than a year and a half since its inception. Moreover, its pioneering approach to human coordination also means Yearn can produce higher revenues with a smaller headcount.

With 21 mostly pseudonymous team members, Yearn currently spent $133,716 in salaries throughout April as per YFIStats. In contrast roboadvisors Betterment and Wealthfront have 293 and 231 employees, while Blackrock — the World’s largest asset manager — employs 16,500.

This means that Yearn is orders of magnitude more efficient in terms of dollars generated per employee, projecting a whopping $5.86 million per team member for this year.

Protocol/CompanyRevenue ($MM)# of Team MembersRevenue / Employee ($MM)Yearn$12321$5.86

Betterment$50293$0.17Wealthfront$30231$0.13Blackrock$16,20516500$0.98Sources: IntoTheBlock, Yearn Newsletter, CoinGecko, MacroTrends, FinExtra, Growjo

Betterment, Wealthfront and Blackrock values as of 2019, 2018 and 2021 respectively

A sizable portion of Yearn’s team payments go towards the development of the platform and its strategies. By analyzing the protocol’s GitHub, the growth in commitment from the team and the community is noticeable.

As of June 21 via IntoTheBlock’s YFI social indicators

The growth in Yearn’s developer community is echoed in the number of YFI holders. Just like the protocol’s TVL and revenues, the number of YFI holders recently hit new highs.

As of June 21 via IntoTheBlock’s YFI network indicators

Regardless of the recent market-wide crash, Yearn continues to grow on all fronts. While still relatively uncovered in traditional media, Yearn’s asset management platform is outgrowing roboadvisors by several measures. Not only is Yearn projected to accrue more revenues than its TradFi counterparts, but more importantly it is able to do so counting just on a relatively small, but growing community.