Learn how to join Bybit's VIP Program, where you can realize exclusive benefits — from up to 50% off trading fees and tailored interest rates to instant OTC trades up to $10M.

With the Bybit VIP Program, you can realize exclusive benefits — from up to 50% off trading fees and tailored interest rates to instant OTC trades, Bybit Card cashback and more. Joining the ranks of the very best traders on the platform will boost your profitability, raise your limits and offer access to VIP-only perks.

 and guides you through the steps to become a VIP trader and unlock exclusive benefits. Let's get started!

 is an exclusive club for the most esteemed traders in the crypto market. It’s designed to provide members an enhanced Bybit experience with numerous VIP-only benefits and perks. The program aims to reward avid traders who have high volumes, account equity levels and borrowing activities.

The Bybit VIP Program offers a multitude of benefits for members. These range from discounted trading fees and high limits for withdrawals and application programming interface (API) trades to priority Bybit customer support access, relationship managers and exclusive VIP events and meetups. You can find the full list of VIP exclusive benefits 

Requirements to Become a Bybit VIP Trader

You’ll need to fulfill a specific level for one of the criteria below to become a VIP trader on Bybit:

Bybit's VIP Program features six distinct tiers: 

. Each successively higher tier offers greater rewards, and also comes with more stringent qualification requirements. For instance, as a 

 trader, you’ll enjoy reduced trading fees, such as 0.03% for makers and 0.045% for takers in the spot market. To qualify for this exclusive tier, you must meet at least one of the following criteria:

Once you become a VIP trader, you must continuously meet the above criteria to maintain your Bybit VIP status and keep enjoying the benefits. 

However, this doesn't mean your account will immediately lose its VIP status and revert to standard after a single day in which you don’t meet the requirements. Bybit offers a 14-day grace during which you can continue enjoying VIP perks and benefits, even if you no longer meet the program's conditions. If the criteria are not met by the end of this period, your VIP status will automatically be revoked. However, if that occurs, you can regain your status by fulfilling the requirements for any VIP tier either during or after the grace period. When this happens, Bybit will grant you a new 14-day grace period.

How to Sign up to Become a Bybit VIP Trader

In the following section, you'll find a step-by-step guide that shows you how to join the Bybit VIP Program.

The first step to becoming a VIP trader is to open a Bybit account (if you haven't already done so). Simply 

 and fill out the form with your details. After registering, you’ll need to verify your account to enjoy the platform's full functionality.

Next, fund your Bybit account with crypto or fiat currency.

You can deposit cryptocurrencies by using the 

 menu. On the page, choose your desired coin and the blockchain where you'll be depositing the assets. To avoid any loss of funds, please always ensure that you're transferring crypto from the correct chain.

Next, copy-and-paste the wallet address displayed on the page, or scan the QR code with your smartphone's camera, and initiate the deposit from your wallet. After a few confirmations, your cryptocurrencies will be credited to your Bybit account.

To fund your Bybit account with fiat currency, click on the 

 button and select one of the available services (e.g., 

 service, choose a fiat currency, the deposit amount and one of the available payment methods. After clicking on 

, follow the instructions displayed on the next pages to initiate the transaction. Your funds will be credited to your Bybit account, with processing times varying according to your chosen service and payment method.

After you have a verified Bybit account funded with either crypto or fiat, perform eligible activity on the platform until you qualify for VIP status (see table below).

You can achieve VIP status by fulfilling a minimum level of VIP 1 in either of the following categories (

After becoming a VIP trader on Bybit, don't forget to maintain your VIP status to continue enjoying the exclusive perks and benefits.

If you have active VIP status at another crypto exchange, or your total MT5 trading volume meets Bybit's VIP criteria, you can apply for a VIP+2 upgrade. This upgrade will grant you VIP status on the platform — and instantly elevate it by two levels. (Please 

 that Bybit only considers 10% of any MT5 forex trading volume.)

 and submit your 30-day trading volume on your current exchange. Bybit’s VIP team will review your application, and a Relationship Manager will contact you if you're eligible for the VIP upgrade.

How to Get Started With a 20-Day Bybit VIP Trial

Another way to qualify for VIP status on Bybit is through a 20-day trial. Instead of fulfilling the requirements of the VIP 1 level, simply fund your account with $50,000 to enjoy the exclusive benefits of the program for 20 days with a VIP Trial Card (issued one day after your deposit). The VIP trial offer is available to users who haven't used a trial within the past two months.

To unlock the 20-day VIP trial, head to the 

 menu on Bybit and use one of the available payment methods to fund your account with $50,000 in assets.

With VIP Level-Up Tasks, you can earn generous bonuses as high as 6,000 USDT. You can claim rewards for Level-Up Tasks for five VIP levels (VIP 1, VIP 2, VIP 3, VIP 4 and VIP 5), with higher tiers offering greater bonuses upon completion.

If you're eligible, you’ll see a pop-up window with VIP Level-Up Tasks after you log into your account. To claim your rewards, complete the specified trading volume requirement within 14 days of receiving the task, and click on the 

 page. You can learn more about Bybit VIP Level-Up Tasks

Exclusive Trading Benefits Offered to Bybit VIPs

As a member of the Bybit VIP Program, you can unlock exclusive benefits to supercharge your trading experience. Among these are discounted trading fees (which can significantly boost your trading revenue), profitability and chances of winning trades.

In addition to discounted trading fees, you’ll also enjoy substantially higher API trading and withdrawal limits. While the former is restricted to 10 trades per second for non-VIP users, you can take advantage of up to 120 API trades per second as a VIP trader. Simultaneously, your daily withdrawal limit is increased from the basic 1 million USDT to as high as 12 million USDT.

 is an exclusive club that provides an enhanced service experience for the most esteemed traders. As a member, you can access a multitude of exclusive benefits and perks, such as the following:

Are you ready to supercharge your trading experience? 

Intermediate

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How to Become a Bybit VIP: Your Guide to Exclusive Benefits

LETSTOP is a drive-to-earn mobile app that monitors phone distractions while driving. Learn more about how it works in this article.

Smartphone distractions have created an unprecedented road safety crisis worldwide. 

: texting behind the wheel makes drivers six times more likely to crash than drunk driving does — yet millions of drivers still use their phones while operating vehicles.

This article explores how LETSTOP is transforming safe driving into rewarding experiences through blockchain technology. We'll examine its drive-to-earn model, reward system, tokenomics and potential as both a road safety solution and an investment opportunity.

 is a drive-to-earn mobile app that monitors phone distractions while driving. Users earn STOP tokens for phone-free driving through a gamified system that transforms daily drives into rewarding experiences.

A life-changing car accident caused by a distracted driver running a red light inspired LETSTOP co-founder Almog Nissan to reimagine road safety. Together with co-founder and CEO Dor Levy, they envisioned rewarding safe driving, rather than just punishing dangerous behavior.

The founders built a platform that combines automotive technology, cryptocurrency and AI to revolutionize road safety through rewards. This innovative approach has quickly gained traction, with over 50,000 users logging over 3 million kilometers of safe driving since the app’s launch.

Distracted driving claims thousands of lives annually, with 

, of which 9% are directly linked to phone use. LETSTOP aims to tackle this crisis as follows:

Each of these objectives works harmoniously to support LETSTOP's ultimate mission of transforming road safety into a rewarding experience that benefits both individual drivers and society.

The LETSTOP app operates through a sophisticated system that monitors and rewards safe driving through the following apps and features:

The result is a dynamic system in which better driving habits unlock greater earning potential.

The following five core features power LETSTOP's drive-to-earn ecosystem.

LETSTOP uses a dynamic 40-level system to make safe driving rewarding. As drivers earn XP through distraction-free journeys, they advance from Level 1's 2% bonus toward Level 40's 70% boost. Through this gamified approach, daily commutes become opportunities to climb the ranks while building safer driving habits.

LETSTOP Credits are the core currency of the platform, earned directly through safe driving achievements. Earning rates directly scale with user level, vehicle type and subscription tier as follows: PRO subscribers enjoy unlimited earning potential, while PLUS and LITE tiers are capped at 300 and 150 monthly credits, respectively.

In the STOP Store, users invest their earned credits into virtual cars with unique earning multipliers. From the basic model's 2% bonus to the Jazzster GN's 150% boost, each vehicle offers different strategic advantages for maximizing rewards.

Beyond vehicles, the store features mystery boxes containing rewards from 10 to 450 credits, as well as car upgrades and subscription boosts. Users can also access a voucher marketplace to redeem credits for real-world rewards through LETSTOP's partnership network.

LETSTOP's triple-boost system combines vehicle multipliers for immediate earnings acceleration, a level-progression system for sustained growth and a 5% referral program for community expansion. Premium membership unlocks enhanced benefits across three tiers, while special events create time-limited opportunities for increased rewards.

The platform's comprehensive rewards system operates across three membership tiers, each one tailored to different user needs. LETSTOP PRO (at $9.90 monthly) offers unlimited credit earning potential and exclusive benefits. The PLUS tier provides a balanced option at $4.90 monthly with a 300-credit earning cap, while the free LITE tier allows users to earn up to 150 monthly credits.

Beyond direct earnings, the rewards system incorporates partner vouchers, cryptocurrency conversion options and community features, such as leaderboards. Achievement rewards recognize milestones in users' safe driving journeys, while the upcoming cryptocurrency integration will allow users to convert their efforts into tradeable STOP tokens.

LETSTOP has shown consistent progress, with the following key milestones already achieved:

Looking ahead to 2025, LETSTOP plans to implement the following key developments:

These developments aim to strengthen LETSTOP's position as a leader in drive-to-earn while furthering its mission to enable safer roads worldwide.

STOP is an SPL token built on the Solana network. It’s designed to bridge safe driving behavior with cryptocurrency rewards. The STOP token implements an annual halving mechanism to ensure long-term value preservation, similar to Bitcoin's model, but accelerated to align with the project's growth trajectory.

STOP has a max supply of 100 million tokens, to be distributed in the following manner:

The growing adoption of LETSTOP's drive-to-earn app and its impact on road safety directly influence STOP's price trajectory. While cryptocurrency forecasts remain speculative by nature, multiple price analysis platforms project the following for STOP:

These forecasts suggest a positive long-term outlook for STOP, driven by the growing drive-to-earn sector and LETSTOP's innovative approach to road safety. However, STOP's future value will ultimately depend upon user adoption, platform development and broader market conditions.

Looking to trade LETSTOP tokens? Bybit now offers the STOP/USDT Spot trading pair. To get started, you’ll first need to create a Bybit account, then fund it with cryptocurrency and navigate to the 

STOP shows promising potential in the drive-to-earn sector, though investors should carefully weigh both its strengths and potential risks before making investment decisions.

While STOP's innovative approach to road safety and its strong initial traction distinguish it in the market, potential investors should 

 and invest no more than they can afford to lose.

As smartphone distractions continue to endanger lives on roads worldwide, LETSTOP offers an innovative path forward. Through its innovative drive-to-earn model and STOP token ecosystem, the platform transforms daily commutes into safer roads and user earnings opportunities, showing how digital innovation can effectively “drive” positive behavioral change.

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LETSTOP (STOP): Turning Daily Rides Into Profitable Journeys

FDUSD, a stablecoin from First Digital Labs, is now live on Sui as a native token, joining other stablecoins like USDC and AUSD.

The S&P 500 ended flat amid mixed earnings and geopolitical concerns, as investors awaited Thursday's data and Fed commentary. Coindesk Indices, an index measuring broader cryptocurrency market performance was up by 2.01%, with Bitcoin rising by 1.91% and Ether dropping by 0.59%, in the past 24 hours.

Today's top performer is LUMIA, which surged 16.1% following the announcement of its partnership with Cobox to bridge real-world assets and virtual ownership.

Lumia (LUMIA), founded in 2024, is a Layer 2 blockchain solution leveraging the Polygon CDK to enhance scalability, liquidity, and interoperability. It addresses challenges like data availability and cross-chain interactions by incorporating AvailDA for decentralized data and Polygon AggLayer for cross-chain functionality, enabling efficient and flexible dApp development. 

 to integrate real-world assets (RWAs) into its immersive, player-owned universe. This collaboration aims to enhance asset liquidity, trading, and gameplay experiences, bridging digital and physical realms for more tangible and vibrant virtual ownership.

Check Out the Latest Prices, Charts, and Data of 

, a stablecoin from First Digital Labs, is now live on Sui as a native token, joining other stablecoins like USDC and AUSD. This launch reflects growing institutional confidence in Sui, which has seen significant growth in TVL and DeFi volume. FDUSD, backed by reserves in Asian banks and US Treasury debt, offers DeFi users a reliable, US Dollar-pegged stablecoin, bridging traditional finance and cryptocurrency ecosystems.

Yesterday, the total flow into Bitcoin Spot ETFs is $146.9 million, with $0 million in GBTC and $146.9 million in non-GBTC products.

: the Spotlight Badge, which requires minting through the Spotlight Protocol and joining a Spotlight circle; the Impossible Finance Badge, which involves completing social tasks, claiming the TIDIA faucet, staking TIDIA on Impossible Finance, and then claiming the badge; and the SNGLR Badge, where users connect their wallet, follow artists, mint IP assets, tweet, and provide personal details to claim their badge. More badges are coming soon!

Beginner

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FDUSD Launches as Native Stablecoin on Sui, Strengthening DeFi Ecosystem

Morpho (MORPHO) is an efficient Ethereum-based protocol revolutionizing decentralized lending with customizable peer-to-peer and pool-based solutions.

Liquidity pools have revolutionized decentralized lending and borrowing by offering a wide choice of product options and significant liquidity levels. For several years, protocols like 

 (COMP) have been lauded as true innovators that introduced a real game-changer: pool-based lending and borrowing. However, a closer look reveals that things aren’t as efficient and smooth as they may seem within the world of crypto lending. The problem is that lending pools on decentralized protocols often have mismatches between lenders and borrowers, with the former substantially outnumbering the latter. As a result, lenders earn only meager 

s, while borrowers pay exorbitant fees to access funds via these pools. Another critical problem is the lack of customizability in lending and borrowing products, with many protocols adopting a one-size-fits-all approach.

Morpho (MORPHO) is a decentralized protocol on 

 (ETH) that aims to improve the efficiency and flexibility of crypto lending and borrowing by offering a unique model that combines the elements of 

 (P2P) and pool-based matching of lenders and borrowers. To be precise, one of Morpho's essential products, Morpho Optimizers, specifically focuses on P2P matching, with pool-based lending and borrowing used as a fallback option. Morpho also offers users an excellent level of customization for creating new lending markets through its core protocol.

With its innovative lender-borrower matching mechanism and highly customizable and flexible markets, Morpho greatly improves capital allocation and transaction efficiency in the 

 (MORPHO) is an Ethereum-based decentralized lending protocol that offers a unique P2P order matching mechanism to improve the efficiency and affordability of 

 The platform also enables users to create efficient lending markets with highly customizable lending and borrowing parameters. Additionally, it offers a product, Morpho Vaults, for curated lending at varying risk levels.

, a France-based software development company founded in 2021 by Merlin Egalité and Paul Frambot. It's also supported by the nonprofit 

As its first major product, the project launched Morpho Optimizers on the Ethereum blockchain in 2022. Morpho Optimizers is designed as an add-on solution for lending pools on Aave and Compound to help match individual lenders and borrowers. The transacting parties can benefit from a more efficient lending process than with the default pool-based mode.

In January 2024, the project launched Morpho Blue, later rebranded to Morpho, a solution to help users create highly flexible lending markets with custom parameters and options. Morpho acts as the backbone of the Morpho ecosystem, and the project team has turned its focus to promoting and further developing this product. At the same time, Morpho Optimizers remains an integral part of the platform's core offering, albeit in a less prioritized state than Morpho.

The Morpho protocol consists of three main products — Morpho, Morpho Vaults (based on the underlying protocol) and the legacy Morpho Optimizers. Morpho allows users to create individual lending markets by specifying their preferred options for the following key attributes:

All these parameters are highly customizable, with minimal interference from the Morpho governance mechanism. Some parameters do have to conform to certain requirements; e.g., the IRM and LLTV must be from the list approved by the protocol's governance.

Morpho's high level of customizability is a significant departure from the typical model used on decentralized lending and borrowing platforms. On most other protocols, there are fixed parameters governing the lending and borrowing process; e.g., only certain collateral assets, lending assets or LLTV rates are allowed. In contrast, Morpho lets you customize all of these options, giving lending market creators an unmatched degree of freedom. The protocol offers the following key benefits to users, developers and market operators:

While Morpho is currently the platform's flagship product, the legacy Morpho Optimizers continues as a key offering in the platform's product line. Morpho Optimizers are add-on layers to the Aave and Compound lending pools. They can be used to facilitate a peer-to-peer match between lenders and borrowers. Since typical lending pools — including on platforms like Aave and Compound — are often heavily skewed with more lenders than borrowers, both parties end up paying excessive fees. Borrowers have to confront high costs due to the need to service the many lenders in the pool. In turn, lenders fight for the meager scraps left over from insufficient numbers of borrowers.

By using a P2P matching mechanism, Morpho Optimizers effectively takes the lender and borrower away from pool-based interaction and establishes a direct relationship between them. This allows users to borrow assets at cheaper rates, while also delivering better APYs for lenders. If either party withdraws from the direct lending relationship, both parties have the option to use the standard lending pools on Aave and Compound as a fallback.

The platform's third core product, Morpho Vaults (covered in more detail below) utilizes the underlying protocol and provides a way to lend through carefully curated market options at different risk profiles. This can suit lenders who are less proficient in using fully customized markets, but still prefer to take advantage of the lending opportunities offered by Morpho.

In order to create a custom lending market on Morpho, you need to have some technical proficiency and, preferably, knowledge of Solidity, the programming language that the protocol uses for its smart contracts. As noted earlier, developers can create a custom market by supplying five base parameters — a collateral asset, an asset offered for lending, an oracle, a preferred IRM and an LLTV. The first four of these normally require an Ethereum smart contract address to be specified. For the collateral and lending assets, these are the addresses for the tokens' contracts. The selected oracle is also usually established via a pointer to its smart contract address, although oracle-less hard-coded prices for the collateral and lent assets are acceptable. Morpho also maintains Ethereum addresses for each IRM whitelisted by the protocol's governance; developers can use these when choosing a preferred IRM.

The last value, LLTV, is a hard-coded figure that defines the threshold beyond which a loan becomes unhealthy due to its poor 

. Liquidators on Morpho are protocol actors who are incentivized to cover bad debts in return for collateral, similar to the method used on many other lending platforms. They’re allowed to liquidate up to 100% of the debt. In return, liquidators receive the debt's collateral, as well as an additional incentive for their work.

Since Morpho is an oracle-agnostic protocol without a built-in oracle, each market can have its own oracle that sources prices for the collateral and lending assets from external sources. Developers are completely free in that regard, and can even hard-code asset prices for the market if they don't wish to use a price oracle at all. Naturally, an oracle is preferred for maintaining the most up-to-date and dynamic pricing information.

The IRM used is the only base parameter with which developers are somewhat restricted in their choice, as only whitelisted IRMs are allowed for a market. As of mid-November 2024, there’s just one whitelisted IRM that market creators can specify — the 

. This model dynamically adjusts interest rates to maintain the proportion of borrowed funds to supplied funds at close to 90%.

Morpho Vaults are a tokenized vault product that offers curated lending opportunities with varying pre-programmed risk parameters. Each vault is associated with a single loan asset, and can allocate deposits across multiple Morpho markets, thereby leveraging the overall liquidity available on the Morpho protocol. Morpho Vaults suit lenders who prefer predictable risk management over the uncertainty of completely custom markets. Each lender can earn APY rates commensurate with their chosen 

There is no limit on the number of vaults you can open on Morpho. Thus, you might even allocate funds to different vaults with significantly different risk levels to diversify your exposure.

Morpho Vaults' curated nature eliminates the need for users to spend time researching and evaluating individual markets' risk levels and return opportunities, as risk exposure is actively managed by the vault.

Since the vaults are connected to the underlying protocol, and source liquidity from it, they’re dynamically rebalanced, which helps optimize yields. Thanks to their permissionless and immutable nature, the vaults are also completely transparent. Moreover, they’re noncustodial, granting users full control over their deposited assets, which can be withdrawn at any time.

A lender deposits an asset into a Morpho Vault and receives shares of the vault as confirmation of their investment. The vaults themselves are tokenized products utilizing Ethereum's 

 standard, designed to represent tokenized vaults for yield-bearing assets. Each vault may be owned by a 

 (DAO), an individual DeFi expert or some algorithm maintained by a DeFi platform. A vault can be owned by only one entity. The owner may specify additional roles/entities for managing the vault. These roles can include one curator, one guardian and multiple allocators.

The curator is a party who sets certain limits, rules and boundaries for the vault, such as specifying asset supply limitations and enabling/disabling specific markets. Curators are instrumental in maintaining appropriate risk levels for their vaults. Assets that lenders lock in a vault are supplied to the protocol's underlying markets, based on curators' whitelists. There can only be one curator for each vault.

The role of guardian is a key vault position. A guardian protects the integrity and security of the vault. Guardians can revoke any action by the vault owner (or other entities) if they consider it to be against the interests of vault lenders. Each vault can only have one guardian, typically a DAO consisting of vault depositors.

Allocators are protocol actors whose job is to rebalance the liquidity utilized by Morpho Vaults to optimize interest rates and accessible liquidity. An allocator’s job is to rebalance and optimize the total liquidity, either manually or using bots, to best meet the needs of Morpho borrowers.

Morpho Vaults' operations aren't regulated by the protocol's governance mechanism. Each vault owner is responsible for their vault's governance model. Specific roles, such as the curator and the guardian, are designed to help in establishing transparent and secure governance procedures for a vault.

What Is the Morpho Crypto Token (MORPHO)?

The platform's native cryptocurrency, MORPHO, is envisioned as a 

. Holders of MORPHO have the right to participate in decision-making on the platform's future direction, general rules, deployment of smart contracts and allocation of funds from the treasury. Although Morpho promotes lending and borrowing markets that operate with minimal interference from the protocol's governance community, there are some general guidelines and rules through which the community needs to establish certain standards, minimum requirements or whitelists. MORPHO token holders are instrumental in this process.

The original MORHPO token was launched on Ethereum in June 2022 with a supply cap of 1 billion. However, there were limitations to the original token contract that negatively affected its functionality. Specifically, the token wasn't designed to facilitate efficient on-chain voting. As a result of these limitations, the project decided to relaunch the token, now on an upgraded contract. The new reincarnation of MORPHO will offer better functional capabilities, including more efficient on-chain governance processes. 

As of the time of writing on Nov 17, 2024, the project team has yet to deploy the new token. The new MORPHO will also be a supply-capped crypto, with a maximum and total supply of 1 billion. The token's supply distribution shares are shown in the chart below.

 token before its market launch. Bybit Pre-Market Trading is an over-the-counter (OTC) trading platform that provides access to promising new cryptocurrencies before their listings on the Spot market. The key advantage of the platform is the ability to access cryptocurrencies at desirable rates before the broader crypto market affects their prices.

Bybit's carefully designed curation process ensures that only crypto assets with solid potential and fundamentals are whitelisted for Pre-Market Trading. This saves you the time required to investigate each cryptocurrency, and reduces the risk of investing in scam projects. Naturally, you’re also encouraged to 

 on crypto assets you might consider purchasing through Bybit Pre-Market Trading.

Morpho represents a unique and potentially highly effective approach to DeFi lending and borrowing. The platform's facilitation of isolated and highly customizable lending markets gives DeFi users unmatched freedom in terms of choice and variety. In addition, users who prefer the stability of curated and well-defined risk profiles can take advantage of Morpho Vaults for more predictable yields. The use of the overall underlying protocol liquidity along with entities such as allocators makes Morpho Vaults particularly effective at optimizing lending and borrowing costs.

While custom lending markets launched via the protocol are now Morpho's key focus, the legacy Morpho Optimizers also continue to offer value. P2P matching of lenders and borrowers as an add-on to the standard pool-based mechanism is a functionality many DeFi users will find helpful. Morpho Optimizers can offer lenders and borrowers active on Aave and Compound an alternative and highly effective way of conducting their operations.

With this arsenal of innovative and unique products, the Morpho protocol is quickly shaping up as a leading platform in the lending niche of the DeFi industry.

Advanced

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Morpho (MORPHO): Leading Efficient, Permissionless Crypto Lending

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Investing

Staking

Like the idea of passive income? Read on as we compare yield farming vs. staking so you understand which is strategy is best for you.

As major cryptocurrencies have flirted with all-time highs this year, investors have looked toward passive income strategies as opposed to active trading. Sone example of such strategies include debating between the merits of yield farming vs. staking. Spurred in part by low interest rates in other markets, and in reaction to the risks of active trading, yield farming and staking are becoming more popular as ways to reward investors when they HODL their favorite tokens and coins.

Not satisfied with just storing their digital assets and hoping that the value will appreciate, investors have found ways to put their crypto to work. Of all the various ways of earning passive income on your crypto assets, yield farming and staking are taking center stage. Between the two strategies, which one will work best for you?

In this article, we’ll look at yield farming vs. staking in order to better understand how they work, their associated risks and benefits, and which strategy could better fit your goals.

 is a method of generating cryptocurrency from your crypto holdings. It has drawn analogies to farming because it’s an innovative way to “grow your own cryptocurrency.” The process involves lending crypto assets for interest to 

 platforms, who lock them up in a liquidity pool, essentially a smart contract for holding funds.

The funds locked in the liquidity pool provide liquidity to a DeFi protocol, where they’re used to facilitate trading, lending and borrowing. By providing liquidity, the platform earns fees that are paid out to investors according to their share of the liquidity pool. Yield farming is also known as liquidity mining.

Liquidity pools are essential for AMMs, or automated market makers. 

 offer permissionless and automated trading using liquidity pools instead of a traditional system of sellers and buyers. Liquidity provider tokens, or LP tokens, are issued to liquidity providers to track their individual contributions to the liquidity pool. 

For example, if a trader wants to exchange 

 (DAI), they pay a fee. This fee is paid to the liquidity providers in proportion to the amount of liquidity they add to the pool. The more capital provided to the liquidity pool, the higher the rewards.

As a yield farmer, you might lend digital assets such as Dai through a 

, such as Compound (COMP), which then lends coins to borrowers. Interest rates change depending on how high demand is. The interest earned accrues daily, and you get paid in new COMP coins, which can also appreciate in value. Compound (COMP) and Aave (AAVE) are a couple of the most popular DeFi protocols for yield farming which have helped popularize this section of the DeFi market.

Instead of just having your cryptocurrency stored in a wallet, you can effectively earn more crypto by yield farming. Yield farmers can earn from transaction fees, token rewards, interest, and price appreciation. Yield farming is also an inexpensive alternative to mining — since you don’t have to purchase expensive mining equipment or pay for electricity. 

More sophisticated yield farming strategies can be executed using smart contracts, or by depositing a few different tokens onto a crypto platform. A yield farming protocol typically focuses on maximizing returns, while at the same time taking liquidity and security into consideration.

 is the process of supporting a blockchain network and participating in transaction validation by committing your crypto assets to that network. It’s used by blockchain networks which use the 

 (PoS) consensus mechanism. Investors earn interest on their investments while they wait for block rewards to be released.

PoS blockchains are less energy intensive than proof of work (PoW) blockchains, such as Bitcoin, because unlike PoW networks, they don’t require massive computing power to validate new blocks. Instead, nodes — servers that process transactions — on a PoS blockchain are used to validate transactions and act as checkpoints. “Validators” are users on the network who set up nodes, are randomly chosen to sign blocks, and receive rewards for doing so. 

You might not even have to understand the technicalities of setting up a node, because crypto exchanges often allow investors to provide their crypto assets, and then the network handles the node setup and validation process. For instance, brokerages such as Binance, Coinbase and Kraken offer this service. Kraken reported in January that its customers already have more than $1 billion worth of crypto assets staked on the platform.

Since PoS consensus is based on ownership, it requires an initial setup to distribute coins fairly among the validators in order for the protocol to work correctly. This can be done through a trusted source, or via proof of burn. Once the staking has started up, and all nodes are synced with the blockchain, proof of stake becomes secure and fully decentralized.

Staking ensures a blockchain network is secure against attacks. The more stakes that are on a blockchain network, the more decentralized and secure it will be. Since stakers are rewarded for maintaining the integrity of the network, it’s possible for them to earn higher returns than those who invest in other financial markets. However, there are also risks involved in staking, since the stability of networks may fluctuate over time.

, which is an umbrella term for financial applications using blockchain networks to obviate the use of intermediaries in transactions.

For example, if you take out a bank loan now, the bank acts as an intermediary by issuing a loan. DeFi aims to remove the need to rely on such an intermediary through the use of smart contracts, which are essentially computer code that executes based on predetermined conditions. The overall goal is to reduce costs and transaction fees associated with financial products like lending, borrowing and saving. 

When it comes to staking, there are a few extra measures investors should take into account, as they’re engaging in DeFi. These include:

DeFi platforms are often more secure than traditional finance applications because they’re decentralized — and therefore less susceptible to security breaches. You can stake tokens with a variety of already established projects, such as 

. Ethereum is also transitioning from PoW to PoS validation, which means network transactions will be entirely confirmed by staking.

Yield Farming vs. Staking: What’s the Difference?

Curious about which is better suited for the average investor when deciding between yield farming vs. staking? Yield farming is very similar to staking because both require holding some amount of crypto assets to generate profits. 

Some investors consider staking to be a part of yield farming. While the terms “yield farming” and “staking” are sometimes used interchangeably, there are distinct ways in which they differ. Here are the key differences.

When looking at yield farming vs. staking, staking is often the simpler strategy for earning passive income, because investors simply decide on the staking pool and then lock in their crypto. Yield farming, on the other hand, can require a bit of work — as investors choose which tokens to lend and on which platform, with the possibility of continuously switching platforms or tokens.

Providing liquidity as a yield farmer on a 

) may require depositing a pair of coins in sufficient quantities. These can range from niche altcoins to high volume stablecoins. Rewards are then paid based on the amount of liquidity deposited. It often pays well to switch between yield farming pools constantly, though this also requires paying additional gas fees. As a result, yield farming can benefit more than staking from active management. This is how the top yield farmers go about achieving the highest possible returns. 

Ultimately, yield farming is more complex than staking — but it may also yield higher returns if you have the time, wherewithal and know-how to manage it.

Yield farming is often practiced on newly created DeFi projects, which can be highly risky if “rug pulls” occur. This term refers to shady developers intentionally draining assets from liquidity pools.

Even smart contracts built by high-quality developers can have weaknesses or bugs, which is always a risk. According to a survey, 

 don’t know how to read smart contracts — and don’t understand the associated risks.

Staking can be done with minimal initial investment, which can make staking an attractive option for users who are new to DeFi. Rug pulls are also less likely on an established PoS network.

Volatility risk is common to both yield farming and staking. Yield farmers and stakers alike can lose money when tokens suddenly drop in value. Liquidation risk also occurs when your collateral is no longer enough to cover your investment.

While yield farming offers a better yield than staking, risk-averse investors might be more inclined to consider staking when weighing yield farming vs. staking strategies. The risks can be higher since transaction fees can add up and detract from returns. The risk of asset depreciation applies to both strategies: you can lose your money if the market turns unexpectedly bearish. 

 due to fluctuations in prices from when the crypto was initially deposited. For example, if you deposit funds into a liquidity pool and then that crypto spikes in value, you would have been better off holding those tokens — rather than depositing them into the pool. You can also experience this loss if the crypto that you’re holding drops in value. Conversely, impermanent loss does not apply to staking.

Wherever there’s a risk, there can also be a reward. Just as jumping off the Eiffel Tower for that adrenaline rush might not be a good trade-off — at least, not without a parachute and a good lawyer — weighing risk and reward in financial investments is critical.

The main comparison for yield farming vs. staking is the passive income investors can gain from staying invested. The more returns received, the more that can be reinvested and grown. Albert Einstein once called compound interest the “eighth wonder of the world” because of the potential for outsized gains from this phenomenon. 

, or APY. Traditional staking on exchanges tends to have steadier APY returns when compared to yield farming. Typically, staking rewards are in the range of 5%–14%.

For example, yield farmers who get involved early with a new project or strategy can reap sizable profits. Returns can range from 1% to 1,000% APY, according to 

. However, these strategies bear higher risk. 

For investors seeking liquidity when comparing yield farming vs. staking, the winning strategy is clear. Staking offers increased returns (or APY) when investors choose to lock in their funds for prolonged periods. Yield farming, however, doesn’t require investors to lock in their funds.

PoS tokens are inflationary assets, and any yield paid to stakers is made up of new token supply. By staking your tokens, you can at least receive rewards in line with inflation, proportional to the amount staked. If you miss out on staking, the value of your existing holdings decreases — from inflation. 

For the unaware comparing yield farming vs. staking, gas fees can certainly be a significant concern for yield farmers who are free to switch between liquidity pools, but have to pay transaction fees in the process. Yield farmers need to factor in any switching costs, even if they spot a higher return on another platform.

Stakers on a network don’t have to solve computationally difficult math problems to mine rewards, as they would in a PoW blockchain network. Hence, the costs of staking upfront and maintenance are also lower.

Yield farming based on newer DeFi protocols may be more vulnerable to hackers, especially if there are glitches in a smart contract’s programming. Staking is generally more secure because stakers are participating in the underlying blockchain’s strict consensus method. Any attempt to trick the system may actually result in the perpetrators losing their staked funds.

Yield Farming vs. Staking: Which Is the Better Short-Term Investment?

For investors with a shorter time horizon and are stuck in deciding between yield farming vs. staking, both strategies have their own unique benefits.

Staking allows investors to generate rewards immediately during transaction validation. As a result, it can be a good short-term investment which reaps steady profits. For example, a staking strategy can be used for mining a PoS coin like Cardano ADA. Staking ADA offers no additional risk beyond owning Cardano.

However, the expected return and risk may be lower than with an active yield farming strategy.

On the other hand, if you need liquidity for a short-term strategy, yield farming doesn’t require a lockup of funds. You can try to generate high returns on platforms offering a high APY. As with any investment strategy, execution matters — and a bit of luck helps, too.

Yield Farming vs. Staking: Which Is the Better Long-Term Investment?

You can also use yield farming and staking as longer-term strategies to earn more income from crypto.

Yield Farming vs. Staking: Which Passive Income Strategy Is Better?

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