TL;DR

• $YO token debut and claim date set
• Goodbye YO Points and hello $YO rewards
• YO powers Moneda’s Smart Earnings Account
• Arbitrum yield sources are here

With the debut of the $YO token and claims date set, January was a pivotal month for YO and marked the beginning of YO’s governance and decentralization journey. Other key highlights from January include the YO Protocol now powering Moneda’s Smart Earnings Account and YO adding Arbitrum yield sources. Read on to learn more about the major developments that took place this month.

Introducing $YO

The long-awaited $YO token was introduced on January 29th, with claims opened on February 5th. $YO is the native governance token that fuels the YO ecosystem. It is designed to empower its community to shape the future of onchain yield generation by enabling its holders to participate in decentralized governance, influence how YO vaults evolve, and guide the protocol toward long-term maturity.

Decentralization has been at the core of YO’s vision since day one. Soon, token holders can help guide the protocol’s future direction. In the initial phase, governance will be guided by the team, with community feedback informing key proposals and priorities. As YO’s decentralization roadmap is executed, control will progressively transition to token holders until governance is fully onchain.

🔗 Read "Introducing $YO: Powering the Yield Engine for Crypto" to learn more.

Farewell YO Points, Hello $YO Rewards

On the same day that YO launched the $YO token, the YO Points program concluded, and YO introduced the $YO Rewards program to accelerate community growth and open the door for broader participation. The rewards program will consist of several campaigns in which you can earn $YO tokens for qualifying activities.

For the first campaign, you will be able to earn $YO rewards for depositing into YO Vaults.

Choose between yoUSD, yoETH, yoEUR, yoBTC, or yoGOLD vaults and start earning base yield plus additional $YO rewards. For the first campaign, which began on January 29th, the reward rate is 14% across all vaults for two weeks.

Moneda Smart Earnings Account, Powered by YO

YO’s yield engine now powers Moneda’s Smart Earnings Account. Through these accounts, you can now access YO-powered yield directly on USD and EUR balances. Your funds remain fully self-custodied, and you can withdraw anytime.

YO Protocol makes it easy for DeFi applications to plug into optimized, risk-aware yield through a single integration. By integrating with YO, teams can focus on their product, brand, and user experience instead of navigating tedious obstacles like sourcing strategies, assessing risk, and evaluating chains and protocols.

Moneda joins the growing list of applications powered by YO’s yield engine, including Tuyo, IDX, and more.

YO Now Supports Arbitrum Yield Sources

The YOverse has always been multichain, and it just got even bigger with the addition of Arbitrum. Starting with yoUSD, YO now supports Arbitrum yield sources. The yoUSD vault currently allocates to Revert Lend USDC.

YOnward and Upward

The introduction of the $YO token is just the beginning, as governance awaits in the future. In the meantime, the YO team will continue to build and bring new features to YO. Stay tuned for what’s to come in February!