Glossary OS

Plain meaning

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The profit earned from participating in DeFi activities such as providing liquidity, lending tokens, staking, or farming rewards. Yield is typically expressed as an annualized percentage (APY or APR) and can come from multiple sources: trading fees shared with liquidity providers, token emissions from protocols, interest paid by borrowers, or staking rewards from validators. Returns vary widely by risk level and market conditions.

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Technical context

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Wallets, signing flows, dApps, and key management concepts.

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Yield / Return (yield-return)
Category: Web3
Definition: The profit earned from participating in DeFi activities such as providing liquidity, lending tokens, staking, or farming rewards. Yield is typically expressed as an annualized percentage (APY or APR) and can come from multiple sources: trading fees shared with liquidity providers, token emissions from protocols, interest paid by borrowers, or staking rewards from validators. Returns vary widely by risk level and market conditions.
Aliases: Yield, Return
Related: APY (Annual Percentage Yield), APR (Annual Percentage Rate), Yield Farming

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Concept graph

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Branch

APY (Annual Percentage Yield)

The real rate of return earned on a deposit or investment over one year, including the effect of compounding interest. Unlike APR, APY accounts for interest being reinvested and earning additional interest over time. In DeFi, APY figures are often projected from short-term returns and can fluctuate significantly. A 10% APY means a deposit grows by 10% over a year if rates remain constant and rewards are continuously compounded.

DeFi (Decentralized Finance)

Open term

Branch

APR (Annual Percentage Rate)

The simple annual interest rate earned on a deposit or paid on a loan, without accounting for compounding. APR represents the base rate before reinvestment of earnings. In DeFi lending protocols, APR is the straightforward percentage you earn or owe per year. APR is always lower than or equal to APY for the same rate, because APY includes the compounding effect. A 10% APR on 1000 SOL means you earn exactly 100 SOL over a year.

Lending Protocol

Open term

Branch

Yield Farming

The practice of deploying tokens across DeFi protocols to maximize returns through trading fees, lending interest, and token incentive rewards. Farmers often move capital between protocols chasing the highest APY. On Solana, common strategies include LP provision on Orca/Raydium, lending on Kamino/MarginFi, and staking LP tokens in reward farms.

Liquidity Pool Staking

Open term

Next concepts to explore

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Web3

APY (Annual Percentage Yield)

The real rate of return earned on a deposit or investment over one year, including the effect of compounding interest. Unlike APR, APY accounts for interest being reinvested and earning additional interest over time. In DeFi, APY figures are often projected from short-term returns and can fluctuate significantly. A 10% APY means a deposit grows by 10% over a year if rates remain constant and rewards are continuously compounded.

Open term

Web3

APR (Annual Percentage Rate)

The simple annual interest rate earned on a deposit or paid on a loan, without accounting for compounding. APR represents the base rate before reinvestment of earnings. In DeFi lending protocols, APR is the straightforward percentage you earn or owe per year. APR is always lower than or equal to APY for the same rate, because APY includes the compounding effect. A 10% APR on 1000 SOL means you earn exactly 100 SOL over a year.

Open term

DeFi

Yield Farming

The practice of deploying tokens across DeFi protocols to maximize returns through trading fees, lending interest, and token incentive rewards. Farmers often move capital between protocols chasing the highest APY. On Solana, common strategies include LP provision on Orca/Raydium, lending on Kamino/MarginFi, and staking LP tokens in reward farms.

Open term

Web3

Wormhole

The primary cross-chain messaging and bridge protocol for Solana, enabling asset transfers between Solana, Ethereum, and 20+ other chains. Wormhole uses a network of 19 Guardian nodes that observe and attest to cross-chain messages. The protocol was exploited for $320M in Feb 2022 (patched). It supports token transfers, NFT bridging, and arbitrary message passing.

Open term

Related terms

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Web3apy

APY (Annual Percentage Yield)

The real rate of return earned on a deposit or investment over one year, including the effect of compounding interest. Unlike APR, APY accounts for interest being reinvested and earning additional interest over time. In DeFi, APY figures are often projected from short-term returns and can fluctuate significantly. A 10% APY means a deposit grows by 10% over a year if rates remain constant and rewards are continuously compounded.

Open term

Web3apr

APR (Annual Percentage Rate)

The simple annual interest rate earned on a deposit or paid on a loan, without accounting for compounding. APR represents the base rate before reinvestment of earnings. In DeFi lending protocols, APR is the straightforward percentage you earn or owe per year. APR is always lower than or equal to APY for the same rate, because APY includes the compounding effect. A 10% APR on 1000 SOL means you earn exactly 100 SOL over a year.

Open term

DeFiyield-farming

Yield Farming

The practice of deploying tokens across DeFi protocols to maximize returns through trading fees, lending interest, and token incentive rewards. Farmers often move capital between protocols chasing the highest APY. On Solana, common strategies include LP provision on Orca/Raydium, lending on Kamino/MarginFi, and staking LP tokens in reward farms.

Open term

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Web3

The vision of a decentralized internet built on blockchain technology, where users own their data, identity, and digital assets. Web1 was read-only (static pages), Web2 is read-write (platforms like social media), Web3 is read-write-own (permissionless, user-sovereign). Web3 applications use wallets instead of logins and smart contracts instead of centralized servers.

Open term

Web3

dApp (Decentralized Application)

An application with its backend logic running on a blockchain as smart contracts rather than centralized servers. dApps typically have a traditional web frontend that interacts with on-chain programs via RPC. Users authenticate with wallets instead of username/password. Examples: Uniswap (Ethereum DEX), Jupiter (Solana DEX), Magic Eden (NFT marketplace).

Open term

Web3

Wallet

Software or hardware that manages cryptographic keys and enables users to sign transactions, view balances, and interact with dApps. Hot wallets (Phantom, Solflare, Backpack) are internet-connected for convenience. Cold wallets (Ledger, Trezor) store keys offline for security. Wallets don't actually 'hold' tokens—they hold the private keys that control on-chain accounts.

Open term

Web3

Seed Phrase (Mnemonic)

A 12 or 24-word human-readable backup of a wallet's master private key, generated using BIP-39 standard. The seed phrase can deterministically regenerate all derived keypairs (BIP-44 derivation paths). Losing the seed phrase means permanently losing access to all associated accounts. Never share, photograph, or store seed phrases digitally in plain text.

Open term