Yearn has done the hard, messy work of growing up. It has cut costs, re-grown TVL, and proven it can govern itself through a long bear. Over these last years, contributors have shown fiscal discipline and deep resilience. We have come out stronger, more focused, cohesive, and ready to build with momentum.

As Yearn steps into operating adulthood, three new threads weave into one coherent system:

• A simplified token model (stYFI) that routes protocol revenue to aligned YFI stakers and secures governance without four-year locks.

• An operating model centered on autonomous, revenue-focused teams with on-chain P&L.

• A modern incentive system that aligns contributors and ecosystem actors, and sets the stage for continued growth.

• Simplicity first; security always. Minimal contract surface; modular upgrades.

• On-chain by default. Revenue, budgets, and distributions settle transparently on-chain.

• Autonomy with accountability. Teams own strategy, execution, and P&L.

• Adaptability. Governance sets dials; the system adapts.

stYFI makes governance simpler: stake YFI once to earn a share of forward protocol revenue and voting power with no more four‑year locks.

For participants, the experience is one clear loop: stake → vote → earn → exit.

• Stake: Stake YFI to mint stYFI 1:1. From that moment, your governance weight ramps from 0 → 100% over a security window of ω_weight weeks..

• Vote: stYFI is Yearn’s governance token. Voting runs in epochs at least as long as the unstake cooldown (≥ τ_cooldown), so only those staked across a decision window can decide.

• Earn: A ρ_stakers% share of forward protocol revenue flows to stakers. All incoming revenues are permissionlessly converted into A_reward tokens using existing auction mechanics.

• Exit: When you unstake, you enter a τ_cooldown period. During the cooldown you can’t vote or earn, and your YFI becomes linearly claimable until the window ends and the entire position can be claimed.

The rest of the system is similarly streamlined:

• dYFI gauges are shut down. Rewards have ended, but dYFI can still be claimed. Liquidity may thin, but the redemption contract remains open (using ETH to claim).

• Liquid lockers stop accepting deposits. Locks begin to decay. A redemption facility provides two-way conversions between YFI and locker YFI, with a decaying fee (Λ_redemption) over four years. Unused capacity and fees return to the treasury at program end.

The goal of these changes is to radically simplify how YFI is used in governance and to provide real value to governance participants.

Yearn’s product teams are evolving to be autonomous, outcome-focused, and measurable on-chain. You’ll be able to query a team’s P&L like you query a vault’s balance.

Work is organized around these autonomous, revenue-driven teams. Each owns product, contracts, risk, and go-to-market. They will form from today’s contributors, around existing product lines. A minimal DAO-ops team will handle shared rails only — governance, treasury mechanics, budget plumbing, and on-chain reporting.

Funds flow visibly and verifiably. Every team routes income to mainnet revenue splitter contracts that send ρ_stakers% of revenue to stYFI, with the remainder to the treasury.

Incentives align contributor ownership and execution. Key contributors receive vested YFI retention packages. Revenue-focused teams earn YFI based on profit and growth. A contributor collective permanently stakes and votes.

Treasury YFI (T_total) is allocated across three buckets:

• V_core — key contributor vests.

• R_ll — capacity for the liquid-locker redemption facility (linked to Λ_redemption).

• P_perf — performance bonus reserve (plus leftover R_ll fees and unclaimed amounts).

Key Contributor vesting packages are distributed to contributors who have shown long term commitment to Yearn and whose work on the DAO is instrumental to its continued success. Vesting packages are linear and long‑dated with a short cliff. Unvested amounts can be clawed back by yChad if a contributor leaves before completion.

Teams earn quarterly YFI bonuses based on net profit — revenue generated minus budget used. Rewards scale dynamically with protocol growth:

total_profit = revenue - treasury_cost
bonus_yfi_price = TWAP_YFI(Ξ_oracle) × (1 − clamp(revenue_growth, −γ_growth_cap, +γ_growth_cap))
bonus_yfi = total_profit / bonus_yfi_price

When aggregate revenue growth slows, YFI is “expensive,” so bonuses shrink. When growth accelerates, YFI is “cheap”, amplifying rewards for profitable teams.

This keeps the focus on durable, compounding revenue while syncing incentives to protocol health.

Each team’s YFI bonus splits two ways: a team share and a retention share that seeds the Yearn Builder’s Collective. The ratio is set by θ_bonus_split.

The YBC is a pool of permanently staked stYFI whose yield goes to whitelisted contributors, proportional to their public stYFI positions. This is real skin in the game. The whitelist begins with current contributors and yChad signers, bootstrapped with initial YFI deposits.

The pool’s voting power mirrors those weights. Members govern the whitelist, and can expel bad-faith actors by qualified super-majority.

Together, the result of these changes is a new Yearn that embraces a flywheel of revenue and growth, welcomes more participation without losing its edge, and rewards those who are most committed to it.

Same DNA, but with a sharper design; Disciplined, transparent, ready to grow. We’ve proven we can survive. Now it’s time to auto-compound.

Read the full specification: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

• ρ_stakers — share of forward protocol revenue routed to stYFI stakers (remainder to treasury).

• A_reward — the single reward asset/vault used to pay stYFI (e.g., yvUSDC).

• τ_cooldown — unstake cooldown duration for stYFI.

• ω_weight — time to full governance weight after staking.

• β = {tiers, multipliers} — optional participation/“voter APR” boost schedule and thresholds.

• κ_budget_epoch — maximum duration for team budget approvals/streams.

• σ_split_tokens — allow-list of revenue tokens accepted by splitters.

• Φ_fasttrack — size/governance of the discretionary/fast-track fund and refill rules.

• γ_growth_cap — bound on revenue growth used in the team-bonus pricing formula.

• θ_bonus_split — default split of any team bonus between the team and the contributor pool.

• Λ_redemption — parameters for the liquid-locker redemption facility (cap, fee start/end, decay period).

• Ξ_oracle — oracle/TWAP window for pricing YFI in formulas.

• E_transition — end of the current epoch when the new structure becomes the funding gate.