DeFi feels like both the future of finance and the future of gaming — specifically money gaming. Given the speed at which we launch community-owned protocols, keeping up with the release of new protocols, apps, and farms can be difficult for even the most degen apes among us.
At Zapper, we have the pleasure of being at the intersection of countless new product launches and hence the discovery of new opportunities in DeFi. We find within our own community in Zapper Discord, users are eager to share with one another these new DeFi opportunities, aka alpha leaks.
At Zapper, we focus on the tools to make DeFi easy and accessible for all, but disseminating such information is what drives more economic opportunity in our new and growing community. On that note, we’re excited to launch a new weekly blog series called Zapper Alpha Leaks!
What kind of content can we expect in Zapper Alpha Leaks?
The weekly blog post will serve as a free and easy-to-read update on new and interesting DeFi liquidity mining programs (aka farms). Expect 2–5 mins of reading time, including brief guides and tutorials. Each week’s post will include screenshots, videos, and gifs to follow along if one’s interested to learn more about how to participate using Zapper tools. It will NOT be financial advice and one should continue doing their own independent research.
Where will it be published?
Here on Zapper’s Medium account (so hit the green Follow button!), Zapper’s Twitter account, and in the Zapper Discord #alpha-leaks channel.
Who can write in Zapper Alpha Leaks?
Anyone who joins Zapper Discord! The goal is to spotlight more voices in the community than just those of us who work full time on the core Zapper team. We’d love to to give opportunity for more members of the Zapper community to share new ideas and DeFi educational content.
The one requirement is the Alpha Leak must use one of the following:
- Zapper Pools — Over 1500 shortcuts for adding liquidity to pools and vaults
- Zapper Farms — Over 500 staking contracts for farms and liquidity mining
- Zapper Bridge — A multi-chain on-ramp to migrate funds to Polygon and soon other L2s and sidechains
How can I apply to write in next week’s Zapper Alpha Leaks?
Just propose an idea 1 week in advance in the #alpha-leaks channel and we’ll let you know ASAP if we can host you. We will seek ideas that maximize returns but minimize risk. It’s possible we could have an overwhelming response to this new initiative. If so, we’ll reassess whether to publish more than once per week and whether to host multiple Alpha Leaks per blog post.
What do I get for writing in Zapper Alpha Leaks?
We will distribute a unique POAP badge to all those who write a post published in Zapper Alpha Leaks. It can serve as proof of your contribution and possibly act as a reference when applying to write elsewhere in DeFi.
To offer up some inspiration for future Zapper Alpha Leakers, here’s our very first Alpha Leak I’ve been wanting to share!
What: Be a stETH/ETH LP but automate the compounding returns without paying gas by using Yearn Finance’s ycrvSTETH vault
Why: This yVault allows one to not only maintain about 50% exposure to ETH but also be 50% exposed to staked ETH (stETH), earning about 7.5% APR in Eth2 validator rewards. The yVault automates selling earned CRV and LDO rewards for more ETH + stETH, which compounds your position, growing it at an estimated 28% APR in ETH based on today’s liquidity in the pool and the prices of reward tokens being sold for profits.
Fees: There is a 2% Management Fee annualized and assigned to the Yearn Treasury. It accrues per block, is collected on each harvest and is applied on the total of the funds managed by the Strategy. There is also a 20% Performance Fee applied to any gains one makes, split 50:50 between Yearn Treasury and the Strategist who created the yVault.
Risks: One is exposed to smart contract risk in Yearn, Curve, and Lido code but you can mitigate that risk by buying cover for Yearn from Nexus Mutual or from pay-as-you-go insurance by Armor. There is an inherent risk of slashing being exposed to Lido Eth2 validators powered by the ETH within stETH. A liquidity crisis could result from Curve LP withdrawing a massive amount of liquidity from the Curve stETH/ETH LP or from the Lido staking pool.
How to Get Started:
- Go to Zapper Pool tab at zapper.fi/invest.
- Search “yearn” and it should be near the top ranked by liquidity.
3. Click Invest and specify whether to Zap in with ETH or another token. (Heads up! If you Zap in with ETH you’ll save more gas money vs starting with another token which Zapper will swap out before depositing into the yVault).
That’s it! Once you’re done, you should be able to track the balance of this ycrvSTETH yVault under Current Investments in the Zapper Pool tab, which is also where you can return to to Zap out (withdraw liquidity) from ycrvSTETH vault at a later date.
⚡ Get started on your DeFi journey at Zapper.fi!
For more Zapper Alpha Leaks, follow Zapper on Medium and Zapper on Twitter! Hop into our Zapper Discord #alpha-leaks channel to join the conversation or propose writing a new Alpha Leak.
