Coin Market

DeFi’s yield model is broken — Here’s how we fix it

Published

6 days ago

March 27, 2025

Opinion by: Marc Boiron, chief executive officer of Polygon Labs

Decentralized finance (DeFi) needs a reality check. Protocols have chased growth through token emissions that promise eye-popping annual percentage yields (APYs) for years, only to watch liquidity evaporate when incentives dry up. The current state of DeFi is too driven by mercenary capital, which is creating artificial ecosystems doomed to collapse.

The industry has been caught in a destructive cycle: Launch a governance token, distribute it generously to liquidity providers to boost total value locked (TVL), celebrate growth metrics, and watch helplessly as yield farmers withdraw their capital and move to the next hot protocol. This model doesn’t build lasting value — it creates temporary illusions of success.

DeFi deserves a better approach to value creation and capital efficiency. The current emission-driven yield model has three fatal flaws that continue to undermine the industry’s potential.

Inflationary emissions

Most yield in DeFi comes from inflationary token emissions rather than sustainable revenue. When protocols distribute native tokens as rewards, they dilute their token value to subsidize short-term growth. This creates an unsustainable dynamic where early participants extract value while later users are stuck holding devalued assets.

Capital flight

Mercenary capital dominates DeFi liquidity. Without structural incentives for long-term commitment, capital moves freely to whatever protocol offers the highest temporary yield. This liquidity isn’t loyal — it follows opportunistic paths rather than fundamental value, leaving protocols vulnerable to sudden capital flight.

Misaligned incentives

Misaligned incentives prevent protocols from building sustainable treasuries. When governance tokens are primarily used to attract liquidity through emissions, protocols fail to capture value for themselves, making investing in long-term development and security impossible.

Recent: SEC plans 4 more crypto roundtables on trading, custody, tokenization, DeFi

These problems have played out repeatedly across multiple DeFi cycles. The “DeFi summer” of 2020, the yield farming boom of 2021 and subsequent crashes all show the same pattern: unsustainable growth followed by devastating contractions.

Protocol-owned liquidity

How can this be fixed? The solution requires shifting from extractive to regenerative economic models, and protocol-owned liquidity represents one of the most promising approaches to solving this problem. Rather than renting liquidity through emissions, protocols can build permanent capital bases that generate sustainable returns.

When protocols own their liquidity, they gain multiple advantages. They become resistant to capital flight during market downturns. They can generate consistent fee revenue that flows back to the protocol rather than temporary liquidity providers. Most importantly, they can create sustainable yield derived from actual economic activity rather than token inflation.

Use bridged assets to generate yield

Staking bridged assets offers another path toward sustainability. Usually, bridged assets just sit there and don’t contribute much toward the liquidity potential of connected blockchains. Through staking the bridge, assets in the bridge are redeployed into low-risk, yield-bearing strategies on Ethereum, which are used to bankroll boosted yields. This allows protocols to align participant incentives with long-term health, and it’s a boost to capital efficiency.

For DeFi to mature, protocols must prioritize real yield — returns generated from actual revenue rather than token emissions. This means developing products and services that create genuine user value and capture a portion of that value for the protocol and its long-term stakeholders.

While sustainable yield models typically produce lower initial returns than emissions-based approaches, these returns are sustainable. Protocols embracing this shift will build resilient foundations rather than chasing vanity metrics.

The alternative is continuing a cycle of boom-and-bust that undermines credibility and prevents mainstream adoption. DeFi cannot fulfill its promise of revolutionizing finance while relying on unsustainable economic models.

The protocols that do this will amass treasuries designed to weather market cycles rather than deplete during downturns. They’ll generate a yield from providing real utility rather than printing tokens.

This evolution requires a collective mindset shift from DeFi participants. Investors need to recognize the difference between sustainable and unsustainable yield. Builders need to design tokenomics that reward long-term alignment rather than short-term speculation. Users need to understand the true source of their returns.

The future of DeFi depends on getting these fundamentals right. It’s time to fix our broken yield model before we repeat the mistakes of the past.

Opinion by: Marc Boiron, chief executive officer of Polygon Labs.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Coin Market

Nakamoto coefficient explained: Measuring decentralization in blockchain networks

Published

23 minutes ago

April 2, 2025

Measuring decentralization in blockchain

Decentralization involves spreading control and decision-making across a network instead of a single authority.

Unlike centralized systems, where one entity controls everything, decentralized blockchains distribute data among participants (nodes). Each node holds a copy of the ledger, ensuring transparency and reducing the risk of manipulation or system failure.

In blockchain, a decentralized network provides significant advantages:

Security: Decentralization reduces vulnerabilities associated with central points of attack. Without a single controlling entity, malicious actors find it more challenging to compromise the network. Transparency: All transactions are recorded on a public ledger accessible to all participants, fostering trust through transparency. This openness ensures that no single entity can manipulate data without consensus. Fault tolerance: Decentralized networks are more resilient to failures. Data distribution across multiple nodes ensures that the system remains operational even if some nodes fail.

So, decentralization is good, but it’s not a fixed state. It’s more of a spectrum, constantly shifting as network participation, governance structures and consensus mechanisms evolve.

And yes, there’s a ruler for that. It’s called the Nakamoto coefficient.

What is the Nakamoto coefficient?

The Nakamoto coefficient is a metric used to quantify the decentralization of a blockchain network. It represents the minimum number of independent entities — such as validators, miners or node operators — that would need to collude to disrupt or compromise the network’s normal operation.

This concept was introduced in 2017 by former Coinbase chief technology officer Balaji Srinivasan and was named after Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.

A higher Nakamoto coefficient indicates greater decentralization and security within the blockchain network. In such networks, control is more widely distributed among participants, making it more challenging for any small group to manipulate or attack the system. Conversely, a lower Nakamoto coefficient suggests fewer entities hold significant control, increasing the risk of centralization and potential vulnerabilities.

For example, a blockchain with a Nakamoto coefficient of 1 would be highly centralized, as a single entity could control the network. In contrast, a network with a coefficient of 10 would require at least 10 independent entities to collude to exert control, reflecting a more decentralized and secure structure.

Did you know? Polkadot‘s high score on the Nakamoto coefficient is largely due to Polkadot’s nominated proof-of-stake (NPoS) consensus mechanism, which promotes an even distribution of stakes among a large number of validators.

Calculating the Nakamoto coefficient

Calculating this coefficient involves several key steps:

Identification of key entities: First, determine the primary actors within the network, such as mining pools, validators, node operators or stakeholders. These entities play significant roles in maintaining the network’s operations and security.Assessment of each entity’s control: Next, evaluate the extent of control each identified entity has over the network’s resources. For instance, in proof-of-work (PoW) blockchains like Bitcoin, this involves analyzing the hashrate distribution among mining pools. In proof-of-stake (PoS) systems it requires examining the stake distribution among validators.Summation to determine the 51% threshold: After assessing individual controls, rank the entities from highest to lowest based on their influence. Then, cumulatively add their control percentages until the combined total exceeds 51%. The number of entities required to reach this threshold represents the Nakamoto coefficient.

Consider a PoW blockchain with the following mining pool distribution:

Mining pool A: 25% (of the total hashrate)Mining pool B: 20%Mining pool C: 15%Mining pool D: 10%Others: 30%

To determine the Nakamoto coefficient:

Start with mining pool A (25%).Add mining pool B (25% 20% = 45%).Add mining pool C (45% 15% = 60%).

In this scenario, the combined hashrate of mining pools A, B and C reaches 60%, surpassing the 51% threshold. Therefore, the Nakamoto coefficient is 3, indicating that collusion among these three entities could compromise the network’s integrity.

Did you know? Despite Bitcoin’s reputation for decentralization, its mining subsystem is notably centralized. The Nakamoto coefficient is currently 2 for Bitcoin. This means that just two mining pools control most of Bitcoin’s mining power.

Limitations of the Nakamoto coefficient

While the Nakamoto coefficient serves as a valuable metric for assessing blockchain decentralization, it possesses certain limitations that warrant careful consideration.

For example:

Static snapshot

The Nakamoto coefficient provides a static snapshot of decentralization, reflecting the minimum number of entities required to compromise a network at a specific point in time.

However, blockchain networks are dynamic, with participant roles and influence evolving due to factors like staking, mining power shifts or node participation changes. Consequently, the coefficient may not accurately capture these temporal fluctuations, potentially leading to outdated or misleading assessments.

Subsystem focus

This metric typically focuses on specific subsystems, such as validators or mining pools, potentially overlooking other critical aspects of decentralization. Factors like client software diversity, geographical distribution of nodes and token ownership concentration also significantly impact a network’s decentralization and security.

Relying solely on the Nakamoto coefficient might result in an incomplete evaluation.

Consensus mechanism variations

Different blockchain networks employ various consensus mechanisms, each influencing decentralization differently. The Nakamoto coefficient may not uniformly apply across these diverse systems, necessitating tailored approaches for accurate measurement.

External Influences

External factors, including regulatory actions, technological advancements or market dynamics, can influence decentralization over time. For example, regulatory policies in specific regions might affect the operation of nodes or mining facilities, thereby altering the network’s decentralization landscape.

The Nakamoto coefficient may not account for such externalities, limiting its comprehensiveness.

To sum up, the Nakamoto coefficient is useful for assessing certain aspects of blockchain decentralization. It should be used alongside other metrics and qualitative assessments to gain a comprehensive understanding of a network’s decentralization and security.

Coin Market

7-Eleven South Korea to accept CBDC payments in national pilot program

Published

23 minutes ago

April 2, 2025

South Korea’s 7-Eleven stores will accept payments in the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) until June, as the retailer participates in the test phase of its CBDC project.

The convenience store chain will reportedly provide a 10% discount on all products paid for with CBDC during the test period. According to Moon Dae-woo, head of 7-Eleven’s digital innovation division, the company is making an effort to incorporate digital technology advancements in its operations.

The executive added that the company’s participation in the CBDC test will help accelerate the firm’s digital transformation.

Many stores will participate in South Korea’s CBDC testing phase, which runs from April 1 to June 30. The project also involves 100,000 participants who will be allowed to test payments using CBDC issued by the central bank.

Central bank digital currencies are digital assets issued by government agencies. Like other digital assets, CBDCs offer faster and more modernized payment features. However, unlike Bitcoin and other privacy-focused tokens that offer certain levels of anonymity, CBDCs are controlled and monitored by governments.

South Korea tests CBDC from April to June

On March 24, government agencies including the Bank of Korea, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) announced the CBDC test.

Participants can convert their bank deposits into tokens stored in a distributed ledger during the test period. The tokens hold the same value as the Korean won.

The government agencies said citizens aged 19 or older with a deposit account in a participating bank could apply to take part. Registrations were limited to 100,000 participants. KB, Koomin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, NongHyup, IBK and Busan are among the banks participating in the CBDC tests.

Apart from 7-Eleven, participants can use their CBDCs in coffee shops, supermarkets, K-Pop merchandise stores and delivery platforms. However, users will be limited to a total conversion limit of 5 million won ($3,416) during testing.

The Bank of Korea first announced the retail CBDC testing for 100,000 users in November 2023 and was originally scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2024. The FSS said the country’s CBDC test represents a step toward creating a prototype for a “future monetary system.”

Magazine: Ridiculous ‘Chinese Mint’ crypto scam, Japan dives into stablecoins: Asia Express

Coin Market

Sony Electronics Singapore accepts USDC payments through Crypto.com

Published

1 hour ago

April 2, 2025

The online store of a Singapore-based subsidiary of Japanese tech behemoth Sony is now accepting USDC payments through Crypto.com.

According to an April 2 announcement, Sony Electronics Singapore now accepts USDC (USDC) stablecoin payments through an integration with the Crypto.com exchange. Crypto.com Singapore general manager Chin Tah Ang said:

“We’re pushing to make paying in crypto more mainstream and partnering with a well-established and forward-thinking brand like Sony Electronics Singapore further raises awareness of how simple it can be to pay for everyday goods and services using crypto.”

This is far from the only high-profile partnership that Crypto.com has been recently able to score. At the end of 2024, the mobile-first crypto exchange partnered with Deutsche Bank to provide corporate banking services across Asian-Pacific markets, covering regions such as Singapore, Australia, and Hong Kong.

Singapore bets on stablecoins

The Singaporean Sony subsidiary allowing stablecoin payments may be the start of a new trend in the region. Late February reports indicate that Metro, a publicly listed department store chain in Singapore, has enabled its customers to pay for products using stablecoins like Tether’s USDt.

The initiatives also follow January reports that Singapore is becoming a key destination for Web3 companies after it issued twice as many crypto licenses in 2024 as in the previous year. William Croisettier, chief growth officer of ZKcandy, told Cointelegraph at the time:

“The country adopts a risk-adjusted approach to crypto regulation, focusing on the biggest digital currencies to protect investors. Singapore also makes it easy for new crypto firms to interact with local banking partners, a provision considered a luxury in other parts of the world.”

An emerging crypto hub

In late November, the crypto-friendly digital bank Singapore Gulf Bank reportedly sought a fund injection of at least $50 million as it plans to acquire a stablecoin payments company in 2025. The firm was motivated to pursue the effort, with alleged plans to sell up to 10% of its equity to fund it.

A study published at the end of 2024 revealed that its approach to regulation made Singapore a global champion of blockchain technology. The country scored the highest among all considered jurisdictions based on multiple factors.

The top blockchain jurisdictions ranked based on patents, jobs, and exchanges. Source: ApeX Protocol

Magazine: Singapore ‘not ready’ for Bitcoin ETFs, sneaky crypto mining rig importer: Asia Express