Yearn Finance
Last changed 2026-10-27 · Score recalculated — Rescored under Scoring v2, the published formula (avoid.net/scoring): 58 → 66. Problems weighed by who is responsible: concerns that are not fraud −16, incidents the subject suffered −6.4, problems around the subject, caused by others −1.6; legitimacy credit well known and widely used +15, long-running +10; fact-check adjustments (+26) now shown as page reliability, not in the score. Version history →
Why this score
| Every page starts at | 65 |
| Concerns that are not fraud | -16 |
| Incidents it suffered (e.g. hacks) | -6.4 |
| Problems around it, caused by others | -1.6 |
| Well known and widely used | +15 |
| Long-running | +10 |
| Sum | 66 |
Score: 66/100 (kept between 0 and 100)
How scoring works →Summary
Yearn Finance is a decentralized yield aggregator on Ethereum that routes user deposits into lending protocols to maximize returns. Founded by Andre Cronje in 2020, the protocol has suffered at least four documented security exploits between 2021 and 2025, with aggregate losses exceeding $20 million, and its founder departed in 2022 citing sustained pressure from an SEC investigation. Governance concerns, an interconnected web of affiliated DeFi protocols implicated in their own major hacks, and repeated failures to deprecate vulnerable legacy code compound the protocol's risk profile.
Connected Entities
5 entities · 60 linked investigations- Cream Finance→mentioned with→Ethereum(70%)
- Yearn Finance→mentioned with→Ethereum(70%)
- Curve Finance→mentioned with→Ethereum(80%)
- Cream Finance→mentioned with→Yearn Finance(80%)
- Keep3r Network→mentioned with→Yearn Finance(80%)
- Yearn Finance→mentioned with→Cream Finance(80%)
- Yearn Finance→mentioned with→Curve Finance(80%)
- Yearn Finance→mentioned with→Keep3r Network(80%)
- Keep3r Network→mentioned with→Ethereum(70%)
Timeline(13 events)
17 July 2020
Andre Cronje launches Yearn Finance and distributes the YFI governance token via a fair launch with no pre-mine or founder allocation.
November 2020
Yearn enters strategic partnership with Cream Finance, forming broad DeFi ecosystem alliances; Iron Bank uncollateralized lending to whitelisted protocols introduced.
2 February 2021
Governance vote passes to mint 6,666 additional YFI tokens (approximately 20% supply inflation), sparking community debate about token dilution.
4 February 2021
Yearn v1 yDAI vault exploited via flash-loan-based Curve 3pool price manipulation; approximately $11 million in losses, with $2.8 million extracted by the attacker. Yearn responds within 11 minutes.
13 February 2021
A second exploit targets the legacy Yearn iearn vault within the same month, compounding concerns over undecommissioned legacy contracts.
27 February 2021
Alpha Homora exploited via Iron Bank; over $37 million drained; Alpha Homora agrees to repay Iron Bank via fee-sharing and ALPHA token collateral.
March 2021
Yearn uses YFI from treasury to open a MakerDAO vault and mint 9.7 million DAI, making yDAI vault depositors whole following the February exploit.
27 October 2021
Cream Finance suffers its third hack of the year; approximately $130 million stolen via flash loan exploit that technically involved Yearn's yUSD oracle, prompting a public dispute between Yearn, Cream, and Aave communities.
6 March 2022
Andre Cronje and Anton Nell announce their departure from DeFi and Yearn Finance; YFI falls approximately 13-14%. Cronje later attributes the decision to an SEC investigation begun in 2021.
March 2023
Iron Bank unilaterally modifies smart contracts to freeze Alpha Homora's lending accounts over approximately $32 million in unresolved bad debt, citing protection of depositors including Yearn Finance.
11 December 2023
A faulty multisig script causes Yearn's treasury to swap its entire lp-yCRVv2 balance rather than only earned fees, incurring a 63% slippage loss worth approximately $1.4 million.
30 November 2025
Yearn Finance yETH weighted stableswap pool exploited; attacker mints 235 septillion yETH tokens by depositing 16 wei, draining approximately $9 million. Stolen funds laundered through Tornado Cash within hours.
17 December 2025
Fourth exploit in weeks: Yearn v1 legacy TUSD vault drained via donation attack against a misconfigured Fulcrum sUSD strategy; approximately $300,000 lost.
Decision Log
- slot 461962973 · hash 6hmZkGotrRh83FJe382tTRjbrAZqFxBt85v4ZRfjjqmy
- slot 457826892 · hash BXyrCT4eL7mrM1rPfWjPwRP7VJEDpXViFnuyjHdq22Cg
- slot 457823801 · hash 86Jm3jrsA5nRNE4HtzpojvSG1ntReYfyh4gTTh7GfPM6
- slot 426514227 · hash tooKNPGcAVwLEBmf7xnimHBNGiP9dfhbfXiEL3zyMsz
- slot 426514224 · hash 8w3U1LLh7wsPpVWPuL1Syn6kyjrzAh3DnCjE5LFvvFPJ
- slot 426278692 · hash GyVEEYp58VGrnLCCJSukUfheTYQ4dGCEAQrFUcVzejTr
- slot 426278688 · hash DKGkbx7j4HR7gWdwrjQyCUdcRBYpRDnK3B1YA6Tk3etE
- slot 422113848 · hash 59ENnPHEHgyv5JkjmDSNdoXi3cNRmUsWnde8UsV4MLdc
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (8 decisions). 24 of 28 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.
model: claude-sonnet-4-6
generated: 5/4/2026, 2:54:59 AM
last updated: 10/27/2026, 6:03:27 AM
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