[Grant Request] CurveYield - Yield Options and DeFi Integrations for Curve

Grants
1

Hi, I’m James Nexus, and I’m a huge fan of Curve. I deeply appreciate the technologies Curve is bringing to the world, and I want to contribute meaningful value to the Curve ecosystem and community. With that goal in mind, I took the initiative to develop a protocol called CurveYield.

CurveYield deploys and manages DeFi integrations between the Curve ecosystem and other DeFi protocols such as Euler, Morpho, and Peapods.

I had four primary goals in mind when creating CurveYield:

  1. Provide the Curve community with simple and secure yield-bearing opportunities built around Curve ecosystem assets such as crvUSD, CRV, YB, and derivative assets including asCRV, yvyCRV, and yYB, as well as compounding vault tokens composed of high-yield Curve liquidity pools.

  2. Expand the utility of the Curve ecosystem and Curve-based assets through technologies such as lending and borrowing markets that accept Curve ecosystem collateral and utilize crvUSD/scrvUSD as lending assets.

  3. Build and grow a compounding DAO-owned treasury that continually invests into the Curve ecosystem while also providing an additional yield-bearing opportunity for the Curve community.

  4. Incentivize wider adoption of high-yield, sticky Curve liquidity that generates strong fee revenue. These systems are composed of liquid, yield-bearing assets and are optimized for revenue generation without relying on CRV emissions.

So far, I have deployed two product suites through CurveYield.

The first product is a suite of Euler lending and borrowing vaults/markets composed of crvUSD/scrvUSD lending assets and yield-bearing Curve ecosystem collateral such as asCRV, aCRV, yvyCRV, yvyYB, and high-yield Curve StableSwap and CryptoSwap pools wrapped in yield-boosting and compounding vaults. These markets provide Curve users with an avenue to multiply the yield from already high-yield Curve assets while also expanding the utility and yield opportunities available for crvUSD and scrvUSD holders.

The second product is a series of IPOR vaults (one per chain) that accept crvUSD and allocate it into whitelisted incentivized Curve StablePools to generate yield.

The Euler markets/vaults and IPOR vaults can be viewed in the CurveYield dApp.

At this stage, we have not yet finalized the accepted collateral types for the Ethereum Mainnet crvUSD IPOR vault. I would like to gather feedback from the Curve community regarding which collateral types are considered the safest and lowest risk.

The collateral options currently being considered are:

  • USDC

  • USDT

  • frxUSD

  • fxUSD

  • OUSD

  • apyUSD

  • sDOLA

  • msUSD

Once sufficient feedback has been received, the Ethereum Mainnet IPOR vault will be completed shortly afterward.

In the meantime, I have deployed a fully functional vault on Base for testing and inspection purposes. It can be viewed in the dApp linked above.

Looking ahead, I have also developed infrastructure to support a liquid, yield-bearing version of CRV that does not rely on staking CRV into veCRV.

Instead, the system utilizes a two-layer yield structure:

The first layer uses CRV as collateral within a private lending market that is protected against liquidation and secured by the CurveYield treasury. This allows the system to borrow crvUSD, which is then deployed into yield-bearing Curve StableSwap pools to generate yield.

The second layer wraps the yield-bearing CRV lending/borrowing vault token in a wrapper that includes a burn-on-transfer mechanism. This function only executes when the token is traded through a select group of V2 liquidity pools. As these pools are arbitraged and tokens are burned, the value of the wrapped token increases proportionally relative to CRV, using a model similar to Peapods V3.

In addition i have developed a liquid veCRV derivative called CurveYield Liquidity Pool CRV (cylpCRV) that only generates yield when deposited into a Curve liquidity pool with a gauge.

When deposited into a pool with a whitelisted gauge, cyclCRV uses veCRV revenue to automatically place CRV bribes for that pool. When deposited into a pool with a non-whitelisted gauge, cylpCRV distributes yield directly as gauge rewards for that pool.

cylpCRV is designed to generate swap fee revenue on top of veCRV-driven revenue. It also utilizes deeper liquidity and additional stabilization mechanisms intended to maintain a significantly stronger 1:1 peg to CRV than existing liquid veCRV derivatives.

I am requesting a grant of between $20,000 and $100,000 USD worth of CRV and crvUSD.

If approved, the majority of granted funds (approximately 70–85%) will be used to provide permanent liquidity for:

  1. crvUSD lending vaults and markets

  2. Yield-bearing CRV derivatives

  3. High-performance CurveYield Protocol-Owned Liquidity (PoL), primarily hosted on Curve

  4. The CurveYield DAO-owned treasury

In exchange for supporting the initial funding of CurveYield, I would like to offer Curve, the Curve DAO, and the Curve Community Fund between 1–5% of the total supply of CurveYield DAO tokens.

These tokens would be linearly vested over 3 years following a 1-year cliff, with the stipulation that 30–50% of the granted allocation be retained in perpetuity and used exclusively for governance participation and staking revenue.

More details about CurveYield can be found in the CurveYield documentation.

Thank you for your consideration.

2

Id especially like to hear feedback on the lowest risk stable collateral types to use in the crvUSD liquidity pool farming IPOR vault from @michwill and @LlamaRisk

3

HI James, Pete here from Origin. You may want to consider wOUSD rather than OUSD as the collateral option as OUSD is rebasing.

4

Thanks peter. The crvUSD lp farming vault doesn’t actually hold any individual tokens other then crvUSD. Rather it deposits crvUSD into crvUSD LPs and then into boosted vaults. So if OUSD is accepted collateral then the IPOR vault would actually be holding either a StakeDAO Vault with crvUSD/OUSD LP within it or a Beefy Vault holding a Convex gauge holding crvUSD/OUSD LP.

5

Curve and the Terra Liquidity Alliance Erisprotocol

A Real Yield Path That Actually Works

I have been tracking ErisProtocol and the Terra Liquidity Alliance (TLA) for a few weeks now. The numbers surprised me. You can still find pools generating 80% to 120% APR, and that is with real volume and incentives backing them. When you combine that with cheap borrowing from mature DeFi money markets, something interesting happens. A repeatable, relatively simple strategy emerges. This post lays out that strategy and then makes the case why getting CRV whitelisted on TLA is a logical next step for the Curve community.

The Core Idea

Borrow stablecoins below 10% on any major chain. Move that capital to Terra 2.0. Deposit it into TLA’s amplified yield strategies through Eris Protocol. Pocket the spread. That is the entire game.

It sounds aggressive. I get it. High APRs usually mean high risk. But if you look closely, the yield here comes from a mix of staking derivatives, liquid staking rewards, and protocol incentives that are still in an early bootstrapping phase. The smart money is already there. Let me walk you through the mechanics.

The Strategy Step by Step

  1. Find your low cost borrow.
    Aave V3 on Arbitrum or Polygon often has USDC and DAI borrow rates between 3% and 7% right now. You can also check Compound or even Euler on mainnet. Deposit a yield bearing collateral. For many in this community that means your CRV, cvxCRV, or a Curve LP token. Borrow against it. You now have stablecoins at a single digit cost.

  2. Bridge to Terra 2.0.
    Use Wormhole or Axelar to move those borrowed stables from your source chain into Terra. I find the Wormhole UI straightforward and the fees are minimal. You end up with axlUSDC or a similar wrapped asset on Terra.

  3. Enter Eris Protocol’s TLA pools.
    Eris Protocol is the yield amplifier for the Terra Liquidity Alliance. They have liquid staking token pools, autocompounding vaults, and strategy options that frequently show 100% APR or above. Pick a pool that matches your risk tolerance. The amplified yield comes from staking rewards, swap fees, and ongoing incentives from the TLA partners. Deposit your bridged stables.

  4. Let it run and monitor.
    Because you borrowed at less than 10% and the yields on TLA often stay north of 80%, the net gain is substantial. Compounding daily helps. You also keep your original collateral position intact, so your CRV or LP tokens keep earning their normal fees and rewards.

Why This Matters for Curve and for CRV Holders

The strategy above works for any DeFi user. The real unlock for this community happens when CRV itself becomes a first class asset inside the TLA ecosystem. Whitelisting CRV on the Terra Liquidity Alliance is not a vanity milestone. It is a direct pipeline to more utility and more demand for the token.

Think about it. If TLA whitelists CRV, you could use your CRV directly as collateral to access these high yields without having to wrap it or jump through extra hoops. That alone removes friction and draws more users into holding and locking CRV. Liquidity providers on Curve get a new, lucrative destination for their idle tokens. Every new CRV holder that enters TLA is another user who might lock for veCRV to boost their rewards. That increases the lock ratio and deepens the governance power of long term participants.

More volume from Terra based users flows back into Curve pools because CRV incentives and gauge weight can be directed to stableswap pools that support Terra assets. We already know how powerful the flywheel can be when a new chain integrates deeply with Curve. This time it is the opposite direction. Curve brings the deep liquidity and trusted stablecoin pairs. TLA brings the high yield engine. The two complement each other.

Getting Whitelisted

Here is the case I would make to the TLA governance if I were a veCRV holder proposing the integration.

CRV is a proven governance and yield bearing asset. Its holders are sticky. They lock for long periods. That reliability matters for a liquidity alliance that needs committed participants.

Whitelisting CRV would attract billions in potential liquidity from the Curve ecosystem into Terra’s revived DeFi scene. This is fresh TVL, not just recycled capital from existing Terra users.

A whitelisted CRV can act as a base asset in TLA strategies. It can be paired with LUNA, stLUNA, or stablecoins to create new yield opportunities. That generates swap fees that feed back into the Curve protocol.

The Curve community is famously coordinated. When we decide to support a new venue, we do it with size and persistence. A TLA whitelisting would be met with educational content, strategy guides, and active voting to direct CRV emissions toward TLA linked pools. That is free marketing and guaranteed volume.

From a security standpoint, Curve’s smart contracts are among the most audited and battle tested in DeFi. Integrating CRV does not add exotic risk. It adds stability.

Final Thought

I keep coming back to the same conclusion. This is not about chasing a pump. It is about locking in a structural yield spread that exists right now and making sure the Curve ecosystem captures a fair share of it. Whitelisting CRV on TLA would give every long term holder a direct line into that spread with less friction and more capital efficiency.

The window will not stay open forever. Incentives decline as TVL grows. So the time to act, as a community, is now. Start experimenting with the borrow and deploy strategy. Then push for the whitelisting. It benefits you. It benefits the protocol. And it puts CRV where it belongs, at the centre of a new liquidity hub.

1 Like
6

Increasing utility for crvUSD and directing more deposits into Curve pools is great. The Curve DAO has limited resources though, and capitalizing new protocols in exchange for token allocations is a risky business.

Curve also has its own lending stack, with LLv2 just released on mainnet. Use cases that leverage Llamalend probably benefits Curve the best long-term from a revenue standpoint. Also from a sales perspective, if we are using a third-party protocol rather than our own, that doesn’t inspire much confidence for asset issuers we want to onboard to the Curve ecosystem. Not saying external integrations are bad, they can certainly provide a lot of utility and diversify supply sinks ofc, but if strategies are based on Curve pools, then that might as well live on Llamalend if possible.

Also, why a new token, and not charge a service fee for constructing and managing strategies? We probably want to support curators on Llamalend v2.