Hey,
Issue #012. Let's get into it.
🎥 Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Bmxz6MoD5tA
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⚙️ AI TOOL OF THE WEEK: Koinly — AI-Assisted Crypto Tax Tracking
Before we get to the yield strategies — one tool that makes the tax side manageable. Koinly connects to your wallets and exchanges, pulls all your transaction history, and categorizes income (lending yield, staking rewards) vs capital gains automatically. If you're doing any DeFi, you need this before tax season, not during it. Free tier covers most casual users.
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⛓️ CRYPTO/WEB3 SIGNAL: Real Yield Without Price Speculation
Most DeFi yield is speculation with extra steps. You're not earning yield — you're taking directional risk on a token you don't want exposure to. Stablecoin lending is different.
Why stablecoin yield is different:
You deposit a stablecoin into a lending protocol. Borrowers who need leverage pay interest. You receive it. Principal stays at $1. The yield is real cash flow, not paper gains.
The three protocols worth knowing:
Aave — largest by TVL. Deposit USDC, earn ~4–6%. No lock-up. Withdraw anytime. app.aave.com
Compound — same mechanic, different rate algorithm. Compare rates before depositing. app.compound.finance
Curve — liquidity pools, not lending. Earn trading fees. Lower rate, more predictable. curve.fi
All three are audited, battle-tested, running for years.
Risk breakdown:
• Smart contract risk — audited multiple times, but exploits happen. Don't deposit more than you can lose.
• Depeg risk — USDC hit $0.87 during SVB collapse (2023). It recovered. Might not next time.
• Liquidity risk — Curve pool imbalances can affect your exit token.
Diversify across protocols and stablecoins.
The yield stack:
Base: USDC → Aave → 4–6%
Layer 2: aUSDC → Yearn or Beefy → auto-compounds across protocols
Layer 3: protocol token incentives → more yield, more token exposure
More layers = more smart contract risk. Know what each layer costs.
Getting started:
Wallet: MetaMask or Rabby
Buy USDC on Coinbase or Kraken
Use Arbitrum or Base (near-zero gas fees)
app.aave.com → connect wallet → deposit → done
Start small. Understand before you scale.
Tax note: Lending yield is ordinary income in the US at time of receipt. Use Koinly or Cointracker to track automatically. Talk to a CPA who understands crypto.
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💰 MONEY MOVE: The Stablecoin Yield Stack as a Productized Service
"I'll set up a DeFi yield strategy for your treasury." Relevant for DAOs, crypto-native startups, and technically-minded individuals sitting on stablecoin holdings.
Deliverable: wallet setup, protocol selection, risk documentation, yield monitoring dashboard (DeBank), rebalancing runbook. One day. $1,500–$2,500. The EP009 offer template applies directly.
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🔗 3 LINKS WORTH YOUR TIME
Aave v3 — start here, largest and most audited
Koinly — crypto tax tracking, free tier covers most users
DeBank — best portfolio tracker for DeFi positions
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That's Issue #012.
Forward it to one engineer. Still the only growth strategy running.
— Deploy or Die
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Drop the Beehiiv link when it's live and I'll fire the tweet + LinkedIn posts. �