I honestly believe that investors who automatically get excited upon seeing promises of "real returns" are often the most vulnerable to losses. The most common tactic in this space is—talking about sustainability in words, while actually pursuing high APY. When market conditions reverse, you'll realize that those returns are just a re-labeling of inflation tricks.

Recently, I’ve been paying attention to a leading liquidity protocol, and the reason is quite straightforward. It’s not because it’s outlining some trillion-dollar ecosystem blueprint, but because it dares to openly discuss a question everyone tacitly understands but never mentions—who is ultimately footing the bill for the money you earn?

In the DeFi ecosystem, the greatest danger isn’t price volatility or complex strategies; the real minefield is: you can’t find the ultimate source of funds. Some projects package multiple trading strategies into a single yield pool, claiming to do "market-neutral arbitrage" or "cross-chain arbitrage," but upon closer inspection, the answers always boil down to a few template phrases—"we have diversified strategies," "we are fully diversified," "our team is professional."

This kind of rhetoric has become so common that it’s worn out the ears. But when the bear market truly hits, all assets become perfectly correlated at 1, and arbitrage opportunities vanish completely, the problem becomes undeniable: what exactly is supporting this yield? Who is backing the stability of this strategy? Is your return built on new capital inflows, or is there an independent profit source?

Some projects are taking a different approach—breaking down the entire "payment chain." They not only emphasize how attractive their yields are but also focus on explaining the specific sources and ownership of the profits. This transparency allows investors to see clearly which channels the funds are flowing from and whether the yield model can operate coherently across different market cycles. That’s what I find worth taking a closer look at.