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Why Yama

1. Highest leverage​

Simply put, Yama outcompetes not just other stablecoins, but also lending protocols in general. It provides the highest leverage on GLP (17x) with plans for more collateral. This amount of leverage is possible because of its fast liquidations and the fact that it's the first protocol to allow users to lend stablecoin liquidity directly to the protocol.

This means that given the same leverage multiple (e.g. 3x), it's safer to leverage up on Yama than competing protocols with lower maximum leverage, as the margin of safety is larger for Yama.

2. Sustainable, incentive-aligned stablecoin yield​

Users can lend USDT to earn stablecoin yield. They provide buy-side liquidity, which makes it possible for borrowers to leverage up. As a result, borrowers pay interest that largely goes to the lenders. The lenders provide value to the protocol, and they earn yield as a result. Everybody wins.

3. Zero-slippage, zero-fee swaps​

Yama is novel in that the protocol doesn't care about its liquidity on open markets. Yama doesn't incentivize providing liquidity to a Curve or Balancer pool. Instead, Yama offers zero-slippage, zero-fee swaps through its PSM. This means that users can swap Yama for USDT and vice versa without paying any fees or slippage. This liquidity is sustainably incentivized thanks to the interest the borrowers pay.

Until Yama becomes the dominant stablecoin, the PSM will be the primary way to swap between Yama and other assets.

4. Omnichain​

Yama is built omnichain from the ground up. This means that it can be bridged without slippage or significant delay. Thanks to Hyperlane's proof-of-stake model combined with sovereign consensus, we can do this in a decentralized and secure manner.

5. No ponzi elements or zero-sum games​

The way to outcompete other stablecoins is not by building a complicated liquidity mining system. No ve tokens. No token emissions. No ponzi schemes.

The focus is on building the core product.

6. Very liquid​

Liquidity providers generally prefer to earn stablecoin yield instead of diluting token emissions. Thanks to PSM incentives, Yama provides exactly that. This means that Yama is very liquid.

7. Collateralized​

Unlike Beanstalk and other algo stables, Yama is collateralized. This means that every $1 of Yama is backed by at least $1 of collateral. This is important because it means that during times of significant capital outflows (such as the UST depeg), Yama will not be rendered insolvent and lose its peg.

8. Collateral guarantee​

If you borrow on some stablecoin protocols, such as Liquity or Gyroscope, you risk losing some or all of your collateral if the protocol becomes insolvent due to bad debt. This is not the case with Yama, where you can withdraw your collateral at any time (unless, of course, the smart contracts are exploited).

This is an important step in reducing the risk of borrowing on Yama.

9. Not directly reliant on USDC​

Yama is not directly reliant on USDC.

Most stablecoins depeg if USDC depegs. Yama is the opposite--if USDC depegs, Yama is not directly affected, but if USDT depegs, Yama depegs.

This means that Yama is less exposed to US government intervention than the many stablecoins that are pegged to USDC. Yama is arguably less prone to depegging than very decentralized stablecoins such as Liquity thanks to the liquidity provided by the PSM.