Fees

If the vault doesn’t earn for you, you don’t pay

YieldFi fees are designed to be fair, transparent, and performance-aligned. Fees are deducted from vault yield/profits, not from principal. In simple terms: if the vault doesn’t earn, you don’t pay. Each vault’s fee model is set in consultation with the curator (strategy manager) and can include management fees, performance fees, and in some cases asset-wise deposit/withdrawal fees to cover real execution costs and discourage short-term mercenary behavior.

YieldFi vaults are built to be investor-aligned and performance-first. Fees are designed so they are paid only when the vault creates value, and curated in consultation with vault curators (strategy managers) to match each strategy’s economics and risk profile.

To see the exact fee stack, visit the vault specific factsheet on https://yield.fi.

How Fees Are Decided

• Fees for each vault are set in consultation with the curator (strategy manager)

• A vault may charge:

  • Management Fee (if applicable)

  • Performance Fee (if applicable)

  • Deposit Fee (asset-wise, if any)

  • Withdrawal Fee (if any)

Key Principle: Fees Come from Performance, Not Principal

• Fees are deducted from vault yield/profits, not from the user’s pocket

• No yield → no fees (management and partner add-on fees are not deducted if yield is insufficient)

• Principal is not reduced to force fee collection

Management Fee

A periodic fee to cover the ongoing cost of running the vault, including:

• Operations & execution

• Monitoring & risk oversight

• Reporting & vault infrastructure

How it works

• Management fees are accrued pro-rata (typically annualised)

• Many curators choose 0% management fee for higher-yield strategies

Investor protection

• Management fees are charged only if yield generated in that period is greater than the pro-rata management fee

• If yield is insufficient, the management fee is not charged

• This ensures management fees never come out of principal and never reduce NAV during low-yield periods

Performance Fee

A performance fee is charged as a percentage of profits generated by the vault, calculated after accounting for the management fee (if any). This ensures performance fees apply only on net profits delivered to investors.

Where it usually applies

• Performance fees are typically not charged for low-yield commodity vaults, such as:

  • Treasury Vaults

  • Lending Vaults

• Performance fees are more common in high-yield strategies, such as:

  • Market Neutral Vaults

  • Directional Trading Vaults

Tiered Performance Fees (Optional)

Performance fees can be tiered to incentivize curators to improve returns without increasing the vault’s risk.

• Better performance can unlock higher fee tiers

• But curators are incentivized to maintain a stable risk score

Risk Score Discipline

YieldFi vaults emphasize transparency through a visible risk score:

• If the curator increases risk and the risk score goes up, users can see it transparently

• Users may withdraw capital, reducing the curator’s AUM

• Lower AUM reduces curator earnings — acting as a natural penalty for taking excessive risk

High Water Mark Protection

All performance fees follow a High Water Mark (HWM) rule to protect investors:

• If NAV falls below its prior peak, no performance fee is charged

• Performance fees resume only after NAV exceeds the previous high water mark

• This prevents investors from paying performance fees twice on the same recovery

Deposit Fees

Some vaults may include asset-wise deposit fees, especially for assets with:

• Low on-chain liquidity (leading to slippage)

• Minting / redemption fees at the asset level

• Low utility in DeFi, requiring conversion into a more usable asset for deployment

Why this exists

• Deposit fees cover real conversion costs such as:

  • Slippage

  • Minting / redemption fees

  • Asset conversion into an asset with better utility across DeFi/CeFi

• This ensures existing vault users are not diluted or impacted by conversion costs triggered by new deposits

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Withdrawal Fees

Withdrawals from a vault are processed in a single asset (as defined by the vault). Some vaults may apply withdrawal fees to protect long-term vault stability.

Why this exists

• Withdrawal fees discourage mercenary capital that:

  • deposits for a few days

  • exits immediately when possible

• YieldFi vaults are designed for long-term, patient capital, where:

  • returns compound over time

  • stable capital improves execution and overall outcomes

• Withdrawal fees help ensure the vault attracts investors aligned with compounding over time, rather than short-term churn