What Asymmetry Finance does

Asymmetry Finance is a DeFi protocol built on Ethereum that offers structured products for liquid staking, restaking, and stablecoin borrowing. Its core product suite includes afETH, a hybrid liquid staking token composed of 70% sfrxETH and 30% vlCVX that targets approximately 10% APY (roughly 3x standard ETH staking yield) via its proprietary Asymmetrical Allocation Algorithm; afCVX, an ERC-4626 Convex wrapper that deploys deposits across CLever Protocol (80%) and Convex native staking (20%) to optimize CVX yield without mandatory 16-week lockups; USDaf, a multi-collateral stablecoin borrowing protocol built on Liquity V2 with customizable fixed interest rates; and AmpUSD, an inflation-resistant stablecoin backed by Ampleforth's AMPL and SPOT tokens. The ecosystem is governed by the Asymmetry DAO through the $ASF governance token, with veASF and opASF options products providing governance utilities.

The protocol generates revenue through a 10% performance fee on afCVX harvested yield (never on principal), a 3% instant withdrawal fee on afCVX, and indirectly via Votium bribe capture, while afETH is offered fee-free. Asymmetry serves a global long tail of DeFi-native retail and institutional participants who interact directly with the protocol's self-serve DApp at app.asymmetry.finance via Ethereum wallet connections, with no KYC, no sales intermediary, and US persons explicitly excluded. The protocol is governed as a DAO with a small core team of 1–10 employees, domiciled under the laws of The Bahamas but with operating presence in London, and has raised $7 million across two disclosed rounds (May 2023 seed of $3M led by Ecco Capital and Republic Capital; June 2024 round of $4M from Magnus Fund, Republic Crypto, Avon Ventures, and angel investors).

Name

Asymmetry Finance

Legal name

Asymmetry

Website

https://asymmetry.finance

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Asymmetry Finance is a London-based DeFi protocol on Ethereum offering hybrid liquid staking (afETH), a Convex yield wrapper (afCVX), and multi-collateral stablecoins (USDaf, AmpUSD) to global DeFi-native retail and institutional users via a self-serve DAO-governed platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Liquid Staking & Stablecoins

NAICS

Securities and Commodity Contracts Intermediation and Brokerage (5231), Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (522320)

SIC

Security & Commodity Brokers, Dealers, Exchanges & Services (6200)

akta.pro primary industry

Liquid Staking Protocols & Liquid Staking Tokens (LST) (FSADAOAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

Stablecoin Issuers (Fiat-Backed) (FSADADAA)

Keywords

• DeFi liquid staking
• Stablecoin borrowing
• Yield optimization vaults
• Liquid staking tokens
• Decentralized lending

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. afCVX Performance Fee: A 10% performance fee is charged on harvested yield only — never on principal. When 100 CVX in rewards are harvested with a 10% fee, 10 CVX goes to the protocol and 90 CVX goes to depositors. Deposited CVX principal is never touched by this fee. This fee was enacted via Asymmetry Governance community vote.
2. Yield Farming from Votium Vote Market: The Asymmetrical Allocation Algorithm directs vlCVX voting power to the highest bidder on Votium's vote market. Protocols competing for vlCVX votes pay bribes/incentives, which flow to afETH holders as yield. Over 69 rounds, $301.07M in incentives were paid out at an average of $4.36M per round.
3. afCVX Instant Withdrawal Fee: Users selecting instant unstaking pay a 3% fee, which is immediately recycled back into the afCVX vault, benefiting remaining depositors. This fee prevents gamification of the instant withdrawal system.
4. USDaf Interest on Loans: Yield for sAmpUSD (staked AmpUSD) is primarily generated from interest paid by those borrowing against SPOT collateral, along with additional collateral from liquidations. Interest rates are user-customizable.
5. CRV Emissions from Curve Pool: vlCVX within afETH votes direct Convex's massive CRV emissions toward the frxETH-afETH Curve Pool. These CRV emissions constitute a significant portion of user yield, supplemented by vlCVX yield from Convex platform fees.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Asymmetry Finance is a DeFi protocol on Ethereum that issues liquid staking tokens (afETH, afCVX) and decentralized stablecoins (USDaf, AmpUSD). Users stake ETH or CVX to earn amplified yield via the proprietary Asymmetrical Allocation Algorithm, borrow against BTC and stablecoins at customizable fixed interest rates, and auto-compound returns through yield vaults (sUSDaf, sAmpUSD). The ecosystem is governed on-chain by the $ASF token through the Asymmetry DAO.

Product overview

Asymmetry Finance is a DeFi protocol offering a suite of structured products for liquid staking and restaking on Ethereum. The core ecosystem includes USDaf (a multi-collateral stablecoin borrowing protocol built on Liquity V2), AmpUSD (an inflation-resistant stablecoin backed by AMPL/SPOT), and ASF governance token with veASF and opASF options products. The protocol also offers liquid staking products including afETH (hybrid LST using sfrxETH and vlCVX for ~10% APY) and afCVX (high-yield Convex wrapper with instant liquidity). Users can earn yield through auto-compounding vaults (sUSDaf, sAmpUSD) or by providing liquidity on Curve Finance and Spectra Finance. The ecosystem is governed by the Asymmetry DAO using ASF tokens.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• USDaf A decentralized stablecoin borrowing and lending protocol built on Liquity V2 that enables users to borrow against BTC and stablecoins at customizable fixed interest rates. Supports six collateral markets (wBTC, tBTC, ysyBOLD, sUSDS, sfrxUSD, scrvUSD) with separate Stability Pools and no lockup period. Targeted at crypto users seeking fixed-rate borrowing exposure.
• AmpUSD An inflation-resistant CDP-backed stablecoin collateralized by Ampleforth's AMPL and SPOT (a low-volatility commodity money token designed to track inflation). Users deposit AMPL or SPOT to mint AmpUSD, with customizable LTV and interest rates. Includes sAmpUSD (staked AmpUSD) for yield earning. Targeted at crypto users seeking inflation-hedged dollar exposure.
• afETH A hybrid liquid staking token (LST) that generates approximately 10% APY (~3x standard ETH staking) by combining 70% sfrxETH (Frax liquid staking) and 30% vlCVX (locked Convex voting power) via the proprietary Asymmetrical Allocation Algorithm. Features a Yield Smoother mechanism that prevents MEV extraction, optional instant unstaking for withdrawals below 2 ETH, and up to 16-week regular unstaking. Zero platform fees. Targeted at DeFi users seeking amplified ETH staking yield.
• afCVX An ERC-4626 tokenized vault that deploys CVX across two yield strategies: ~80% to CLever Protocol (locks CVX, borrows clevCVX, deposits into Furnace for leveraged yield) and ~20% to Convex's native stkCVX for Curve fee rewards. Charges a 10% performance fee on harvested yield only (never on principal) and a 3% instant withdrawal fee; regular unstake is zero-fee. Yield accrues via a redemption ratio mechanism. Targeted at CVX holders seeking optimized yield without mandatory 16-week lockups.
• sUSDaf Vault An auto-compounding yield vault for USDaf that splits deposits optimally across underlying Stability Pools, automatically harvesting and compounding yield. Offers ~16.32% APY with always-redeemable positions and no cool-down period. Targeted at stablecoin holders seeking set-and-forget yield.
• sAmpUSD Vault An auto-compounding yield vault for AmpUSD that splits deposits across Stability Pools, automatically harvesting and compounding yield. Offers ~15.87% APY in a set-and-forget format. Targeted at stablecoin holders seeking automated yield on inflation-resistant assets.
• $ASF Governance Token and veASF/opASF Governance Products The $ASF governance token of Asymmetry Finance enables on-chain governance of USDaf and the broader Asymmetry Ecosystem via Asymmetry DAO. Users can lock ASF to obtain veASF (vote-escrowed ASF) for governance participation, or purchase opASF (Options ASF) with 1-week to 52-week lockup periods at 10-50% discounts. Available via CowSwap, Uniswap, and Aerodrome.

Quantifiable outcome

• ~10% APY estimated yield for afETH, approximately 3x the yield of regular ETH staking
• +6 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration10 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Aladdin DAO (CLever)coreTechnology or IntegrationAsymmetry Finance partnered with Aladdin DAO, the team behind CLever Protocol, to ensure that all CLever CVX within afCVX is fully optimized to create the highest yield possible. CLever is the second largest Convex wrapper with over 3.3M CVX deposited. The partnership enables CLever's 1.5x non-liquidating stable leverage strategy within afCVX's vault architecture.
• Frax FinancecoreTechnology or IntegrationAsymmetry selected Frax Finance's Staked Frax Ether (sfrxETH) as the LST component within afETH. sfrxETH is an ERC-4626 vault that accrues staking yield from Frax ETH validators. afETH is composed of 70% sfrxETH. Frax's frxETH-ETH staking mechanism underpins a significant portion of afETH's yield.
• Convex FinancecoreTechnology or IntegrationConvex Finance is the governance aggregator of DeFi, controlling approximately 42% of Curve's (CRV) voting power. Asymmetry integrates with Convex through afCVX (which stakes CVX in Convex's Rewards Pool) and afETH (which locks CVX as vlCVX via Convex's Vote Locker). Convex's vlCVX mechanism and Votium vote market are fundamental to both products' yield generation.
• Curve FinancecoreTechnology or IntegrationCurve Finance is the primary liquidity venue for Asymmetry products. afETH has a dedicated frxETH-afETH Curve pool, and afCVX has a CVX-afCVX Curve pool. vlCVX voting power is directed toward Curve pool gauge weights, channeling CRV emissions to Asymmetry-integrated pools.
• VotiumcoreTechnology or IntegrationVotium is the vote market platform where protocols compete to incentivize vlCVX holders to vote for their Curve pools. The vlCVX within afETH is allocated to the highest Votium bidder on behalf of afETH users, generating additional yield from protocol bribes. Over 69 rounds, $301.07M in incentives have been paid out through Votium.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Convex Finance: Convex is both a core technology partner and a functional peer — afCVX is a Convex wrapper competing with Convex's own native stkCVX and with StakeDAO/Aura for CVX depositors seeking boosted CRV yield.
• StakeDAO: StakeDAO is a Curve/Convex wrapper offering sdCRV, sdCVX, and similar yield-optimized products. It competes directly with afCVX for CVX depositors and is integrated into CLever's harvest schedule as an alternative.
• Aladdin DAO (CLever): Aladdin DAO's CLever (3.3M+ CVX, second-largest Convex wrapper) is a technology partner that hosts 80% of afCVX's deposits, but it is also a competing CVX wrapper for users seeking leveraged yield.
• Rocket Pool: Rocket Pool is a decentralized Ethereum liquid staking protocol (rETH), competing directly with afETH for ETH-staking depositors seeking non-Lido alternatives.
• Frax Finance: Frax supplies sfrxETH (70% of afETH's allocation) and runs frxUSD/sfrxUSD — both a critical dependency for Asymmetry and a direct competitor in ETH liquid staking and stablecoin markets.
• Liquity: Liquity (and Liquity V2, on which USDaf is built) is a decentralized borrowing protocol offering interest-free loans against ETH and other collateral. USDaf is a fork/extension of Liquity V2, positioning it as both derivative and competitor in the CDP-backed stablecoin category.

Emerging players

• Pendle Finance: Pendle enables yield-trading and principal/yield tokenization, including for afCVX LP positions (via Spectra pools). It overlaps with Asymmetry's yield-structured-product thesis and competes for sophisticated DeFi yield users.

Broad incumbents

• MakerDAO: MakerDAO (Sky) issues DAI/USDS and operates the largest decentralized stablecoin. It competes with USDaf and AmpUSD for stablecoin issuance market share and is integrated via sUSDS as USDaf collateral.
• Yearn Finance: Yearn is the established DeFi yield-aggregator whose vault architecture inspired Asymmetry's 'Yield Smoother' and auto-compounding sUSDaf/sAmpUSD vaults. They compete for users seeking automated stablecoin and ETH yield strategies.
• Lido Finance: Lido is the dominant Ethereum liquid staking protocol (stETH). Asymmetry explicitly positions afETH as a decentralized alternative to Lido, making them the primary direct competitor in the LST category that afETH targets.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/asymmetryfin

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors15 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Asymmetry Finance