I’m curious if any community members have firsthand experience with decentralized finance (DeFi) or centralized exchanges (CEX) regarding lending, staking, or yield farming aimed at creating passive income or for different goals.
In traditional finance, savings accounts offer a reasonable way to earn interest on funds you may need soon. However, I find navigating stablecoin options quite challenging. It involves extensive research and potential gas fees that could reduce profits.
I would appreciate insights that could enhance my understanding:
- Which product or protocol did you use?
- What was your investment amount?
- What were your returns (actual APR, harvested yield)?
- How much did you incur in gas fees?
- What difficulties did you face while using the service?
I gave it a shot with yearn finance, mostly stablecoin pools. Started with $500, earned about 5% after fees, which is not bad. However, it’s tricky predicting gas fees, they can eat a good chunk of profits. also, always check the protocol’s current yield and watch out for rug pulls! stay safe 
Hey BrilliantCoder39! I totally get the struggle with keeping track of all those different DeFi products and the fees piled up. I tried my hand with Aave for lending – kinda liked the way it worked with fewer gas fee headaches compared to other protocols that involve more movement. But I’m curious, have you explored or encountered any interesting projects that seemed a bit under the radar? Like smaller protocols with possibly hidden potentials, or is sticking to well-known names usually the safest route? 
Also, what do you think about the trade-off between stable returns on stablecoins versus taking some risk with more volatile assets for better yield? Is there any tweak you’d suggest when balancing the two?
I have delved into yield farming through PancakeSwap on the Binance Smart Chain, primarily due to its lower transaction costs. Initially put in about $1000 with returns averaging around 7% APR when adjusted for fees. Gas fees have been more predictable here, being significantly less than Ethereum-based platforms. However, I did find that keeping track of market fluctuations and the impermanent loss was a bit of a challenge. Researching projects through community discussions was beneficial in mitigating risks.
hey, I’ve tried using SushiSwap for yield farming. Put in $300. Yield was around 4% which isn’t much but okay for a try. The hard thing for me was keeping an eye on the rewards and unstaking at the right time. Gas fees were annoying, sometimes it’d double my expenses. 