The most important question to ask about DeFi isn’t “How much is the yield?” but “Who pays, and who gets paid?” Over the rolling 24-hour period, $ETH -0.03%. Over the rolling 24-hour period, $AAVE +4.62%. Over the rolling 24-hour period, $UNI +2.99%. These are changes in spot prices, not protocol revenue, user returns, or distributions to token holders; they moved in different directions and don’t show how borrowing and trading demand changed.
In lending and trading, several different ledgers can easily get lumped together under the phrase “the protocol makes money”: interest paid by borrowers, fees actually collected by the protocol, returns received by suppliers, and token incentives. They may all come from different sources and go to different places. A protocol collecting fees doesn’t automatically mean token holders get a share; suppliers receiving returns doesn’t mean all the money came from protocol revenue. Without clear rules, these shouldn’t all be described as returns to token holders.
It’s also important to distinguish between stocks and flows. Deposits, collateral, and outstanding loans at a given point in time are stocks; interest or fees actually received over a period are flows. The size of deposits alone doesn’t show current-period revenue, and lending capacity doesn’t directly indicate whether revenue is rising or falling. Collateral price fluctuations and changes in liquidity affect borrowing risk, but without specific rules and data, I won’t invent liquidation thresholds or yields for any protocol.
According to a report by Golden Finance on October 31, 2026, Ethereum developer nicolashw submitted a proposal draft on October 30 that would allow externally owned accounts to permanently disable EIP-7702 delegation functionality. The draft has not yet been merged or assigned an official EIP number; even if adopted later, it would still need to be activated through an Ethereum network upgrade. This is a proposal at the Ethereum level, not a measure that is already in effect, and it doesn’t imply that Aave or Uniswap have changed their mechanisms.
For everyday users, the questions are straightforward: Who bears the fees? How does the protocol handle them? Do token holders have clearly defined rights that are actually being honored? Fee revenue, token incentives, and token value aren’t connected by an automatic pipeline. Market prices tell me how quotes have changed; to understand what DeFi actually solves, we need to look at the rules in practice, where the money flows, and who bears the risks.
In lending and trading, several different ledgers can easily get lumped together under the phrase “the protocol makes money”: interest paid by borrowers, fees actually collected by the protocol, returns received by suppliers, and token incentives. They may all come from different sources and go to different places. A protocol collecting fees doesn’t automatically mean token holders get a share; suppliers receiving returns doesn’t mean all the money came from protocol revenue. Without clear rules, these shouldn’t all be described as returns to token holders.
It’s also important to distinguish between stocks and flows. Deposits, collateral, and outstanding loans at a given point in time are stocks; interest or fees actually received over a period are flows. The size of deposits alone doesn’t show current-period revenue, and lending capacity doesn’t directly indicate whether revenue is rising or falling. Collateral price fluctuations and changes in liquidity affect borrowing risk, but without specific rules and data, I won’t invent liquidation thresholds or yields for any protocol.
According to a report by Golden Finance on October 31, 2026, Ethereum developer nicolashw submitted a proposal draft on October 30 that would allow externally owned accounts to permanently disable EIP-7702 delegation functionality. The draft has not yet been merged or assigned an official EIP number; even if adopted later, it would still need to be activated through an Ethereum network upgrade. This is a proposal at the Ethereum level, not a measure that is already in effect, and it doesn’t imply that Aave or Uniswap have changed their mechanisms.
For everyday users, the questions are straightforward: Who bears the fees? How does the protocol handle them? Do token holders have clearly defined rights that are actually being honored? Fee revenue, token incentives, and token value aren’t connected by an automatic pipeline. Market prices tell me how quotes have changed; to understand what DeFi actually solves, we need to look at the rules in practice, where the money flows, and who bears the risks.
