Yearn Plants Its Flag on RISE Chain
Yearn Finance, the DeFi protocol that pioneered automated yield aggregation in 2020, announced on February 11 that it is expanding to RISE Chain, an Ethereum Layer 2 network designed for sub-5-millisecond transaction confirmations and a throughput target of 100,000 transactions per second. The announcement, made via Yearn's official X account, described the move as bringing its core capabilities of "curating, allocating, aggregating" to the new chain.
The expansion marks another step in Yearn's multi-chain strategy, which already spans Ethereum mainnet, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, Polygon, and Fantom. RISE Chain represents a different bet: a speed-first L2 that positions itself not just as a scaling solution but as infrastructure for global onchain markets, backed by Galaxy Ventures and early support from Vitalik Buterin himself.
Why RISE Chain Matters in the L2 Landscape
RISE Chain is not another generic Ethereum rollup. The network, which raised $8 million from Galaxy Ventures, has built its identity around raw execution speed. Where most L2s advertise sub-second finality, RISE targets 5ms latency and 100K TPS, numbers that put it in the same conversation as centralized exchange matching engines rather than typical blockchain infrastructure.
The chain's strategic direction shifted in late 2025 when it unveiled RISEx and MarketCore, repositioning from a pure speed play into a foundation for global onchain markets. That pivot was bolstered by the acquisition of BSX Labs, a perpetuals DEX previously on Base that had processed over $15 billion in orderbook trading volume. BSX was backed by Blockchain Capital and Coinbase Ventures, adding institutional credibility to the RISE ecosystem.
RISEx, the chain's flagship perpetuals DEX, entered its closed mainnet phase with a public launch expected in early 2026. MarketCore will open for permissionless deployment of spot and perps markets after that milestone. The roadmap extends into options, structured products, and prediction markets, all running on shared orderbook infrastructure.
What Yearn Brings to the Table
Yearn Finance operates as DeFi's automated yield optimizer. Its vault system pools user deposits and routes them through lending protocols, liquidity pools, and other yield sources using algorithmic strategies. Users deposit assets into a vault and receive yield without manually managing positions across multiple protocols.
The protocol currently holds between $450 million and $562 million in total value locked, depending on the data source, down significantly from its $7 billion peak but still representing one of DeFi's most battle-tested codebases. Yearn's vaults have operated continuously since 2020, surviving multiple market cycles, exploits on competing protocols, and the implosion of centralized lending platforms like Celsius and BlockFi.
Yearn's recent product evolution includes yv2 Vaults (Liquid Locker Compounders) launched in mid-2025, an integration with Morpho Labs for curated lending strategies on Ethereum and Base, and upcoming partnerships with Katana, Term Labs, and Truemarkets for derivatives and lending exposure. The USDS-1 strategy built with SparkFi, announced in late July 2025, demonstrated Yearn's continued focus on stablecoin yield optimization.
Speed Meets Yield: The Practical Implications
The marriage of Yearn's yield infrastructure with RISE's execution speed creates interesting possibilities for DeFi users. On slower chains, vault rebalancing and strategy execution compete with other transactions for block space, sometimes resulting in delayed harvests or suboptimal entry points. On a chain with 5ms latency and 100K TPS capacity, yield strategies can theoretically execute with near-instantaneous precision.
For retail users, this could translate to more frequent compounding cycles and tighter spreads on yield farming positions. For institutional players eyeing DeFi yield, the combination of Yearn's proven track record with RISE's CEX-grade execution speed lowers one of the key barriers: the perception that DeFi infrastructure is too slow and too fragile for serious capital deployment.
There is also a composability angle. RISE's MarketCore enables perpetuals and spot markets to coexist with DeFi protocols on the same chain with synchronous execution. Yearn vaults on RISE could potentially integrate with RISEx liquidity, creating yield loops that span lending, trading, and market making within a single execution environment.
The Broader DeFi Multi-Chain Chess Match
Yearn's expansion to RISE Chain is part of a wider trend of DeFi blue chips spreading across new execution environments. Aave recently cleared a Trail of Bits security audit for its V4 upgrade. Uniswap launched on multiple L2s. SushiSwap expanded to Solana. The logic is straightforward: go where the users and liquidity are migrating.
For crypto card holders and everyday spenders, these DeFi infrastructure moves matter more than they might appear. Yield aggregation protocols like Yearn are the engine behind many staking rewards and passive yield products that card issuers integrate. When ether.fi offers yield on its card tiers, or when stablecoin cards promise returns on idle balances, the underlying mechanics often involve the same DeFi primitives Yearn has been perfecting for years. A faster, cheaper execution layer means those yields can be processed more efficiently, with lower overhead costs that could eventually translate to better rates for end users.
The Layer 2 landscape itself is becoming increasingly competitive. MegaETH launched its mainnet just days ago, also targeting real-time performance. LayerZero unveiled Zero, a 2M TPS chain backed by institutional heavyweights. The race to become the dominant execution layer for DeFi and payments is accelerating, and established protocols like Yearn choosing where to deploy sends a signal about which L2s the market considers viable long-term infrastructure.
FAQ
What is RISE Chain? RISE is an Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain targeting 100,000 transactions per second with 5ms latency. It is backed by Galaxy Ventures and has received early support from Vitalik Buterin. The chain focuses on becoming infrastructure for global onchain markets through its RISEx perpetuals DEX and MarketCore platform.
What does Yearn Finance do on new chains? Yearn deploys its automated yield vaults natively on each chain. Users deposit assets into vaults that algorithmically route funds through the best available yield sources, including lending protocols, liquidity pools, and other DeFi strategies. Each chain's liquidity remains isolated.
When will Yearn's RISE Chain vaults be available? Yearn's announcement said "coming soon" without specifying an exact date. RISE Chain's public mainnet launch is expected in early 2026, so Yearn's vault deployment likely depends on that timeline.
How much TVL does Yearn Finance currently manage? Yearn's total value locked ranges between $450 million and $562 million across all chains, depending on the data source and measurement methodology.
Overview
Yearn Finance's expansion to RISE Chain pairs DeFi's longest-running yield aggregation protocol with one of the fastest Ethereum L2s in development. The move adds Yearn's automated vault infrastructure to a chain designed for institutional-grade execution speed, creating new possibilities for yield strategy performance and DeFi composability. With RISE Chain's public mainnet expected in early 2026, the deployment signals growing confidence in next-generation L2 infrastructure from established DeFi protocols. For yield seekers, the practical takeaway is clear: faster execution layers could mean more efficient compounding and tighter strategy execution across the DeFi stack.
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