# What is Yield Farming?

**Yield farming is the practice of staking or lending crypto assets in order to generate high returns or rewards in the form of additional cryptocurrency.** 

This innovative yet risky and volatile application of [<mark style="color:purple;">**decentralized finance (DeFi)**</mark>](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-decentralized-finance) has skyrocketed in popularity recently thanks to further innovations like liquidity mining. Yield farming is currently the biggest growth driver of the still-nascent [<mark style="color:purple;">**DeFi sector**</mark>](https://coinmarketcap.com/defi/)<mark style="color:purple;">**,**</mark> helping it to [<mark style="color:purple;">**balloon**</mark>](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/according-to-coinmarketcap-defi-in-q3) a market cap.

In short, yield farming protocols incentivise [<mark style="color:purple;">**liquidity providers**</mark>](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/liquidity-provider) (LP) to stake or lock up their crypto assets in a [<mark style="color:purple;">**smart contract**</mark>](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/smart-contract)-based liquidity pool. These incentives can be a percentage of transaction fees, interest from lenders, or a governance token (see liquidity mining below). These returns are expressed as an annual percentage yield (APY). As more investors add funds to the related liquidity pool, the value of the issued returns decrease accordingly.&#x20;

**For more information visit:** [<mark style="color:purple;">**https://www.yieldshield.com**</mark>](https://www.yieldshield.com)&#x20;

## **Useful Links**

**Overview diagram:** [<mark style="color:purple;">**Read more**</mark>](https://yieldshield.gitbook.io/yieldshield/overview/overview-diagram)

**The Benefits?:** [<mark style="color:purple;">**Read More**</mark>](https://yieldshield.gitbook.io/yieldshield/overview/the-benefits)

**Fee Structure:** [<mark style="color:purple;">**Read more**</mark>](https://yieldshield.gitbook.io/yieldshield/overview/fee-structure)

**Roadmap:** [<mark style="color:purple;">**Read more**</mark>](https://yieldshield.gitbook.io/yieldshield/overview/roadmap)