YO Labs, the San Francisco team behind YO Protocol, has closed a $10 million Series A to scale its cross-chain yield optimization platform. The round was led by Foundation Capital and joined by Coinbase Ventures, Scribble Ventures, and Launchpad Capital — bringing the startup’s total funding to $24 million after an earlier seed round led by Paradigm. What YO does YO Protocol is a yield optimizer that automatically reallocates capital across DeFi protocols to chase the best risk-adjusted returns. Unlike many aggregators that stay confined to a single chain, YO’s vaults operate across multiple blockchains and currently power products tied to USD, EUR, BTC, ETH and gold (yoUSD, yoEUR, yoBTC, yoETH, yoGOLD). The vaults dynamically shift funds to where the protocol calculates the most attractive risk-adjusted yield. Risk-adjusted approach The platform’s core differentiator is its Risk Adjusted Yield metric, developed from the team’s work building risk ratings for DeFi pools. Using Exponential.fi — a risk-scoring platform built by the same team — YO evaluates thousands of risk vectors (everything from protocol age to audit history) and computes a probability-of-default instead of simply chasing headline APYs. As YO’s co-founder and CIO Mehdi Lebbar told CoinDesk, this lets the protocol favor returns that balance yield with measurable risk. Security and cross-chain design To avoid the security pitfalls of constantly bridging assets between chains, YO Labs built an architecture that minimizes bridge exposure. Rather than frequently moving funds, the protocol establishes “embassies” — independent vaults that hold native assets on each blockchain. “If you bridge a pool, you have exposure to the risk of the bridge… We needed to create these ‘embassies’ across multiple planets,” Lebbar said, adding that native holdings reduce reliance on potentially vulnerable bridges. Complementing that design is a “DeFi Graph” that maps active dependencies up to five levels deep. The graph monitors for cascading failures or extreme volatility and can trigger automated withdrawals if any indirect exposure to a failing asset is detected — a safeguard against what the team calls “Armageddon scenarios.” What the funding will do YO Labs says the fresh capital will be used to expand its protocol to more blockchains and beef up infrastructure. The company is positioning YO as foundational yield infrastructure that fintechs, wallets and developers can embed to offer sustainable, risk-aware returns to users. Why it matters As DeFi users become savvier about security and real-world risk, products that combine cross-chain reach with transparent risk assessment could stand out from APY-chasing aggregators. With institutional backers like Foundation Capital and Coinbase Ventures and a focus on measurable risk, YO Labs aims to be a go-to layer for platforms seeking automated, defensible yield. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

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