Is Youves Safe?
Risk Grade: C+ (36/100)
Youves is rated as elevated risk — multiple novel mechanisms and notable interaction risks.
Elevated risk — custom oracle and extreme ecosystem concentration on Tezos create amplified risk, partially offset by conservative 300% collateral ratio and multi-year history.
Youves is the largest DeFi protocol on Tezos, offering synthetic assets (uUSD stablecoin and uBTC) backed by overcollateralized CDPs with $23M TVL. Its C+ grade reflects custom oracle implementation with limited validators, extreme ecosystem concentration as 69.7% of Tezos DeFi, and thin market liquidity that could amplify liquidation cascades.
TVL
$22M
Mechanisms
5
Interactions
4
Value Grade
D-
Key Risks for Youves Users
Youves uses a custom oracle on Tezos rather than established providers like Chainlink. With fewer validators, the oracle may be more vulnerable to manipulation during volatile markets.
Youves accounts for nearly 70% of all DeFi activity on Tezos. If the Tezos ecosystem declines, there may not be enough liquidity to support efficient trading or liquidation.
Synthetic assets like uUSD maintain their peg through arbitrage. On Tezos smaller markets, peg defense is harder during stress periods.
Top Risk Factors
- •uUSD and uBTC synthetic assets rely on a custom oracle on Tezos with limited validator participation, creating higher manipulation risk compared to established oracle networks.
- •300% collateral ratio creates capital inefficiency, and during Tezos ecosystem stress, liquidation may face insufficient buyer demand given Tezos DeFi limited liquidity.
- •As 69.7% of Tezos DeFi TVL, Youves is highly concentrated in a single ecosystem — any Tezos-specific issues directly threaten protocol viability.
- •DAO governance on a low-participation chain means decisions may be controlled by few large holders.
How Youves Compares to Peers
Youves ranks #11 of 25 CDP protocols (above-median). At a risk score of 36/100, it's in line with the sector average (37/100).
Adjacent peers: Reservoir Protocol (B-, 35/100) is ranked just safer, and Bucket CDP (C+, 36/100) is ranked just riskier.
See the full CDP sector leaderboard or the Youves vs Bucket CDP comparison.
Common Questions about Youves
Plain-English answers based on Youves's scores across Hindenrank's 8 risk dimensions. The highest-scoring (riskiest) dimension is Oracle Surface (7/10).
Has Youves ever been hacked or exploited?
Youves has had some operational issues or moderate incidents in its history. The track record dimension scored 6/15 — not catastrophic, but enough to flag. Look at the specific events and whether they were addressed by the team before drawing conclusions.
How much money is at stake in Youves?
Youves currently holds roughly $22M in user deposits. Smaller TVL means individual depositors carry a larger share of any loss event, and it can be harder to exit a position quickly during stress.
What's the worst-case scenario for Youves?
Hindenrank has identified specific collapse scenarios for Youves. The most prominent: "Oracle Manipulation Triggering Cascading CDP Liquidations". The trigger condition is Custom oracle price feed manipulated or delayed 5+ minutes during 20%+ XTZ price drop, triggering incorrect liquidations of vaults above 300% collateral ratio. Reading through the full scenario list on the protocol page is the single best way to understand the actual failure modes — generic "smart contract risk" is rarely the thing that takes a protocol down.
Is Youves regulated or insured?
Youves has low regulatory exposure on Hindenrank's framework (3/10). The protocol is structured in a way that minimizes counterparty and jurisdiction concentration, though regulatory risk in crypto can change rapidly. No DeFi protocol carries FDIC-style insurance — even with low regulatory risk, depositors are not protected in the way bank customers are.
What are the biggest red flags for Youves?
Hindenrank's retail-focused risk audit flagged: Youves uses a custom oracle on Tezos rather than established providers like Chainlink. With fewer validators, the oracle may be more vulnerable to manipulation during volatile markets. Youves accounts for nearly 70% of all DeFi activity on Tezos. If the Tezos ecosystem declines, there may not be enough liquidity to support efficient trading or liquidation. Synthetic assets like uUSD maintain their peg through arbitrage. On Tezos smaller markets, peg defense is harder during stress periods.
Should beginners deposit into Youves?
Youves's C+ grade puts it in the elevated-risk band. This is not a beginner-friendly protocol. Anyone depositing here should treat the position as speculative and avoid concentrating significant savings in it.
How does Youves compare to safer CDP alternatives?
Youves is one protocol in Hindenrank's CDP coverage. The safest CDP protocols on the leaderboard tend to share three traits: a long incident-free track record, conservative mechanism design, and high-quality public documentation. Compare Youves against the full CDP ranking before committing capital.
For the full 8-dimension score breakdown, the radar chart, and dependency graph, see the Youves risk report.
Read the Full Youves Risk Report
This protocol has 2 collapse scenarios. 2 high-severity interaction risks identified. See the full mechanism classification, interaction matrix, and deep-dive recommendations.
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