Qearn

Qearn receives a C+ risk grade (36/100) from Hindenrank, where lower scores indicate lower risk. Moderate risk — novel staking mechanics on an emerging L1 chain provide attractive yields but carry meaningful infrastructure and mechanism-design uncertainty. Qearn is a staking protocol on the Qubic network that lets users lock QUBIC tokens for up to 52 weeks to earn yield from a 100 billion QUBIC weekly emission pool. With roughly 11% of circulating supply locked and $15M in TVL, it uses an innovative early-unlock penalty system where forfeited rewards are partially burned and partially redistributed. The B- risk grade reflects its novel but untested mechanisms on a newer L1 chain with limited documentation.

The key risks identified for Qearn are: (1) Your tokens are locked for up to 52 weeks — early withdrawal means losing a significant portion of your earned rewards through burn penalties that scale with lock duration (2) The yield you earn depends entirely on how many others are staking — if more people lock tokens, your returns shrink; if people leave, rewards temporarily spike but may signal declining confidence (3) Qubic is a relatively new blockchain with less battle-testing than Ethereum or Solana, so there is inherent platform risk for any assets locked in its smart contracts

Qearn scores 36/100 across eight risk dimensions: Mechanism Novelty: 3/15, Interaction Severity: 4/20, Oracle Surface: 0/10, Documentation Gaps: 7/10, Track Record: 8/15, Scale Exposure: 3/10, Regulatory Risk: 4/10, Vitality Risk: 7/10. The highest risk area is Documentation Gaps at 7/10.

Among 68 rated DeFi protocols on Hindenrank, Qearn ranks #35 by safety (lowest risk score = safest). Its 36/100 risk score and C+ grade place it in the middle tier of DeFi protocols.

Qearn scores 8/15 on the Track Record risk dimension, indicating some history of security incidents or exploits. Higher scores reflect more severe or frequent incidents. Review the full risk report for details.