In decentralised finance, real yield means true profit earned by protocol.
Real yield is sustainable, and usually comes from trade fees or profits: there is user demand for the service and users are willing to pay for it.
The opposite of real yield is subsidised profit, which is paid from the protocol treasury or with minted new token (“printing tokens”).
The most infamous case of non-real yield was Terra’s Anchor protocol that promised “guaranteed 20% Annual Percentage Yield (APY)”.
The yield was funded from Terra’s treasury and then the treasury and token value collapsed, it took Anchor depositors with it.
Decentralised finance
Protocol
Trading strategy
Mercenary capital