Yield on TON is built from four bricks: staking, DEX liquidity, lending and token incentives. Any “yield strategy” is some combination. This piece is a practical map as of May 2026 — where which APR is available, what risk sits behind the number, and how not to fall for marketing.
The ecosystem base rate
Before reading about double-digit APRs, lock down the “zero level” — what the most risk-free play on TON yields.
Liquid staking via Tonstakers / bemo / Hipo is the base rate. Effective APY ~4–5%. Yield source — TON validator rewards. No impermanent loss, no liquidations, only smart contract risk (mitigated by audits).
Anything above 4–5% per year must be compensated by additional risk. That rule is not opinion — it is market arbitrage logic. If a 20% strategy with staking-grade risk existed, big players would have bought it before you saw it.
iThe base risk formula
Every percentage point above the staking rate is bought with one of four risks: impermanent loss (LP), liquidation (leverage), smart contract risk of a new protocol, or token risk (farm tokens can crash).
Strategy map by risk profile
Low risk (4–7% APY)
1. Liquid staking. Tonstakers, bemo, Hipo. ~4–5% effective APY. Main upside — LST stays liquid. Details in the Tonstakers guide.
2. Stable supply on EVAA. Drop USDT into EVAA, get 4–8% APY depending on utilisation. No volatility, no IL. Fits “crypto deposit” without exchanges. Details in the EVAA Protocol review.
3. Stable LP on DeDust (USDT-USDC). Stable pool with 0.04% fee. Trade-fee APR — 2–5%. IL near zero while stables hold their peg.
Medium risk (8–15% APY)
4. LP on staking-LST pairs. stTON-TON or tsTON-TON pool on DeDust. Base fee plus LST rate growth. Combined yield 6–10%. IL minimal because LST/TON rate moves monotonically.
5. LP on TON-USDT at STON.fi. The most liquid pool on the network. Trade-fee yield — 5–8% APY from volume. If STON.fi runs STON-token farming on this pool, add another 5–10%. But IL is noticeable — TON and USDT diverge in price.
6. Leverage staking via EVAA. Loop: stake TON → get tsTON → pledge tsTON in EVAA → borrow TON → stake again. Leverage ~1.5–2x on the base rate. Effective APY 6–10%, risk — liquidation in shocks.
High risk (15–50%+ APY)
7. Volatile LP in TON-jetton pairs. LP in TON-NOT, TON-DOGS, TON-CATI, TON-STON pools. Trade-fee yield 10–20%, often plus farming incentives. Combined APR 15–35%. Main risk — IL: in sharp jetton moves the dollar return can be below simple holding.
8. Microcap jetton LP. Small new-project pools with APR of 50–200%. Works on “eat a lot of farm token, sell quickly”. Real economics for 90% of these pools is negative — the farm token depreciates faster than you receive it.
9. Leveraged LP. Pledge LP token in lending, borrow more, add to LP again. APR in tens of percent. Risk — multi-cascade liquidation in strong moves.
How to compute real yield
Marketing APR does not equal your real yield. What to subtract:
- Entry and exit fees. 0.30% on a swap, 0.1–0.3 TON gas. On $500 starting capital that is 1–2%.
- Impermanent loss. Depends on price movement. Calculator: a 50% asset move in standard CPMM gives ~5.7% IL.
- Taxes (where applicable in your jurisdiction).
- Farm token drop. If you receive STON or DUST as a reward, compute APR at the token price on exit, not entry.
Realistic formula: net APR = quoted APR − ~5% friction − expected IL.
If quoted APR is 25% and expected IL over the period is 15%, net APR is 5%. Same outcome as plain staking with less risk.
What is “expensive” and “cheap” right now
Map for May 2026:
| Strategy | Current APR | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Liquid staking (tsTON/stTON/hTON) | 4–5% | Stable |
| EVAA supply USDT | 5–7% | Rising |
| EVAA supply TON | 1–3% | Stable |
| EVAA borrow TON | 4–7% | Stable |
| DeDust stable LP (USDT-USDC) | 3–5% | Falling (low volume) |
| STON.fi V2 stable LP (TON-USDT) | 6–10% | Stable |
| STON.fi V1 farming (TON-USDT + STON) | 10–20% | Depends on incentives |
| Volatile LP (TON-NOT) | 15–30% (farm) | High volatility |
The trend over the last year is a gradual decline in “artificially boosted” APRs from token drops, with all rates converging toward the fundamental base. That is a healthy maturity signal but bad news for high-yield hunters.
CTAs on the key protocols
Tonstakers
Base staking channel. 4–5% APY, 1 TON minimum, tsTON works in DeFi.
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STON.fi
Main DEX for LP and farming programmes. Combined APR in active pools 10–25%.
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DeDust
Stable pools with 0.04% fee and limit orders. Useful for arbitrage and stable LP.
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A practical portfolio shape
Not financial advice — just an example for a retail user with a 1–3 year horizon.
- 40% — liquid staking. Tonstakers, with a slice into bemo and Hipo for smart contract diversification.
- 20% — supply USDT in EVAA. Steady 5–7% with no IL.
- 20% — LP on stable pairs (stTON-TON, USDT-USDC). Base fee plus LST appreciation.
- 15% — volatile LP in farming programmes. The main active position, requires monitoring.
- 5% — experimental strategies (microcap LP, leveraged plays). Risk capped by position size.
Expected portfolio APR is roughly 6–10% under moderate risk. Comparable to a dividend strategy on equities, but in crypto.
!No guarantees
Any DeFi APR number is historical statistics plus a current market snapshot. They change daily. If a strategy “promises 30% per year” it is marketing, not a contract. Plan for 50–70% of the quoted figure.
What commonly breaks
- Chasing high APR without checking the protocol. A new fork at 100% APR lives until the team pulls liquidity.
- Ignoring IL. In a volatile pool a sharp asset move can wipe out the entire APR. IL calculators are non-negotiable.
- Ignoring gas. A strategy with 50 transactions per week on $200 eats yield in gas. Minimum size for most strategies — $1000+.
- Not diversifying. One protocol, one risk. Every strategy must answer “what if this contract breaks”.
- Not exiting. Profit compounding is great, but quarterly rebalance and pull realised gains into stables or native TON.
Next
Detailed deep-dives: STON.fi, DeDust, Tonstakers, EVAA.
Sources
- DeFiLlama TON ecosystem — TVL and protocol histories.
- ston.fi, dedust.io, tonstakers.com, evaa.finance docs — for specific pool parameters.
- tonstat.com — on-chain network metrics.
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