tl;dr: A “relatively” user-friendly way to take advantage of DeFi’s high-yield opportunities.

One of the things that is most appealing about the world of Decentralized Finance (aka “DeFi’) is the numerous high (and in some cases, really high) yield opportunities on your money.

This is even more appealing because of the low yields in the world of traditional finance.

WARNING: I want to be clear…the following is NOT financial advice. Nor is it guaranteed or insured. Do NOT put more at risk than you can afford to lose.

With that out of the way, here’s an opportunity to give yourself access to APYs on your cash that is in excess of 40% per year.

As of the time of this writing, the trailing APY was 55.15.%

The opportunity is on Origin Protocol through their OUSD offering.

WARNING 2: It’s important to know that Origin Protocol was the victim of a hack a few months ago. They offered a detailed compensation plan and then delivered on it. have since relaunched with changes., Still, it’s a good reminder of the risks inherent in all things blockchain.

Ok, now that we’ve made the risks abundantly clear, here’s the opportunity.

Expected costs: You’ll probably pay close to $10 in transaction fees to get this opportunity, depending on a number of variable, so you’ll want to keep that in mind as well.

Also, if you need to buy Ether, you may have to pay a commission as well.

Call it the cost of doing business.

Steps to Taking Advantage of DeFi High Yield Rates

1. If you don’t have it already, install MetaMask extension in your browser. Make sure you back it up, if you haven’t already.
2. Go to wherever you buy your crypto now (assuming you do, e.g. Coinbase)
3. Exchange USD for USDC, DAI, or Tether (obviously, you may need to fund your account with USD first).
4. Buy a small amount of Ether ($10-!5 at a minimum)
5. Find the address of your Metamask wallet
6. Send the USDC/DAI/Tether you just purchased to your own Metamask wallet
7. Also send ETH to your Metamask wallet
8. Go to https://ousd.com/mint
9. Connect your Metamask wallet to the Origin site
10. See if the interest rate is appealing to you
11. Mint OUSD by approving the transaction in Metamask
12. Don’t forget about it

Are there a lot of steps? Yes.

Is there some hassle and friction? Absolutely.

But that’s why the yields are what they are.

In a high-friction world, the barriers to opportunity are high…but if you’re willing to traverse them, the rewards can be high as well.

Up to you.