Curve Finance

Value accrual

How much revenue reaches the token, and whether an equity class sits above it

Half of Curve's trading fees plus most crvUSD interest go to veCRV lockers as a weekly crvUSD dividend. The other half of trading fees is LP revenue, so gross fees overstate what the token captures.

You have to lock CRV into veCRV to earn, and unlocked CRV earns nothing. The multiple is on the roughly 50% net revenue, not gross fees.

Thesis

Curve Finance remains the backbone of stablecoin liquidity in DeFi, with $2B+ TVL concentrated in correlated asset pools (3pool, FRAX/USDC, crvUSD pools) where its StableSwap invariant offers 10-100x better slippage than standard AMMs. Despite narrative headwinds from the Michael Egorov liquidation crisis (2024), Curve's core business, stablecoin and LST swaps, has remained resilient with $500M+ in monthly volume generating $80M+ in annualized fees. The veCRV gauge system creates DeFi's most powerful liquidity incentive flywheel. Protocols that want deep Curve liquidity must bribe veCRV holders (via Convex/Votium/Warden) to direct CRV emissions to their pools. This has created a $100M+ annual bribe market where stablecoins, LSTs, and new projects pay ongoing fees to Curve's veToken holders. As long as Curve has the deepest stablecoin liquidity, new stablecoins must pay this 'Curve tax', a structural revenue stream that compounds over time. crvUSD, Curve's native overcollateralized stablecoin, introduces the LLAMMA (Lending-Liquidating AMM Algorithm), a continuous liquidation mechanism that avoids hard liquidations by gradually converting collateral to crvUSD as price drops. This innovation dramatically reduces liquidation risk for borrowers and bad debt risk for the protocol. crvUSD has scaled to $250M+ supply and generates additional interest revenue for the protocol (50% to veCRV holders, 50% to DAO). CRV is the most asymmetric large-cap DeFi token heading into 2026. The Egorov drama resolved, CRV price recovered to $0.40-0.60, and the protocol has rebuilt its reserves. At current prices, CRV FDV is $800M-1B against $80M+ in annual fees, a 10-12x P/S that is cheap for a protocol with near-monopoly status in stablecoin routing. The risk is Curve's governance centralization and Egorov's continued large CRV position creating overhead supply.

Catalysts

• +crvUSD supply scaling to $1B+ as LLAMMA gains adoption
• +New chain deployments (Curve on Sei, Berachain) capturing new liquidity segments
• +Vyper compiler security improvements restoring institutional confidence

Risks

• -Michael Egorov CRV supply overhang, large undisclosed OTC positions
• -Uniswap v4 concentrated liquidity competing in stablecoin swap markets
• -crvUSD bad debt accumulation in volatile market conditions

Common questions