October turned resilience to momentum. With $270M TVL, a Kraken listing for $YALA, and MiCAR compliance secured, Yala kept advancing its role in shaping the next phase of Bitcoin yield.

October at a Glance

• $270M TVL & $200M BTC deposits → All-time highs prove renewed confidence and accelerating adoption.
• Kraken listing → $YALA trading goes live on one of the world's leading exchanges.
• Market stress test passed → $YU maintained $1 peg during significant market volatility.
• Protocol innovation → YALA staking development well underway, $sYU development initiated, AI Trading Agent Arena designed.
• Ecosystem momentum → Base yields hitting 48.24%, expanded voting incentives, and Yield Madness series continues.

If you only remember three things: TVL hit new highs, institutional recognition arrived, and we're building the future of Bitcoin yield.

Ecosystem & Adoption Expansion

October proved that trust compounds faster once earned. Within weeks, Yala regained market confidence and reached new highs across every key metric.

Record-Breaking Growth

The numbers tell the story:

• $270.36M TVL: An all-time high, surpassing pre-incident levels

• Nearly $200M in Bitcoin deposits: Clear proof that Bitcoin holders see Yala as the yield standard

Productive Bitcoin > Idle Bitcoin. 

The market has made it clear: Bitcoin deserves to work. Yield-generating infrastructure is becoming an essential layer of the Bitcoin economy, and October proved why.

During the October market liquidations, $YU held steady at $1, its stability grounded in conservative collateral ratios and Bitcoin-backed architecture built to withstand volatility.

Driving Growth Through Cross-Ecosystem Yields

Yala’s momentum continues to be fueled by $YU’s capacity to unlock premium yields across ecosystems. Building on September’s integration progress, $YU delivered top-tier returns that consistently outperformed traditional stablecoin strategies:

High yields across multiple chains aren't just attractive, they're the reason capital keeps flowing in.

Kraken Listing: Expanding $YALA's Reach

With $YU gaining traction across DeFi ecosystems, $YALA is now stepping onto a global stage. On October 22, $YALA went live on Kraken, one of the world's most trusted and regulated cryptocurrency exchanges. This listing marks a major milestone for accessibility, bringing Yala's governance token to both institutional and retail traders through a platform known for rigorous listing standards.

MiCAR Compliance: Building Europe-Ready Infrastructure

Yala published its MiCAR-compliant white paper, setting the foundation for operations under Europe's new Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation. More than a regulatory checkbox, the MiCAR alignment highlights Yala’s focus on transparency, strong governance, and the standards expected from institutional-grade DeFi.

Read the full white paper: yala.org/micar-whitepaper.pdf

Security Partnership with ExVul

To reinforce protocol security and user trust, Yala entered a long-term partnership with ExVul, a leading blockchain security firm. The collaboration establishes ongoing smart-contract monitoring and protection, ensuring Yala maintains institutional-grade security infrastructure.

It also strengthens Yala’s foundation of security, trust, and operational excellence within Bitcoin DeFi.

Protocol Developments

While refining core systems, Yala's development team continued advancing infrastructure that lay the groundwork for the next phase of Bitcoin yield innovation.

$YALA Staking

Development of $YALA staking is now complete, a program designed to encourage long-term participation by rewarding holders who lock tokens over time. The staking flow is streamlined: stake, and earn. With smart-contract logic, tiered reward mechanics, and UI finalization, YALA staking is launch-ready and positioned as a primary mechanism to align holders with the protocol’s long-term value creation.

$sYU: The Yield-Accruing Stable Asset

Yala has begun development of $sYU, a yield-accruing stable asset backed by protocol revenue, primarily derived from vaults’ stability fee. $sYU is designed to capture and compound yield directly in its value, allowing users to earn simply by holding. October’s focus was on system architecture, frontend design and reserve composition, establishing $sYU as a future core asset for sustainable yield strategies and composable DeFi integrations.

AI Trading Agent: Autonomous Yield Discovery

Yala is actively exploring how AI can democratize DeFi strategy execution. This month marked the start of the AI Trading Agent Arena, where autonomous agents compete to deliver optimal yield strategies. The initiative opens diverse product possibilities: from personalized yield advisors that recommend strategies based on user risk profiles, to fully autonomous portfolio managers that rebalance positions across protocols, to competitive agent marketplaces where strategies prove themselves through live performance. The goal is clear: identify and scale the models that deliver the most consistent and intelligent yield outcomes.

Community Momentum

October's community initiatives centered on education, dialogue with ecosystem partners, and rewarding those who build alongside us.

Yield Madness Series Continues

• Yield Madness #2: Penpie 

We unpacked Penpie's boosted yield mechanics, exploring how Penpie holds nearly 30% of Pendle's voting power, the vlPNP locking mechanism, and how $PNP holders earn incentive rewards from partners like Yala. The conversation highlighted why Penpie has become essential infrastructure for anyone optimizing Pendle yields.

• Yield Madness #3: Equilibria

Episode 3 featured Equilibria, diving into the "Neon Green dynamics" driving sustainable yield, how Equilibria transforms boosted yields into ecosystem-defining performance, and strategic approaches to vePENDLE power maximization.These sessions build shared intelligence across the DeFi ecosystem.

Rewarding Community Participation

Knowledge sharing matters, but so does recognition. Throughout October, Yala’s incentive programs rewarded those who actively contributed to liquidity and governance, turning participation into tangible value.

Governance & Voting Incentives

• Penpie Voting Market: Yala deployed up to $10,200 USDC per week, with APRs reaching 99% on Base and 57% on Ethereum, ensuring vlPNP voters channeled vePENDLE power toward $YU pools.
• Equilibria Voting Market: Up to $4,800 USDC per week supported vlEQB holders directing vePENDLE power to $YU pools.
• Lending Protocol Incentives: 25,000 $YU rewards went live on Euler Finance for USDC suppliers, delivering 16.84% APY on $3.97M in total supply.

Community Engagement

Season 2's Double Berries program continues through December 8, doubling points across qualified activities and amplifying rewards for long-term contributors.

When the community votes, provides liquidity, and engages across DeFi protocols, Yala ensures their contributions are recognized and rewarded.

What's Next: November & Beyond

October reaffirmed Yala's resilience. November is about expansion, innovation, and cementing Yala's position as the Bitcoin yield infrastructure of choice.

Exploring X402 Payment Rail

As Yala advances into AI agent infrastructure, a clear need is emerging: in the agent-driven economy, money must move as autonomously as intelligence itself. Built on the emerging x402 protocol, an HTTP-native payment standard that enables instant, account-free stablecoin transactions, Yala is preparing the financial layer for this new paradigm. Managing crypto assets across multiple chains for agents, especially for micro-payments like model inference, data access, or agent-to-agent collaboration, quickly becomes unmanageable at scale. Yala’s work with x402 aims to remove that friction, enabling agents to transact seamlessly across ecosystems.

Expanding $YU Circulation

This month, the focus shifts from building to broadening access. We’ll continue deepening integrations across Base-native DeFi, ensuring YU can move seamlessly through lending, swapping, liquidity provision, and yield pathways. The points model will evolve to reward meaningful participation and sustained contribution.

$sYU is Coming

With $sYU launching soon, Yala will open new yield opportunities for users. As a yield-bearing stable asset backed by protocol revenue, $sYU will soon integrate across DeFi platforms, allowing users to earn across multiple yield paths, holding, lending, liquidity provision, and beyond. Liquidity provisioning, routing pathways, and UI integrations are underway to position $sYU as a core asset within Yala’s cross-chain ecosystem.

AI Agent Arena Framework

Yala will finalize the structure and user flows for the AI Trading Agent Arena, defining how users discover, observe, and select agents. This sets the stage for upcoming agent onboarding, evaluation systems, and gameplay-inspired strategy exploration, bridging AI intelligence with DeFi participation.

October tested Yala's foundation and proved it solid. With record-high TVL, institutional recognition through Kraken and MiCAR compliance, and cutting-edge protocol development, Yala continues to define what Bitcoin yield infrastructure should be.

The mission remains unchanged: make Bitcoin yield safe, simple, and accessible for institutions, builders, and everyday holders alike.

Join the Yala Community

Yala is a native Bitcoin liquidity protocol that channels BTC into yield opportunities across DeFi and RWAs.

Bitcoin holders unlock capital through self-custodial, liquidation-free borrowing by minting $YU, a BTC-backed liquidity asset. In this process, they pay a stability fee directly to $YU depositors, effectively exchanging BTC-backed exposure for portable, capital-efficient liquidity and access to yield without giving up ownership.

Yala’s SmartVault module manages system risk and ensures efficient yield distribution.

Website | Twitter | Telegram | Discord | Docs