Rate alone is a misleading way to choose a vault, because in lending markets an unusually high rate is usually compensation for something. The score is an attempt to put the thing being compensated for on the same screen as the compensation.
Use the score when choosing a vault
- 1
Open Earn and look at the score before the APY.
- 2
Compare vaults on score first, then rate.
A slightly lower rate at a materially higher score is usually the better trade for money you are not prepared to lose.
- 3
Check the score again before adding to an existing position.
Scores are re-evaluated as conditions change; the one you deposited at is not necessarily the one you hold at.
Good to know
- The score is our assessment, not a rating agency's, and not a guarantee. It is a risk signal, and no signal makes a smart-contract position risk-free.
- Scores drive routing, so a low-scoring venue may not be offered at all rather than merely being flagged.
- Where a vault's own programme pays in points rather than yield, the app shows the observed APY as it actually is — including zero — rather than presenting a points programme as a rate.
Frequently asked
Broadly: how concentrated or unusual its collateral is, how much value it holds, how long and how cleanly it has operated, and how much of its return depends on incentives rather than genuine borrowing demand.
No. It means the venue looks materially less risky than a low-scoring one. Every on-chain vault carries smart-contract risk that no score removes.
You are alerted, and if the drop breaches the defence threshold and you granted an auto-sweep session, Treasury Auto-Defense can exit the position to liquid USDC for you. Without that grant it alerts and leaves the decision to you.
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