APY Calculation: How to Really Understand Crypto Yield

When you see a crypto project offering APY calculation, the real rate you earn on staked or lent crypto after compounding, it’s not just a number—it’s your potential income. But most people don’t realize that 15% APY on one platform isn’t the same as 15% APY on another. Why? Because compounding frequency, how often your earnings are added back to your stake changes everything. A project saying "20% APY" might be compounding daily, while another uses monthly, and that tiny difference can mean hundreds of dollars a year. This isn’t math class—it’s your wallet.

Real staking rewards, crypto earnings from locking up your coins to support a blockchain don’t come from magic. They come from how the network pays validators, and how often those payments get reinvested. If you’re staking ETH on Lido or locking USDC in a liquidity pool, a smart contract where users trade crypto by providing matching pairs of tokens on Uniswap, you’re earning from transaction fees and inflation rewards. But if the platform doesn’t show you the compounding schedule, you’re guessing. Some platforms hide low compounding behind flashy numbers. Others use fake volume to inflate APYs—like a casino showing a big win but never paying out. You need to ask: Is this APY sustainable? Is the project even live? Or is it just a marketing trick?

Look at what happened with tokens like WANA or RNBW. They promised high yields, but the underlying protocols were dead. No trading volume. No users. Just a number on a screen. That’s why APY calculation isn’t just about math—it’s about trust. You can’t trust a 50% APY if the token’s price dropped 99% and no one’s using it. The best yields come from real activity: real users trading, real liquidity moving, real block production. That’s what CoinProven checks before we publish anything. Below, you’ll find real breakdowns of crypto projects that actually deliver on their promises—and the ones that don’t. No fluff. Just what works, what doesn’t, and how to spot the difference before you stake your money.