How Underscore generates revenue and what happens with it
Underscore generates revenue through fees on value-generating activities. Most of that revenue comes from a 20% performance fee on vault profits, so the protocol earns when vault users earn. 100% of protocol revenue is used to buy back $RIPE in the open market.
The largest source of protocol revenue comes from Underscore Earn Vaults. That includes both Core Vaults and Amplified Vaults.
Fee: 20% of yield profits
Applied to: Profits only, never principal
When charged: When yield is realized
Example: A vault generates $100,000 in yield across all depositors
$20,000 → Protocol revenue
$80,000 → Distributed to depositors via increased share price
Vault performance fees scale with protocol TVL and yield performance, making this the primary revenue driver as Underscore grows.
Charged on token swaps executed through Underscore wallets.
Fee: 0.25% of trade amount
Applied to: All swaps (including stablecoin pairs)
Example: $10,000 swap → $25 fee
Charged when claiming rewards from integrated protocols (MORPHO, WELL, AERO, etc.).
Fee: 20% of claimed rewards
Applied to: External protocol incentives only
Example: Claim $200 in MORPHO rewards → $40 fee
No fees on:
Transfers between wallets
Deposits and withdrawals
Idle funds
Debt operations (borrowing/repaying)
Liquidity provision
ETH/WETH wrapping
100% of protocol revenue is used to buy back $RIPE in the open market.
As Underscore usage grows, buyback demand scales with it and flows back into the broader ecosystem.
Verify onchain: View current fee parameters in the Params Explorer.
Vault Performance
20% of yield
Largest (scales with TVL)
Swap Fees
0.25% of amount
Medium
External Rewards
20% of claims
Smaller
100% of revenue → $RIPE bought back in the open market
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