About Yuanbao Academy

Who we are

Yuanbao Academy is an independent explainer site run by one ordinary coin holder — Bao Shu — who got burned chasing high APYs and now only touches yield he can actually explain, plus a small editorial team. We cover one thing: how to take the USDT, BTC and other coins you're holding and put them into an exchange's earn and yield products so they earn a steady little yield, instead of sitting idle in a wallet.

The name pairs "yuanbao" — the little gold ingots Chinese families once saved up, a bit at a time — with "academy", a place to learn the rules together. That's the attitude in a nutshell: not getting rich overnight, just accumulating the part of the yield on idle money you can understand and hold onto. We're not an exchange, not a platform, and we don't custody any of your assets. We just lay out the rules, the risks and the steps so you can make your own decisions.

Lead writer: Bao Shu

I came in at the tail end of the 2017 bull run, putting my first money in almost at the top, then watched the account shrink through the 2018 bear market and sat through the 2021 mania and its year-end comedown. After living through two full bull-and-bear cycles, I'm basically immune to get-rich-quick stories.

What actually changed how I invest was one specific lesson. At the peak of the DeFi craze in 2021, I parked a not-small chunk of USDT in a triple-digit-APY "yield farm." For the first two weeks the returns really did climb the way the screenshots promised — I even posted mine in a group chat. Then over a single weekend the team killed the contract permissions, drained the pool and disappeared. The "APY" went to zero along with the principal. That's when it finally clicked: a high yield you can't explain isn't interest at all. It's someone gambling with your money, and you don't even know what the bet is or who's on the other side.

Since then I only touch products where I can explain where the yield comes from — the flexible, fixed-term and staking products on exchanges, with rules written out and a worst case you can estimate. The yield isn't high, but I sleep at night. What Yuanbao Academy is trying to do is help ordinary people, the way I once was, walk that "only earn yield you can explain" path more smoothly.

To be clear: I am not a licensed investment adviser, and I don't manage money for anyone. Nothing here is investment advice. All I can offer is the experience and the checking habits of someone who's already fallen into the holes — when you're unsure, check the exchange's own product-page rules yourself, or consult a qualified professional. Articles on the site are polished jointly by Bao Shu and the editorial team. We don't pile on titles or invent credentials — rather than "how authoritative we are," we care whether a given piece actually helped you think the thing through.

How we write

Our topics don't come out of thin air. We look at the questions readers write in about most, and at what people are actually searching for, then decide what to cover — so most of what you see here is something real people are stuck on. For every article we've set ourselves a few hard rules:

• Where the yield comes from first, then the worst case. For each product type, we explain who's actually paying that yield and why, then spell out how badly it can go, and only then talk about APY. The APY is floating and not principal-protected — we're never vague about that.
• We cross-check against the exchanges' own materials, line by line. For the things that are easy to get wrong — rules, fees, lock-up periods — we go back to the exchange's own pages. Official explainers like Binance Academy and OKX Learn are sources we keep open while writing. Rules change at any time, so the official page at the moment you act is what counts.
• If we can test it ourselves, we test it first. For articles that cover steps, we walk through the flow on a real account and write down where people get stuck and the numbers and prompts we actually saw — rather than copying the help docs.
• No hype, no promised numbers. We won't tell you "put this in and you'll safely make X in a year," because no one can guarantee that. The calculator shows a mathematical ceiling — an assumption, not a promise.
• If we get it wrong, we fix it in the open. Rules change, and we make mistakes too. When we spot a problem we correct it and log it in our corrections, so you can see what changed, why, and when.

Why we only recommend Binance and OKX

We only write about and recommend two exchanges: Binance and OKX. Not because they're risk-free — every exchange has risk — but because, by comparison, they have the widest earn product range, relatively clear rule disclosure, and are easy for beginners. The more honest reason: this is where we keep most of our own coins, which is why we can write the specifics and why we feel comfortable recommending them at all. The screenshots, numbers and gotchas in our articles mostly come from our own accounts.

An honest accounting: if you sign up through our links (invite code BNB2628 at Binance, OK2628 at OKX), the exchange pays us a referral fee, and that's how the site keeps running. But rest assured, that money doesn't change how honestly we cover risk — our income comes from "you choosing to sign up," not from "how much you lose or make," so we have no incentive to talk up a yield or bury a risk. And the invite code works in your favor: it gets you a trading-fee discount that's yours to keep. Exactly how that fee works and why it doesn't sway our judgment is laid out on our disclosure page, which we suggest you read. We never impersonate any official channel, and all exchange links go through an on-site redirect page. Availability and products differ by region; US users in particular face restrictions (Binance.US is a separate entity, and some products aren't available there).

What we don't do

There's money we won't take and things we won't do, and the line is sharp:

• No calls, no chasing pumps. We never post "buy this now" or "get in quick" signals. This site is about steady yield, not short-term punts.
• No price predictions. No one can reliably call whether BTC is up or down next week, and we won't pretend to. Anyone who states a direction with total certainty is either guessing or selling you something.
• No managing your money, no touching your funds. We won't operate your account, we'll never ask you to send coins to us, and there's no "custody" or "copy-trading" service. Your coins stay in your own account, always.
• No guaranteed returns. APY floats and isn't principal-protected. We promise no "sure-thing" number — if you see "guaranteed principal, high yield," walk away.
• No selling "tips / insider info / paid groups." We don't charge membership for "insider signals," we don't sell so-called inside information, and we won't pull you into a paid chat. The articles are public; our only revenue is the referral fee described above, and that's it.

Contact and corrections promise

Questions, feedback, or spot something we got wrong? Write to [email protected]. Please tell us which article, which paragraph, and how what you saw differs from what we wrote, so we can check it. Here's our promise: for every error a reader points out, we go back and verify it against the exchange's official materials; anything confirmed, we fix as soon as we can and log openly — what changed, why, and when — in our corrections. More ways to reach us are on the contact page.

Last updated: 2026-06-08