> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.atlasyield.club/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Pillars and factors

> Four pillars, sixteen factors, one 0–100 number.

Every covered vault is scored 0–100 across four pillars built from sixteen underlying
factors. Fifteen factors contribute additively within their pillar; the sixteenth,
exploit history, acts as a **multiplier on the entire Safety pillar** — a protocol with a
serious prior incident cannot average the damage away. An incident counts only if it hit
the contracts we score and left depositors with an uncovered loss; incidents in legacy or
adjacent products, integrators, or fully reimbursed events are recorded but not scored.

The pillars combine into the composite in a way that punishes imbalance: a vault cannot
paper over a weak pillar with a strong one. A fragile vault paying a huge yield stays a
fragile vault.

<Info>
  On purpose, AtlasYield does **not** publish exact weights, formulas, or thresholds:
  a score you can game is a score no one should trust. The factors below are described at
  concept level.
</Info>

## Pillar 1 — Yield

Not just how much a vault pays, but how trustworthy that yield is.

| Factor | What it measures |
| - | - |
| Yield level | Current payout, read in the context of its asset class — a high headline number is weighed against the risk taken to earn it. |
| APY stability | How steady the yield has been; wild week-to-week swings read as lower quality. |
| APY persistence | Whether the yield has endured rather than spiking briefly and collapsing. |
| Yield source | Where the return actually comes from — real lending demand, trading fees, or temporary incentives — and how legible that source is. |

## Pillar 2 — Safety

How likely the vault is to lose principal to a failure, an exploit, or bad governance.

| Factor | What it measures |
| - | - |
| Audit quality | Depth and credibility of the protocol's security reviews — who did them and how thorough they were. Firms are tiered by reputation (tier 1: Trail of Bits, OpenZeppelin, Spearbit/Cantina, ChainSecurity, Certora, Sigma Prime, Consensys Diligence, OtterSec, Zellic, or formal verification by any firm). Only audits of the contracts we score count, and an audit older than 24 months counts for less. |
| Protocol maturity | Time live holding real money — evidence that survives no other test. |
| TVL depth (safety) | How much capital sits in the vault; deeper pools are harder to manipulate. |
| TVL stability | Whether deposits are steady or prone to sudden flight. |
| Admin topology | Who can change the vault and how fast, read per vault every day: timelocks, multisig strength (strong = 3+ signers and a majority), and for a single admin key, the curator's track record (40 established, 10 unknown or new). Never below 10. |
| Chain security | The settlement assurance of the chain underneath the vault — whether it settles its own state, who operates the sequencer, and whether you keep a permissionless exit if that operator censors or halts. |
| Exploit history | Whether the protocol has been broken before. Works as a multiplier on the whole pillar. |

## Pillar 3 — Liquidity

How reliably you can get your money back out — quickly, in full, and at size.

| Factor | What it measures |
| - | - |
| Withdrawal type | Instant on demand, or through a queue, cooldown, or lock-up. |
| TVL depth (liquidity) | Whether the pool is deep enough to exit a real position without moving the price against yourself. |

## Pillar 4 — Sustainability

Whether the yield is built to last — or quietly living on borrowed time.

| Factor | What it measures |
| - | - |
| Emission dependency | How much of the return leans on token incentives that can be cut at any time. |
| Asset risk | The risk of the underlying asset itself — even a flawless vault inherits the fate of what it holds. |
| Utilization health | For lending markets, whether utilization sits in a healthy band rather than pinned dangerously high. |


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