$farm vs $ifarm vs $fasset - the ultimate guide

Harvest Finance is a platform for automated yield-farming. It’s the largest automated yield-farming aggregator in DeFi and consistently delivers new farming strategies with new tokens to ensure its users always have access to the highest yields in DeFi.

Not only that, but Harvest is continuously evolving and innovating over time. They introduce new types of assets and pools native to the Harvest ecosystem to better serve their users and maximize their profits.

It’s great really. Chad farmers and DeFi degens absolutely love Harvest Finance for this. But what about the newbies?

With the introduction of numerous Harvest native assets and strategies over time, Harvest can seem a little overwhelming to newbies. 

But don’t fret young grasshoppers, I’m here to explain everything.

What is FARM Token?

$FARM token logo

$FARM is the native cryptocurrency of Harvest Finance and is at the core of the Harvest ecosystem. $FARM serves primarily as the cashflow and governance token of Harvest and was released when Harvest Finance launched on September 1, 2020. 

$FARM token address is: 0xa0246c9032bC3A600820415aE600c6388619A14D

Cashflow 

• Yield farmers on the Harvest platform are rewarded with $FARM rewards for most yield farming strategies in addition to other token rewards.
• 30% of the profits generated by Harvest yield farmers is used to buy $FARM on the open market en masse. This $FARM is then distributed to $FARM stakers in the Profit Sharing Pool and the price of $FARM is subject to a consistant buy pressure as a result.
• $FARM token holders can stake $FARM in the Profit Sharing Pool to earn a portion of 30% of the profits generated by yield-farmers on Harvest 
• The $FARM staked in the Profit Sharing Pool is automatically compounded upon every interaction with the pool.
• $FARM token emissions are reduced by 4.45% every week until week 208 (27 August 2024)
• $FARM token distribution is as follows; 70% for liquidity providers, 10% rewards to the operational treasury, and 20% rewards to the team for building Harvest.

Governance

• The $FARM token is used to determine voting power in Harvest governance proposals on the snapshot governance page which can be found here.

How to get $FARM?

You can get $FARM in four different ways:

1. Buy $FARM on Decentralized Exchanges (DEXes): Uniswap, 1INCH Exchange, 0xProtocol, Balancer, SushiSwap, Loopring AMM, and more.
2. Buy $FARM on centralized exchanges (CEXes): Gate.io, Poloniex, HotBit, and more.
3. Deposit/stake digital assets (ERC-20 tokens and fASSETS) in Harvest yield farming pools (Vaults) to earn token rewards + $FARM rewards.
4. Deposit/stake $FARM in the Profit Sharing Pool to earn more $FARM. Keep your $FARM staked longer to earn even more from auto compounding $FARM rewards.

What is iFARM Token?

$iFARM token logo

$iFARM is an ERC-20 token that represents interest-bearing $FARM deposited into the Harvest Finance Profit Sharing (PS) Pool. $iFARM appreciates in value over time by collecting its fair share from the 30% of profits that are shared with the stakers of $FARM in PS.

$iFARM token address: 0x1571eD0bed4D987fe2b498DdBaE7DFA19519F651

Things to Know about $iFARM:

• $iFARM tokens can be transferred like any other ERC-20 token and continue to earn yield (they don’t need to be locked). You can transfer them from one address to another without the necessity of withdrawing FARM from the Profit Sharing Pool.
• $iFARM tokens can be used as collateral in various DeFi applications while the $FARM tokens they represent continue to earn yield and auto-compound in the Profit Sharing Pool.
• When depositing $FARM to the Profit Sharing Pool, you have the option to opt-in to $iFARM and receive $iFARM tokens. If you opt-in, your deposited $FARM tokens go to the iFARM Vault and are automatically staked into the auto-compounding Profit Sharing Pool.
• When you opt-in to using $iFARM, the gas fee for depositing $FARM into the Profit Sharing Pool is less than half you would pay without opting in (250,000 GAS to 88,000 GAS).
• The value of $iFARM is always directly related to $FARM as it’s simply a receipt for depositing $FARM to the Profit Sharing Pool via the iFARM Vault.
• You can buy $iFARM from the market and withdraw the corresponding amount of $FARM anytime - in other words, withdraws from PS can be done via any wallet that holds $iFARM

How to get $iFARM?

You can get $iFARM in two different ways:

1. When depositing $FARM tokens to the Profit Sharing Pool, opt-in to using $iFARM by selecting the “Use iFARM” box before you deposit your $FARM. Once you deposit $FARM into the Profit Sharing Pool, you will receive interest-bearing $iFARM tokens that represent your stake in the Profit Sharing Pool.
2. $iFARM tokens are transferable ERC-20 tokens and can be traded on the open market. You can trade $iFARM tokens peer-to-peer with people directly or on a decentralized exchange (DEX) like QuickSwap (1st March 2021) with DEXs like Uniswap coming soon. 

What is an fASSET?

$fASSET logos in a Harvest Finance field

An $fAsset is the yield-bearing version of any deposited digital asset in a Harvest Finance Vault. When digital assets (tokens like ETH or $SUSHI) are deposited into Harvest Vaults, they are automatically put to work using the Harvest algorithm and sophisticated strategies. fAssets play the same role of a receipt of your deposit that can be freely traded on the DEX markets. 

fASSET token contracts can be found here.

Things to Know about $fASSETs:

• $fAssets are represented as tokens with an “f” in front of them like fDAI, fUSDC, fWBTC, etc. 
• $fAssets are automatically appreciating in value earning interest and can be redeemed at any time for their underlying asset (ie. fDAI for DAI, fUSDC for USDC, fWBTC for WBTC, etc.).
• You can choose to stake $fAssets in eligible Harvet pools to start earning $FARM rewards.
• fAssets play an integral role in the tracking of APY and $FARM rewards earned in the Harvest Finance protocol.
• $fAssets are composable and can be used in various DeFi applications.
• $fAssets can be transferred like any other ERC-20 token and continue to earn yield (they don’t need to be locked in).

How to get $fASSETs?

You can get fAssets in two different ways:

1. The primary way to get $fAssets is by depositing tokens into a Harvest Finance Vault and receive fAssets in return. 
2. $fAssets can be traded on the open market. You can trade $fAssets peer-to-peer with people directly or on a decentralized exchange (DEX) like Uniswap.