Pharaoh Exchange

Pharaoh Exchange’s current economics are protocol-capture heavy versus LP-capture.

Observed fee/revenue split (most recent 24h window):

• Total fees (24h): $10.4K
• Protocol revenue (24h): $8.7K
• LP fees (24h): $1.7K
• LP share of fees: 16.3%
• Protocol take rate: 83.7% (i.e., most fees accrue to the protocol rather than LPs)

Longer windows:

• Fees (7d): $180.2K
• Fees (30d): $787.4K
• All-time fees: $4.4M vs all-time revenue: $4.3M (implies very high protocol capture over time)
• Fee history depth: 147 days

Scale & activity context: with $32.1M TVL and $63.2M 24h volume (and $1.58B 30d volume), Pharaoh is meaningfully traded relative to locked liquidity, but LPs only directly capture ~16% of fees under the current split.

What this means for earning: base “swap-fee APY” for LPs is structurally constrained. Most LP returns shown in pool dashboards are therefore expected to come from reward incentives (emissions) rather than from organic fee flow.

Pharaoh is a concentrated liquidity DEX on Avalanche, so LP outcomes depend heavily on price range management (active) and impermanent loss (IL) (volatile pairs). Pool yields shown are currently almost entirely rewards (base APY is 0.0% across listed pools).

Top pools (TVL-weighted leaders):

Risk-adjusted takeaways:

• Conservative: stablecoin pools (e.g., USDT-USDC) minimize IL but yields are low (~1–2% recently).
• Balanced: majors vs AVAX (e.g., BTC.B-WAVAX, WETH.E-WAVAX) target mid yields (~18–33%) with meaningful IL and range-management considerations.
• Aggressive: WAVAX-USDC at ~248% APY is high-yield but exposed to AVAX moves and concentrated-liquidity “out-of-range” risk.

Market-wide skew: weighted avg APY 69.3% vs median APY 11.3% indicates a few heavily incentivized pools dominate returns.

No concrete, user-actionable staking product details are available (no disclosed single-token staking APY/APR, lock durations, ve/escrow terms, or auto-compounding parameters).

What is measurable today is that earning on Pharaoh is primarily expressed through LP positions with reward incentives:

• 11 of 12 pools currently show reward incentives.
• Listed pools show base APY = 0.0%, with all yield coming from reward APY (e.g., WAVAX-USDC reward APY 248.5%, BTC.B-WAVAX 32.8%, USDT-USDC 1.3%).

Practical alternative for “passive income” users:

• Use the most stable pool (USDT-USDC) for low-variance returns (~1–2% recently) if your priority is minimizing IL.
• If you can tolerate some volatility but want less management than very tight concentrated ranges, prefer deeper, blue-chip pools (e.g., BTC.B-WAVAX, WETH.E-WAVAX) and consider wider ranges (lower capital efficiency, potentially lower fee density).

Until staking/locking terms are explicitly published with APYs and conditions, Pharaoh should be treated as an LP-and-rewards-first earning venue rather than a staking-first platform.

Pharaoh’s measurable incentive engine is liquidity mining-style rewards paid to LPs, visible directly in pool yields.

Evidence from current pool set:

• 11 / 12 pools have explicit reward incentives.
• For the major pools, reward APY equals total APY (base APY shown as 0.0%), implying emissions/rewards are the dominant (often only) yield source.
• Examples of current incentive intensity:
  • WAVAX-USDC: 248.5% APY (all rewards), $6.7M TVL, 30d avg APY 239.7%
  • BTC.B-WAVAX: 32.8% APY (all rewards), $4.3M TVL
  • WETH.E-WAVAX: 26.0% APY (all rewards), $3.0M TVL
  • USDT-USDC: 1.3% APY (rewards), $10.9M TVL

Eligibility rule (observable): provide liquidity in an incentivized pool to earn the reward APY displayed for that pool.

What is not evidenced: no verifiable details are available on named “seasons,” points programs, referral rebates, trading competitions, or explicit reward token schedules/lockups.

Implication for earners: incentive yields can be attractive (e.g., triple-digit APYs), but they are also the most likely to change over time; monitor the 30d average APY vs current APY (e.g., WAVAX-USDC is consistently high, while some smaller pools show large APY regime shifts).

Below are actionable playbooks mapped to the APYs currently observable in Pharaoh’s top pools (noting yields are largely reward-driven).

🛡️ Conservative (capital preservation)

1) Provide liquidity to USDT-USDC (stable/stable): target ~1–2% APY (current 1.3%, 30d avg 1.7%).

2) Optionally split a smaller tranche into AVUSD-USDC to modestly increase yield: ~1–5% APY (current 4.9%, 30d avg 1.0%).

Goal: minimize IL and avoid active range management.

⚖️ Balanced (moderate risk/reward)

1) Allocate across BTC.B-WAVAX and WETH.E-WAVAX (blue-chip volatility): target ~18–33% APY (BTC.B-WAVAX 32.8%, 30d avg 18.6%; WETH.E-WAVAX 26.0%, 30d avg 17.6%).

2) Use wider ranges (less chance of going out-of-range) and rebalance periodically if price drifts.

🔥 Aggressive (max yield focus)

1) Farm the highest incentive pool: WAVAX-USDC at ~200–250% APY (current 248.5%, 30d avg 239.7%).

2) Actively manage concentrated ranges (tighten when ranging; widen when trending) to reduce idle liquidity risk.

3) Size positions assuming rewards can change quickly; treat emissions APY as variable.

Across profiles, note the protocol’s current economics: LPs capture ~16.3% of fees, so your realized return will be dominated by reward APY rather than organic fee yield.

Audit status: Pharaoh lists 0 audits and provides no audit links. That is a meaningful security gap for a concentrated-liquidity AMM, where contract complexity and edge cases tend to be higher.

On-chain maturity signals:

• Track record data exists over 147 days of fee history, with $4.4M all-time fees and $4.3M all-time revenue, suggesting sustained usage—but usage is not a substitute for audits.

Governance / safeguards: no verifiable details are available on multi-sig controls, timelocks, or bug bounty programs.

Impermanent loss (IL) estimates for top volatile pairs (constant-product reference):
These are scenario estimates for a 50/50 pool if one asset outperforms the other; concentrated liquidity can experience higher effective loss if liquidity goes out-of-range.

Pairs most exposed (by TVL among volatile): WAVAX-USDC ($6.7M TVL), BTC.B-WAVAX ($4.3M), WETH.E-WAVAX ($3.0M).

Bottom line: treat smart contract risk as elevated due to the absence of audits, and size positions accordingly—especially in high-APY pools where rewards may not compensate for tail risks.

Pharaoh Exchange can be a strong yield venue for LPs who actively manage positions and chase incentives, but it is weaker as a “pure fee APR” DEX due to the low LP fee share (16.3%) and carries elevated smart contract risk because it is unaudited.

Top 3 strengths
1) High activity for its size: $63.2M 24h volume against $32.1M TVL supports consistent pool utilization.
2) Large incentive footprint: 11/12 pools incentivized; standout yields like WAVAX-USDC ~248.5% APY.
3) Deep major pools: USDT-USDC at $10.9M TVL provides low-IL parking with modest yield.

Top 3 weaknesses
1) LPs capture only ~16.3% of fees; protocol take rate 83.7% limits organic fee earnings.
2) No audits (0) / no audit reports available, no verified bug bounty details.
3) Yields are mostly reward-driven (base APY 0.0%), increasing the chance of APY compression if incentives change.

Recommendation (one sentence): Use Pharaoh primarily for targeted incentive farming (sized conservatively), not as a long-term set-and-forget fee compounding venue.

Quick-reference table