The first cross-chain DeFi
operating system

The reef token is a governance token, so the users will be able to vote on different proposals (releasing new features, readjusting certain parameters in the system, etc.). Besides governance, the token is powering our infrastructure, so you can pay the protocols fees with it.
It can also be used to stake into the Reef pool and get RPTs (Reef Pool Tokens), but it's also going to be used in the yield distribution mechanism (customizable payout ratio for the yield that the basket generated), which will allow the user to farm the Reef token and directly stake it into the pool.

Polkadot’s interoperability layer allows us to communicate with all the blockchains and still achieve high throughput. Additionally, we inherit their security model, which means we get to be highly resilient, can do forkless upgrades while still being able to maintain stable on-chain governance. We are fully compatible with Ethereum and the current DeFi ecosystem, but we believe in order to innovate and take the landscape to the next level, we have to take it cross-chain, and through Polkadot we are able to achieve that.
Besides this, Polkadot’s parachain communication (XCMP) and bridging mechanism, combined with the possibility to run solidity code on parachains such as Plasm and Moonbeam, use native Ethereum addresses and huge ecosystem support (Web3, Parity) were the reasons why we chose to build on Polkadot. Reef being cross-chain gives us flexibility, which means we are able to shift our product and features based on where the users are and what the users want/need in the future.

The APY generated by the Reef pool comes from the income streams generated by the Reef's ecosystem. We currently has 3 income streams: Basket engine, protocol fees and interest paid by power users who borrow tokens from the Reef pool in order to increase their voting power. All the 3 income streams are currently flowing in the Reef pool. In the future, through voting, we plan to introduce Reef Treasury which will be the recipient of the income streams, and the DAO can further decide how to allocate the funds (eg: grants, buybacks, etc.)
Besides the APY from the Reef Pool, the users will earn yields generated by the smart yield farming engine which gives them exposure to different DeFi activities and tokens from multiple ecosystems.