Is the advertised token yield before or after fees?

It depends on the product, and the page should say. Fund yields such as a 7-day or 30-day yield are usually after the fund's own expenses, because fees accrue against net asset value. A portfolio or implied yield shown in a holdings table is usually before them. Yields on rental or revenue tokens may be gross rent before property costs. If the definition is not stated next to the number, treat it as unknown.

What fees come out of a tokenized Treasury yield?

Within the fund: the management fee (Superstate's USTB charges 0.15%; Ondo lists 0.15% for OUSG, waived until January 1, 2027) and other expenses. If the fund holds other funds, their fees too (OUSG holds other tokenized money funds, each with its own fee). For a certificate or note, the issuer's spread (Figure's YLDS pays overnight SOFR minus 0.35%). Then the holder's own costs to get in and out.

What is the difference between APY and APR?

An annual percentage rate (APR) is a simple yearly rate; an annual percentage yield (APY) assumes income is reinvested and compounds. At 4.00% compounded daily, the APY is about 4.08%. A product quoting APY looks higher than one quoting a simple rate on the same income.

Why can two yields on the same fund disagree?

Because they measure different things or the same thing differently. AltStreet's Superstate review found USCC's page reporting a 30-day yield of 5.94% on October 22, 2026, defined from accrued net income, while Superstate's documentation describes the 30-day yield as the change in NAV per share, and the holdings table showed a portfolio implied yield of 2.51%; Superstate did not reconcile them.

How do I compare yields across products?

Rebuild each one from gross to net on the same basis: start with the underlying income, subtract every product-level fee, convert to the same rate convention (simple or compounded), then subtract the costs you will bear to enter and exit over your expected holding period.

Gross vs Net Token Yield

Tokenized Real-World Assets

Definition

Gross yield is the income the underlying assets earn before the product's costs: for a Treasury fund, what its bills and repurchase agreements yield; for a rental token, the rent the property collects. Net yield is what reaches the holder after the costs the product deducts: the management fee, other fund expenses such as custody, administration and audit, the fees of any underlying funds it holds, and, for a note or certificate, the spread the issuer keeps between what the reserves earn and what it pays. Holder-level costs come on top: stablecoin on- and off-ramp fees, redemption fees, network fees and secondary-market spreads. An advertised yield can be any of these, and can be stated as a simple annual rate or as an annual percentage yield (APY) that assumes income is compounded. Comparing two tokens' yields requires knowing which number each one is.

Why it matters

Yield is the headline number for most tokenized income products, and it is the easiest to overstate without saying anything false. A holdings table's implied yield, a fund's 30-day yield, an APY that assumes daily compounding and a rental yield calculated only over properties that paid rent are all real numbers, and they can differ by percentage points for the same product. AltStreet's Lofty review is the clearest case: the platform's 9.2% May 2026 yield headline could be reproduced only by leaving out the 30 listings that reported no rent that month, and the median property's rental income over the prior twelve months equaled 3.47% of its original listing price. For Treasury products the gaps are smaller but still decisive when the products are close substitutes: a few tenths of a percent in fees, a waiver that expires, or an underlying fund's fee layer can reverse a comparison. The defense is a reconciliation from gross income to what the holder keeps, built from the documents rather than the headline.

Common misconceptions

•A yield on the product page is not necessarily net of fees. Holdings-table and implied yields are usually gross.
•A fee waiver is not a permanent fee. Net yield rises while a waiver lasts and falls when it ends; check its end date.
•APY and a simple annual rate are not comparable directly. Convert one to the other before comparing.
•A fund-of-funds fee is not the whole fee. The underlying funds' fees are paid too, inside their returns.
•Net of fund fees is not net to you. Entry and exit costs, spreads and network fees reduce what you keep, especially over short holding periods.

Technical details

Gross-to-net reconciliation, worked

Gross: the fund's Treasury bills and repo yield 4.20% a year.

Less the management fee, 0.15%, and other fund expenses (custody, administration, audit), 0.05%: fund-level net yield 4.00% a year, the figure a 7-day or 30-day fund yield would approximate.

As APY with daily compounding: (1 + 0.04/365)^365 minus 1 = about 4.08%.

Holder costs: a $50,000 position held for three months earns about 1.00% ($500); a 0.10% off-ramp fee on exit ($50) leaves 0.90%, about 3.6% annualized.

Fund of funds: if the fund instead held underlying funds charging 0.20% on average, fund-level net would be 3.80% before holder costs.

The layers, and where each is disclosed

Product fee: the management fee or expense ratio in the fund's documents or fee table.

Other expenses: administration, custody, transfer agency, audit and legal, estimated in the fee table or capped by an expense limitation agreement.

Underlying fees: acquired fund fees and expenses for registered funds; for private funds, the underlying funds' own documents.

Issuer spread: for notes and certificates, the gap between the reserve assets' income and the rate paid (YLDS: overnight SOFR minus 0.35%).

Holder costs: stablecoin conversion, redemption fees, network fees and secondary spreads, in the platform's terms and fee schedule.

Standard yield measures

7-day yield: the standard money market fund measure, the fund's net income over seven days annualized, after expenses.

30-day yield: a standardized measure for bond funds; private funds use their own definitions, which must be read.

Portfolio or implied yield: the weighted yield of current holdings, before fund expenses.

Distribution yield: what was paid out, which can differ from income earned.

Total return: change in NAV plus distributions, the measure that captures everything including price changes.

Examples from AltStreet's reviews

Superstate USCC: 30-day yield 5.94% (October 22, 2026) under one definition, NAV-change definition in the documentation, portfolio implied yield 2.51%, not reconciled by Superstate.

Ondo OUSG: 0.15% management fee waived until January 1, 2027, on top of the fees of the tokenized money funds it holds.

Franklin FOBXX: 0.20% net expense ratio in its prospectus, so its quoted yields are after that fee.

Figure YLDS: pays overnight SOFR minus 0.35%, the issuer keeping the difference between reserve income and the rate paid.

Lofty: 9.2% headline reproducible only by excluding 30 non-paying listings; median trailing rental income 3.47% of original listing price.

How investors apply the term

Investors usually apply this term by tying the definition back to the controlling documents and then asking which cash flows, rights, restrictions, or valuation assumptions it changes. A useful review looks at the term alongside fees, leverage, liquidity, reporting frequency, and manager discretion rather than treating it as a standalone concept.

The practical diligence test is simple: identify who benefits if the assumption is wrong, who has control when conditions change, and what evidence the investor receives after closing. Terms that cannot be reconciled to documents, cash movements, and monitoring data should be treated as marketing shorthand until proven otherwise.

Frequently asked questions

Is the advertised token yield before or after fees?: It depends on the product, and the page should say. Fund yields such as a 7-day or 30-day yield are usually after the fund's own expenses, because fees accrue against net asset value. A portfolio or implied yield shown in a holdings table is usually before them. Yields on rental or revenue tokens may be gross rent before property costs. If the definition is not stated next to the number, treat it as unknown.
What fees come out of a tokenized Treasury yield?: Within the fund: the management fee (Superstate's USTB charges 0.15%; Ondo lists 0.15% for OUSG, waived until January 1, 2027) and other expenses. If the fund holds other funds, their fees too (OUSG holds other tokenized money funds, each with its own fee). For a certificate or note, the issuer's spread (Figure's YLDS pays overnight SOFR minus 0.35%). Then the holder's own costs to get in and out.
What is the difference between APY and APR?: An annual percentage rate (APR) is a simple yearly rate; an annual percentage yield (APY) assumes income is reinvested and compounds. At 4.00% compounded daily, the APY is about 4.08%. A product quoting APY looks higher than one quoting a simple rate on the same income.
Why can two yields on the same fund disagree?: Because they measure different things or the same thing differently. AltStreet's Superstate review found USCC's page reporting a 30-day yield of 5.94% on October 22, 2026, defined from accrued net income, while Superstate's documentation describes the 30-day yield as the change in NAV per share, and the holdings table showed a portfolio implied yield of 2.51%; Superstate did not reconcile them.
How do I compare yields across products?: Rebuild each one from gross to net on the same basis: start with the underlying income, subtract every product-level fee, convert to the same rate convention (simple or compounded), then subtract the costs you will bear to enter and exit over your expected holding period.