Anchor Protocol Overexposure: Yield Concentration and Systemic Fragility in DeFi Lending Systems

Abstract

High-yield decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocols attract capital by offering returns that exceed organically sustainable market demand. This paper defines <b><i>Anchor Protocol Overexposure</i></b><b> </b>as a systemic risk condition in which outsized, subsidy-driven yields concentrate liquidity into a single mechanism, creating hidden leverage, correlated withdrawal behavior, and reflexive collapse dynamics. Using Anchor Protocol as a representative archetype, the paper analyzes how yield subsidies, composability, and perception-driven stability interact to generate unsustainable exposure across interconnected DeFi ecosystems. We further demonstrate why transparency, disclosure, and governance-based controls fail to mitigate this class of risk. Finally, the paper outlines a logic-layer enforcement model capable of constraining yield-induced systemic fragility prior to the onset of collapse dynamics.