ICHI

ICHI is a liquidity manager whose vaults take single-token deposits and deploy them into concentrated-liquidity pools to earn trading fees across 27 tracked chains. The single-token wrapper does not remove the underlying exposure: the strategy holds a two-token range and can trade inventory while rebalancing. That path-dependent loss is why the AMM class remains rejected. DefiLlama measured $6.83M on 2026-08-16.

Review triggers: events that reopen the verdict
• Ships a product line without impermanent-loss exposure that merits its own review

Watched nightly: a warning on its venues or files, or a cited document that changes, reopens the memo. The first confirmation is due 2026-11-15.

The research file

Mechanism applicability

ICHI Vaults accept one preferred token, issue vault shares, and deploy assets into concentrated AMM liquidity. Inventory-threshold algorithms reposition ranges and may buy or sell to restore a target mix. A one-token deposit simplifies entry but the share still carries both-token inventory and AMM price-path exposure.

Control and loss applicability

ICHI describes ordinary rebalancing as on-chain and without a privileged rebalance function, using inventory, price and time triggers. Extreme volatility may lock a vault and require human intervention. The risk documentation expressly identifies impermanent loss, volatility, slippage and smart-contract risk; audits reduce implementation uncertainty rather than those economic exposures.

Exit applicability

Vault shares may be withdrawn for the assets then represented in the vault. Exit value depends on current inventory, range state, accrued fees, any vault lock, AMM liquidity and conversion back to the depositor’s preferred token. A flexible withdrawal interface is not a principal guarantee.

Why the dossier still applies

DefiLlama measured $6,828,575 across 27 tracked chains on 2026-08-16. Size is not dispositive: current vaults remain managed concentrated-liquidity positions. Reopen only for a separately accounted product without AMM inventory exposure, then verify its controls, loss mechanics, audit scope and proposed-size stressed exit.

Sources

The claims above trace to these. Where a number could not be independently verified, the thesis says so.

• ICHI Docs — how ICHI works · primary · accessed 2026-08-16
  Supports: single-token deposits, vault shares, AMM deployment, withdrawals
• ICHI Docs — YieldIQ strategy · primary · accessed 2026-08-16
  Supports: inventory rebalancing, range changes, automated triggers, vault lock
• ICHI Docs — risks and safety · primary · accessed 2026-08-16
  Supports: impermanent loss, market and pool risk, audit and keeper controls
• ICHI Docs — fee APR · primary · accessed 2026-08-16
  Supports: trading-fee yield, auto-compounding, APR methodology
• ICHI Docs — audit registry · primary · accessed 2026-08-16
  Supports: published audit record, review scope chronology, assurance evidence
• DefiLlama — ICHI survey record · secondary · accessed 2026-08-16
  Supports: $6,828,575 TVL, 27-chain perimeter, liquidity-manager category

Inherited controls

The research above describes the protocol layer. Every position also inherits the asset it holds and the chain it settles on. The layer with the most administrative power sets the position’s effective control; that describes control, not quality or suitability.