A $57B Stablecoin Yield Market Where 75% of Capital Chooses Safety Over Returns

3,830 pools | Median APY 1.99% | Avg 20.6%

$43.0B

LOW-RISK TVL

2.1%

LOW-RISK AVG APY

8.4%

MED-RISK AVG APY

TVL BY RISK TIER

Low: $43.0B (95 pools, 2.1%)Med: $13.7B (1287 pools, 8.4%)High: $364.7M (2448 pools, 27.7%)

5 THINGS TO KNOW

Sky Lending Anchors Conservative Yield at $4.9B TVL

Sky Lending: 2 pools, $4.9B total TVL, 2.62% avg APY, risk score 20.

Maple Leads Risk-Adjusted Yield at 5.09% with Institutional Credit

Maple: 2 pools, $4.4B total TVL, USDC at 5.09% and USDT at 4.38%, both risk score 20.

Merkl Aggregates 618 Pools Across $14.2B TVL, Becoming the Largest Protocol by Pool Count

Merkl: 618 pools, $14.2B TVL, 4.94% avg APY across multiple chains.

Low-Risk Pools Hold 75% of TVL but Only 2.5% of Pool Count

Low risk tier (score 0-30): 95 pools, $43B TVL, 2.1% avg APY vs 3,735 pools sharing the remaining $14.1B.

Hyperliquid Yield Ecosystem Averages 96% APY Across 26 Pools

Hyperliquid: 26 pools, $81M TVL, 96.2% avg APY. Compare to Ethereum: 1,040 pools, $26.9B TVL, 9.8% avg APY.

CHAIN BREAKDOWN

Ethereum dominates with $39.1B TVL (68% of market) across 1,592 pools. Base is the clear L2 leader at $6.7B, while Berachain holds $1.8B TVL across two chain IDs as a notable newer chain.

POOLS

AVG APY

TVL

Ethereum

1592

8.8%

$39.1B

Base

471

72.4%

$6.7B

Gnosis

1.2%

$3.1B

Berachain

4.2%

$1.8B

Arbitrum

316

4.8%

$1.5B

Solana

216

53.8%

$1.2B

STABLECOIN YIELDS (AVG APY)

USDC

29.2%

$19.4B

USDT

30.4%

$7.6B

USDS

8.3%

$5.1B

sUSD (Ethena)

7.1%

$4.9B

PYUSD

4.5%

$2.4B

LUSD

4.5%

$1.4B

USDe

4.7%

$936.7M

DAI

2.9%

$632.8M

Avg APY can be skewed by outliers. TVL on right.

TOP RISK-ADJUSTED PICKS

95 pools | $43.0B TVL | 2.1% avg APY

Maple USDC

Ethereum | Best-in-class risk-adjusted yield among low-risk pools. 5.09% APY is nearly double Aave V3 USDC (2.67%) at the same risk tier. Institutional credit market backing provides structural yield advantage.

5.1%

R:20

Sky Lending SUSDS

Ethereum | The safest large-scale yield option. $4.7B TVL with 4% APY and risk score 20. sUSDS is the evolution of DAI savings, backed by Sky (formerly Maker) protocol's battle-tested infrastructure.

4.0%

R:20

Ondo Yield Assets USDYC

Ethereum | RWA-backed yield from US Treasuries, offering fundamentally different risk than DeFi lending. 3.67% APY with $601M TVL provides institutional-grade diversification from on-chain lending risk.

3.7%

R:24

Cap STCUSD

Ethereum | 5.5% APY at the upper boundary of low risk (score 29) with $200M TVL. The yield-to-risk ratio of 0.19 (APY/risk score) is among the best in the market.

5.5%

R:29

Maple USDT

Ethereum | Maple's USDT counterpart offers 4.38% at the same low risk score. Pairs well with the USDC pool for stablecoin-diversified conservative positioning.

4.4%

R:20 | $1.6B

OUTLOOK

The stablecoin yield market is defined by institutional consolidation. Sky Lending, Maple, and Aave V3 collectively hold over $17B in low-risk TVL, anchoring the conservative end of the spectrum. This concentration of capital in low-risk pools (75% of TVL in just 2.5% of pools) creates a structural dynamic: yields at the safe end compress, pushing yield-seeking capital toward medium-risk protocols (8.4% avg APY) and emerging chains like Hyperliquid and Berachain.

HIGHMaple Institutional Yield Premium

MEDIUMBerachain DeFi Ecosystem Growth

LOWHyperliquid Yield Sustainability

MEDIUMMonad L2 Growth

HIGHLow-Risk APY Compression