Aave USDC Spikes 12% Again: WETH Borrow Stress Returns Two Weeks After Snapback

5,838 pools | Median APY 1.59% | Avg 25.1%

$34.6B

LOW-RISK TVL

2.9%

LOW-RISK AVG APY

23.2%

MED-RISK AVG APY

TVL BY RISK TIER

Low: $34.6B (167 pools, 2.9%)Med: $128.1B (3123 pools, 23.2%)High: $1.2B (2548 pools, 854.8%)

WEEK OVER WEEK

Total TVL

$164.0B-$53.1M

prev: $164.0B

Median APY

1.59%-0.12pp

prev: 1.71%

Pool Count

5,838+1

prev: 5,837

Low-Risk APY

2.48%-0.21pp

prev: 2.69%

6 THINGS TO KNOW

Aave V3 USDC Ethereum Re-Spikes from 3.86% to 12.14% (+214%)

Pool 'Aave V3 USDC' on Ethereum: APY 3.86% to 12.14% (+214%), TVL $7.12M, risk score 55.

Aave V3 USDT Ethereum Climbs 21% to 3.98%

Pool 'Aave V3 USDT' on Ethereum: APY 3.28% to 3.98% (+21%), TVL $147.1M, risk score 31.

Maple USDC Crosses $3.19B at 5.21% APY, Six-Week High

Maple USDC: 5.21% APY (vs 4.34% on Mar 29), TVL $3.19B (vs $3.34B), risk score 21. Sparkline trajectory: 4.34 -> 4.51 -> 4.18 -> 4.46 -> 5.04 -> 4.75 -> 5.21.

Low-Risk Tier APY Drifts to 2.48% (-21 bps WoW)

weekOverWeek.deltas.lowRiskApyChange: -0.213 percentage points. Low-risk pool count up by 1; TVL up $285M.

RWA Tokens Cross $8.4B Across BUIDL, USYC, USTB, USDY

byProtocol: Blackrock Buidl $2.99B at 3.38%, Circle Usyc $2.98B at 3.17%, Superstate Ustb $849M at 3.31%, Ondo Yield Assets $1.64B at 3.55%.

Sparklend USDS at 26.58% on $172M Reflects Borrow-Side Stress

Sparklend USDS Ethereum top pool APY 26.58%; protocol totals: 14 pools, $1.27B TVL, weighted avg APY 4.31%, avg risk score 22.

CHAIN BREAKDOWN

Ethereum reclaims primary-venue role this week as Aave's USDC spike concentrates the rate signal there. Berachain still leads on raw TVL ($101B) but at near-zero blended APY across 38 LP-style pools. Base ($7.0B) and Arbitrum ($2.6B) remain the active L2 yield venues, while Solana's $1.9B continues to sit slightly above the L1-stable benchmark.

POOLS

AVG APY

TVL

Berachain

0.0%

$101.1B

Ethereum

2459

96.2%

$37.8B

Base

619

2.5%

$7.0B

Gnosis

0.1%

$3.1B

Arbitrum

430

159.7%

$2.6B

Solana

467

3.0%

$1.9B

STABLECOIN YIELDS (AVG APY)

USDC

184.9%

$18.3B

USDS

3.8%

$7.5B

USDT

3.2%

$5.5B

SUSD/sUSDe

4.5%

$3.7B

PYUSD

2.3%

$3.4B

BUIDL

3.4%

$3.0B

USYC

3.2%

$3.0B

DAI

9.5%

$981.9M

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

TOP RISK-ADJUSTED PICKS

167 pools | $34.6B TVL | 2.9% avg APY

Ethena Usde SUSDE

Ethereum | Lowest risk score in the dataset on a $1.91B pool; delta-neutral basis trade is structurally decoupled from on-chain borrow stress.

3.7%

R:12

Maple USDC

Ethereum | Six-week APY high on $3.19B TVL; cleanest yield-to-risk profile in the entire dataset for a deep pool.

5.2%

R:21

Sky Lending SUSDS

Ethereum | Deepest stable USD venue at $4.94B TVL; SSR-set rate makes this the natural baseline yield.

3.6%

R:20

Sparklend USDS

Ethereum | 39 bps premium over the underlying SSR with same Sky-ecosystem collateral; $1.08B TVL keeps the entry/exit clean.

4.0%

R:20

Maple USDT

Ethereum | Diversifies the Maple USDC position into USDT; same risk score 21 and $1.01B TVL.

4.4%

R:21

THIS WEEK IN STABLECOINS

Joel Obafemi -- State of DeFi Lending on Ethereum

Aave V3 USDC Supply APY Spikes Above 12% as Cross-Protocol Rate Dispersion Hits 833 bps

USDC supply APY on Aave V3 spiked above 12% this week as users sought alternate paths to close existing WETH positions. Cross-protocol stablecoin rate dispersion across major lenders widened to roughly 833 basis points.

Direct explanation for the +214% Aave V3 USDC Ethereum jump in our pool data; reframes the week as a continuation of WETH borrow stress rather than a one-off.

CNBC

Senate Banking Committee Sets May 14 Vote on CLARITY Act as Banks Warn of Stablecoin Yield Loophole

The U.S. Senate Banking Committee will vote on the CLARITY Act and amendments on May 14. Banking groups warn that the compromise text bans direct stablecoin yield but leaves wrapped-vault paths open, an issue Decrypt also reported.

Outcome shapes the legal yield rail for sUSDe, sUSDS, sGHO, and Pendle PT/YT markets; allocators with regulated counterparties should price this in over the next two weeks.

Cryptopolitan

Aave Moves to Unfreeze $73M in ETH as Polygon Proposes $1B Bridge-Reserve Yield Farming

Aave governance is moving to unfreeze $73M in WETH still locked from the rsETH bridge incident as the Kelp DAO recovery case continues. Polygon separately proposed deploying its $1B-plus stablecoin bridge reserves into Morpho and Yearn vaults.

ETH unfreeze is the operational tail of the rsETH event still influencing Aave WETH dynamics; Polygon's proposal foreshadows L2 treasury TVL flowing into Morpho-class vaults.

OUTLOOK

Aave's repeat 12% USDC spike says the post-rsETH market is structurally noisier than it looks: WETH borrow demand can re-stress on/off venues weekly, and cross-protocol rate dispersion of 800+ bps is the new normal until the WETH unfreeze lands. Expect the actionable yield curve to bifurcate further over the next two weeks. The base layer (Sky SUSDS, Maple, Ethena sUSDe, Sparklend USDS) should keep grinding in a 3.5-5.5% band as the SSR drifts and Maple's institutional capital accumulates. The tactical layer (Aave V3 stables, Sparklend USDS spikes, Fluid L2) will keep producing 5-15% prints lasting hours to days, rewarding allocators who can move quickly. The CLARITY Act vote on May 14 is the single biggest catalyst on the horizon; a clean committee pass would harden the wrapped-yield carve-out that underpins sUSDe/sUSDS economics.

HIGHAave V3 USDC Ethereum Rate Persistence

HIGHMaple Above $4B TVL

MEDIUMCLARITY Act Senate Banking Vote on May 14

MEDIUMSky SSR Floor

LOWL2 Treasury Yield Allocation (Polygon Model)