Stablecoin Risk Premium Reopens to 16 bps as Clean APY Rises

7,475 pools | Median APY 1.49% | Avg 3.7%

$32.2B

LOW-RISK TVL

3.5%

LOW-RISK AVG APY

3.7%

MED-RISK AVG APY

TVL BY RISK TIER

Low: $32.2B (147 pools, 3.5%)Med: $26.2B (2725 pools, 3.7%)High: $1.2B (2701 pools, 6.6%)

WEEK OVER WEEK

Total TVL

$194.5B-$174.9M

prev: $194.7B

Median APY

1.49%+0.01pp

prev: 1.48%

Pool Count

7,475+1

prev: 7,474

Low-Risk APY

3.02%+0.13pp

prev: 2.89%

5 THINGS TO KNOW

Medium-risk premium reopens to 16.0527 basis points

Medium risk: 2,725 pools, $26,191,032,644 TVL, 3.697001% APY; low risk: 147 pools, $32,243,392,835 TVL, 3.536474% APY.

Pendle APXUSD reaches 37.972490% after a 23.416920% move

Pendle APXUSD on Ethereum: 37.972490% APY, 23.416920% seven-day APY move, $6,799,218 TVL, risk score 67.

Pendle REUSDE rises 22.518150% to 44.117660%

Pendle REUSDE on Ethereum: 44.117660% APY, 22.518150% seven-day APY move, $3,402,577 TVL, risk score 70.

Gmtrade USDCHF-USDC falls 27.259770% to 48.825910%

Gmtrade USDCHF-USDC on Solana: 48.825910% APY, -27.259770% seven-day APY move, $1,605,811 TVL, risk score 72.

RWA coverage expands, but the largest new row pays 0%

Fluid USDC-CSUSDL on Ethereum: $16,443,178,618 TVL at 0% APY; Ethena SUSDE: $1,375,345,711 at 4.059040%; Ondo USDY: $1,121,171,376 at 3.550000%.

CHAIN BREAKDOWN

The clean screen is led by Ethereum at $36.655B, followed by Base, Arbitrum, and Solana. Berachain's raw $101B zero-yield concentration and unnamed chain IDs are excluded from reader-facing leadership claims; all figures below use positive APYs at or below 50%.

POOLS

AVG APY

TVL

Ethereum

2247

3.8%

$36.7B

Base

591

1.8%

$7.2B

Arbitrum

341

5.6%

$2.7B

Solana

791

3.4%

$2.3B

Aptos

3.3%

$1.1B

Avalanche

133

4.6%

$1.0B

STABLECOIN YIELDS (AVG APY)

USDC

3.0%

$19.1B

USDS

3.8%

$7.8B

USDT

2.6%

$5.5B

BUIDL

3.5%

$3.4B

PYUSD

2.8%

$3.3B

SUSD

4.3%

$3.1B

USYC

3.2%

$2.9B

USDY

3.5%

$2.2B

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

TOP RISK-ADJUSTED PICKS

147 pools | $32.2B TVL | 3.5% avg APY

Ethena Usde SUSDE

Ethereum | A large $1.375B synthetic-dollar reference at 4.059040%, with protocol and liquidity risks that remain separate from the low screen score.

4.1%

R:12

Maple USDC

Ethereum | Maple USDC combines $2.872B TVL with a 4.810410% APY, while credit and pool-liquidity risks remain the key variables.

4.8%

R:20

Morpho V1 SENPYUSDMAIN

Ethereum | The $361.925M PYUSD market sits above the low-tier average, but isolated-market utilization and PYUSD exposure can change its rate.

6.3%

R:27

Dolomite USD1

Ethereum | Dolomite USD1 reports 8.996390% APY on $103.086M with a low score, an unusually wide spread over the tier average. That divergence makes incentive durability, market utilization, and stablecoin liquidity the central questions.

9.0%

R:17 | $103.1M

THIS WEEK IN STABLECOINS

Jones Day

Treasury proposes GENIUS Act stablecoin rules

Jones Day reports that the U.S. Treasury issued a proposed rulemaking on August 18 covering the scope of the GENIUS Act, permitted payment-stablecoin issuers, offers and sales to U.S. persons, and related safe harbors. The statutory effective date is expected to be January 18, 2027, while the implementing rules continue through the comment and finalization process.

The proposal could change which stablecoin issuers and service providers remain available to U.S. users, raising the importance of issuer compliance in yield and RWA comparisons.

KuCoin

Circle EURC passes €400 million in circulation

KuCoin, citing Circle data, reports that EURC surpassed €400 million in circulating supply in August 2026 after more than doubling on an annualized basis. The article attributes the expansion to MiCA alignment, a multi-chain footprint, and growing use in on-chain foreign exchange and settlement.

Euro-stablecoin growth broadens the set of compliant reference assets and may create more non-dollar lending and liquidity markets alongside the dollar-heavy yield base.

The Block

Rain says stablecoin payments reach 100,000 merchants

The Block reports that Rain CEO Farooq Malik said stablecoin payments facilitated by the company already reach more than 100,000 merchants through existing networks. He said those transactions currently settle through Visa in about three days and could move toward same-day settlement with on-chain stablecoin rails; The Block also put total stablecoin supply above $290 billion.

Payment usage creates a demand base beyond yield incentives, which matters when separating durable stablecoin liquidity from short-lived APY spikes.

OUTLOOK

Stablecoin yields are entering a two-speed phase. After screening zero-yield and above-50% rows, the tracked market averages 3.666809% across $59.610B, while medium-risk pools now pay 3.697001% versus 3.536474% for low risk, a 16.0527-bps premium that widened from last week's 3.2205 bps. That gap is still narrow in absolute terms, but it is widening as structured and incentive markets reprice faster than RWA wrappers. Pendle's APXUSD and REUSDE rows are up 23.416920% and 22.518150% on the seven-day field, while Gmtrade's USDCHF-USDC row is down 27.259770%, underscoring volatility. Treasury's proposed GENIUS Act rules add a regulatory filter for issuers and service providers ahead of the January 2027 effective date. Expect compliant RWA supply to keep expanding, but treat fresh large rows as coverage changes until repeated snapshots confirm persistence.

HIGHMedium-versus-low risk premium

MEDIUMPendle maturity markets

MEDIUMRWA coverage versus genuine launches

MEDIUMNamed-chain yield dispersion

LOWGENIUS Act stablecoin compliance perimeter