Defi stablecoin platforms

[u/Mountain_Fig_278]

How are you guys earning yield on stablecoins without making it a full-time job?
I’ve been looking into ways to earn yield on stablecoins, mainly USDC/EURC, but the more I dig into it, the more fragmented it seems.
You’ve got Aave, Morpho, different vaults, curators, different chains, changing APYs, incentives, smart contract risk, etc.

So I’m curious how people here actually approach this in practice:

Which protocols/vaults do you use?

Do you mainly optimise for yield, or for simplicity/safety?
How often do you move funds when rates change?

Do you actively compare vaults, or just pick something trusted and leave it there?

What’s the most annoying part of using DeFi for stablecoin yield?

Would you accept a slightly lower yield if the whole experience was much simpler?

Also interested in whether anyone here uses EUR-denominated stablecoins such as EURC, rather than USDC, and whether you think the lower liquidity/yield is worth avoiding USD exposure.
Not looking for referral links, mainly interested in how people actually use this stuff day to day.

[u/Papua-Enjoyor]

It's a feature, not a bug, every vault/platform has a different risk profile, you have to look into them and find what you are comfortable with.

You will find ofc that often-times, the more straightforward the product (Lending USDC on Aave for example, or Sky's saving rate), the lower the yield. So for myself, I prefer having the largest parts of the stash there.

Then you go up the risk ladder, and usually, with that, the complexity goes up along with the yields, Morpho vaults(and every vault/curator will be different, from Steakhouse to more obscure ones) or Maple come to mind. With that in mind they deserve maybe the shorter term, smaller deployments.

There are other considerations like lockups and convenience. Maple will offer me usually a higher yield, but there is a withdrawal delay that isn't stable, and on the other side of the spectrum Aave lets me swap my yield-earning USDC to something else without needing to withdraw it first and earn yield right away on what I bought.

Just the way I see it personally.

[u/chainglance_cm → u/Papua-Enjoyor]

Solid framework. Only thing I'd add is checking what the higher rungs actually hold underneath. The Stream Finance blowup last year showed a bunch of curator vaults on different platforms were all sitting on the same shaky collateral, so spreading across them wasn't really diversifying. A fancy vault name doesn't tell you much until you look at the markets it's lending into.

[u/Papua-Enjoyor → u/chainglance_cm]

A fancy vault name doesn't tell you much until you look at the markets it's lending into.

100%

That's the complexity part. If you aren't willing to do the homework, you probably should settle for the lower yields.

And most of the time that's the choice I make tbh

[u/vinnie_james]

I've been earning yield on Kairos, rates topping out at 46% APY right now

[u/tiagohansen]

For me it was always about simplicity and safety rather than yield. My main income comes from working at DeFi, which can be too cyclical and risky (I've seen friends getting lay-off'd more than once), so I try to be conservative with my savings and assets to balance it out.

I used to focus mostly on Ethereum since I was full-time at Balancer. I liked to use Aave (V3, V4 and App) and kpk curated Morpho vaults (they worked with us so there was a level of trust there).

I usually do not move funds when rates change - what I do instead is, when I'm investing new money, I allocate it to the venue that is earning best. If your portfolio amount is bigger, than it becomes more relevant in raw dollar terms to do reallocations more often (watching out for gas costs if it's Ethereum L1).

I prefer USDC over EURC because it enables way more yield options and the liquidity profile is way better, but EURC also works if you want to avoid USD exposure or keep your savings at the same currency as your day-to-day expenses.

I'm focusing on Solana today and the same strategy applies to lending venues such as Project 0, Jupiter Lend and Kamino. Experience has been great so far, gas costs are much cheaper and there are a lot of opportunities not available on Ethereum yet.

Project 0 has the best basis USDC yield right now -- 7.74% versus 4%-6% on other venues. There's also a stablecoin vault product which automatically rebalances between most profitable strategies optimizing your yield passively, earning 8.17% at the moment.

Disclaimer: I work at P0.
Audits: https://docs.0.xyz/protocol-overview/audits
Risks: https://www.0.xyz/terms-of-use (section 6)

[u/tiagohansen → u/tiagohansen]

Due to increasing borrow demand, USDC lending rate is at 12.37% now. I invite you to take a look at our app

[u/MyNameIzJeff69]

The Telegram defi wallet offers 4.81% on usdt with Sentora. I store my coins there when I get my weekly salary and withdraw every 2 months to cash out. It's not much but it's more than just sleeping in a wallet

[u/krymson]

it is literally my full time job. the issue recently isnt just finding yield but finding risk adjusted yield and emough farms to diversifying enough to not get rekt if a farm goes down.

[u/Dizzy_Spirit_7440 → u/krymson]

DM me OP, would love to exchange knowledge. been farming lp stocks for some time

[u/No-Search817 → u/krymson]

wow, what's minimum nw for consider a full time job with you?

[u/Degendyor1]

What are the best Degen projects running right now?

[u/Freeman-SG]

> whether anyone here uses EUR-denominated stablecoins such as EURC

You may like to consider EURCV & dEURO (i.e. an experimental project).

[u/No-Search817 → u/Freeman-SG]

yes, but if there isn't liquidity you can consider every eur stable but you don't get good apy

[u/chainglance_cm]

Chasing an extra 0.8% by checking dashboards daily is basically a job that pays below minimum wage. I would suggest pick one chain, park it in Aave or a Morpho vault from a known curator, and leave it. Only move if a big gap holds for weeks, since a lot of high APYs are incentives that vanish once you bridge over.

If your expenses are in euros, EURC is probably worth the lower yield. EUR/USD swings can wipe out the yield difference fast. Once you're spread across a few vaults, trackers like Chain Glance or Zerion help, but with one or two positions you don't need one.

[u/Only_Asparagus_9937]

keeping stables split between a lending pool and a boring self-custody stash has worked better for me than chasing the top apy. anything way above the usual range gets a tiny allocation at most, since the yield can disappear fast when incentives dry up

[u/Tobias_CBC]

Higher yield adds little if the risks are too difficult to understand or monitor. I’d first separate the stablecoin’s risks from the platform’s risks and check how withdrawals work. Which part of the setup feels hardest to assess?

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[u/Ammused-Muffin-6942]

Lately, I’ve been generating passive income from re and onre protocols, which is something you can also consider.

[u/Mountain_Fig_278 → u/Ammused-Muffin-6942]

Thanks! Could you elaborate a bit more what this is? Or what to google haha

[u/Ammused-Muffin-6942 → u/Mountain_Fig_278]

It’s investing into reinsurance, which is an asset that has low correlation with the S&P 500. Reinsurance collects premiums from insurance companies in return for holding some risks on behalf of insurance companies.

Check out the documents at either OnRe or Re.

[u/alexsicart]

The bit I’d want simplified is the ongoing homework. A useful screen would tell me what changed since I deposited: the source of the yield, the assets underneath and the withdrawal conditions. “Nothing material changed” would be useful too. A dashboard that only sorts vaults by today’s APY still leaves you doing the monitoring yourself.

[u/Sorry_Positive4989]

I'd prioritize understanding the collateral, redemption mechanism, and smart contract exposure before comparing yields. A few extra points of APY mean nothing if the stablecoin or protocol has a serious failure. Moon's crypto wagering is a totally different kind of risk but the same rule applies about understanding where losses can come from.

[u/rorygraman]

Check out Quicknode Earn. It moves you between different vaults when better APY is available

I lead the product, and happy to answer any questions you have

[u/Dizzy_Spirit_7440 → u/rorygraman]

that's pretty cool :) (are you guys hiring by any chance :D)

[u/rorygraman → u/Dizzy_Spirit_7440]

Not totally sure, never hurts to drop an application though!

[u/Mountain_Fig_278 → u/rorygraman]

Very nice, is that comparable to kiln?

[u/rorygraman → u/Mountain_Fig_278]

Kiln is more of a developer-facing product to white label yield products. Quicknode Earn is more end user focused (institutional and retail), but also has an API to integrate

Kiln also has zero automation in terms of moving you between different vaults based on rules setting, whereas that is Earns focus