In traditional finance, the “risk -free rate”, the interest rate that an investor can expect to gain on an investment that has zero risk, serves as a fundamental reference for all investment decisions. Today, Defi has quietly established its own equivalent: the basic rate for the stable loan.
The emergence of this new basic rate is not only a fleeting trend – it is a structural change that calls into question traditional finance by demonstrating sustainability focused on the high -efficiency and low -risk monetary markets. Sometimes yields on the main platforms like Morpho have reached 12 to 15% APY for USDC loans, considerably exceeding 4 to 5% offered by the American Treasury. This premium does not exist from excessive risk -taking or complex financial engineering, but real market demand for the borrowing of stablescoin.
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Market dynamics yield yield
The rise in high -efficiency agricultural strategies, in particular those involving the product of the Synthetic Dollar (Susde) of Ethena, was a key engine behind high levels of standard. During the last year, the USDE and the USDE (Susde) milestone of Ethena have delivered yields in the APY range from 20 to 30%, fueling a substantial demand for borrowing from Stablecoin. This request comes from leverages with leverage aimed at capturing the propagation created by these high yields.
What distinguishes Ethena is its ability to capture financing costs traditionally claimed by centralized exchanges. By offering Susde, Ethena allows participants to draw from the benefits generated by traders who pay high funding rates to go to the main active, BTC and soil for a long time. This process democratizes access to these benefits, allowing the participants of deffi to simply benefit by holding Susde.
Susde’s growing demand leads to more capital in the economy of Stablescoin, which, in turn, increases the basic rate of return on platforms like Aave and Morpho. This dynamic not only benefits lenders but also strengthens the wider challenge ecosystem by increasing performance and liquidity in the stable loans market.
Yields adjusted to risk in perspective
Although two -digit yields can increase eyebrows, the risk profile of these loan opportunities has matured considerably. The main monetary market protocols have demonstrated resilience thanks to several market cycles, with robust liquidation mechanisms and proven intelligent contracts. The main risks – the vulnerability of intelligent contracts and releases the stablescoin – are well understood and can be managed thanks to the diversification of the portfolio between protocols and types of stablecoin.
Annual comparison of return – Traditional fixed income income vs loan yields
Average of 30 days on February 1, 2025
Source: Traditional data from the Bloomberg Terminal markets, DEFI Data Markets de Vault.Fyi
Implications for traditional finance
For wealth managers and financial advisers, these developments have both an opportunity and a challenge. The ability to access stable and transparent yields that considerably surpass traditional fixed income require attention. While the Institutional Participation Infrastructure in DEFI continues to improve, these yields can become more and more relevant for income from income. Although yields are very sensitive to market cycles, in particular the dynamics of the funding rate, fluctuations are always common. However, the efficiency and transparency of the monetary markets in chain suggest that significant performance bonuses compared to traditional alternatives could be durable in the long term.
As the infrastructure DEFI matures, these monetary markets on chain can not only serve as a viable alternative to fixed income products – they could become the new standard for transparent yields and adjusted to risk in the digital economy, leaving the Traditional finances to play capture – above.
