Introduction
The Stablecoin Bill (GENIUS Act) passed its initial vote in the U.S. Senate on May 19. The contents of this bill have been detailed in this research report (The Stablecoin Bill Controversy: From Trump's USD1 Controversy to Meta's Entry into Stablecoin Payments). This article will compare the existing mainstream stablecoins and the challenges they face under this regulatory framework, subsequently highlighting some investment opportunities that retail investors can engage in through stablecoins.
(GENIUS Act) Impact on Decentralized Stablecoins
The Stablecoin Bill (GENIUS Act) mainly has the following regulations for stablecoins:
Stablecoins need to be pegged 1:1 to reserves
Reserves can only consist of highly liquid assets such as U.S. dollars and treasury bonds
Monthly public reserve audit reports
Issuers must obtain approval from federal or state regulatory agencies
Comply with KYC and anti-money laundering regulations, and issuers must have the ability to seize or freeze assets
According to the current regulations in the stablecoin bill, we can briefly compare whether the existing top five mainstream stablecoins are compliant:
From the table above, it can be observed that apart from USDC, the other stablecoins do not fully meet the requirements of the (GENIUS Act), and the two decentralized stablecoins USDS and USDe are quite far from compliance, indicating that the current U.S. stablecoin bill primarily regulates centralized stablecoin issuers.
However, USDT, USDC, and FDUSD do not share a portion of the profits with holders like decentralized stablecoins USDS and USDe. At most, they offer slightly higher annualized returns in fixed deposits on exchanges or participate in Binance airdrops like FDUSD, leading to limited opportunities for ordinary people to participate. However, with expectations for gradual easing of regulations in the future, more and more protocols are offering investment opportunities for institutional-grade stablecoins. Next, we will introduce some potential investment opportunities.
Nest
Nest is a staking protocol officially built by the RWA public chain Plume Network, providing multiple yield-bearing vaults composed of RWA assets such as government bonds, institutional-grade ETFs, tokenized financing receipts, and stablecoins. Users can stake their stablecoins to receive vault tokens and earn returns from the RWA assets of that vault.
Figure 1, Types of vaults in Nest, source: Nest
The types of vaults are very diverse, providing annual yield rates ranging from 4% to 15% depending on asset types, with 60% of the assets in the 'Nest PayFi Vault' composed of the stablecoin PYUSD issued by Paypal, achieving an annualized return of up to 15%.
Currently, Nest only allows users to stake USDC through the Ethereum mainnet, and will also support the Plume network after its mainnet launch.
Maple Finance
Maple Finance is a decentralized lending platform that leverages blockchain's high transparency and low latency transaction speeds to enable borrowers to quickly obtain liquidity while allowing lenders to earn returns at a lower risk, thereby providing institutional-grade lending services. Currently, there are three types of lending pools available, offering annualized returns ranging from 4% to 8.8%, depending on the type of collateralized assets.
Figure 3, Types of vaults in Maple Finance, source: Maple Finance
Originally, Maple Finance only allowed institutional investors to participate, with both borrowers and lenders needing to pass KYC processes. However, Maple later launched a sub-protocol called Syrup, establishing separate lending pools specifically for crypto-native institutions or protocols to offer short-term loans. General users can deposit USDC/USDT to receive yield-bearing tokens SyrupUSDC/SyrupUSDT, obtaining a fixed return of 5% to 6.6% APY.
Figure 2, APY returns of Syrup, source: Syrup.fi
In addition to fixed returns, Maple Finance has also launched a rewards program for Drips points, allowing users to accumulate points daily just by depositing. The basic exchange ratio is 1 USDC for 1 Drip, with up to 3 times the multipliers based on the deposit lock-up period. Points compound every four hours, and at the end of the event, users can exchange their Drips for corresponding SYRUP tokens. Each seasonal event lasts for one month and has already reached its tenth season. Based on past reward distribution data, the average APY of Drips points is 3.5%, combined with the original deposit returns, users can achieve annualized returns of 8.5% to 10.1%.
Additionally, Maple has currently launched a limited-time $500,000 prize pool event, which will be awarded to the top 13 users based on deposit amounts and time. The reward for the first place is as high as $300,000. The event runs from May 1, 2025, to October 30, 2025, and participants need to deposit at least 1,000 USDC between May 1 and May 30. The more deposits made, the more points users will accumulate on the leaderboard, and deposits cannot be withdrawn before the end of the event, or else they will lose eligibility.
According to data from Dune (Figure 3), the total assets under management (AUM) of Maple Finance have exceeded $1.8 billion, with SyrupUSDC's scale accounting for approximately $980 million, or 53% of the total. Its native token SYRUP has also increased by over 180% in the past month, with a price of $0.45 before the deadline.
Figure 3, Daily AUM of Maple Finance, source: Dune
The rise in the price of SYRUP has increased the expected returns of Drip, along with high-value prize pool limited-time events, which have boosted the total locked volume of Maple Finance in a short time. However, it is worth noting that the ratio of Drip points to SYRUP is not fixed and will only be determined after the end of each seasonal event. Therefore, although the rise in SYRUP prices will increase users' point earnings, it may also be heavily diluted due to excessive participation, necessitating careful assessment before involvement.
Huma Finance
Huma Finance is an innovative PayFi network, with its core business providing short-term financing for global enterprises, particularly in cross-border payments and tradable credit. It aims to address the time costs and cash flow problems caused by payment delays in traditional financial systems, utilizing on-chain stablecoins for fast and transparent payment settlements, enhancing capital flow between enterprises.
For example, a manufacturer in Southeast Asia may have to wait a month to receive payment after shipping goods to a U.S. buyer, resulting in a capital gap. In this situation, the manufacturer can use Huma to verify the authenticity of the transaction, allowing them to immediately obtain funding support in stablecoins, and repay the loan once they receive the payment.
Since loans are usually settled within 1 to 6 days, the capital recovery cycle is very short, allowing for multiple reuses, thus providing liquidity providers with an annualized return of up to 10.5%.
Figure 4, Huma's deposit page, source: Huma Finance
Currently, in addition to institutional (Permissioned) participation, Huma also provides opportunities for general investors (Permissionless) to participate. Users can choose to deposit USDC in either Classic or Maxi mode to earn returns:
Classic Mode: Earn 10.5% APY and receive different multiples of Huma Feathers* bonuses based on the lock-up period (no lock-up, 3 months, 6 months) (1x, 3x, 5x)
Maxi Mode: Does not provide stable APY returns but significantly increases the multiples of Huma Feathers bonuses (5x, 10.5x, 17.5x)
(Huma Feathers*: considered as a measure of a participant's contribution to the protocol, which can be exchanged for Huma Finance token airdrops in the future.)
If the Classic mode is chosen, users will receive LP tokens PST after depositing USDC, representing their share of liquidity, which can be applied in DeFi protocols on Solana such as Jupiter, Meteora, Kamino, and RateX to amplify position returns; in contrast, deposits made in Maxi mode will result in users receiving mPST, which cannot be applied to other protocols.
Pendle
Figure 5, Stablecoin products of Pendle, source: Pendle
In addition to depositing stablecoins in the aforementioned protocols to earn stable returns, one can also use yield splitting platforms like Pendle to lock in profits in advance based on market conditions, or amplify interest earnings on their positions. Currently, Pendle supports multiple EVM public chains such as Ethereum, Berachain, Base, and Sonic, offering over 40 stablecoin products for users to trade.
Figure 6, PT and YT prices of SyrupUSDC, source: Pendle
For example, in the case of SyrupUSDC, the current market believes that the fixed yield (Fixed APY) of PT is 10.11%. If users think 10.11% is higher than the actual yield at maturity, they can purchase PT to lock in 10.11% profits in advance; conversely, if users feel that the 10.11% yield is undervalued, they can buy YT to amplify future returns. Fixed yields will fluctuate with market sentiment, and users can observe interest rate changes to trade PT and YT to obtain higher returns.
Conclusion
Although most people in the market believe that stablecoins are an institutional game and that ordinary retail investors have little way to participate, since the stablecoin bill has sounded the first horn of regulation for the crypto industry, instead of pessimistically thinking that this has nothing to do with themselves, it is better to ride this trend and strive to uncover potential profit opportunities. Especially since Tether's net profit last year reached $13 billion, several times Circle's $1.5 billion profit, many project teams and enterprises will certainly want to seize the market for stablecoins as regulations ease, and when these institutions compete fiercely, opportunities for retail investors will emerge. In the future, DA Labs will continue to monitor the market and introduce frontline investment opportunities to readers!
This report is for informational sharing purposes only and does not constitute any form of investment advice or decision-making basis. The data, analysis, and opinions cited in this document are based on the author's research and public sources, which may have uncertainties or be subject to change. Readers should make investment judgments cautiously based on their own circumstances and risk tolerance. For further guidance, it is recommended to seek professional advice.
