When the market is dull, take this stablecoin appreciation strategy

Author: Azuma, Odaily Planet Daily

The cryptocurrency market has once again suffered a heavy blow today. Although Bitcoin's decline has narrowed to less than 1%, the altcoin sector has experienced a collective plunge alongside BTC's short-term movements, with representative altcoins from various sectors such as SOL, PEPE, ORDI, ARB, and TIA recording declines of over 10% and even 20%.

While the current secondary market can be described as a "bloody storm," for ordinary investors, aside from directly engaging in trading, there is actually another relatively slow but stable operational mode—utilizing stablecoins through various DeFi protocols to achieve relatively low-risk, high-yield earning strategies.

In the following text, Odaily Planet Daily will combine its operational experience to recommend multiple stablecoin earning strategies available online. Although these strategies are relatively simple in operation, they can generally achieve stable returns of 10% or even 20%, and some strategies can also interact with underlying networks or DeFi protocols that have not yet issued tokens, achieving "more than one benefit."

It is important to emphasize that no DeFi protocol can completely avoid contract risks. Some DeFi protocols may also face certain liquidity risks and compositional risks due to their business models. Therefore, when choosing to execute a specific strategy, please be sure to understand the specific risks in advance and try to avoid "putting all your eggs in one basket."

Ethereum Mainnet

Recommended Strategy 1: Ethena sUSDe

• Operation Method: Purchase USDe directly on the Ethena official website, then stake it to exchange for sUSDe;
• Real-time Yield: 17.5%;
• Yield Composition (types of reward tokens that can be obtained): Appreciation of sUSDe (can be exchanged for more USDe);
• Other Potential Earnings: ENA Phase II airdrop;

Note: Ethena's sUSDe is currently one of the highest APY earning opportunities in the stablecoin mining pool within the cryptocurrency market, far exceeding tokenized national debt products like MakerDAO's sDAI. The real-time APY of sUSDe will fluctuate with the market's leverage conditions, but based on past volatility records, it has consistently remained at a high level. Additionally, sUSDe can also accumulate Ethena's Phase II airdrop voucher sats (accumulation efficiency is low, but the yield is stable), allowing for participation in the next ENA airdrop.

Recommended Strategy 2: Gearbox Lending Deposit

• Operation Method: Deposit various types of stablecoins through Earn on the Gearbox official website;
• Real-time Yield: Generally greater than 10%, except for USDT;
• Yield Composition: Primarily stablecoins, supplemented by a small amount of GEAR incentives;

Note: Gearbox, as a leveraged lending protocol, actually supports higher yield leveraged plays (Farm), but this operation has a certain operational threshold for ordinary users. Therefore, a relatively simple deposit play (Earn, which is essentially lending deposits) is recommended here. The reason for recommending this mining pool is that Gearbox's yield composition is primarily based on stablecoins, making its actual yield relatively more stable and less susceptible to significant reductions due to the collapse of incentive tokens.

Solana

Recommended Strategy 1: marginfi and Kamino Lending Deposit

• Operation Method: Deposit USDT or USDC on marginfi or Kamino to earn interest;
• Real-time Yield: 12% - 16%;
• Yield Composition: Stablecoins;
• Other Potential Earnings: marginfi airdrop and Kamino Phase II airdrop;

Note: marginfi and Kamino are the first and second lending protocols on Solana, respectively. Due to the active trading within the Solana ecosystem, the lending demand in this ecosystem is generally higher than in others, which is why the lending yields on marginfi and Kamino are also generally higher than those of lending protocols in other ecosystems. Additionally, marginfi has not yet undergone TGE, and Kamino's Phase II points activity is ongoing, both of which have certain potential airdrop incentive expectations.

Starknet

Recommended Strategy 1: Ekubo LP

• Operation Method: Use USDT and USDC to form trading pairs on the Ekubo official website and participate in market making;
• Real-time Yield: 26.69%;
• Yield Composition: Primarily STRK, supplemented by native market-making earnings;

Note: Benefiting from Starknet's DeFi Spring incentive program, the current yields for participating in various DeFi protocols on Starknet are quite attractive. Among them, Ekubo, as the DEX protocol with the largest liquidity and trading volume in this ecosystem, is a good choice in terms of balancing security and yield.

Recommended Strategy 2: zkLend and Nostra Market Making Deposit

• Operation Method: Deposit USDT or USDC on zkLend and Nostra to earn interest;
• Real-time Yield: Around 20%;
• Yield Composition: Primarily STRK, supplemented by native stablecoin earnings;

Note: Basic lending protocols similar to marginfi and Kamino on Solana, but the yield composition is mainly made up of STRK incentives (similar to Ekubo). Users who are optimistic about STRK's future performance may consider participating.

Scroll

Recommended Strategy 1: DODO LP

• Operation Method: Use DAI, USDT, USDC, etc., to form trading pairs on the DODO official website and participate in market making;
• Real-time Yield: 12% - 15%;
• Yield Composition: Primarily DODO, supplemented by native stablecoin earnings;
• Other Potential Earnings: Scroll airdrop incentives;

Note: With various Layer 2 projects issuing tokens, the yet-to-be-issued Scroll has also gained more attention and liquidity. Among the various DeFi protocols on Scroll, DODO, as an established DEX, is relatively trustworthy in terms of security. Additionally, benefiting from DODO's own liquidity incentive program, its stablecoin trading pairs also have high APY performance, so it is recommended that users consider it as a major platform for interacting with Scroll.

Aptos

Recommended Strategy 1: Echelon Lending Deposit

• Operation Method: Deposit various stablecoins on Echelon to earn interest;
• Real-time Yield: 11% - 17%;
• Yield Composition: Native stablecoin earnings plus APT incentive earnings;
• Other Potential Earnings: Echelon airdrop earnings;

Note: Echelon is currently the second-ranked lending protocol on Aptos by TVL, second only to Aries Markets. However, perhaps due to its inclusion in the Aptos incentive program, the comprehensive APY of this platform is significantly higher than that of the latter. Additionally, Echelon has launched a points program, which also means that participating in this protocol currently has certain potential airdrop expectations.

Sui

Recommended Strategy 1: Cetus LP

• Operation Method: Use USDT, USDC, etc., to form trading pairs on Cetus and participate in market making;
• Real-time Yield: 16.28%;
• Yield Composition: Primarily SUI incentives, supplemented by CETUS and native stablecoin earnings;

Note: The largest DEX protocol on Sui, with earnings primarily derived from ecological incentives provided by Sui.

Re-emphasize, pay attention to risks

The above are some of the stablecoin earning strategies we currently recommend.

For risk control and replication difficulty considerations, the above strategies only cover some relatively simple DeFi operations, involving only basic staking, deposits, LP, and other operations. However, the potential earnings obtainable are generally higher than passive financial earnings within exchanges. For users who are currently unsure how to operate in the secondary market and do not want their stablecoins to remain idle, the above strategies may be considered.

Finally, it is necessary to emphasize again that the DeFi world is a dark forest that is always accompanied by risks. Please be sure to understand the risks before operating, and DYOR.