Hey folks, if you’ve been following me since last bull market, you’ll know that I usually like to keep an eye on different stablecoin strategies, and as some of the rates that protocols have come out have skyrocketed, for me it’s full evidence that we’re definitely back. In today’s article I’m going to be highlighting some key strategies that I think are worth taking a look at all with insanely high APRs/APYs.
Anzen (~40% APR)
Perhaps the stablecoin strategy that I’m personally most currently invested in is with Anzen Finance’s USDz, an overcollateralized RWA-backed stablecoin, more specifically a stablecoin that is backed by private credit securities managed by Percent (a licensed broker dealer since 2018). The yield is primarily generated from the underlying interest which in Q3 of this year alone, was reportedly $8.8 million dollars from a total investment of $90.9 million:
$USDz, Anzen’s native stablecoin can be liquid staked to $sUSDz, which alone accrues a native 19.2% APY, but subsequently since it’s convertible to a liquid staked derivative, you can also leverage your gains by utilizing it in DeFi — all the while earning Z-points:
The strategy I’m personally involved is is utilizing the USDz-USDC concentrated liquidity pool on Aerodrome, where you can earn up to almost 40% APR (or even up to +400% on a 0.01% CL), all the while earning a 30x multiplier on my Z points.
$ANZ (and Z points)
Speaking of Z points, Anzen just announced that that in December they will be awarding Z points holder with their soon-to-be released token, $ANZ, with an additional public sale that will occur on December 2nd:
Risks
In my opinion, the biggest risk with Anzen is its involvement with private credit securities, although this is a bit of a double-edged sword. We all know what bad loans can do from the 2008 crash, but the silver lining is that the risks of massive loans collapsing should be (theoretically) independent from any collapse within crypto. Additionally, just like any DeFI protocol, there is smart contract risk, despite 3 audits that they conducted in the past 6 months.
Interport Finance (~35% APR)
Interport, a cross-chain swap/bridge in full transparency is one that I haven’t used very often, but the significantly high APRs have been on my radar for awhile as they’re really hard to ignore. Currently they have 10 different single-sided stablecoin pools that are all offering +20% APR:
The two pools that I think I think are the most attractive are the 30% yields you can gain on USDT/USDC by providing liquidity on zkLINK Nova, where they are not only great yields, but you can earn an extra 10x on Nova Points if you’re farming that particular L2.
$ITP
If you’re considering parking capital on Interport, a major consideration that needs to be taken is that yields are paid out in the protocol’s native token $ITP, which as of late hasn’t shown the best price action:
Risks
Despite possible a possible depreciation of price in your $ITP yield, another historical factor to consider is that bridges have been a great pain point in the past for multiple hacks and exploits. That being said, Interport hasn’t suffered any exploit (as far as I’m aware) in the past and has subsequently been audited in 2023 by Hacken.
Jupiter Finance (60–90% APY)
OK, so technically Jupiter’s $JLP liquidity token technically isn’t a stablecoin play, but there’s a few key reasons why I feel like it was worth mentioning in this list.
First, it is comprised partly of stablecoins, almost a third in fact:
And as you can see in the breakdown above, the LP is weighted to mostly $SOL, but as you can see from a comparison to $SOL’s price action, $JLP is able to remain relatively stable, sometimes showing relative gains when $SOL takes dips, as you can see here:
Why is this? My assumption is that since $JLP acts as a counter-party vault, when $SOL takes a significant dip in price, the liquidations that occur on Jupiter’s Perpetuals DEX create gains that most likely offset $SOL’s price depreciation.
And although one might argue that simply holding $SOL may be a better bet, but arguably $JLP can be much more profitable if you’re willing to lever up your gains — going from almost 60% to 92.91% if you utilize Kamino’s Multiply feature:
Risks
As with any counterparty vault, there’s no guarantee that these high APRs will remain consistent, and if you’re that bullish on Solana, as I alluded to before, it might be better to simply hold some $SOL and find a place to lever up that instead.
Contango (20–+250% APY Depending on your leverage)
Last but certainly not least we have Contango, which allows you to leverage up your yields on stablecoin significantly, earning some eye-watering yields some of DeFi’s most popular lending/borrowing platforms, namely Silo, Morpho, and Aave:
No matter how safe some of these protocols are, I would never advise taking a 17x leverage out on stablecoin gains, but these returns are super solid nonetheless, especially considering that in certain strategies you can earn points at the same time.
If you’re interested in learning more about Contango’s strategies, I highly recommend you check out Stephen TCG’s hour-long AMA he conducted with the team earlier this year:
Wen token?
Although Contango has a point system, the points don’t necessarily equate to an airdrop, instead users will get $oTANGO which can later be laid claim to purchase of $TANGO pre-market.
Risks
Despite obvious risks of getting liquidated by taking leveraged positions, Contango has been audited multiple times, including ones from ABDK, Open Zeppelin, and most recently Offbeat Security.
Conclusion
I know that many would argue that stablecoins aren’t that lucrative when clearly the more lucrative play for the bull market are altcoins and memes. But in my opinion, this means that stablecoin plays are that much more lucrative as many of these pools and strategies may be underfarmed.
Are there any strategies that aren’t on this list that you think are worth taking a look into? If so, drop me a comment below because I’d love to take a look into it.
And as always thanks for taking the time to read this and be sure to follow me on twitter (https://twitter.com/CryptosWith) to get all my latest updates. Also, looking for a gift for your Crypto-loving/hating friend? Give them a REKT journal to cheer them up!