The Rise of Emerging Yield-Generating Stablecoins: Exploring the Stability and Returns of the Crypto Assets Market

The cryptocurrency market has always been perceived as highly volatile, but the emergence of the stablecoin sector has changed this situation. As digital assets pegged to the US dollar, stablecoins can not only be used for trading other tokens but also in payment scenarios. Currently, the stablecoin market has surpassed $200 billion, becoming a relatively mature field in the crypto ecosystem.

Although centralized USDT and USDC still dominate the market, decentralized stablecoins are rapidly developing. USDe, launched by Ethena, has pioneered a model that generates returns through futures arbitrage and staking, achieving a market capitalization of $5.9 billion, ranking third globally. Recently, Ethena partnered with BlackRock to launch USDtb, which offers stable returns through physical assets, further enhancing its product line.

Inspired by the successful case of Ethena, more interest-bearing stablecoin projects have emerged in the market. This article will focus on three emerging projects: Usual, Anzen, and Resolv, analyzing their anchoring mechanisms and sources of returns.

Usual: Strong team background and unique token economics

The USD0 issued by Usual is an interest-bearing stablecoin backed by short-term government bonds. Users can stake USD0 to earn USD0++, and receive USUAL tokens as additional rewards. The project aims to return 90% of its value to users, creating an ecosystem that is jointly owned by the users.

The project team has a distinguished background, including former French parliament members and presidential advisors, which provides Usual with an advantage in handling regulatory issues such as on-chain physical asset management.

The token economic model of Usual is quite innovative. The issuance of USUAL is linked to the total locked amount of USD0, adopting an inflation model, but the issuance rate will be adjusted with the growth of protocol revenues. This design aims to incentivize early participants and maintain long-term value.

Recently, Usual has reached a cooperation with Ethena to accept USDtb as collateral and migrate part of the USD0 supported assets to USDtb. This collaboration will make Usual the main holder of USDtb while also providing users with the opportunity to earn sUSDe rewards.

Anzen: Exploration of Tokenization of Credit Assets

The USDz issued by Anzen supports multiple networks, and its underlying assets are a private credit asset portfolio. Users can stake USDz to earn sUSDz, thereby enjoying the benefits brought by physical assets.

Anzen collaborates with the U.S. licensed broker Percent, primarily investing in the U.S. market, with a highly diversified asset portfolio, where a single asset does not exceed 15% of the total. The current annualized return is approximately 10%.

The project has received investment support from well-known institutions including Mechanism Capital and Circle Ventures. Its token ANZ adopts the ve model, allowing holders to earn protocol revenue sharing through staking.

Resolv: Stablecoin Solution for Delta-Neutral Strategy

Resolv offers two products: USR and RLP. USR is an over-collateralized stablecoin backed by ETH, allowing users to stake USR to earn stUSR for yields. RLP represents the over-collateralized portion, bearing higher risks but also enjoying more returns.

Resolv adopts a Delta neutral strategy to manage collateral, staking most of the ETH on Lido while shorting on multiple exchanges to hedge risks. The earnings mainly come from on-chain staking and funding rates, distributed to stUSR and RLP holders.

Recently, Resolv expanded to the Base network and launched a points activity to prepare for a potential token issuance in the future.

Overall, these emerging yield stablecoin projects each have their own characteristics, providing users with a diverse range of yield options. Their development reflects the crypto market's ongoing pursuit of stability and yield, and also showcases the limitless possibilities of decentralized financial innovation.