Comaring various stablecoins<\/p>\n
Quick note: this is editorial. I read the docs, ran small positions on most of them, and verified yields against each protocol\u2019s own dashboard. APYs change constantly, so verify before deploying real capital. Some links in this article are referral links; if you sign up through them I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Nothing here is investment advice.<\/em><\/p>\n I went looking for a decentralized stablecoin on Solana and came back with an opinion most listicles don\u2019t give\u00a0you.<\/p>\n Out of the four most-recommended options, only one is actually decentralized. The other three are useful. Two of them pay better yields. But \u201cdecentralized\u201d turned out to be doing a lot of work in their marketing copy.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what I found, in the order I think most readers should care about\u00a0them.<\/p>\n The four:<\/p>\n Ethena USDe<\/strong>\u200a\u2014\u200athe delta-neutral one most people already\u00a0knowPerena USD*<\/strong>\u200a\u2014\u200athe new yield-bearing one with the high\u00a0APYSolayer sUSD<\/strong>\u200a\u2014\u200athe T-bill-backed yield stablecoinHylo hyUSD<\/strong>\u200a\u2014\u200athe LST-backed one nobody\u2019s talking about\u00a0yet<\/p>\n Three things to\u00a0compare:<\/p>\n What backs the stablecoin, and whether that backing is actually\u00a0on-chainWhere the yield comes from, and whether it can disappearWhat happens in a stress event (peg, redemption, counterparty risk)<\/p>\n Going in\u00a0order.<\/p>\n Ethena USDe<\/strong><\/a>\u200a\u2014\u200ahigh yield, but funding-rate-dependent and CEX-anchored. Bridged to Solana, not\u00a0native.Perena USD*<\/strong><\/a>\u200a<\/strong>\u2014\u200abest stable yield around 15%, but the backing is a managed portfolio with RWA and off-chain components. You can use this referral code DLYBMN to get up to 15% off\u00a0fees.Solayer sUSD<\/strong><\/a>\u200a\u2014\u200aclean T-bill-backed yield stablecoin. Honest, simple, not decentralized.Hylo hyUSD<\/strong>\u200a<\/a>\u2014\u200aactually decentralized, fully onchain, Solana-native, with the most interesting product wedge in\u00a0xSOL.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t pick by yield alone. Pick by what you want the stablecoin to actually\u00a0be.<\/p>\n Most readers know USDe already. It\u2019s the delta-neutral stablecoin from Ethena. You mint by depositing crypto, the protocol opens a perp short to hedge, and the funding rate becomes your yield via\u00a0sUSDe.<\/p>\n The yield is the headline. When perp funding is positive, sUSDe pays double-digit APY. During the 2024 cycle peaks, that was 20\u201330%. In quieter markets it can drop to single digits. Always check the live dashboard before depositing.<\/p>\n The catches.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not Solana-native.<\/strong> USDe lives on Ethereum. The Solana version is bridged via Wormhole. Functional, but you have an extra dependency that hyUSD or sUSD\u00a0don\u2019t.<\/p>\n It depends on centralized exchanges.<\/strong> Ethena\u2019s perp shorts run on Binance, Bybit, OKX, and Deribit. That\u2019s where the funding rate comes from. If perp funding flips negative for an extended stretch, USDe yield disappears. If a major venue has trouble, the hedge is in\u00a0trouble.<\/p>\n \u201cDecentralized\u201d is generous.<\/strong> USDe is non-custodial in the sense that you hold it yourself. But the backing isn\u2019t onchain. It\u2019s collateral spread across CEX accounts. That\u2019s not the same as DAI-style or hyUSD-style decentralization.<\/p>\n The yield is real. The mechanism is clever. Just don\u2019t read \u201cdecentralized stablecoin\u201d in the marketing and assume that means what it meant in 2020. It\u00a0doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Perena is the newer entry, founded by alumni of the Solana Foundation\u2019s stablecoin team and Jump Trading. USD* is their yield-bearing dollar\u00a0token.<\/p>\n The mechanism is different from anything else on this list. USD* is pooled stable-value capital deployed across yield strategies: delta-neutral hedged positions, secured onchain lending, T-bill-style allocations, and stablecoin reserves. Yield embeds directly into the token\u2019s price rather than rebasing balances.<\/p>\n The headline number people quote is around 15% APY, which is what DeFi Development Corp publicly announced when they partnered to deploy treasury reserves into USD* in late\u00a02025.<\/p>\n Where it\u00a0wins:<\/p>\n Yield is genuinely competitiveReal adoption (DFDV, Brale partnership)Proof-of-Reserves implementation with Brevis and Primus is\u00a0liveSolana-native<\/p>\n Where it loses on the \u201cdecentralized\u201d axis:<\/p>\n The portfolio mix includes RWA and CEX-hedged positionsYield strategies are managed at the protocol level, not user-controlledOff-chain reserves are a meaningful part of the\u00a0backing<\/p>\n This is closer to a tokenized hedge fund product than a DAI-style decentralized stablecoin. That\u2019s not bad, just a different category. The 15% yield reflects the strategy mix; users who want stable yield without thinking about funding rates will find it\u00a0useful.<\/p>\n sUSD from Solayer is the most honest about what it actually is. It\u2019s a yield-bearing stablecoin backed by short-term US Treasury Bills, issued through OpenEden\u2019s tokenized T-bill infrastructure.<\/p>\n Yield is around 4\u20135% APY, distributed automatically via Solana\u2019s Token-2022 interest-bearing extension. No staking, no claiming. The balance just goes\u00a0up.<\/p>\n The use case is simple. Instead of holding USDC at zero yield, you hold sUSD and earn the T-bill\u00a0rate.<\/p>\n The honesty problem isn\u2019t with sUSD itself. It\u2019s with the category label. sUSD is a real-world-asset stablecoin. The collateral is T-bills, custodied at regulated infrastructure, with a Moody\u2019s rating on the underlying tokenized T-bill\u00a0product.<\/p>\n That\u2019s good. It\u2019s also not decentralized.<\/p>\n If you want a yield-bearing stablecoin on Solana with stable, predictable returns and minimal complexity, sUSD is excellent. If \u201cdecentralized\u201d is the box you actually need to check, this one\u00a0doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n This is the one most people haven\u2019t tried yet, and the one that most resembles what \u201cdecentralized stablecoin\u201d used to\u00a0mean.<\/p>\n hyUSD is backed entirely by Solana liquid staking tokens (LSTs) like jitoSOL, mSOL, and Hylo\u2019s own hyloSOL. The collateral is onchain. There are no T-bills. No CEX perps. No off-chain custody. The yield from staked SOL flows through the protocol, which is what makes the whole system\u00a0work.<\/p>\n Two related tokens worth\u00a0knowing:<\/p>\n xSOL<\/strong>\u200a\u2014\u200along-term leveraged SOL exposure with no liquidations and no funding rate. The collateral pool absorbs volatility; xSOL holders capture the upside (and downside) of SOL beyond the stable\u00a0layer.sHYUSD<\/strong>\u200a\u2014\u200astaked hyUSD, the yield-bearing version. Earns protocol revenue from LST yields and trading\u00a0fees.<\/p>\n The honest tradeoffs:<\/p>\n Market cap is small compared to USDe or sUSD. You\u2019re early. Liquidity is real but\u00a0thin.The system depends on Solana LSTs working correctly. If a major LST has issues, that risk flows\u00a0up.xSOL is genuinely interesting, but it\u2019s a leveraged asset, not a stablecoin. Don\u2019t confuse the\u00a0two.<\/p>\n What you get in exchange:<\/p>\n A stablecoin where every dollar of backing is onchain and verifiableYield from network economics (SOL staking) rather than funding rates or T-bill\u00a0ratesAn XP program that rewards holders directly. xSOL holders earn 20 XP per dollar per day. hyUSD earns 5. sHYUSD earns\u00a01Referrals stack on top: refer a friend and you earn 10% of their total XP, and they get a 5% XP boost on their own\u00a0activityA protocol with published audits and openly listed onchain addresses<\/p>\n This is what people meant by \u201cdecentralized stablecoin\u201d before the category got watered down by half-onchain hybrid products.<\/p>\n Want the highest yield right now and don\u2019t mind centralization tradeoffs?<\/strong> Perena USD* (~15%) or Ethena USDe (variable, often 10\u201325%). Both work. USD* is more stable; USDe pays more in bull conditions and less when funding\u00a0flips.Want a stable, predictable yield from a low-risk source?<\/strong> Solayer sUSD. T-bill yields with zero drama. Just don\u2019t call it decentralized.Want a stablecoin that\u2019s actually onchain and Solana-native, with yield earned from network economics rather than off-chain instruments?<\/strong> Hylo hyUSD. Pair it with sHYUSD if you want yield, or hold xSOL if you want leveraged SOL exposure with no liquidations.Want one stablecoin and one leveraged Solana position from the same protocol?<\/strong> This is where Hylo gets genuinely interesting. hyUSD plus xSOL is a single-protocol setup that gives you a stable layer and an upside layer with no funding rate, no liquidations, and an active XP program rewarding both positions.<\/p>\n I ended up holding all four because each does something different. The one I added the most exposure to was hyUSD, because it\u2019s the only one that delivers what the category originally promised.<\/p>\n If you want to try Hylo, my referral link is below. You get a 5% XP boost on everything you do; I earn a small share of your\u00a0XP.<\/p>\n Hylo Documentation<\/a>Hylo XP\u00a0System<\/a>Ethena Labs<\/a>Perena Documentation<\/a>Solayer Documentation<\/a><\/p>\n If this saved you some research, a clap on Medium helps it find other Solana DeFi readers. Got a take that contradicts mine? Drop it in the comments. I read every\u00a0reply.<\/p>\n Editorial comparison, not financial advice. Pricing and yields based on each protocol\u2019s documentation and dashboards at time of writing\u200a\u2014\u200averify current details before deploying capital. Some links above are referral links; if you sign up through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This does not influence the views\u00a0above.<\/em><\/p>\n I Tested Solana\u2019s Decentralized Stablecoins: hyUSD vs USDe vs USD* vs sUSD<\/a> was originally published in Coinmonks<\/a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Comaring various stablecoins Yield, decentralization, mechanism. Only one of these four passes all three\u00a0tests. Quick note: this is editorial. I read the docs, ran small positions on most of them, and verified yields against each protocol\u2019s own dashboard. APYs change constantly, so verify before deploying real capital. Some links in this article are referral links; […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":159850,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-159849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159849"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=159849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/159850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=159849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=159849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=159849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}TL;DR<\/h4>\n
1. Ethena\u00a0USDe<\/h4>\n
2. Perena USD* (perena.org<\/a>)<\/h4>\n
3. Solayer sUSD (solayer.org<\/a>)<\/h4>\n
4. Hylo hyUSD (hylo.so<\/a>)<\/h4>\n
So which do I actually\u00a0pick?<\/h4>\n
Sources<\/h4>\n