DeFi lending yields, on-chain vs off-chain rate competition, multi-pool comparison across Aave V3 and Compound V3.
As of September 13, 2026, stablecoin lending across the 5 tracked pools averaged 3.21%; the benchmark Aave V3 USDC yield stood 0.08pp below the 3-month T-bill.
On-chain lending yields are one of the most important variables in stablecoin deployment decisions. A stablecoin held in a wallet earns nothing; a stablecoin deposited on Aave or Compound earns a variable APY set by pool utilization. The 2022–23 hike cycle saw T-bills above 5% alongside a contraction of stablecoin supply from ~$180B to ~$125B; the 2024 cutting cycle coincided with a recovery to new highs. The relationship between rates and stablecoin supply is one channel discussed in BIS Working Paper 1270 (Ahmed and Aldasoro, 2025)[1] documents how dollar-stablecoin flows affect short-term Treasury yields, the inverse channel; the chart should be read as co-movement, not proof of a single causal mechanism.
Aave USDC APY minus 3-month T-bill rate. The single cleanest measure of on-chain vs off-chain yield competition. Above zero: DeFi premium. Below: T-bills win.
Side-by-side base APY for 5 major institutional lending pools, Aave V3 Ethereum (USDC, USDT, DAI), Compound V3 Ethereum (USDC), Aave V3 Arbitrum (USDC). Shows where yield premia exist across pools.
FDIC national average bank deposit rates set against Aave V3 USDC, T-bills, IORB, and the US banking system's implied cost of funds. The chart underlying the bank-deposit-flight thesis that BofA's CEO publicly raised in June 2026.
Per-instrument comparison of yield-bearing stablecoin products. sUSDe (Ethena), sUSDS (Sky), USDY (Ondo), BUIDL (BlackRock), syrupUSDC (Maple), color-coded by yield source. The full picture of "where a US dollar can earn yield."
This section covers the on-chain dollar-yield landscape from four complementary angles. The DeFi yield spread page tracks Aave USDC vs the 3-month T-bill at daily cadence, the macro signal for whether DeFi pays a premium over risk-free. The multi-pool page picks the highest-paying institutional lending venue across Aave V3 + Compound V3. The bank deposits vs DeFi page sets FDIC savings against Aave and the US banking system's implied cost of funds, the consumer-side framing of the deposit-flight thesis. And the yield landscape page compares five yield-bearing stablecoin instruments (sUSDe, sUSDS, USDY, BUIDL, syrupUSDC) by yield source, tokenized T-bills, on-chain DSR, basis trade, institutional lending. Together they answer the four questions that matter for dollar deployment: should I be on-chain at all?, which lending pool pays best?, how does on-chain yield compare to a bank account?, and which yield-bearing stablecoin matches my risk preference?
Start with DeFi Yield Spread for the macro signal: it is positive when on-chain deployment is rewarded relative to T-bills, negative when capital should sit off-chain. Then drop into DeFi Lending Yields by Pool for venue selection: when pools diverge by more than ~30 bps, there is an arbitrage worth exploiting. The spread tells you whether to be in DeFi; the multi-pool view tells you where. Pair both with the SOFR & rates page to see what the Fed is doing on the macro side, and the redemption pressure gauge to see whether allocators are already acting on these spreads.
DeFi APY source: Pool-level base APY (no incentive tokens, no LP rewards). Updated daily at 15:40 UTC.
T-bill rate: US Federal Reserve series DTB3 (3-Month Treasury Bill, secondary market rate, percent per annum). Daily, published with 1-business-day lag.
Spread definition: Aave V3 USDC supply APY on Ethereum minus DTB3. Positive = DeFi premium; negative = T-bills win.
Pools tracked: Aave V3 Ethereum (USDC, USDT, DAI), Compound V3 Ethereum (USDC), Aave V3 Arbitrum (USDC). Selected for TVL depth, contract maturity, and institutional usage.
What is excluded: Incentive tokens (AAVE, COMP, ARB rewards), leveraged positions, LP fee yields, lending-against-collateral strategies. Base APY only, the apples-to-apples comparison with T-bills.
Smoothing: Raw daily series shown on the DeFi Spread page; the multi-pool page offers 7D / 30D moving-average toggles to filter intraday utilization noise.
How an oracle exploit cascaded into bad debt and a liquidity squeeze on Aave, the practical reminder that DeFi yields carry smart-contract risk that T-bill yields do not.
The institutional framework for thinking about stablecoins as monetary infrastructure, and why DeFi yield spreads are a transmission channel central bankers now watch.
SOFR and the rate-cycle context. The macro rate signal drives the T-bill yield that the DeFi spread is measured against.
Per-coin 30-day flow analysis. Pairs with the DeFi spread to confirm whether on-chain allocation is already responding to the macro signal.