Summary
DeFi continues to demonstrate durable strength as adoption continues to expand across both stablecoin and lending markets. Layer 2 ecosystems are attracting deeper institutional engagement, while onchain yield products are scaling rapidly through integrations with major infrastructure providers.
October closes with a strong mix of ecosystem expansion and protocol growth, underscoring the steady institutionalization of onchain yield.
Let’s take a closer look at this week’s developments.
Stablecoin Developments
Circle: Circle announced that USDC, CCTP V2, Circle Wallets, and Circle Contracts are coming soon to Monad. The launch will bring the world’s largest regulated stablecoin — along with Circle’s developer stack — to Monad’s high-performance, EVM-compatible environment.
Tether: With $135 billion in U.S. Treasuries, Tether has become the 17th largest holder of U.S. government debt, surpassing South Korea. The milestone illustrates how Tether’s reserves have evolved into a significant macroeconomic player, signaling the increasing overlap between digital assets and traditional finance.
Sky USDS: Sky Ecosystem continued its momentum through October, posting the fastest growth rate among stablecoins with a $5B+ market cap. USDS TVL rose 21% month-over-month, ending the month at $5.26 billion, while USDT followed with 4% MoM growth. The data points to sustained demand for yield-bearing stablecoins and signals a shift in stablecoin dominance toward capital-efficient, interest-accruing models.
Protocol Updates
Morpho: Morpho expanded to Optimism this week with Gauntlet-curated USDC Prime Vaults. The launch includes OP incentives routed directly to the vault, boosting returns for lenders and improving liquidity efficiency for borrowers. The Gauntlet USDC Prime Vault already surpassed $8 million in deposits and currently yields 8.3% APY, now fully accessible via the Yield.xyz API.
Maple Finance: Maple Finance crossed $5 billion in total assets under management, led by its institutional stablecoin products syrupUSDC and syrupUSDT. The protocol also recorded $2 million in monthly revenue for October, reflecting growing institutional appetite for predictable, credit-based yields and validating Maple’s model as a bridge between traditional financial markets and DeFi liquidity.
Euler: Euler made its Plasma mainnet debut, attracting over $710 million in deposits and $359 million in borrows in its first week. The top assets, USDT0 and USDai, saw $55 million and $43 million in deposits, respectively. In parallel, Pendle launched Principal Tokens (PTs) for these assets, giving users the ability to lock in fixed yield, marking an early example of composable yield innovation on Plasma.
YO Protocol: YO Protocol unveiled a new yield route for yoUSD through the Morpho Universal USDC Vault. This vault lends against assets issued by Universal.xyz, a wrapped-asset protocol. Over the past 30 days, yoUSD holders have earned an 8% APY, further cementing YO’s positioning as a yield-optimized stablecoin leveraging the growing Universal infrastructure.
Build With Yield.xyz Today
That wraps up this week’s review. With Circle’s arrival on Monad, Tether’s deepening ties to U.S. Treasuries, and continued protocol growth from Maple, Morpho, Euler, and YO — DeFi’s yield layer is maturing across every segment of the market.
Yield.xyz powers this evolution by giving developers, wallets, and fintechs a unified API to access and deliver the best onchain yields — from stablecoins and staking to institutional lending.
Start building with Yield.xyz today.