Original | Odaily Planet Daily(@OdailyChina)
Author | Liaoliao
The cryptocurrency market, particularly the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, is perpetually in search of underlying assets that combine stability, high liquidity, and high yield. As the yields from traditional real-world assets (RWA, such as U.S. Treasuries) gradually stabilize, the DeFi market's craving for high-yielding, interest-bearing assets is fostering a new paradigm shift. Against this backdrop, stablecoin projects based on STRC are rising at a remarkable pace.
As the cornerstone of the crypto world, the evolution of stablecoins has progressed from early fiat-backed versions (like USDT, USDC), to crypto asset overcollateralized versions (like DAI), to algorithmic versions (like the imploded UST), and to the basis trade arbitrage versions (like USDe) that have emerged in recent years.
However, the current market pain point is that stablecoin yields below 10%, or even 5%, can no longer meet the risk premium demand of on-chain capital, while excessively high algorithmic yields often come with systemic risks like "death spirals."
STRC-driven stablecoin projects are filling this gap at an opportune time. Judging from TVL growth rates, on-chain capital flow directions, to community discussion heat, building stablecoins based on STRC has become one of the most watched niche sectors in the current DeFi market.
Especially with the support of yield protocols like Pendle and Morpho, these products have evolved beyond being mere "stablecoins" into a new asset form that combines stability, yield, and financial composability.
What is STRC?
STRC refers to a "Bitcoin Credit Facility" launched by the treasury company Strategy.
Odaily Note: For a detailed analysis of STRC, please refer to “In-depth Analysis of STRC: Strategy's New Magic Trick for Raising Money to Buy Bitcoin.”
Simply put, Strategy raises capital from the market by issuing STRC, then continuously uses the proceeds to buy Bitcoin. STRC holders receive a floating interest income exceeding 12.3%, paid monthly. Unlike traditional bonds, STRC is a preferred stock instrument, not debt, thus having no fixed maturity date. Simultaneously, its dividend rights are superior to common stock (MSTR), possessing strong "fixed-income-like" properties.
The most unique aspect of STRC is that it essentially transforms the long-term appreciation expectation of Bitcoin into a "Digital Credit" product acceptable to traditional capital markets.
To maintain STRC's value near its $100 face value, Strategy dynamically adjusts its dividend rate – increasing the yield to attract capital when STRC trades below par, and suppressing the premium by issuing more shares when it trades above.
Since Strategy launched STRC, market reception has been quite positive, thanks to its relatively stable "peg" performance (successfully restored after a few brief deviations) and its considerable yield.
At the time of writing, the total issuance size of STRC has surpassed $10.4 billion, accounting for over 60% of the total preferred stock issuance in the global market for 2026.
Earlier this month, Strategy founder Michael Saylor stated in an interview with David Lin – Digital credit products like STRC are the killer application for Bitcoin (refer to Interview with Michael Saylor: I Did Say I'd Sell, But Never Net Sell).
However, traditional STRC shares typically circulate only among Wall Street hedge funds, compliant institutions, and high-net-worth accredited investors. On-chain DeFi users, due to barriers like access, compliance, and capital channels, find it difficult to directly access this high-yield product sweeping through traditional finance.
This is precisely where Apyx, the protagonist of this article, steps in.
What Apyx does is serve as a bridge between Wall Street's digital credit instruments and on-chain DeFi legos. Through innovative on-chain financial architecture, it brings STRC's excess yield opportunities on-chain, constructing the next generation of interest-bearing stablecoins with high liquidity, composability, and higher yields.
Deconstructing Apyx, Perhaps the Highest-Yielding Stablecoin in the Market
Unlike many stablecoin projects reliant on airdrop narratives and lacking real yield sources, Apyx's core competitiveness lies not just in "higher APY," but in its backing which combines traditional finance capital capabilities with on-chain protocol composability.
Regarding background, the core supporter behind Apyx is the NASDAQ-listed treasury company DeFi Development Corp. The latter not only participated in Apyx's incubation and strategic investment but also provided the critical bridge connecting traditional capital markets with the on-chain world.
In terms of product design, Apyx employs a dual-token model of apxUSD + apyUSD.
Among them, apxUSD is closer to a traditional stablecoin, pegged to $1, primarily serving as a medium of exchange and on-chain liquidity. apxUSD itself does not automatically accrue yield; it functions more like a highly liquid "base dollar asset," suitable for trading, payments, lending, etc.
The true embodiment of Apyx's core value is apyUSD – users can lock apxUSD to obtain apyUSD (a 20-day unlock period applies), the latter being similar to Lido's wstETH, with its price increasing continuously as underlying yield accumulates. In other words, apyUSD itself is the carrier of yield.
Currently, the real-time annualized yield for apyUSD is approximately 11%, with an expected annualized yield exceeding 13%. Against the backdrop of continuously declining yields for USD stablecoins overall, a stablecoin asset with a genuine yield source and double-digit yield is naturally exceptionally attractive.
Furthermore, it's crucial to emphasize that unlike many stablecoin projects relying on token subsidies to achieve short-term high yields, Apyx's core yield originates from STRC dividends, making the yield source more stable and sustainable.
DefiLlama data shows that since its launch at the end of February this year, the issuance scale of apxUSD has rapidly reached 502 million tokens in less than three months, making it the 21st largest stablecoin protocol by issuance size in the DeFi world.
However, yield alone is insufficient to sustain a stablecoin ecosystem. What truly determines a protocol's ceiling is the asset's composability and liquidity efficiency. On this front, Apyx has clearly done extensive work – currently, Apyx is deeply integrated with several mainstream protocols including Morpho, Curve, and Pendle.
On Morpho, users can use apyUSD as collateral to borrow other assets, enabling operations like "earning yield while unlocking liquidity." For more aggressive players, even recursive lending can be employed to amplify yield exposure. Curve addresses liquidity issues. By constructing trading pools with apxUSD and mainstream stablecoins like USDC and USDT, Apyx ensures low slippage even during large-volume swaps, which is crucial for a stablecoin system.
As for Pendle, it might be the most explosive component within the entire Apyx ecosystem. Since Pendle can split yield-bearing assets into PT (Principal Token) and YT (Yield Token), apyUSD evolves beyond being just a "hold-to-earn-yield" asset into a tradable, leveragable, speculatable yield product – conservative users can lock in fixed yields via PT; more aggressive users can amplify bets on future yields by buying YT.
Precisely because of this high degree of composability, Apyx's ecosystem expansion speed is noticeably faster than many traditional stablecoin protocols.
In a sense, what Apyx is doing is not merely "issuing a high-yield stablecoin." It's more akin to attempting to establish an on-chain credit market centered around STRC.
Points Program and Point-Earning Strategies
In today's DeFi market, "points" are no longer just simple user incentive tools; they resemble a way to pre-price future token rights. Especially as the market re-enters a phase of liquidity competition, whether a project can continuously attract capital often depends on two things – whether the yield is sufficiently high, and whether the token expectation is sufficiently clear.
A significant reason for Apyx's rapid TVL accumulation in a short time is closely related to its current points system. According to the official plan, Apyx's points program follows a phased rollout model:
- Season 1 concluded on May 22, 2026. The official has confirmed that 5% of the total token supply will be allocated to early participants in this stage;
- Season 2 commenced immediately after Season 1 ended and will continue until October 11, releasing another 6% in token incentives;
- After Season 2 concludes, Apyx will conduct its TGE and airdrop on October 13.
This rhythm is quite clever. On one hand, the Season deadlines naturally create "sprint windows," incentivizing capital inflows to accelerate before the end. On the other hand, the seamless transition from Season 1 to Season 2 avoids the common problem of "TVL collapse right after Season 1 ends" seen in many projects. Most importantly, Apyx has set a clear future TGE and airdrop date, providing users with more definite interaction expectations.
For the market, this means Apyx's airdrop expectation is not a short-term event but more like a liquidity war lasting several months. From the user's perspective, the more critical question is "how to earn points more efficiently."
Apyx outlines point-earning efficiency for different operations on its official website, broadly categorized into "Basic Mode" and "Advanced Mode."
"Basic Mode" involves simply holding apxUSD (10x points) or apyUSD (1x point). "Advanced Mode" entails flexibly using the integrated protocols mentioned above, such as borrowing/lending apxUSD on Morpho (5x points), providing LP for apxUSD on Curve (12x points). The most efficient strategies revolve around Pendle: directly holding YT for apxUSD yields 32x points, and providing LP for apxUSD on Pendle also offers a 24x points multiplier.
Competitive Landscape of the Sector, and Apyx's Advantages
As an emerging sector still in its very early stages, the STRC-driven stablecoin market currently doesn't have many core players in the true sense. Judging by capital scale, market attention, and ecosystem expansion speed, the projects that have truly formed influence are essentially just Apyx and Saturn. In a sense, the entire "Digital Credit Stablecoin" sector is gradually evolving into a dual-leader competitive landscape.
Although Saturn launched earlier, Apyx has now surpassed it in terms of data metrics. Overall, Apyx's competitive advantages manifest in the following key dimensions.
First, absolute TVL size and underlying asset holdings advantage. Apyx established a clear strategic goal in its project positioning – to become the world's largest institutional holder of STRC. As of the end of April, holdings had reached $125 million (Saturn only $50 million). If Apyx achieves its strategic objective, it would essentially monopolize the on-chain yield distribution rights based on Strategy's digital credit at the source. Furthermore, for a stablecoin, Apyx's TVL size advantage translates to deeper trading pools, lower slippage for large swaps, and more robust liquidity efficiency, safely accommodating large capital inflows and outflows.
Second, higher yield, with no risk of yield pause. For the target clientele of Apyx and Saturn, the core demand is continuous and predictable yield. Compared to Saturn's sUSDat, Apyx's apyUSD static holding yield maintains an approximate 2% annualized yield advantage. Additionally, and very importantly, sUSDat's design is deeply tied to STRC's exchange rate. When STRC falls below the "Watermark" due to ex-dividend events or other reasons, YT-sUSDat's yield accumulation completely pauses, a problem Apyx does not have.
Third, clearer TGE expectations, and no VC sell-side pressure. Users in the crypto industry detest "indefinite points PUA." Compared to Saturn, Apyx has clearly disclosed the TGE date, the timing of each Season's points activities, and the allocated token amounts, making users psychologically more likely to stay. Moreover, Apyx's development did not involve VC funding, only minimal early investment, partly from the founding contributors themselves. This means there are no private round institutions dumping for profit before retail investors enter, making the token rewards corresponding to points more ideal.
Potential Risks and Outlook Expectations
It is crucial to clearly emphasize that Apyx's high yield does not equate to "risk-free." Essentially, Apyx remains a yield product built upon a Bitcoin credit structure, not a traditional risk-free dollar asset. Therefore, before discussing its growth potential, one must also acknowledge the risk sources behind it.
First, is the credit risk of the underlying asset itself. The core logic of STRC is built upon Strategy and its Bitcoin balance sheet. In other words, the market's acceptance of STRC's yield is fundamentally based on belief that Strategy can continuously utilize its Bitcoin assets to maintain its credit structure and perpetually execute financing, balance sheet expansion, and interest payments.
Should the Bitcoin market experience extreme volatility, such as a sharp crash in a short period, or a significant decline in market risk appetite towards Strategy's leveraged model, then STRC's market pricing, liquidity, and yield structure could all be impacted. While this "systemic risk" doesn't imply immediate protocol collapse, it does signify that Apyx's yield source is somewhat tied to the Bitcoin cycle itself.
Second, are the typical DeFi composability risks. Since Apyx is deeply integrated with protocols like Morpho, Curve, and Pendle, its ecosystem is built upon highly complex on-chain composability. The advantage of this structure is the极大提升资金效率; but the trade-off is that the system's risks become more coupled.
For instance, if a foundational protocol encounters a smart contract vulnerability, liquidity crisis, or abnormal liquidation mechanism, risks could propagate throughout the ecosystem via LP, collateral, and yield-splitting structures. Especially as recursive lending and high-leverage玩法 become more普及, market fluctuations can be further amplified.
Therefore, Apyx is better understood as a "medium-to-high risk, high yield" on-chain credit asset, not a replacement for traditional overcollateralized stablecoins. But it is precisely this risk stratification that gives Apyx its unique appeal in the current market environment.
The stablecoin market today faces an increasingly evident problem – yields are rapidly becoming homogenized. As U.S. Treasury yields recede and traditional arbitrage spaces narrow, the real yield most stablecoin protocols can provide is increasingly limited. The market needs new yield sources, and users are willing to bear a certain degree of risk for higher yields.
Over the past few years, from LSD, Restaking to Pendle yield trading, the entire DeFi market has essentially been validating one thing – users never reject risk; what they truly reject are assets with no "risk-reward ratio." The emergence of STRC恰好为市场提供了一种新的"风险 vs 收益"选项.
And over the past few months, the sustained growth in TVL for Apyx and the entire STRC sector demonstrates that the market is voting for this narrative with real capital.
