The Best Stablecoin Yield Programs: Up to 4.25%
Some crypto exchanges offer stablecoin yield programs with high APYs, but they have risks, and could be affected by pending legislation.The investing information provided on this page is for educational purposes only. NerdWallet, Inc. does not offer advisory or brokerage services, nor does it recommend or advise investors to buy or sell particular stocks, securities or other investments.
If you’ve explored the cryptocurrency world, you’ve probably heard of stablecoins: U.S. dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies such as Circle (USDC), Ripple USD (RLUSD) and Tether (USDT). As their name implies, these offer price stability, in contrast to the wild price swings of traditional cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
If you’ve poked around some more, you may have heard that some crypto platforms pay a yield on stablecoins — but where does that yield come from?
The answer lies in a relatively new and complicated type of crypto activity called a stablecoin yield program. Here’s an overview of how these savings-account-like products work, their risks, and some of the highest-yielding ones on the market today.
→ Jump to the highest-yield programs
What are stablecoin yield programs?
Stablecoin yield programs are offerings from cryptocurrency trading platforms that let users deposit stablecoins and earn passive income on them.
Some stablecoin yield programs require users to lock up their money for a specific period of time in order to earn a yield, making them sort of a crypto equivalent of a certificate of deposit (CD), while others pay out more flexibly, like a savings account.
Some crypto platforms offer stablecoin yield programs for free to all users, while others restrict them to paying users with premium subscriptions. In the latter case, investors should keep in mind that the subscription cost will reduce their net yield.
Under the hood, stablecoin yield programs generate returns in a variety of ways. Some put investors’ money into decentralized finance (DeFi) lending pools that lend out crypto to traders or financial institutions, who pay interest on those loans that’s then used to pay your yield. These can be risky due to the lack of regulation around them. Other stablecoin yield programs invest funds in safer income investments like Treasury bills, or do a mix of the two.
Some crypto platforms that offer free stablecoin yield programs profit from these programs by keeping a portion of the returns, and passing the rest onto investors. Others only offer them to investors who meet minimum deposit or minimum trading activity requirements.
The highest-paying programs
Below is a list of the stablecoin yield programs offered by the crypto platforms reviewed by NerdWallet, ranked from highest to lowest maximum annual yield. Compared to last month, the only changes we've found are in Kraken's Rewards program, which no longer offers a higher yield for locked-up assets. Rather, they offer two different rates for members (Kraken+) and non-members, noted below.
Kraken USDC Rewards
Anyone can earn 1.75% on their USDC with Kraken, however earning the top tier requires Kraken+, which is $4.99/month.
Kraken has remained an excellent exchange for advanced traders while also building out a platform over the years that's welcoming to newcomers, too. Its customer service is similar to a traditional brokerage's (rare for a crypto platform), and its fee structure is transparent and easy to understand.
Gemini Asset Rewards
Gemini's rewards program runs on Ripple's stablecoin, RLUSD. The yield for this program currently tops out at 4%.
For casual investors, Gemini offers a trading platform that’s easy for beginners, but a confusing fee structure that’s higher than some cryptocurrency exchanges.
Crypto.com Earn
Crypto.com Earn users can use USDC, USDT or USC coins, and it's only available to paid members: up to 2.70% for Plus members ($4.99/month or $49.90/year) and up to 3.70% for Pro members ($29.99/month or $299.90/year).
Crypto.com offers a massive selection of digital assets, low or no fees, and additional perks for holders of its CRO cryptocurrency.
Coinbase One USDC Rewards
Earning rewards through Coinbase requires Coinbase One membership, which is $4.99 per month, or $49.99 per year.
Coinbase is the largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange, trading more than 200 cryptocurrencies. Its fees, however, can be confusing and higher than some competitors.
Uphold Rewards
Users can earn 3% on RLUSD or 2% on USDC. However, before you can start earning, you'll first have to open the app, deposit $50 and trade at least $50 at least once a month.
There's a lot to like about Uphold between its wide investment selection, thousands of crypto trading pairs, multiple wallet options and extensive staking offerings. However, its transaction fee could be lower, and its customer support could be stronger (especially when users run into technical issues).
Net APY calculator for paid stablecoin yield programs
The calculator below can help you calculate net annual percentage yield (APY) for stablecoin yield programs that require a paid subscription. If you pay for a subscription and only deposit a small amount of money, the subscription may cost more than you earn in yield. The calculator below will display a negative APY in that case.
What are the risks of these programs?
Some of these stablecoin yield programs have higher APYs than many traditional savings vehicles, such as those featured in NerdWallet’s Best CD Rates and Best High-Yield Savings Accounts roundups.
That said, it’s important to note that these things aren’t apples-to-apples. High-yield savings accounts and CDs have Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. protection, while stablecoins do not.
The risk of something going wrong on the issuer side isn’t just theoretical, either. There have been some high-profile failures of crypto-based income investment schemes in the past, such as Gemini freezing withdrawals from its Gemini Earn crypto lending program in 2022 amid the FTX crisis. In that case, customers didn’t get their money back for more than a year.
Stablecoins may offer an extra percentage point or two of yield over the top CDs and HYSAs, but savers need to consider whether they’re willing to accept the risk of something similar happening.
On top of that, the webpages of these stablecoin yield programs usually have fine print that notes that their yields are subject to change without notice, and many have seen their yields fluctuate dramatically over the last year or two. Traditional banking products, on the other hand, tend to have more stable yields that change slowly in response to predictable factors like Federal Reserve action.
How could the Clarity Act affect stablecoin yields?
The future of stablecoin yield programs is uncertain at the moment, because of a federal bill called the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act.
The Clarity Act passed the House of Representatives in July 2025, and is currently working its way through the Senate. It’s part of a recent effort to create a national regulatory framework for digital assets such as stablecoins (and other cryptocurrencies), and some of its provisions may spell trouble for stablecoin yield programs.
The latest draft of the bill prohibits platforms from paying out passive yields just for holding stablecoins, and only allows them to pay out yields on stablecoin deposits as part of activity-based reward programs.
The Senate Banking Committee approved the bill on May 14. To become law, it'll need to pass the full Senate next, then go through a Senate-House reconciliation process if the two chambers pass different versions, then get President Trump's signature. If the Clarity Act is signed into law in its current form, the Uphold Rewards program would be OK, but the others listed above may have to change or shut down.
Its passage is not considered a sure thing yet due to ongoing debates about ethics provisions regulating how politicians can profit from cryptocurrency. We will update this article as the Clarity Act situation evolves.
» Another way to earn crypto rewards: Best crypto credit cards
Methodology
How do we review cryptocurrency platforms?
All NerdWallet reviews and lists of the best investing products are created by our editorial team of full-time writers and editors, independent of any business relationships. In this case, our investing team's comprehensive review process evaluates and ranks platforms and companies that allow U.S. customers to buy and/or sell cryptocurrency. Our aim is to provide an independent, balanced assessment of providers to help arm you with information to make sound, informed judgments on which ones will best meet your needs. We adhere to strict guidelines for editorial integrity.
We collect data directly from providers through detailed questionnaires, and conduct first-hand testing and observation through provider demonstrations. The questionnaire answers, combined with demonstrations, interviews of personnel at the providers and our specialists’ hands-on research, fuel our proprietary assessment process that scores each provider’s performance across more than 10 factors. The final output produces star ratings from poor (one star) to excellent (five stars).
For more details about the categories considered when rating brokers and our process, read our full methodology.