Welcome to Yields of the Week! Every week, we spotlight the top DeFi yields across the crypto landscape, focusing on opportunities that are not just the highest APYs but also sustainable risk-adjusted opportunities. Whether you're new to DeFi or a seasoned degen, our goal is to help you navigate the yield farming space with confidence. Let’s dive into this week’s picks!

USDC 30 day benchmark rate on Aave: 5.47% (up from 5.35% last week)

Here’s the top yielding stablecoin vaults (real yields) for the past 30 days:

Checking in on Stablewatch to see the 7-day TVL changes.

This week the top movers were: GAIB (sAID) +20.4%, Open Trade (XUSDC-LIQ) +14.9%, M0 (M) + 13.0%:

ETH 30 day benchmark rate on Aave: 3.06% (down from 3.28% last week)

Here’s the top yielding ETH vaults (real yields) for the past 30 days:

Here’s the top yielding BTC vaults (real yields) for the past 30 days:

“The road to $1B STRC onchain” may have been shortsighted. I am now changing this to…

I’m expanding the tracker to also include STRCx (by xStocks) in addition to Saturn and APYX.

Also worth noting how big of a contributor Pendle has been to the STRC onchain wave.

They currently have around $463M of STRC-related TVL on the platform, which is pretty wild.

Pendle has been an absolutely integral part of this entire trend, especially in making these fixed-yield and points/speculation markets easier to express onchain.

Let’s walk through a strategy.

This is actually something I’m considering employing myself.

I wrote up Liquity V2 last week and walked through a scenario where your net APY is roughly 3.9% to 4% positive even after borrowing against a wstETH position.

Let’s use that same idea again, but take it one step further.

Anytime you borrow dollars against ETH, you’re essentially staying long ETH while adding some leverage to the position.

At least, that’s how I personally think about it.

You’re not selling your ETH. You’re borrowing against it. So you still keep the upside exposure, but now you also have borrowed capital that can be put to work elsewhere.

Let’s use a scenario DeFi Dad mapped out:

Here’s the starting point - Deposit 100 wstETH ($261,300) and borrow $131,000 BOLD

Here’s what this whole strategy looks like in steps breaking down the APY math:

Step 1: Annual staking yield

$261,300 × 2.4% = $6,271/year

So the wstETH collateral earns about:

$6,271 annually

Step 2: Annual borrow cost

$131,000 × 0.9% = $1,179/year

So the BOLD debt costs about:

$1,179 annually

Step 3: Net carry before deploying the borrowed capital

$6,271 - $1,179 = $5,092/year

So before doing anything with the borrowed $131k, the position is still generating about:

$5.1k/year of positive net carry

Step 4: Net APY on collateral

$5,092 ÷ $261,300 = 1.95%

So the position earns roughly:

1.95% net APY on total collateral

Step 5: Net APY on equity

Net equity is:

$261,300 collateral - $131,000 debt = $130,300

Then:

$5,092 ÷ $130,300 = 3.91%

So the position earns roughly:

3.9% net APY on equity

Let’s pause here…

What to do with the borrowed capital?

This is where you could literally do anything. But of course, I’m usually leaning toward the better risk-adjusted ideas.

Ethan DeFi reminded me of how solid the Saturn PT-USDat opportunity looks right now.

It’s currently offering around 8.8% APY fixed for the next 100 days.

And as he points out, the USDat itself has no STRC backing whatsoever. It is purely backed by U.S. T-bills.

So why is the yield well above the T-bill rate?

Because people are speculating on the YT side, which juices up demand there and leaves the PT side offering a much more attractive fixed yield.

That’s what makes this interesting for the borrowed capital leg of the strategy.

You could also use the Strata USDat SR position yielding 7.79% fixed and avoid messing with PTs altogether.

Or, you could go straight into the higher-yielding pure STRC position, where the math gets even more interesting, but you also take on more peg risk from STRC fluctuations.

For now, let’s keep it simple and stick with the 8.8% Saturn PT.

Here’s how the rest of the math works out if you deploy the borrowed $131K:

If the borrowed $131k is deployed at 8.8% APY

Annual yield on borrowed capital:

$131,000 × 8.8% = $11,528/year

Total annual net yield:

$6,271 wstETH yield + $11,528 deployed borrow yield - $1,179 borrow cost = $16,620/year

Net APY on total collateral:

$16,620 ÷ $261,300 = 6.36%

Net APY on equity:

$16,620 ÷ $130,300 = 12.75%

So with the borrowed capital deployed at 8.8%, the full position generates roughly:

$16.6k/year of net income
6.4% net APY on total collateral
12.7% net APY on equity

The amazing benefits here are pretty straightforward:

You stay long ETH.

Your collateral remains productive.

You borrow against your ETH, so you’re not selling and potentially creating a taxable event.

And you’re able to put that borrowed capital to work elsewhere.

Obviously, you need to carefully manage your LTV, and this whole strategy is not without risk. None of this is financial advice.

But this is very in line with the way I like to use DeFi: using productive collateral, borrowing against it responsibly, and finding ways to make the whole position more capital efficient.

Bonus Step

After working together for 4+ years, DeFi Dad and I are becoming increasingly attached at the hip/brain, and he’s already thinking through where else this strategy could go.

Personally, I don’t do a lot of manual looping.

I really don’t have the stomach for it, and honestly, I don’t have the desire to babysit a position around the clock, including evenings and weekends.

However, for those who are a bit more bold, you can take this even further and loop the PT-USDat position on Morpho:

You can essentially run back a very similar version of the Liquity strategy above, but on f(x) Protocol.

The main difference is that f(x) has no ongoing borrow rate.

Instead, they charge:

0.5% fee to open the position
0.2% fee to close the position

So your all-in fee is roughly 0.7% round trip, assuming no other costs.

This is why I think the setup starts to make a lot of sense if you intend to stay in the position for ~2 months or more. The longer you hold it, the more those one-time fees get diluted across the position.

And right now, there’s an added kicker:

You can also get paid around 10% in FXN rewards for doing this.

So instead of paying an ongoing borrow rate, you’re effectively using a one-time fee structure while potentially earning staking yield on the collateral, yield on the deployed capital, and FXN incentives on top.

For more information about how they handle liquidations and certain edge scenarios where a borrow fee might be applied, you can read up on their docs here.

Oh an check this out, you can make your transactions private on f(x) too:

Noon has simply had some of the best yields in DeFi for a long time, and somehow, they still often fly a bit under the radar.

They’ve consistently been in the 10% to 12%+ range, all while quietly building a solid track record with no security incidents.

We also did a podcast with Arpan, the founder of Noon, if you want to learn more about the story behind the protocol.

But if you don’t have time for the full episode, check out this clip:

We’ll actually be having Arpan on again soon with InfinFi and Fasanara to talk all about private credit coming onchain 🔜

This is really interesting and the Toros team have been trailblazers on these types of novel niche DeFi products. Their BTCBEARVOL1X on Arbitrum is yielding 39.14% APY with 25.84% (USDC) of that coming from a Merkle campaign that is ongoing until June 14th (although may be extended).

Summarizing their docs, here’s what’s happening:

Short Volatility

Toros Short Volatility is built for quieter BTC markets.

Rather than betting on BTC going up or down, the strategy performs best when BTC stays within a tighter range. If BTC moves sharply in either direction, returns can weaken.

The structure combines:

1. Toros Covered Call LP
Earns revenue from recurring payments made by Toros Protected Leveraged Token traders.

2. Rebalanced BTC short on Aave
Helps reduce directional BTC exposure, keeping the strategy more focused on volatility than price direction.

For options traders, the payoff can resemble a short straddle: range-bound markets help, while large moves hurt.

Best for users who:

Expect quieter BTC markets

Want exposure to volatility, not simple BTC direction

Understand large moves up or down can hurt performance

Prefer an automated onchain strategy

They sort of have something for all market regimes and this seems like an interesting arrow to add to your DeFi quiver.

Taking a look at the front page of Stablecoin yields and RWA yields this week on Pendle:

Stablecoins

RWA

As I write this, I just had my first call today with the man, the myth, the legend himself, Rektdiomedes.

We talk all the time on X and Telegram, but somehow, we’d never actually hopped on a call until today.

And I can honestly say, his positive X presence carries straight through to his IRL presence. I’ve often found Rekt to be a source of optimism during some of the darkest crypto moments, and there have been many.

So to no surprise, his latest piece follows this same trend. It’s called:

9 Good Things To Do In This Little Bear Market Of The Soul

His first of nine points starts with:

“Ruminate on what you really want in life.”

This may seem like simple advice, but seriously, ask yourself:

How often do you actually stop and think about this with intention?

You could argue this is one of the most important things we can put our energy into. Yet I feel like many of us are either too busy, too distracted, or too caught up in the day-to-day chaos of crypto to really give ourselves the space to do it.

I won’t go through each point here, but just read the full piece.

It’s great:

I think this next one by Alex McFarlane caught a lot of people by surprise. But check out the quote below. DeFi lending markets aren’t as scary as I thought:

Full piece below:

That’s all, thanks for taking the time to check this out!

DISCLAIMER: Nothing written in The Edge Newsletter or said on The Edge Podcast is a recommendation to buy or sell tokens or securities. This content is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing shared here is financial advice. Any views expressed in our content are solely the opinion of that writer, host, or guest. Always do your own research. DeFi Dad, Nomatic, and guests may have positions in the assets or other matters discussed in this content.