Research
Stay ahead of the evolving stablecoin landscape with our curated insights and reports.
The Stablecoin Economy’s Identity Crisis
This article was made possible with the support of @idOS_network Executive Summary The stablecoin economy has transitioned from a crypto niche into a $290 billion financial powerhouse, and is currently experiencing an explosive growth, characterized by an 89.4% YoY surge in volume. This rapid expansion, underpinned by formalizing legislation such as GENIUS and MiCA, has established digital assets as bank-grade financial tools. However, the industry is being slowed down by a last-mile problem:
JANUARY 29, 2026 • 19 MIN READ
Aave V4: The End of Fragmented Liquidity
Aave V4 Since its inception in 2017 as ETHLend, Aave has been a pioneering force in DeFi, emerging as one of the first protocols to enable peer-to-peer lending on Ethereum. Over the years, it evolved into a dominant player in the DeFi lending landscape, boasting billions in total value locked (TVL) and setting standards for non-custodial borrowing and lending. Through iterations like V2 and V3, Aave introduced innovations such as flash loans, E-Mode, isolation mode, collateral swaps, and effici
DECEMBER 12, 2025 • 8 MIN READ
Yield-Bearing Stablecoin Landscape Report
This article is part of the Redstone “Yield Bearing Assets & Stablecoins Report 2025”, where Stablewatch is a co-author. The architecture of the digital asset economy is on the cusp of a fundamental transformation, catalyzed by the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act. A landmark piece of legislation, the Act creates a deliberate divide of the stablecoin market into two distinct classes: federally regulated, non-yielding “Payment Stablecoins” for pure
NOVEMBER 12, 2025 • 17 MIN READ
x402 and the Architecture of an Autonomous Economy
AI's Value Bypass The proliferation of generative AI has introduced a systemic inefficiency into the digital economy. It arises not from a flaw, but from a fundamental architectural incompatibility between how autonomous agents consume information and how the web has historically monetized its creation. The result is the "value bypass" problem. The internet's entire economic model, predicated on capturing human attention (ads) or loyalty (subscriptions), is being systematically bypassed by non
OCTOBER 31, 2025 • 10 MIN READ
Stablewatch V2: The next Generation Stablecoin Analytics
The Yield-Bearing Stablecoin (YBS) market has fundamentally evolved into a complex, multi-billion dollar ecosystem. Navigating this landscape today demands more than simple APY trackers; it requires a sophisticated, data-driven framework. To accommodate for the growing complexity of this market, we are launching a major evolution of the stablewatch.io analytics platform. Our new dashboard builds upon the robust analytical foundation, redesigned as a comprehensive command center engineered to he
OCTOBER 30, 2025 • 4 MIN READ
GPU-Backed Credit: How USD.AI Channels Onchain Capital for AI Compute Financing
Executive Summary The USD.AI protocol marks a significant architectural evolution in decentralized finance, establishing the "InfraFi" paradigm to bridge onchain liquidity with the capital-intensive world of artificial intelligence compute. Its design is a direct response to a dual-sided market needs: the AI industry’s insatiable requirement for rapidly deployed capital, set against the DeFi ecosystem’s search for sustainable, non-reflexive yield sourced from tangible economic activity. USD.AI
OCTOBER 23, 2025 • 22 MIN READ
Project Spotlight: Decentralized USD
USDD 2.0: From Tron to Ethereum and Beyond Launched in May 2022 by the TRON DAO Reserve (TDR), Decentralised USD (USDD) began as a hybrid algorithmic stablecoin. However, in a strategic response to historical skepticism surrounding algorithmic models the project underwent a significant restructuring in January of 2025 which brought a pivot toward an Over Collateralised Decentralised Stablecoin (OCDS) architecture. This allowed USDD, rebranded as USDD 2.0, to be underpinned by the battle tested
OCTOBER 21, 2025 • 7 MIN READ
The Crypto Payment Card Market: An In-Depth Analysis of its Role in Bridging Digital Assets and Global Commerce
Explore how crypto payment cards bridge digital assets and global commerce, using stablecoins, custodial vs non-custodial models, and fintech.
OCTOBER 16, 2025 • 45 MIN READ
Piku: Yield-Optimized Stablecoin
TLDR * Piku operates a yield-optimized stablecoin where USP appreciates in value rather than maintaining a fixed $1 peg, with backing deployed across a proprietary FX arbitrage strategy (50%) and six DeFi protocols (50%) * The BMMF Turkey FX Arbitrage Strategy executes 2-3 delta-neutral trades daily in Turkish cryptocurrency markets, capturing crypto and traditional spreads in addition to the overnight interest rates while maintaining zero currency exposure through hedging * USP minting requ
OCTOBER 15, 2025 • 23 MIN READ
stUSDS: Sky Protocol Risk Capital Token
stUSDS The Sky ecosystem has introduced stUSDS, a new risk capital token designed for more expert users who wish to provide specialised liquidity for SKY-backed borrowing operations. This token represents a fundamental component of the Sky lending infrastructure, creating an isolated capital pool that funds leverage activities within the ecosystem. Core Function stUSDS serves as the dedicated lending capital for the SKY Staking leverage system. Users deposit USDS into the stUSDS contract and
OCTOBER 14, 2025 • 3 MIN READ
Project Spotlight: dTRINITY
The Search for Sustainable Yield The decentralized finance (DeFi) lending sector, a cornerstone of the on-chain economy, has long navigated fundamental economic tradeoffs. To attract liquidity, protocols must offer competitive yields to lenders; yet, to stimulate borrowing and protocol usage, they must provide low interest rates to borrowers. Historically, bridging this gap has most often relied on inflationary token rewards, creating a cycle of mercenary capital and questions around long-term
OCTOBER 10, 2025 • 7 MIN READ
Sky Protocol: A Central Bank For The Open Economy
Introduction Central banking has undergone three centuries of evolution, from the Bank of England's 1694 founding as a wartime government financier to today's sophisticated institutions managing monetary policy and nationwide financial stability. The Bank of England established the foundational public-private hybrid structure, pioneering exclusive banknote issuance and systematic capital mobilisation. The 19th century introduced the lender of last resort function in central banks, followed by t
OCTOBER 8, 2025 • 34 MIN READ
Project Spotlight: Resupply
The Quest for Capital Efficiency Decentralized Finance (DeFi) exists as a global competitive arena where the relentless pursuit of higher yields and capital efficiency dictates the flow of assets. In this environment, the most successful protocols are those that enable the capital to be as productive as possible. Yet, for much of DeFi’s history, a fundamental inefficiency has persisted: the opportunity cost for locked capital. Foundational DeFi protocols often force a binary choice upon users.
OCTOBER 3, 2025 • 8 MIN READ
Project Spotlight: Keel
Keel: Solana's Capital Engine Introducing Keel Keel is an automated capital engine that operates within the Sky Protocol (formerly MakerDAO) agent framework, in a similar manner to current agents Spark and Grove. Keel aims to become Solana's largest onchain balance sheet while pioneering the infrastructure needed for tomorrow's tokenised economy. Keel currently has a roadmap to deploy up to $2.5 billion into the Solana ecosystem, ramping up over coming months. "Keel was founded on the belief
OCTOBER 1, 2025 • 8 MIN READ
Project Spotlight BUIDL
The BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) is one of the foremost examples of the amazing innovation that can occur as a result of the nexus of TradFi and DeFi. Launched in March 2024 by BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, and tokenized by Securitize, BUIDL is a regulated, on-chain investment vehicle designed to provide institutional investors with a compliant and stable source of U.S. dollar yield. It has had a quick ascent to a TVL of more than $2.3B and has becom
SEPTEMBER 16, 2025 • 8 MIN READ
