USDC Interest Rates in 2026: Who Pays What, the Conditions, and the Risks
By the MyCardCrypto team · Updated 21 October 2026 · Rates checked on 21 October 2026
USDC interest rates on 21 October 2026: Coinbase and Kraken paid 3.6–4% with a $4.99 monthly plan; DeFi pools 3.85–5.47%; Treasury-bill tokens 3.49–3.83%.
Best for: US holders of $3,000 or more: a $4.99 plan (Kraken+ at up to 4.00%, Coinbase One at 3.6–4%) pays for itself.
Not for: anyone who needs bank-style protection: nothing here is FDIC-insured.
Our take: ignore “up to”. KAST’s free tier paid 8% as a self-funded promotion that ends by 1 July 2027; Nexo’s 8.5–12.5% needs NEXO tokens, a top tier and $5,000. This is not financial advice.
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The short answer: realistic APY ranges in October 2026
Three groups pay on dollar stablecoins; ranges on 21 October 2026:
- US exchanges: up to 2.00% at Kraken without a plan, up to 4.00% with Kraken+. Coinbase pays Coinbase One members 3.75% (One page, archive of 20 October) or 4.00% on the first $10,000 and 3.60% above (card page, 21 October), and nothing to other US customers.
- DeFi: 3.85% on Aave v3, 4.43% on Compound v3, 4.33–4.74% in two Morpho vaults, 5.10% for Maple’s syrupUSDC (DefiLlama) and 5.47% in ether.fi’s Liquid USD vault; those two are not open to US persons.
- Savings and Treasury-bill tokens: 3.80% on Sky’s sUSDS, 3.75% for Ondo’s USDY and 3.49–3.83% for the two classes of BlackRock’s BUIDL fund (DefiLlama).
Tokens backed by short-term US government debt, such as BUIDL and USDY, are the reference point. A rate well above them means lending risk, a promotion paid from the platform’s pocket, or a condition: its token, a lock-up or a bigger balance.
On 21 October, KAST’s Reserve paid 8% on its free tier as a self-funded promotion that ends by 1 July 2027. Ledn paid 6.5% from loans backed by bitcoin. Nexo’s 12.5%, offered in the US only, needed a fixed term, the Signature tier (at least 2 million NEXO tokens) and interest taken in NEXO tokens.
USDC APY by platform (checked 21 October 2026)
Rates checked on 21 October 2026. “Base” is what an ordinary account gets; “top” is the best published rate and what it takes. Pools and vaults pay one floating rate.
| Platform | Base rate | Top rate: what it takes | Lock-up · minimum | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coinbase | 0% without Coinbase One in the US, UK, Australia, Singapore | 3.75% on any One plan, from $4.99 a month (One page, 20 Oct archive); card page, 21 Oct: 4.00% on the first $10,000, then 3.60% | None · $1 | Varies by country |
| Kraken | Up to 2.00% | Up to 4.00% with Kraken+, $4.99 a month | None · none | US, Canada, Australia, UK |
| Nexo, US (with Bakkt) | Not published | 10.5% flexible, 12.5% fixed: Signature tier (at least 2 million NEXO tokens), paid in NEXO | None (flexible) or up to 12 months · $5,000 portfolio | US; no accounts in New York |
| Nexo, outside the US | Not published | 8.5% flexible, 10.5% fixed: Platinum tier, paid in NEXO | None (flexible) or up to 12 months · $5,000 portfolio | Not on Nexo’s EEA site |
| Crypto.com Earn Plus | Not published on the website | Set by term and Level Up plan, shown in the app | Flexible, 1 or 3 months · 250 | Not Hong Kong, Switzerland, Australia, Malta |
| KAST Reserve | 8% on the free tier (a reward, not interest) | 12% on Private ($10,000 a year), first $200,000; the promotion ends by 1 July 2027 | None · $2 | Varies by jurisdiction |
| Ledn | 6.5% below 100,000 | 8.5% above 100,000 | None · none | Varies by jurisdiction |
| YouHodler | 6% (Basic) | 11% at VIP: $5 million of trading a month | None | Says it is regulated in Switzerland, the EU and Argentina; not by the FCA |
| Uphold, via Exactly | Variable, set by borrowing on the pool | “Up to 7%”, which Uphold’s footnote calls an estimate | Withdrawals depend on pool liquidity | Selected US states |
| ether.fi Liquid USD | 5.47% (14-day APY) | One rate | Withdrawal queue up to 3 days | Not open to US persons |
| Maple syrupUSDC | 5.10% (DefiLlama) | One rate | Usually instant, up to 30 days | Not the US, Australia or other restricted countries |
| Morpho vaults | 4.33% (Steakhouse), 4.74% (Gauntlet Prime) | One rate per vault | None | Own wallet |
| Compound v3 | 4.43% (4.33% APR) | One rate | None | Own wallet |
| Aave v3 | 3.85% | One rate | None, if liquidity allows | Own wallet |
| Gemini, Binance.US | No stablecoin rewards | — | — | — |
Why other sites show other numbers: Coinbase’s own Coinbase One page listed 3.75% in an archive copy of 20 October 2026. On 21 October its card page, opened from outside the US, listed “4.00% APY on first $10K, then 3.60%”. The same day a Bitbo calculator in Google’s US top 10 for “usdc apy” still used 4.35% and monthly payouts, although Coinbase pays weekly. Decrypt reported 4.5% for One members in July 2025 and 4% from December 2025.
How we checked: rate pages, help centres, Aave’s and Morpho’s APIs, Compound’s contract and DefiLlama. Coinbase’s pages returned errors to our tools, so its figures come from archive copies of 19 September and 20 October 2026 and from its card page as our browser showed it on 21 October.
What the GENIUS Act changed
The GENIUS Act became US law on 18 July 2025 (Public Law 119-27). Section 4 bars issuers from paying holders “any form of interest or yield (whether in cash, tokens, or other consideration) solely in connection with the holding, use, or retention” of a stablecoin.
Circle, which issues USDC, pays holders nothing directly; platforms pay rewards instead. Coinbase calls its program “a loyalty program funded by Coinbase”. Kraken says its rewards come from “reserve yields or protocol mechanisms” and “Your stablecoins are not lent out”. Circle passes 50% of the interest on its reserves to Coinbase, Decrypt reported in December 2025, citing SEC filings.
The act takes effect by 18 January 2027, or 120 days after final regulations if sooner. According to CoinDesk, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued the first final rule under the act on 21 October 2026. Its text says: “The OCC declines to presume that rewards programs that predated the GENIUS Act comply with the GENIUS Act”.
The agency suggested, CoinDesk reports, that a reward that “might be made, at least in part, for other reasons” would fall outside the ban. It also said it “will apply the language of the statute to the facts and circumstances of any particular arrangement”. We could not open the rule itself.
Congress stalled. The CLARITY Act passed the House 294–134 on 17 July 2025; Senate drafts in 2026 would have banned yield on idle balances but allowed activity-based rewards. After a 15–9 committee vote on 14 May 2026, cloture failed 49–50 on 15 September. Law firm Troutman calls the bill “effectively dead for the remainder of this Congress”.
Until regulators rule on specific programs, rewards rest on one word, “solely”. Rates move anyway: Coinbase’s fell from 4.5% to 3.75% in 15 months.
Exchanges and apps: how Coinbase, Kraken, Crypto.com and Nexo pay
Coinbase: 3.6–4%, only with Coinbase One
The Coinbase One page (archive copy of 20 October 2026) lists “3.75% APY on USDC” on all three plans, from Basic at $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year to Premium at $299.99 a month. In the US, the UK, Australia, Singapore and five smaller jurisdictions, only members earn anything, says the help centre (archive of 19 September 2026).
Coinbase’s card page, which we opened from outside the US on 21 October 2026, listed a different figure among One benefits: “4.00% APY on first $10K, then 3.60%”. The live rate shows only inside your account.
Hold at least $1 and you are opted in, with no cap. Rewards accrue daily and arrive weekly, usually on Fridays; rate changes usually start on the 1st of a month. Some US members get a “limited-time offer” of a boost of unpublished size, and Coinbase “does not use or lend your USDC without your instruction”.
Kraken: up to 2% free, up to 4% with Kraken+
Kraken’s support article (updated 1 October 2026) lists up to 2.00% on USDC without a subscription and up to 4.00% with Kraken+ (4.99 a month or 49.99 a year in USD, GBP, CAD, AUD or EUR). There is no minimum, holding period or fee; these rewards cover only the US, Canada, Australia and the UK.
Our arithmetic: Coinbase One’s yearly plan pays for itself at about $1,333, Kraken+ at about $2,500, since it adds only 2 points. At the 4.00% on Coinbase’s card page, the yearly plan pays off at about $1,250 ($1,497 on monthly billing). Other perks, such as Coinbase One’s fee-free trades up to $500 a month, are not counted.
Crypto.com: the rate lives in the app
USDC and USDT sit in Crypto.com’s Earn Plus: flexible, one-month or three-month terms, a 250-coin minimum and a $2 million cap per coin. The rate depends on token, term and Level Up plan; the extra CRO for Private members does not apply.
We could not see a number. On 21 October the Earn page showed “0.0%” where rates should be and said: “Check out on Crypto.com App to see your latest reward rates”. Earn is closed to citizens and residents of Hong Kong, Switzerland, Australia and Malta. More in our Crypto.com card review.
Nexo: what “up to 12.5%” requires
On 21 October 2026 Nexo’s US site, in partnership with Bakkt, advertised up to 10.5% in Flexible Yield and 12.5% in Fixed-term Yield of up to 12 months; outside the US, 8.5% and 10.5%. Each maximum needs:
- a portfolio of at least $5,000, an opt-in and a minimum per asset;
- the top loyalty tier: Platinum outside the US (at least 10% of your portfolio in NEXO tokens) or, in the US, the Wealth Club’s Signature level, which requires holding “at least 2 million NEXO Tokens”; even the entry Classic level asks for 10% of a $5,000+ portfolio in NEXO, or 50,000 NEXO (Wealth Club page, 21 October 2026);
- interest paid in NEXO tokens, worth “2% additional interest” in the US and “up to 2% extra” elsewhere.
The base-tier rate is not online; Nexo says to “Check the Nexo app for the most current figures”. Outside the US, a fixed term accrues at the Base tier rate if your portfolio drops below $5,000; Nexo’s US page says locked assets keep the previous tier’s rate until the term ends.
The US disclaimer warns: “The principal amount invested is not guaranteed and may be lost in part or in full.” In January 2023 Nexo agreed to pay $45 million to the SEC and states over its earlier Earn product. Its EEA savings page lists no dollar-stablecoin rate.
Ledn, YouHodler, Uphold, Gemini and Binance.US
- Ledn: 6.5% below 100,000 and 8.5% above, with “no minimum balance and no locked-in term”; interest comes from bitcoin-backed loans, paid monthly.
- YouHodler: 6% at Basic, 11% at VIP ($5 million of trading a month); its /earn-crypto page showed 18% the same day, contradicting the /yield table.
- Uphold: “up to 7%” via the Exactly protocol on Base, in selected US states; Uphold’s footnote calls the figure an estimate, and “Yield is variable and not guaranteed.” Your coins leave the Uphold wallet.
- Gemini, Binance.US: nothing. Gemini Earn ended with Genesis, and Gemini stakes only ETH, SOL and MON. Binance.US’s staking list (ETH, SOL, ADA and more) has no stablecoins.
DeFi yields: what the number hides
On-chain USDC yield changes by the minute. Our readings on 21 October 2026:
- Aave v3, Ethereum core market: 3.85%.
- Compound v3: 4.33% APR, 4.43% APY, with 90.3% of the pool lent out.
- Morpho: 4.33% net in the Steakhouse vault, 4.74% net in Gauntlet Prime.
- Maple’s syrupUSDC: 5.10%, 30-day average 5.19%, per DefiLlama; not available to US persons.
- ether.fi Liquid USD: 5.47% over 14 days, with a 1% platform fee; we could not confirm whether the rate is net of it.
A snapshot, not a promise
On DefiLlama, same-day rates sat below 30-day averages: Compound 4.33% against 4.88%, and ether.fi’s vault (its Ethereum pool there) 5.33% against 5.65%. Lent-out money is not there to withdraw. Aave’s FAQ says you “need to make sure there is enough liquidity (not borrowed) in order to withdraw”. Uphold’s Earn page warns: “If there is a high credit demand, you may not be able to withdraw all of your funds.”
What you hold after depositing
Many vaults hand you a different token. Maple says syrupUSDC “is not a stablecoin and is not backed by USDC”; its yield includes “futures basis trading and DeFi liquidity provision”, and withdrawals can take up to 30 days. Wirex One’s Earn converts deposits “into DAI or another stablecoin” before placing them in a DeFi protocol.
Code and operator risk
Aave’s FAQ: “No protocol can be considered entirely risk free”. Morpho’s documentation: “a faulty oracle can lead to loss of assets”. ether.fi “is not a regulated financial institution”, and its withdrawal queue takes up to 3 days. On 11 September 2026 an attacker used a legacy contract to take Liquid tokens from some users’ wallets; ether.fi says “every affected user will be made whole”.
Stablecoin yield beyond USDC: USDT, USDS, USDY
Search for stablecoin interest rates and the coins blur together. They differ in issuer, source of yield and who may hold them.
USDT APY: close to USDC, with gaps in Europe
On 21 October 2026 Tether’s USDT earned close to what Circle’s coin did, sometimes more, sometimes less:
- Nexo: up to 9.5% flexible and 11.5% fixed outside the US, 10.5% and 12.5% in the US, under the same conditions.
- Ledn: 6.5% below 100,000 and 8.5% above; YouHodler: 6% at Basic, 11% at VIP.
- Aave v3: 3.18%, against 3.85% for USDC; Maple’s syrupUSDT: 5.34% on DefiLlama, not for US persons.
In the EEA, Nexo stopped taking USDT, DAI, USDP, TUSD and PAXG into new fixed terms on 10 March 2025.
USDG and PYUSD
Kraken pays up to 4.50% on USDG with Kraken+, depending on region, and up to 2.25% without, wherever it serves clients except the EEA and prohibited regions. PayPal pays US customers 4% a year for holding PYUSD in its app, monthly, at a rate “as of today” that is “subject to change”.
Treasury-bill and savings tokens: the benchmark
| Token | Rate, 21 Oct 2026 | Access | What stands behind it |
|---|---|---|---|
| sUSDS (Sky) | 3.80% | Own wallet | Variable rate paid from Sky protocol surplus |
| sDAI | 1.25% | Own wallet | DAI Savings Rate |
| USDY (Ondo) | 3.75% (3.71% on DefiLlama) | Non-US individuals and institutions | A note secured by short-term Treasuries and bank deposits |
| BUIDL (BlackRock) | 3.83% and 3.49% by share class, per DefiLlama | Pre-approved investors, $5 million minimum | Tokenized fund aiming for $1 per token |
BUIDL invests in cash, Treasury bills and repurchase agreements, and USDY is secured by Treasuries and bank deposits, not crypto loans, which makes them the benchmark. Even so, BlackRock warns BUIDL “may not be able to maintain a stable value of $1.00 per token at all times”. KAST’s USD Prime vault holds USDKY, a token backed by Treasury bills.
Risks: custody, depegs and no FDIC
When the platform fails
Money on an exchange or app is only as safe as the company holding it:
- Celsius froze withdrawals on 12 June 2022 and filed for bankruptcy on 13 July; customers had deposited about $20 billion, the CFTC says.
- FTX began Chapter 11 on 11 November 2022; the CFTC cites the loss of “over $8 billion in FTX customer deposits”.
- Genesis, the lender behind Gemini Earn, froze withdrawals on 16 November 2022 and filed for bankruptcy on 19 January 2023. Earn users got 100% back in kind by 20 June 2024.
- SwissBorg lost 193,000 SOL from its Solana Earn program on 8 September 2025 after a partner’s API was compromised, Cointelegraph reported; the firm pledged to reimburse users.
Check who owns the coins. KAST’s Terms say deposits “are sold to KAST”. Nexo’s US disclaimer warns that if a provider becomes insolvent, you “could lose some or all of your assets”.
Depegs: USDC at 86 cents
Silicon Valley Bank was placed into resolution on 10 March 2023, holding $3.3 billion of Circle’s reserves. At its low, USDC “traded at 86 cents to the dollar”, a Federal Reserve note says; the price fully recovered on 13 March, when Circle resumed redemptions. A 4% reward does not cover a 14% drop.
No FDIC, no SIPC
The FDIC’s fact sheet of 28 July 2022 says deposit insurance does not apply to “crypto assets” or protect against the failure of “crypto custodians, exchanges, brokers, wallet providers, and neobanks”. The GENIUS Act adds that stablecoins are not FDIC-insured. Coinbase’s terms say “YOUR USDC WALLET IS NOT A DEPOSIT ACCOUNT”, and its help centre rules out SIPC cover. Kraken calls its rewards “not bank deposits”; KAST says Reserve “is not insured”.
Rewards and coin swaps can have tax consequences. We do not give tax advice; our guide to crypto cards covers the general questions.
Spending the yield with a card
KAST: Reserve and Earn vaults
We use KAST’s free Standard card ourselves, since spring 2026. On 21 October its Reserve page offered 8% on Standard, 10% on Premium ($1,000 a year) for the first $50,000 and 12% on Private ($10,000 a year) for the first $200,000; balances above the caps earn 8%. Reserve money stays “always available to spend”, from a $2 minimum.
These are “Rewards, not interest”, paid “from its own revenues and corporate balance sheet”, and introductory. The page says the offer ends on 1 July 2027; the help centre (9 September 2026) says 30 June 2027, or sooner if Reserve deposits reach $100 million. KAST’s launch release (20 August) said rates would step down to 4–8% from January 2027, and an August help article listed 6% for Standard.
The Earn page listed 7% for the Gauntlet Alpha vault and 3.3% for USD Prime, unchanged since 8 October; both are variable and “not a bank deposit”. Standard cashback is 1.5% on the first $2,000 a month. More in our KAST review.
Promo code LBY9BQVJ: enter it at sign-up for 10% off a first paid membership (Standard is free).
ether.fi Cash: spend straight from the vault
In Direct Pay mode the ether.fi Cash card spends USDC first, “then LiquidUSD as a secondary spend asset”, so the yield vault is one tap from a Visa card. The catch: the card is offered in 30 US states plus DC (ether.fi, 8 October 2026), yet Liquid is closed to US persons. See our ether.fi Cash review.
Nexo Card: interest on what you have not spent
In Debit Mode the Nexo Card spends from your Savings Wallet, and what stays there keeps earning while your portfolio is worth $5,000 or more; on 9 October Nexo quoted 2.75–6.5% on fiat balances. The card is for residents of the EEA (except Bulgaria), the UK, Andorra, Monaco and Argentina, not the US. See our Nexo Card review.
Wirex One: Earn plus a self-custodial card
Wirex One relaunched the Wirex app we used from 2021 to mid-2026 as a self-custodial wallet. Its Earn accounts, flexible or fixed for 1 to 24 months, are “a DeFi-powered savings tool”; rates vary by currency, balance and tier but are not listed in the help centre. The card works in 73 countries (help centre, September 2026), not the US, with 0.5–8% cashback in dollars by tier (8% only on the top Bespoke tier). See our Wirex One review.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Coinbase USDC interest rate?
3.75% APY on every Coinbase One plan, with no balance cap, per Coinbase’s One page archived on 20 October 2026. Its card page, which we opened from outside the US on 21 October, listed 4.00% on the first $10,000 and 3.60% above. In the US, UK, Australia and Singapore you need Coinbase One, from $4.99 a month, to earn anything; rewards are paid weekly.
Which platform pays the most without conditions?
On 21 October 2026, KAST Reserve’s 8% on its free tier, a promotion KAST funds itself that ends by 1 July 2027; its August launch release said 4–8% from January 2027. Next came Ledn at 6.5% below 100,000 and ether.fi’s dollar vault at 5.47%, a floating rate.
Are 10% or higher USDC rates real?
They exist, with strings attached. Nexo’s 10.5–12.5% in the US needs its Signature level, which takes at least 2 million NEXO tokens, and interest paid in NEXO; the 12.5% also locks coins for up to 12 months. YouHodler’s 11% needs $5 million of monthly trading. KAST’s 12% costs $10,000 a year, covers the first $200,000 and ends by 1 July 2027.
Is USDC FDIC insured?
No. The FDIC says deposit insurance does not apply to crypto assets or protect you when an exchange or custodian fails; the GENIUS Act says stablecoins are not FDIC-insured. Coinbase’s terms say its stablecoin wallet is not a deposit account, and Kraken and KAST say the same of their reward balances.
Can you earn interest on USDC in the US?
Yes, through platforms, not from Circle. Coinbase pays 3.75% with Coinbase One, Kraken up to 2% free or 4% with Kraken+, and Nexo up to 10.5% flexible only at its Signature level (2 million NEXO tokens) with interest paid in NEXO. Uphold advertises “up to 7%”, a variable rate from the Exactly lending pool, in selected states. ether.fi’s Liquid vault, Maple’s syrupUSDC and Ondo’s USDY exclude US persons.
Does the GENIUS Act ban stablecoin rewards?
Not directly. It bars issuers such as Circle from paying interest or yield “solely” for holding, using or keeping a stablecoin, so platforms pay rewards instead. The OCC’s first final rule, issued on 21 October 2026, will not presume older programs comply, CoinDesk reported; the agency suggested that a reward that “might be made, at least in part, for other reasons” would fall outside the ban.
What USDT APY can you get in 2026?
On 21 October 2026: 3.18% on Aave v3, 5.34% for Maple’s syrupUSDT on DefiLlama (not for US persons), 6.5% at Ledn below 100,000 and 6% at YouHodler’s Basic level. Nexo advertised up to 9.5–12.5% on USDT under the same tier, token and lock-up rules as for Circle’s coin.
Is Coinbase One or Kraken+ worth it for stablecoin rewards?
Only above a certain balance. On yearly plans, Coinbase One’s $49.99 is covered at about $1,333 ($1,597 monthly) at 3.75%, because US holders earn nothing without it; at the 4.00% on Coinbase’s card page it takes about $1,250 ($1,497 monthly). Kraken+ adds 2 points and needs about $2,500, or $2,994 monthly. Other perks, such as fee-free trades, come on top.