Stablecoins and Yield: Who Receives the Interest from Reserves?

A stablecoin that is indexed to a currency and a remunerated investment can use similar assets while granting different rights. Public bonds or bank deposits held as reserves can generate income for an issuer. This does not mean that every person who keeps their tokens receives a share of that income. The distinction lies in the contract, beyond the displayed price.

A remunerated reserve does not create a right to interest

Circle states that the reserves of USDC include, among other things, deposits, short‑term U.S. Treasury securities and repo transactions. Part of the reserves is held in the Circle Reserve Fund, a money‑market fund managed by BlackRock. These details describe the assets that back the issuer’s commitments and how they are organized. They do not constitute a promise to remunerate wallets that contain USDC.

The European white paper for USDC expressly specifies that the holder is not entitled to the income produced by the reserves. The token also does not confer any ownership stake in Circle. Therefore, one must differentiate a claim that is repayable according to its own terms from a fund or a share that gives access to other economic rights.

A purely illustrative example helps to understand the mechanism: if the income from a reserve rises while the obligations toward the holder remain unchanged, the holder’s balance does not automatically increase. To establish the opposite, a contractual provision would be required, not merely knowledge of the yield of the underlying assets.

MiCA also regulates token remuneration

In the European Union, Article 50 of MiCA prohibits issuers from granting interest on electronic money tokens. It also bars crypto‑asset service providers from granting interest when they provide the relevant services. The notion covers, in particular, benefits linked to the holding period and certain compensations or equivalent rebates.

An offer that uses the words “reward” or “yield” therefore cannot be evaluated solely on its marketing vocabulary. Its mechanism, its provider, its geographic scope and the applicable law must be identified. This rule alone does not automatically give a legal qualification to every decentralized‑finance structure or to every product offered outside the Union.

Additional yield corresponds to a separate operation

In a speech on 1 June 2026, Isabel Schnabel, member of the ECB Governing Council, distinguished money‑market funds—attractive for their income—from stablecoins, which are generally not directly remunerated. The latter can serve other purposes, such as settlement of trades and programmed transfers. Their utility and their yield are thus two different dimensions.

When a user deploys their tokens in a loan, an automated strategy, or an extra service, the analysis changes: one must examine who uses the funds, how the income is generated, and under what conditions it can be returned. The risk of the original stablecoin no longer summarizes the risk of the whole operation.

To compare two offers, a displayed annual rate is therefore insufficient. Net remuneration depends on fees, on its variability, and on exit conditions. The decisive question becomes the right actually acquired and the additional commitments accepted to obtain that income.