Onchain yield products continue to grow, but the mechanics are often misunderstood.
Unitas Yield Academy is a new educational article series that explains the core mechanisms behind these products using clear examples and current data. In this first issue, we explain Yield Passthrough and use USDu and sUSDu as the example.
A common point of confusion is how a yield bearing stablecoin backed by short-term U.S. Treasuries yielding 3.7% can provide 5-6% APY on its staked asset.
The explanation is in how the protocol distributes yield.
A yield-bearing stablecoin protocol usually has 2 assets. The first is the payment asset, which is designed to stay pegged to $1 and is used for transfers and payments. The second is the staked asset, which receives the yield generated by the collateral and strategies backing the protocol.
The yield is generated on the full collateral pool and passed through only to the staked portion of supply. If only part of total TVL is staked, the effective APY on the staked asset can exceed the underlying yield of the collateral pool.
Holders of the unstaked asset usually receive other incentives such as points or token rewards in exchange for forfeiting the yield.
Yield Passthrough is a mechanism through which yield generated on total backing capital is distributed only to the staked asset.
In the case of USDu and sUSDu, USDu is the payment asset and sUSDu is the yield-bearing asset. USDu is remains pegged to $1, while sUSDu receives the yield generated by the collateral pool.
This means sUSDu's APY is a function of 2 variables:
The yield generated on total USDu backing
The percentage of total USDu supply that is staked for sUSDu
When the amount of staked USDu is smaller, the generated yield is distributed across fewer tokens, which results in a higher APY for sUSDu.
The example below uses rounded numbers for ease of understanding.
Assume total USDu TVL is $100M, earning 5% APY, and only 32% is staked into sUSDu.
The equation:
Total USDu TVL = $100M
Total sUSDu TVL = $32M
Underlying yield = 5.0%
The formula is:
(100 / 32) x 0.05 = ~15.62%
In this example, the full $100M collateral base generates yield, but only $32M of staked capital receives it. That is why the displayed APY on sUSDu is higher than the underlying 5.0% yield.
The formula above was a simplified example used for explanation. Current USDu and sUSDu data shows the same mechanism with a much higher staking ratio.
On Solana, USDu TVL is currently $52.5M and sUSDu circulating supply is 44M. At an sUSDu price of $1.11, the total value staked in sUSDu is about $48.84M. That means about 93% of USDu TVL is staked.
The 7-day APY is 12.22%. If Yield Passthrough is removed from the calculation, the underlying strategy yield is about 11.4%.
On BNB Chain, USDu TVL is $45.29M and sUSDu circulating supply is 39.52M. At an sUSDu price of $1.039, the total value staked in sUSDu is about $41.06M. That means about 91% of USDu TVL is staked.
The staking ratio directly affects sUSDu APY. When a larger share of USDu is staked, sUSDu APY moves closer to the underlying yield. And conversely, when a smaller share of USDu is staked, the yield passthrough effect becomes larger and sUSDu APY increases.
USDu is the payment asset and it also has a higher Units multiplier in Season 2 of our points program.
Holding USDu earns 20 Units per day, while holding sUSDu earns only 5 Units per day. That means USDu currently earns 4x the Units of sUSDu.
After Season 2 concludes, eligible users will receive UP rewards based on their activity.
Learn how to participate:
Yield Passthrough is one of the core mechanisms used in yield-bearing stablecoins. It allows the staked asset to provide an APY above the underlying yield generated by the collateral pool.
We hope this article was helpful. Future issues of Unitas Yield Academy will cover additional topics and mechanisms across digital asset yield products. The goal is to make DeFi easier to understand and more accessible as the global financial system moves onchain.
Unitas is a yield infrastructure focused on making proven sources of yield accessible through digital assets. Current products include USDu and sUSDu, with future expansion planned across tokenized yield-bearing assets such as equities, commodities and credit.
Yield is generated through a basket of delta-neutral strategies and distributed to assets issued by Unitas. Our objective is to make yield accessible, transparent and usable across the crypto ecosystem.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for educational purposes only. Nothing in this article constitutes financial, legal or investment advice. Any figures included here are illustrative or point in time examples and do not guarantee future returns.
Onchain yield products continue to grow, but the mechanics are often misunderstood.
Unitas Yield Academy is a new educational article series that explains the core mechanisms behind these products using clear examples and current data. In this first issue, we explain Yield Passthrough and use USDu and sUSDu as the example.
A common point of confusion is how a yield bearing stablecoin backed by short-term U.S. Treasuries yielding 3.7% can provide 5-6% APY on its staked asset.
The explanation is in how the protocol distributes yield.
A yield-bearing stablecoin protocol usually has 2 assets. The first is the payment asset, which is designed to stay pegged to $1 and is used for transfers and payments. The second is the staked asset, which receives the yield generated by the collateral and strategies backing the protocol.
The yield is generated on the full collateral pool and passed through only to the staked portion of supply. If only part of total TVL is staked, the effective APY on the staked asset can exceed the underlying yield of the collateral pool.
Holders of the unstaked asset usually receive other incentives such as points or token rewards in exchange for forfeiting the yield.
Yield Passthrough is a mechanism through which yield generated on total backing capital is distributed only to the staked asset.
In the case of USDu and sUSDu, USDu is the payment asset and sUSDu is the yield-bearing asset. USDu is remains pegged to $1, while sUSDu receives the yield generated by the collateral pool.
This means sUSDu's APY is a function of 2 variables:
The yield generated on total USDu backing
The percentage of total USDu supply that is staked for sUSDu
When the amount of staked USDu is smaller, the generated yield is distributed across fewer tokens, which results in a higher APY for sUSDu.
The example below uses rounded numbers for ease of understanding.
Assume total USDu TVL is $100M, earning 5% APY, and only 32% is staked into sUSDu.
The equation:
Total USDu TVL = $100M
Total sUSDu TVL = $32M
Underlying yield = 5.0%
The formula is:
(100 / 32) x 0.05 = ~15.62%
In this example, the full $100M collateral base generates yield, but only $32M of staked capital receives it. That is why the displayed APY on sUSDu is higher than the underlying 5.0% yield.
The formula above was a simplified example used for explanation. Current USDu and sUSDu data shows the same mechanism with a much higher staking ratio.
On Solana, USDu TVL is currently $52.5M and sUSDu circulating supply is 44M. At an sUSDu price of $1.11, the total value staked in sUSDu is about $48.84M. That means about 93% of USDu TVL is staked.
The 7-day APY is 12.22%. If Yield Passthrough is removed from the calculation, the underlying strategy yield is about 11.4%.
On BNB Chain, USDu TVL is $45.29M and sUSDu circulating supply is 39.52M. At an sUSDu price of $1.039, the total value staked in sUSDu is about $41.06M. That means about 91% of USDu TVL is staked.
The staking ratio directly affects sUSDu APY. When a larger share of USDu is staked, sUSDu APY moves closer to the underlying yield. And conversely, when a smaller share of USDu is staked, the yield passthrough effect becomes larger and sUSDu APY increases.
USDu is the payment asset and it also has a higher Units multiplier in Season 2 of our points program.
Holding USDu earns 20 Units per day, while holding sUSDu earns only 5 Units per day. That means USDu currently earns 4x the Units of sUSDu.
After Season 2 concludes, eligible users will receive UP rewards based on their activity.
Learn how to participate:
Yield Passthrough is one of the core mechanisms used in yield-bearing stablecoins. It allows the staked asset to provide an APY above the underlying yield generated by the collateral pool.
We hope this article was helpful. Future issues of Unitas Yield Academy will cover additional topics and mechanisms across digital asset yield products. The goal is to make DeFi easier to understand and more accessible as the global financial system moves onchain.
Unitas is a yield infrastructure focused on making proven sources of yield accessible through digital assets. Current products include USDu and sUSDu, with future expansion planned across tokenized yield-bearing assets such as equities, commodities and credit.
Yield is generated through a basket of delta-neutral strategies and distributed to assets issued by Unitas. Our objective is to make yield accessible, transparent and usable across the crypto ecosystem.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for educational purposes only. Nothing in this article constitutes financial, legal or investment advice. Any figures included here are illustrative or point in time examples and do not guarantee future returns.
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Unitas Protocol introduces $UP, the native governance and revenue accrual token. UP is designed to serve as the core economic instrument of the protocol. It captures revenue generated by executed yield strategies through defined allocation mechanisms. UP holders gain direct exposure to the performance of Unitas' yield generation and participate in governance decisions that set protocol parameters, risk limits and revenue distribution policies. Revenue generation by Unitas is derived from exec...
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The Yield Generation Layer for the Internet of Value.
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