The core reason why yield-bearing stablecoins can provide sustainable interest returns lies in the robust allocation of their underlying assets. After all, the vast majority of such stablecoins derive their yields from RWA assets like U.S. Treasuries, which are extremely low-risk and offer stable returns.

From a risk structure perspective, holding U.S. Treasuries carries almost the same risk as holding U.S. dollars, but Treasuries additionally generate an annualized yield of 4% or even higher. Therefore, during periods of high Treasury yields, these protocols invest in these assets to earn returns, deduct operational costs, and distribute a portion of the interest to stablecoin holders, forming a perfect closed loop of "Treasury yield—stablecoin promotion":

Holders only need to hold stablecoins as proof of ownership to receive the "interest income" from U.S. Treasuries, the underlying financial assets. Currently, the yields on short- and medium-term U.S. Treasuries are close to or exceed 4%, so most fixed-income projects backed by Treasuries offer interest rates in the 4%-5% range.

Objectively speaking, this "hold-to-earn" model is inherently attractive. Ordinary users can automatically generate interest on idle funds, DeFi protocols can use them as high-quality collateral to further develop financial products like lending, leverage, and perpetuals, and institutional funds can enter the blockchain under compliant and transparent frameworks, reducing operational and compliance costs.

As a result, yield-bearing stablecoins are poised to become one of the most understandable and easily implementable forms of RWA applications. This is precisely why the current crypto market has seen a rapid emergence of Treasury-backed RWA fixed-income products and stablecoins, from native on-chain protocols to payment giants and Wall Street-backed newcomers, with a competitive landscape already taking shape.

Regardless of how U.S. Treasury yields change in the future, this wave of yield-bearing stablecoins, fueled by the high-interest-rate cycle, has already shifted the value proposition of stablecoins from "pegging" to "dividends."

In the future, when we look back at this moment, we may find that it marks not only a watershed in the narrative of stablecoins but also another historic turning point in the convergence of crypto and traditional finance.