VanEck-backed Superform Launches DeFi Product for ‘Intelligent’ USDC Yield

Crypto yield marketplace Superform announced Wednesday the launch of  SuperUSDC, a product billed as a “set and forget” opportunity for earning high yield on Circle’s stablecoin.

Since its launch in early access this year, the platform has functioned as a decentralized marketplace for yield protocols. Projects can list vaults on Superform, which are linked to yield opportunities on Ethereum as well as dedicated scaling solutions like Arbitrum or Base. 

SuperUSDC offers DeFi users “automated, non-custodial yield management” and is the first offering in Superform’s line of SuperVault products, according to a statement. 

Superform Labs co-founder and CEO Vikram Arun told Decrypt that the move comes after over 100,000 digital wallets interacted with the platform, providing critical feedback.

“SuperVaults is what we created in response to what was the most in-demand feature from users,”  Arun said.

Arun explained that SuperVault automatically allocates digital assets to create opportunities, utilizing an algorithm optimized on the platform’s data. He mentioned that with 768 vaults currently on Superform, the product was designed in response to user requests for a more “curated” selection.

Alongside SuperVault’s release, Superform Labs announced that it had raised $3 million in a strategic funding round led by VanEck Ventures. It represented the $30 million fund’s first investment since the global asset manager unveiled the initiative in October.

While Superform isn’t available to U.S. residents, there is bipartisan hope that lawmakers will soon pass a federal framework for stablecoins. With regulatory shifts under the President-elect expected to bolster DeFi too, Arun said that providing an influx with stablecoins with the best possible source of yield could become the next “gold rush on-chain.”

“Our thesis is that we’re going to see incredible stablecoin growth,” Arun said. “The new chain wars will be fought around providing the most utility for stablecoins as possible.”

Stablecoins are digital assets pegged to the price of a fiat currency, such as the U.S. dollar. Often backed 1:1 by assets like cash and U.S. Treasuries, stablecoins have found increasing use as a form of payment and collateral on DeFi platforms. In 2022, Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler described stablecoins’ use in DeFi as akin to “poker chips.”

This year, stablecoins have already seen significant growth. Their total market cap has grown to $200 billion from $130 billion since January, according to DefiLlama. Among all stablecoins, Tether’s $139 billion footprint for USDT looms largest, followed by Circle’s USDC at $41 billion.

Circle Ventures participated in Superform’s $6.5 million Seed funding round in November 2022, which was led by Polychain Capital and saw participation from BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes. Arun said the stablecoin issuer became one of Superform’s largest investors then, putting its weight behind the startup as the crypto market recoiled from the collapse of FTX.

After the $40 billion downfall of UST and LUNA, as well as crypto lenders in 2022, Arun noted that some users might be cautious about projects promising high returns on stablecoins. Nonetheless, he remained optimistic that Superform’s connection with Circle could shift this perception.

“We’ve been burned so many times by stablecoins and yield-bearing products that aren’t managed properly,” he said. “I think it’s really important for us to align with good actors and build products that anybody can verify on-chain and don’t create additional trust assumptions.”

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair