Background: Tariff policy and the Fed’s attitude exacerbate market volatility
In April 2025, Trump's tariff policy brought dramatic fluctuations to global financial markets. On April 2, he announced the implementation of "reciprocal tariffs" on major trading partners, setting a 10% base tariff and imposing higher tariffs on specific countries: 34% for China, 20% for the European Union, and 32% for Taiwan (semiconductor products are exempted). On April 5, the 10% base tariff officially came into effect, and global supply chain tensions intensified. On April 9, Trump suspended high tariffs for 75 countries that did not implement retaliatory measures for 90 days (until July 8), but further increased tariffs on China to 145% on the grounds that China imposed a 34% retaliatory tariff on US goods. The European Union announced that it would suspend retaliatory tariffs on 21 billion euros of US goods until July 14 to gain room for negotiations.
These policies triggered a strong market reaction. The S&P 500 lost $5.8 trillion in market value within four days of the announcement of the tariffs, the largest weekly loss since the 1950s. Bitcoin prices fluctuated between $80,000 and $90,000. Federal Reserve Chairman Powell said at the Chicago Economic Club on April 17 that tariffs could push up inflation and curb growth, but the Fed would not intervene in the market by cutting interest rates, and its policy would focus on long-term data. Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase raised the probability of a recession in the United States to 20% and 45%, respectively. Both corporate profits and prices may be affected, and the market outlook is foggy. At this time, what should I do with my investments? Low-risk stablecoin yield products in DeFi may be a good choice to stabilize their position in this turbulent period, and the following will introduce four stablecoin-based yield products.
This article does not constitute investment advice and investors should conduct their own research.
Spark Saving USDC (Ethereum)
Connect your wallet through the Spark official website (spark.fi), select the Savings USDC product, and deposit USDC.
Note: Spark is a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform that provides a front-end interface for SparkLend, a blockchain-based liquidity market protocol. Users can participate in deposit and loan activities through the platform.
Income source: The income from saving USDC comes from the Sky Savings Rate (SSR), which is supported by the Sky protocol through cryptocurrency mortgage fees, US Treasury bond investments, and income generated by providing liquidity to SparkLend, etc. USDC is exchanged for USDS at a 1:1 ratio through Sky PSM and deposited into the SSR vault to earn income, and the value of sUSDC tokens increases with the accumulated income. Spark bears the liquidity of USDC.
Risk Assessment: Low. USDC is highly stable, and Spark's multiple audits reduce smart contract risks. However, attention should be paid to the potential impact of market fluctuations on liquidity.
Current data situation:
Data source: Spark official website
Berachain BYUSD|HONEY (Berachain)
Visit the Berachain official website, enter BeraHub, connect a Berachain compatible wallet, select BYUSD/HONEY pool on the Pools page, and deposit BYUSD and HONEY to provide liquidity. Users receive LP tokens, which can be staked in reward vaults to earn BGT.
Note: Berachain is a high-performance, EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain that uses an innovative Proof of Liquidity (PoL) consensus mechanism to enhance network security and ecological vitality by incentivizing liquidity providers. This product is the BYUSD/HONEY liquidity pool, deployed on Berachain's native DEX BEX. HONEY is Berachain's native stablecoin (multi-asset collateral, soft-pegged to the US dollar), and BYUSD is another stablecoin on the Bear Chain.
Source of income: income mainly comes from BGT rewards (3.41% APR, based on the BGT emission allocated by the stake weight and validators, updated every 5 hours) and pool transaction fees (0.01% APR, from the share of transaction fees). BGT is Berachain's non-transferable governance token, which can be burned 1:1 to BERA (irreversible) and share the fee income of core dApps such as BEX, HoneySwap and Berps (the specific proportion is determined by governance). BYUSD/HONEY pool has a lower risk of price fluctuations due to its stable currency pair characteristics.
Risk Assessment: Low to Medium. BYUSD and HONEY are stablecoins with stable prices; Berachain's PoL mechanism has been audited by Trail of Bits and other institutions, and the smart contract risk is low. However, BGT rewards rely on validator allocation and governance decisions, and may fluctuate due to emission adjustments.
Current data situation:
Data source: Berachain official website
Provide Liquidity to Uniswap V4 USDC-USDT0 (Uniswap V4)
Connect your wallet through the Merkl official website (app.merkl.xyz) and deposit USDC or USDT into the "Provide Liquidity to Uniswap V4 USDC-USDT0" product to provide liquidity for Uniswap V4.
Note: Merkl is a DeFi investment aggregation platform that provides users with a one-stop solution covering opportunities such as liquidity pools, lending protocols, etc. The product provides liquidity to the USDC/USDT pool of Uniswap V4 through Merkl. Uniswap V4 was launched in 2025 and introduced a "hooks" mechanism that allows developers to customize pool functions such as dynamic fee adjustments and automatic rebalancing to improve capital efficiency and profit potential.
Source of income: UNI token incentives.
Risk Assessment: Low to Medium. The USDC/USDT pool is a stable currency pair with low risk of price fluctuations, but attention should be paid to smart contract risks and the possible decline in returns after the incentive period ends.
Current data situation:
Data source: Merkl official website, Uniswap official website
Echelon Market USDC (Aptos)
Visit the Echelon Market official website (echelon.market), connect to an Aptos compatible wallet, select the USDC pool on the Markets page, and deposit USDC to participate in the supply. Users receive supply certificates and their earnings accumulate in real time.
Note: Echelon Market is a decentralized cryptocurrency market based on the Aptos blockchain, developed using the Move programming language. Users borrow or lend assets through non-custodial pools, earn interest or use leverage. The product allows users to deposit USDC into the Aptos mainnet's funding pool, participate in the supply and earn returns. Echelon Market is integrated with the Thala protocol, which provides stablecoins and liquidity layers on Aptos, generating deposit receipt tokens such as thAPT.
Source of income: income includes USDC supply interest (5.35%) and Thala's thAPT reward (3.66%). thAPT is Thala's deposit certificate, minted and exchanged for APT at a 1:1 ratio, and a 0.15% fee is charged when redeemed, and the fee goes into the sthAPT (staking income token) prize pool.
Risk Assessment: Low to Medium. USDC is highly stable, but attention should be paid to the smart contract risks of the Aptos ecosystem and the impact of thAPT redemption fees on returns. Instant exit provides high liquidity, but market fluctuations may affect the value of thAPT rewards.
Current data situation:
Data source: Echelon Market official website
Summarize
The table is arranged from largest to smallest by TVL and is for reference only and is not intended as investment advice.
