💡 The stablecoin sector, strong brands, and compliance belong to Wall Street. 💡 Decentralization belongs to DeFi; new projects can only break through by offering high yields. 💡 As players, simple speculation is becoming increasingly difficult. 💡 To capture true Alpha, we need to not only understand the projects but also be able to engage in precise calculations. (PS: I find it really hard) In the last Space, Brother Kay @portal_kay first shared a 🎯 classification framework, clearly categorizing the stablecoins on the market into two main categories and four subcategories, helping everyone understand the essence of stablecoins: 🌟 The first major category: the most mainstream asset-backed (Asset-Backed) type, which means the stablecoins you hold are backed by real assets. 1️⃣ Subcategory: Real World Asset (RWA) collateral: This is the most orthodox model, such as USDT and USDC. They are backed by high liquidity assets in the real world, like US dollars and US Treasury bonds. This is also the only model recognized by the U.S. as part of the advancing "GENIUS Act." In the future, to circulate on a large scale in a compliant world and become a payment-type stablecoin, this is the only ticket. PS: Approximately 20% of the asset proof published by Tether consists of overnight debts between enterprises, which are interbank loans between financial institutions. 2️⃣ Subcategory: Over-collateralized crypto assets: This is the Crypto Native way, with MakerDAO's DAI as the pioneer. It uses volatile assets like BTC or ETH to mint stablecoins through over-collateralization. The core advantage of this type of stablecoin is decentralization and permissionlessness, making it the best medium in the on-chain DeFi world. However, due to its decentralization, it naturally cannot meet regulatory requirements, such as freezing accounts, so its application scenarios are limited to on-chain. Yala follows this path as well, only replacing the underlying ETH with BTC compared to DAI, changing the implementation from smart contracts to multi-signature and timestamps. 🌟 The second major category: strategy-backed (Strategy-Backed) type, where the value of these stablecoins does not rely on static collateral but on a set of dynamic strategies. 3️⃣ Subcategory: Neutral strategy (Delta Neutral): For example, Ethena's USDe. However, Brother Kay believes this is essentially not a stablecoin but a public fund packaged as a stablecoin: buying it is equivalent to purchasing a share of an investment strategy, generating returns through long positions in spot and short positions in futures. USDe uses the shell of a stablecoin to simplify the cognitive threshold for users. 4️⃣ Subcategory: Algorithmic stablecoins, represented by LUNA/UST. This model has been disproven by the market and can essentially be declared out of the game. /// In the second part, we discuss the breakthrough path for Bitcoin ecosystem stablecoins. At this stage, the brand and credibility of stablecoins themselves are the most important, followed by clear use cases. These are more important than the public chain network in which the stablecoin is issued. USDT currently has the widest audience, including gray market, black market, trading, and even compliant traditional finance, all supporting USDT as the best liquidity target. USDC occupies the windfall of compliant stablecoins, especially after its listing, Circle's brand premium has directly increased, and USDC's credibility has risen, leading to appreciation: previously, the exchange rate of USDT to USDC was consistently around 0.9994, but recently it often reaches between 0.9997 and 0.9999. Consequently, USDT and USDC have each built their own channels, forming a huge brand moat. In contrast, PayPal has such a strong brand and channel, but its PYUSD remains unnoticed because there is no demand or habit for using stablecoins within its ecosystem and channels. Therefore, newly born stablecoins in the Bitcoin ecosystem are almost impossible to challenge the giants in terms of brand and compliance. Their only way to break through is to offer high yields: by providing annualized returns of 10% or even higher, attracting funds willing to take on potential risks for high returns. 📒 Essentially, this is no longer about creating currency but about creating investment products. Users buy it not for payment but for earning interest. 👍 Ethena's USDe is a successful case of this route. The main expanded use cases for stablecoins are actually three: 1️⃣ Transfers between CEXs; 2️⃣ On-chain DeFi; 3️⃣ Trade and gray market in real life, which are not purely Web3. Looking at @PlasmaFDN, currently, competing for CEX transfers with zero fees should be the most likely way to achieve rapid growth. /// The key point 👉 How ordinary players can layout in the stablecoin sector. For us ordinary players, participating in the stablecoin sector requires an upgraded mindset: 1️⃣ Traditional airdrop farming. Save money, obtain future points and airdrop expectations from projects, simple and direct. 2️⃣ More advanced strategies, diving into DeFi to master yield strategies. Brother Kay emphasizes that the battlefield of stablecoins and DeFi has deeply integrated. To achieve excess returns, one must consider themselves an actuary, calculating the input-output ratio of various strategies. For example, using interest rate swap protocols like Pendle to split the yield of stablecoins into principal (PT) and yield (YT). You can choose to hold PT for a fixed, risk-free annualized return; or you can choose to hold YT, giving up interest to use a smaller amount of capital to strive for multiple points and future airdrops. This type of play requires a deep understanding of DeFi Lego, as it is all about math problems. This is very different from the past Mint & Flip culture in the Bitcoin ecosystem, but it is more controllable and based on a stable profit model derived from calculations. /// That's all.