How to Compare Crypto Yield Rates: Targets, Benchmarks and What Sits Behind the Number

Crypto yield rates cannot be compared on headline APY alone; this page sets Abra's strategy targets beside dated, sourced dollar benchmarks. Every rate here names its source and date, states whether it is a target or a realized figure, and says what the money does to earn it. Where a venue does not publish a rate, the row stays empty.

Key takeaways

• A crypto yield rate is comparable only with its basis attached: target or realized, APY or APR, gross or net of fees, paid in kind or in dollars, and the date it was observed.
• Abra's BTCaf targets 2 to 5% APY paid in Bitcoin and USDaf targets 4 to 10% APY on dollar stablecoins; both are variable, not guaranteed, and can be lower or negative in a given period. Both targets are as published on the BTCaf and USDaf product pages in September 2026. Yield figures are dated snapshots and Abra's targets are variable and not guaranteed.
• USDaf paid 9.30% (average gross APY) in August 2026, a dated snapshot of a historical figure, against an FDIC national average savings rate of 0.37% for September 2026 (FDIC, National Rates and Rate Caps, national average rate on savings deposits, 0.37% (September 2026)). The spread may reflect additional risks associated with the strategy, including counterparty, smart-contract, market and liquidity risks, and is not guaranteed. Not a like-for-like comparison: bank deposits may be eligible for FDIC insurance and generally have materially different credit, liquidity and principal-loss risks. USDaf is an investment strategy, is not a bank deposit, is not FDIC insured, and involves possible loss of principal.
• Benchmark and venue rates are refreshed weekly from named public sources; where a venue publishes no rate, the figure is left out rather than estimated.
• FDIC-insured accounts and Treasury bills have materially different principal-protection and credit characteristics, while some DeFi vaults may display higher headline rates. Abra's strategies involve different investment, counterparty, smart-contract, liquidity and principal-loss risks and applicable fees.

What does a crypto yield rate actually measure?

Five things have to be pinned down before two yield rates can be compared. First, target or realized: Abra publishes BTCaf as a 2 to 5% APY target and USDaf as a 4 to 10% APY target, both as published in September 2026, and separately reports what each strategy actually paid, such as USDaf's 9.30% (average gross APY) for August 2026. A target is a design range; a realized figure is history. Neither is a forecast. Yield figures are dated snapshots and Abra's targets are variable and not guaranteed.

Second, APY or APR. APY includes compounding within the year, APR does not, so the same strategy reads higher as an APY. Third, gross or net. Abra reports BTCaf performance monthly as an average annualized yield gross of advisory fees; a bank's savings rate is what the depositor receives. Fourth, the unit of payment. BTCaf pays in Bitcoin, so the return is measured in BTC and your dollar outcome also depends on the Bitcoin price. USDaf pays in dollar-denominated stablecoins.

Fifth, the observation date. DeFi lending rates move block by block and a dashboard APY is often a snapshot of the last day or week. A bank sets its rate and changes it when it chooses. Any comparison that does not date each figure is comparing different moments, which is why every row on this page carries a date and a source.

How does Abra compare crypto yield rates?

The method is the same one used on the crypto-backed loan comparison. Abra's strategy targets and realized figures are set against a fixed benchmark set: the FDIC national average savings rate, the three-month US Treasury bill, SOFR, the Secured Overnight Financing Rate published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR), newyorkfed.org), and a government money market fund reference. Alongside the benchmarks sit two venue categories: published rates from centralized crypto yield venues, and lending rates from DeFi protocols.

Each row is dated and names its source. Primary sources are preferred: the FDIC's own publication, the Treasury via FRED, the New York Fed, a fund provider's own data, a venue's own rate page or a protocol's on-chain market. Variable rates are shown as a short trailing average rather than a spot value. Where a venue does not publish a rate, or publishes one that depends on holding the venue's own token, the figure is left out rather than estimated, and the row says so.

Rows refresh weekly. The competitor-rates job pulls venue and DeFi figures, Site Settings holds Abra's current targets and the latest realized month, and the verification date on each table moves with every run. Abra is a party to this comparison and has a commercial interest in its yield strategies, which is why the method is written down here and why the sections below name the cases where a benchmark or a competitor is the better choice.

How Abra compares rates: criteria, verification dates and independence

How do Abra's yield strategies compare with dollar benchmarks?

The table shows the figures Abra can verify today, each dated to the month it was observed. USDaf, Abra's dollar yield strategy, targets 4 to 10% APY and paid 9.30% (average gross APY) in August 2026, a historical figure that is variable and not a projection. The FDIC national average savings rate for September 2026 was 0.37% (FDIC, National Rates and Rate Caps, national average rate on savings deposits, 0.37% (September 2026); FDIC, National Rates and Rate Caps (published monthly), 12 C.F.R. § 337.7). Not a like-for-like comparison: bank deposits may be eligible for FDIC insurance and generally have materially different credit, liquidity and principal-loss risks. USDaf is an investment strategy, is not a bank deposit, is not FDIC insured, and involves possible loss of principal. BTCaf, the Bitcoin yield strategy, targets 2 to 5% APY paid in BTC and has been tracked since December 2024. Yield figures are dated snapshots and Abra's targets are variable and not guaranteed.

The three-month Treasury bill, SOFR and the government money market fund reference are shown with their source and the date each source observed the figure: the Treasury, the New York Fed and the fund's own SEC filing. A benchmark whose source cannot be verified within its refresh window is shown without a figure, and the next section lists every row with its source and refresh cadence. This is deliberate: a benchmark row with an unverified number is worse than an empty one.

Read the rate and risk columns together; a higher stated yield should not be evaluated without the associated material risks and limitations. A bank deposit is insured up to the applicable FDIC standard maximum deposit insurance amount, per depositor, per insured bank, for each account ownership category (12 U.S.C. § 1821(a)(1)(E) (FDIC standard maximum deposit insurance amount, $250,000)). A Treasury bill carries US government credit and no credit risk in dollar terms (SEC Office of Investor Education and Advocacy, Treasury Securities, Investor.gov; see also 31 U.S.C. § 3123). USDaf has neither feature; it holds stablecoins deployed in lending and liquidity strategies, and principal can be lost. BTCaf carries Bitcoin price exposure as well.

USDaf dollar yield strategy: targets, risks and reporting

Which benchmarks and venues are in the comparison set?

The benchmark set is intended to provide context using instruments with materially different risk, liquidity, credit and principal-protection characteristics. The three-month Treasury bill is the reference for government credit at short duration. SOFR is the reference rate for secured overnight lending and the base that many floating-rate instruments price from. A government money market fund, regulated under SEC Rule 2a-7 (17 C.F.R. § 270.2a-7 (Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act of 1940), eCFR current as of Sept. 18, 2026), is the practical instrument most treasuries already use for cash; it is not FDIC insured and can lose value. The FDIC national average savings rate is the floor most households and small businesses receive.

The venue set covers two categories. Centralized crypto yield venues publish rates on their own pages; those rates are compiled from the venue's own terms, marked where the rate depends on tiering or on holding the venue's token, and dated. DeFi lending rates are read from the protocol's public market and shown as a trailing average, because a DeFi dashboard APY moves block by block — more precisely, continuously as pool utilisation changes — and can spike when a protocol subsidizes deposits with its own token, then collapse when the incentives end (IOSCO, Decentralized Finance Report (OR01/2022), March 2022).

The table lists each row with what it measures, its source and its refresh cadence. No rate figures appear in it; figures live in the verified table above, each dated to the day its source observed it.

How do you compare Bitcoin yield rates when Bitcoin has no native yield?

Ethereum and Solana pay validators for securing the network, so staking yields have a native protocol source you can read on-chain (ethereum.org, “Staking”; Anza/Agave Solana documentation, “Inflation Schedule” (both retrieved 24 Sept 2026)). Bitcoin's proof-of-work design has no equivalent. Anyone offering yield on Bitcoin is doing something else with it, and the first thing to compare is what, because the rate follows from the mechanism and so does the risk.

Three approaches are in use. Lending: a platform takes your BTC and lends it to institutional borrowers, paying you part of the interest; you are exposed to the borrower and the platform's balance sheet. DeFi: your BTC is wrapped and deposited into on-chain lending or liquidity protocols; you are exposed to smart contract and bridge risk. Delta-neutral trading: the BTC serves as collateral or as one leg of a hedged position and the return comes from a spread or funding rate rather than price movement; you are exposed to basis and execution risk.

Abra's BTCaf uses the third route. Your Bitcoin stays in your separately managed account under Fireblocks MPC custody as collateral for a stablecoin borrow at a conservative loan-to-value, the stablecoins are deployed in delta-hedged and stablecoin-side strategies, and the earned yield is converted to Bitcoin and added to your position. It targets 2 to 5% APY, variable and not guaranteed; funding rates can fall to zero or turn negative and a period can show a negative return. Target ranges are not floors or guarantees, and realized results may fall outside them. When a competing Bitcoin yield rate is higher, ask which of the three mechanisms produces it and who holds the coins while it does.

Bitcoin yield (BTCaf): how the delta-neutral strategy works and what can go wrong

Why is the spread over the T-bill the number to watch?

A Treasury bill is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States and settles in a deep, continuous market. A government money market fund holds those instruments and offers daily liquidity at a stable net asset value. A bank deposit carries FDIC insurance up to the applicable limit. USDaf has none of these features, and what it offers instead is a higher target yield in exchange for stablecoin, counterparty, smart contract and liquidity risk.

The spread between the T-bill rate and USDaf may reflect, among other factors, stablecoin, counterparty, smart contract and liquidity risks; it does not guarantee that those risks will be adequately compensated. If the spread narrows, the case for taking the risk narrows with it, and a treasurer should size any allocation so that a total loss would not impair operations. The gap between USDaf's 9.30% for August 2026 and the 0.37% FDIC savings average for September 2026 is wide (FDIC, National Rates and Rate Caps, national average rate on savings deposits, 0.37% (September 2026)); the gap to a T-bill (4.15%) or a government money market fund (3.62%) is smaller, and that is the honest comparison for cash that already sits in a government fund. Not a like-for-like comparison: bank deposits may be eligible for FDIC insurance and generally have materially different credit, liquidity and principal-loss risks. USDaf is an investment strategy, is not a bank deposit, is not FDIC insured, and involves possible loss of principal.

One regulatory point shapes the whole category. Under the GENIUS Act (2025), payment stablecoin issuers are restricted from paying interest directly to holders (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act), Pub. L. No. 119-27 § 4(a)(11) (enacted July 18, 2025); see U.S. Dep't of the Treasury, GENIUS Act Implementation, 90 Fed. Reg. (Sept. 19, 2025)). USDaf yield is generated by Abra's lending and liquidity strategy, not paid by any stablecoin issuer, which is why the rate is a strategy return with strategy risk rather than a deposit rate. This content reflects the GENIUS Act as of September 2026 and may not reflect subsequent amendments, rules or guidance.

The GENIUS Act and stablecoin yield: what issuers may and may not pay

What sits behind a headline crypto yield rate?

Rehypothecation first. Celsius and BlockFi both lent customer deposits onward to third parties to fund the interest they paid; when those borrowers could not repay, the platforms could not return customer assets and filed for bankruptcy in 2022, leaving customers as unsecured creditors after the bankruptcy court determined that Earn account assets were property of the estate (SEC, BlockFi Agrees to Pay $100 Million in Penalties and Pursue Registration of its Crypto Lending Product (Feb. 14, 2022); SEC v. Celsius Network Ltd. and Alexander Mashinsky (July 13, 2023); Vermont Dep't of Financial Regulation, Investor Alert: Updates Regarding Cryptocurrency Bankruptcy Cases (May 2, 2023)). A yield rate funded that way is a claim on the platform, not on your coins. Abra does not rehypothecate client assets: your Bitcoin or stablecoins sit in a separately managed account titled to you with Fireblocks Trust Company, LLC as custodian, and in BTCaf the Bitcoin serves as collateral inside your own account.

Custody and regulation second. Centralized venues typically hold assets in an omnibus wallet on their own balance sheet, with regulatory status that varies by jurisdiction and product. DeFi vaults are non-custodial with no operator to call. Abra Capital Management, LP is an SEC-registered investment adviser with fiduciary duties and a public Form ADV (Abra Capital Management, LP, Form ADV Part 3 (Form CRS), SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, March 31, 2026; IAPD firm record, CRD No. 323353 / SEC File No. 801-129529); registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training.

Liquidity and fees third. BTCaf withdrawals are processed at the end of each month with a 30-day withdrawal period, so it is not an instant-access product; a venue that pays less but redeems same-day may suit part of your holdings better. BTCaf carries no management fee on the strategy, advisory fees are set out in Form ADV, which is filed with the SEC and public on the Investment Adviser Public Disclosure database (SEC Office of Investor Education and Advocacy, Investor Bulletin: Form ADV – Investment Adviser Brochure and Brochure Supplement (updated Aug. 27, 2020)), and there is no investment minimum, with concierge service from $250,000 in digital assets. Compare fees on the same footing you compare rates.

What rehypothecation is and why it decides who owns your coins

Disclaimer. Abra Capital Management, LP is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training, nor endorsement by the SEC. Yield strategy tokens (BTCaf, ETHaf, SOLaf, USDaf, XRP yield) are issued by AbraFi and accessed through Abra Capital Management. Target yields are variable ranges shown for illustration and are not guaranteed; realized yield can be lower, including zero or negative, and principal can be lost. Yield figures are dated snapshots and Abra's targets are variable and not guaranteed. Past performance does not predict future results. Abra's strategies are not bank deposits and are not FDIC or SIPC insured (FDIC, Fact Sheet: What the Public Needs to Know About FDIC Deposit Insurance and Crypto Companies, July 28, 2022; SIPC, What SIPC Protects). Abra has a commercial interest in the yield strategies compared here. Benchmark and third-party figures are cited from the named sources as of the dates shown and refreshed weekly; rates change frequently and without notice, and Abra does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of third-party information. This page is educational and is not investment, legal, tax or accounting advice, and it is not an offer or solicitation.