Tanzeel Akhtar is a seasoned journalist who has been reporting on cryptocurrency and blockchain technology since 2015. Her work has appeared in leading publications including The Wall Street Journal,…
Figment, a provider of institutional staking infrastructure overseeing $18 billion in assets under stake, announced it has partnered with OpenTrade to launch a new stablecoin yield product for institutional clients.
The offering is custodied by Crypto.com and targets an annual return of roughly 15% on stablecoins, based on historical performance. This introduces a new approach that combines staking rewards with a hedging strategy designed to minimize price volatility.
The product called OpenTrade Stablecoin Staking Yield Powered by Figment, is being marketed as an alternative to traditional DeFi lending markets, which have often been criticized for counterparty risk, smart-contract vulnerabilities.
Figment and OpenTrade say the product’s architecture will address concerns by operating within a segregated institution-friendly framework.
New Structure for Stablecoin Yield
The yield mechanism is built on Solana staking rewards generated by a dedicated Figment validator. Those rewards are paired with an offsetting perpetual futures strategy managed by OpenTrade to neutralize directional exposure to the SOL price.
According to the companies, this structure has historically delivered returns more than double Solana’s standard 6.5-7.5% staking rate, while maintaining liquidity for deposits and withdrawals.
Crypto.com will serve as custodian and exchange partner for transactions. The company said the underlying SOL assets are held in fully segregated accounts, legally secured for investors and isolated from the exchange’s operational funds.
Institutional customers can deposit and withdraw stablecoins through Figment’s application or APIs, with interest beginning to accrue immediately and no lockup periods.
Demand for Institutional Stablecoin Yield Products
The launch comes as demand for stablecoin-based yield offerings continues to rise among exchanges, wallet providers, fintechs, and other digital asset companies seeking revenue opportunities that fall outside traditional crypto lending.
Market participants have increasingly sought alternatives that avoid exposure to unsecured lending, liquidity-pool impermanence loss, or opaque DeFi structures.
“Stablecoin Staking Yield is the result of efforts to create a product that offers higher returns along with stronger protections,” said Jeff Handler, Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer at OpenTrade.
He explains the product is designed to combine elements of staking and derivatives hedging to create an institutional yield option not available through existing RWA or DeFi strategies.
Karl Turner, a director at Crypto.com, said the exchange’s infrastructure was designed to support evolving demand from institutional digital asset customers. “We are proud to support Figment in enabling a stablecoin staking offering that clients are increasingly looking for,” he said.
Institutional Positioning
Figment, which provides staking services to asset managers, custodians, exchanges and other large token holders, said the product aligns with its approach of prioritizing security in validator operations. “We’re bringing our infrastructure and security mindset to stablecoins,” said Andy Cronk, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer.
The companies note that estimated 15% APR returns are variable and depend on market conditions. Figment stresses that it does not control or guarantee yield rates, which are determined by OpenTrade’s staking and hedging strategy.
Figment, Apex Group to List Ethereum, Solana ETPs
Last year Figment Europe Ltd, and Apex Group listed two new exchange-traded products (ETPs) on the SIX Swiss Exchange.
Both ETPs were issued with Issuance.Swiss AG — the products will give access to staking rewards through traditional brokers or banks allowing conservative institutions to hold the asset class through the ETPs.
