Search terms

APY (annual percentage yield): A period's return expressed as a full-year rate so products of different lengths can be compared. It's "the quote right now", not a promise about the next year; on floating products it can change tomorrow.
Floating APY: A rate that moves with lending supply and demand, which is what Flexible products use. Hot market, more borrowers, it rises; quiet market, it falls.
Base APY: The rate that applies to the portion above the bonus cap in a tiered structure, and the product's real long-run level. This is the number to make decisions with.
Bonus APY: The elevated rate from a campaign or new-user offer, usually with a cap, a deadline and a restriction on where the funds came from. It comes from the platform's marketing budget, not the lending market.
Tiered cap: The X in "the first X coins at the high rate, anything above at the base rate". The more you deposit, the closer your blended APY gets to the base tier.
Subscribe: Moving coins from your Spot wallet into an Earn product. Once in, those coins are out of your Spot balance and can't be traded directly.
Redeem: Moving coins from an Earn product back to your Spot wallet. Note that it lands in Spot, not your bank account, two steps still separate it from spendable money.
Early redemption: Exiting before the lock-up ends. Three common rules: not allowed, allowed with no return, or allowed at the Flexible rate. The cost is normally the return, not the principal.
Lock-up period: The stretch in a Locked product during which the money can't move. What should decide the term is "how long won't I need this", not "which APY is highest".
Auto-renew: Rolling automatically into the next cycle at maturity, frequently on by default, and at the new cycle's rate. Switch it off if you don't want to be locked into another round.
Accrual start: The point at which interest starts counting. Some count from the day you subscribe, some from the next settlement cycle. Worth close attention for short-term money.
Settlement cycle: How often interest is settled. Settled daily and added to the balance is close to daily compounding; settled and held separately is simple interest.
Simple interest: Interest is calculated and set aside and doesn't earn further interest. Locked products settling once at maturity are close to this.
Daily compounding: Each day's settled interest starts earning from the next day. Almost identical to simple over short periods; the difference only shows with time.
Dual Investment: A product filed under Earn that is really the sale of an option. If the price meets the agreed condition at maturity, your principal is converted into another coin at the agreed price.
Settlement price: The price in Dual Investment that decides whether you get converted. The closer it is to the current price, the higher the APY — and the higher the chance of conversion.
Staking rewards: Rewards for locking coins for a period, usually paid in a project token. The headline APY is converted at the token's price when issued; what you actually keep moves with that price.
Proof of reserves: An issuer or platform publishing the assets it holds so outsiders can check they're sufficient. Look at the scope of the check, the date it covers, and whether a third party was involved.
Depeg: A stablecoin's market price drifting from its peg. Small drifts are routine; a large and sustained one is an event, and historically some recovered and some didn't.

How many steps the money takes to get back to you

Plenty of people read "can redeem" as "can get the money", when redemption is only the first step. On a calm day you don't feel the difference; on the day you're genuinely in a hurry, it's usually the two steps after it that hold you up. Which is why emergency money doesn't belong on this path, expanded in what early redemption costs.

How to use these definitions, and what they don't cover

Who it's for

People opening an Earn page for the first time and being put off by a screen of jargon. Also people already using it who aren't sure what a particular word means: "accrual start" and "settlement cycle", for instance, get conflated a lot.

The basis of these definitions

What's written here is the common meaning of these terms in a stablecoin Earn context, not any one platform's official definition. Different platforms can attach different specific rules to the same word, so before subscribing go by the terms on that product's page.

Why there are no APY figures

A glossary explains concepts, not the market. Any hard-coded rate goes stale; this site's approach is to write rules with the date they were checked and leave the number to what the platform shows at the time.

How the search works

Purely string matching in your browser. The terms and definitions are written into the page, with no API and no back end. What you type never leaves your device.

What if a word isn't here

Email the address on the contact page and we'll add it. A missing entry is easier to fix than a wrong definition.

To put these words back into the products they came from, carry on to seeing these terms in context.