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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.stablely.io/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

If you’ve spent any time evaluating yield platforms, you’ve seen both numbers thrown around — sometimes interchangeably, sometimes strategically. The difference between APR and APY is not just academic. It directly affects how you evaluate, compare, and ultimately choose where to put your stablecoins.

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What is APR?

APR — Annual Percentage Rate is the straightforward one. It’s the fixed rate applied to your principal over a year, without factoring in compounding. If a platform offers 36% APR, you earn 36% of your deposited amount over 12 months — or 3% per month on your original capital. Simple, predictable, and honest. Example:
  • Deposit: $10,000 USDT
  • APR: 36%
  • Monthly return: 300(3300 (3% of 10,000)
  • Annual return: $3,600
  • End balance: $13,600
APR is the standard used in traditional finance. When a bank quotes a mortgage rate or a savings rate, they’re quoting APR. The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau defines APR as the yearly cost of a loan or return on savings expressed as a percentage.

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What is APY?

APY — Annual Percentage Yield factors in compounding — the process of earning returns on your returns. When earnings are reinvested each period, the next period’s return is calculated on a larger base. A 36% APR compounded monthly produces an APY of approximately 42.6% — because each month your earnings are added to the principal before the next month’s return is calculated. The formula: APY = (1 + APR/n)^n - 1 where n = number of compounding periods per year

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Why Platforms Love Quoting APY

APY always looks better than APR for the same underlying rate. A 36% APR becomes a 42.6% APY when compounded monthly. Platforms know this and many quote APY specifically to make their returns appear more attractive — even when the underlying rate is identical. This is not always deceptive — but it becomes misleading when:
  • The platform doesn’t actually compound (meaning APY and APR are identical)
  • The compounding is only possible if you manually reinvest, which many users don’t do
  • The high APY is driven by token emissions rather than real yield
According to CoinGecko’s DeFi yield study, the average advertised APY across DeFi platforms in 2024 was 3.4x higher than the actual realized return for passive depositors who didn’t actively compound — largely because the headline figure assumed perfect compounding that never happened in practice.

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What Stablely Offers and Why We Quote APR

Stablely pays a fixed 3% per month on your deposited capital — that’s 36% APR. We quote APR deliberately because:
  1. Our product does not compound — your returns are paid on your original deposit, not on accumulated earnings
  2. APR is what you actually earn on what you actually deposit
  3. It’s the honest number, and we prefer honesty over inflated marketing figures
This also means our returns are highly predictable. You know exactly what you’ll earn each month before you deposit — no compounding assumptions, no variable rates, no surprises.

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Quick Comparison

APRAPY
Factors in compoundingNoYes
Better for comparing fixed yield✅❌
Used by traditional finance✅Rarely
Often used to inflate crypto yieldsRarely✅
What Stablely quotes✅—

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The Real Question to Ask Any Yield Platform

Before depositing anywhere, ask two questions:
  1. Is this APR or APY? If it’s APY, ask what the underlying APR is.
  2. Where does the yield actually come from? Token emissions, liquidity mining, and algorithmic strategies are fundamentally different from real loan repayments.
Those two questions will tell you more about a platform’s sustainability than any headline number ever will. See Stablely’s fixed 36% APR product →
Related reading: Why your USDT is your hardest working asset | What is RWA lending