When stablecoins no longer generate interest: 7 DeFi protocols that benefit from the CLARITY Act

Original Author: Tindorr

Original Compilation: Chopper, Foresight News

The market is fixated on the regulatory jurisdictional battle between the SEC and the CFTC over which altcoins qualify as "digital commodities." This is merely a surface-level interpretation that has already been priced in.

The true profit logic of the CLARITY Act lies elsewhere: it quietly delineates the legal boundaries of DeFi activities that institutions can engage in, while simultaneously, under strong lobbying from banks, it directly blocks the primary channel for ordinary users to earn passive income from idle stablecoins.

This will not only spur a new wave of institutional capital entering DeFi but also force a massive influx of capital into specific protocols that have already established compliant frameworks.

Below are the seven main beneficiary projects I have identified.

30-Second Summary of the CLARITY Act

The bill passed the House in July 2025 (294 votes in favor, 134 against) and entered the Senate Banking Committee's review stage on May 14, 2026 (Editor's note: On May 14, the CLARITY Act was voted through the Senate Banking Committee).

Two sentences to summarize the core of CLARITY:

• It clarifies the regulatory division between the SEC and CFTC, placing digital commodities under CFTC jurisdiction;
• It establishes a safe harbor rule for DeFi protocols, node validators, and open-source developers, preventing them from being easily classified as money transmitters or brokers.

The most critical part of this article is Section 404 regarding stablecoin yields. The GENIUS Act, which took effect in the US last year, prohibits stablecoin issuers from paying interest directly to users. However, exchanges, DeFi platforms, and intermediaries could still offer financial returns on users' idle funds.

Why the CLARITY Act's Impact Extends Far Beyond DeFi Legalization

Once the CLARITY Act is officially implemented, it will immediately trigger two major shifts:

• Institutional capital barriers will be cleared. BlackRock, Apollo, Deutsche Bank, pension funds, corporate treasuries, and others have been waiting on the sidelines. Compliance teams couldn't assess whether related assets were securities, preventing large-scale allocation. With clear CFTC jurisdiction and a DeFi safe harbor, institutions can now enter in a big way.
• Yield-seeking capital will be driven away from idle stablecoin products. The era of earning approximately 5% annualized yield by simply holding USDC on exchanges will disappear. Hundreds of billions in capital seeking stable returns must find new outlets for allocation.

Consequently, two massive pools of capital (institutional investors finally entering + retail investors seeking yield) will converge on the same type of target: compliant products with real business use cases and structured yield generation.

The following protocols are tailor-made for this new regulatory landscape.

Pendle: The Underlying Yield Infrastructure Layer

Pendle is the DeFi protocol most compatible with the CLARITY Act. It allows all yield-bearing assets to be split into Principal Tokens (PT) and Yield Tokens (YT): holding PT locks in a fixed annualized yield; holding YT allows betting on yield rate fluctuations. The entire process involves active trading and providing liquidity – a business activity, not merely passively holding an asset for interest.

Before the Act: Institutions recognized its product mechanism but were constrained by regulatory ambiguity, unable to participate at scale. Tokenized Real World Assets (RWA) remained in pilot or offshore packaging phases. It was impossible to legally classify whether PT/YT tokens were securities.

After the Act: PT/YT trading is clearly categorized under CFTC commodity derivatives regulation. The ban on passive stablecoin yields forces massive capital into these active, business-oriented yield products. Large asset managers like BlackRock can custody tokenized RWAs and private credit assets, providing clients with on-chain fixed-income exposure via Pendle.

Example: The Apollo Credit Fund ACRED, tokenized via Securitize and wrapped into eACRED by the Ember Protocol, launched on Pendle in April 2026. Holding PT-eACRED offers one-click allocation to Apollo's entire credit portfolio, encompassing direct corporate lending, asset-backed lending, investment-grade credit, distressed credit, structured credit, etc. All products are composable and run entirely on-chain.

Once the CLARITY Act is enacted, this model will become the standard template for US institutional capital entry, and Pendle will serve as the core yield infrastructure for incremental institutional liquidity.

Key metrics to watch: Total Value Locked (TVL) in RWA pools, progress of partnerships with compliant custodians, and the issuance scale of tokenized asset PTs.

Morpho: The On-Chain Prime Broker

Morpho focuses on permissionless lending markets with customizable risk parameters.

Before the Act: Using tokenized RWAs as loan collateral risked being classified as unregistered derivatives. A lack of compliant pools meeting institutional risk standards with fiduciary duties existed. Liquidation and oracle risks deterred large capital.

After the Act: Strategy firms like Gauntlet and Steakhouse can establish compliant permissioned pools, customizing loan-to-value ratios, oracles, position limits, and KYC requirements. Institutions can use stablecoins to collateralize and borrow real-world assets, perform leverage loop arbitrage, and provide market liquidity, all within the clear CFTC regulatory framework. Stablecoin capital displaced from the passive yield market will flow consistently into Morpho pools, earning compliant returns through active lending activities.

The on-chain prime broker model will be formally operational. Stablecoin capital squeezed out of the passive yield market will continuously flow into Morpho pools, generating compliant returns through active lending.

Key metrics to watch: TVL in pools managed by institutional strategy firms, new RWA collateral types added, and the number of newly launched institutional strategy partnerships.

Sky (USDS / sUSDS)

Sky (formerly MakerDAO) allows users to deposit USDS for sUSDS, earning protocol yield derived from stability fees, US Treasury bill yields on reserve assets, and RWA allocation returns. Sky is arguably the DeFi product closest to a tokenized money market fund.

However, the question is: does depositing USDS for sUSDS constitute an active business activity, or is it the passive, "set-and-forget" yield prohibited by the ban?

Sky has long followed Ethena's path, partnering with compliant institutions to build regulated structures. If regulators adopt a lenient interpretation of the "active business exemption," sUSDS could become one of the largest compliant on-chain savings targets, inherently offering RWA asset exposure.

The stablecoin yield ban will directly drive capital from idle USDC towards USDS-based savings products.

Key things to watch: Rulemaking by the Treasury and CFTC following the bill's passage.

Maple Finance: The On-Chain Credit Trading Desk

Maple Finance focuses on institutional lending pools. Users deposit stablecoins as lenders, while borrowers are thoroughly vetted (market makers, hedge funds, institutional treasury desks). Its Syrup pool is accessible to ordinary users.

Before the Act: Under-collateralized institutional lending carried the compliance risk of being deemed unregistered securities. Banks and insurance companies could not participate due to unclear regulatory jurisdiction. Compliance teams remained cautious after early defaults in pools.

After the Act: Maple transitions into a compliant on-chain credit asset issuance platform. Banks and insurance companies can participate without barriers.

Maple already has inherent institutional suitability. The Syrup pool is integrated with Morpho for cross-protocol credit portfolio allocation. Bitwise and Sky had already deployed Maple strategies before the Act.

The CLARITY Act simply removes the regulatory constraints hindering its scaling.

Key metric to watch: Total TVL in the Syrup pool, progress in borrower diversification, and the launch of new credit strategies for RWA asset originators.

Centrifuge: The Native RWA Issuance Layer

If Pendle handles yield splitting and Maple handles credit pools, Centrifuge operates further upstream – at the source of real-world asset tokenization. Private credit, commercial paper, structured credit tranches, and SME loans can all be wrapped into on-chain tokens, seamlessly integrated into the broader DeFi ecosystem.

Before the Act: Tokenization of real-world credit assets remained experimental. Whether the tokens were securities, commodities, or a new asset class was unclear, deterring institutions. Underlying assets lacked federal-level custody and settlement rules. Most pools were limited in size, operating via offshore structures.

After the Act: Centrifuge becomes the core entry point for RWA tokenization. The regulatory classification of tokenized private credit tranched assets is clear, allowing compliant custody and large-scale use as institutional loan collateral. Banks and asset managers can participate in SME financing, bill discounting, and structured credit on-chain without needing offshore structures.

Protocols Based on STRC Assets: The Fixed-Income Track Pathway

Strategy issues perpetual preferred stock STRC, listed on Nasdaq, with an annualized dividend yield of approximately 11.5% and monthly rate adjustments to maintain a share price near $100 par value. Apyx and Saturn Credit are the two main STRC wrapping protocols: Apyx issues apxUSD and apyUSD (total supply over $400 million); Saturn issues USDat and sUSDat. Both have launched PT/YT trading markets on Pendle.

Before the Act: While the complete business pathway existed, compliant US funds could not custody, restructure, or secondary-package these wrapped assets at scale.

After the Act: PT trading falls under CFTC commodity regulation; the DeFi safe harbor protects protocol compliance. Compliant US large-cap funds can purchase Apyx and Saturn related PT tokens in bulk, locking in fixed yields for around 12 months, and then package them into fixed-income products for retail investors via traditional brokerage channels.

The complete flow is: Strategy issues STRC → Apyx/Saturn wrap the dividend yield on-chain → Pendle splits into PT (principal) and YT (yield) tokens → Compliant US funds buy PT in bulk to lock in fixed yields → Packaged as "Bitcoin-linked fixed income product (~12% annualized yield)" for retail investors.

Key metrics to watch: TVL in related PT tokens, whether compliant US funds launch STRC-linked fixed-income products, and monthly STRC dividend adjustments.

The Common Logic of the Seven Protocols

From a higher perspective, a unified pattern emerges among the seven protocols:

• These protocols proactively built KYC-compliant and business-oriented architectures *before* regulatory pressure forced the issue.
• CFTC jurisdictional clarity + the DeFi safe harbor completely eliminates institutions' primary concern regarding security classification risk.
• The stablecoin passive yield ban channels massive capital flows towards these structured products backed by real business and RWAs.
• Institutions will naturally act as aggregators, seamlessly overlaying their existing custody and prime brokerage infrastructure onto these DeFi protocols.

Important Considerations

• The Act is not yet final. It has only passed committee review and still needs to go through reconciliation between House and Senate versions, the 60-vote threshold in the Senate, text harmonization between chambers, and the President's signature. Polymarket gives a 76% probability of enactment in 2026 – high, but not guaranteed.
• All protocols carry inherent DeFi risks including smart contract vulnerabilities, oracle failures, stablecoin de-pegging, and counterparty credit risk. CLARITY clarifies regulatory boundaries but does not eliminate investment risks.
• The thesis of "beneficiary price appreciation" assumes institutions will enter as the market expects. While consensus is strong, actual deployment timelines are often slower than trading prices suggest, typically requiring months of onboarding.

Summary

The CLARITY Act is more than just a simple "DeFi legalization" story. That is the surface narrative, already priced in by the market.

The real second-order market logic is: When passive stablecoin yields are banned, where will the massive flow of yield-seeking capital go? Which protocols and tracks require no last-minute compliance restructuring to absorb incremental institutional capital? This does not guarantee the tokens of these protocols will appreciate; their tokenomics still require individual analysis.