Lido cleans up Earn offering, rolls outs first stablecoin vault with USDT and USDC

Lido, the largest liquid staking protocol, is rolling out an EarnUSD vault, its first stablecoin vault, as part of an effort to consolidate its Earn product line, according to an announcement on Thursday. 

EarnUSD will allocate users USDC and USDT tokens into USD-denominated strategies on Ethereum, blending "conservative lending positions with selective exposure to higher-performing strategies" to earn returns. 

This includes higher-yield plays like RWAs and structured products, according to the announcement. Users will receive an earnUSD token representing their position and earn compounding returns. 

"Stablecoins are a fundamental part of DeFi, and until now we weren't serving those users. That changes today with EarnUSD," Lido Ecosystem Foundation Earn Partnerships lead Marin Tvrdić said in a statement.

Lido launched its Earn product line in September 2025 in a bid to give users access to advanced DeFi opportunities via its platform. 

The protocol initially offered three thematic strategies, including the "Golden Goose Vault," built around DeFi blue chips, DVV, tapping Distributed Validator Technology incentives, and stRATEGY, offering exposure to stETH DeFi opportunities. 

Thursday's relaunch is also an attempt to simplify this product category, which reportedly attracted nearly $250 million in deposits over the past several months, according to Tvrdić. 

Along with EarnUSD, Lido is introducing EarnETH, which will accept ETH, WETH, or stETH to be deployed across DeFi strategies on protocols like Aave, Uniswap, and Morpho. Similarly, users will receive a yield-bearing earnETH token. 

"We've spent the past six months building Lido Earn and attracted nearly $250 million in deposits," Tvrdić said. "This update simplifies the product into two vaults: one for ETH, one for stablecoins."

As part of the launch, Lido DAO is deploying $5 million of its treasury assets into the Earn vaults and offering to eat losses if anything goes wrong, according to the announcement.

GGV, DVV, or stRATEGY vault users are encouraged to "upgrade to the new vaults."

Earlier this year, Lido rolled out its stVaults staking primitive on mainnet, a modular system unlocked by the Lido V3 upgrade that enabled third parties to create customizable, "purpose-built" staking setups.