Mantle is opening up its stablecoin yield business to anyone with a wallet, moving a product that once lived exclusively inside a centralized exchange onto the open blockchain. The new Mantle stablecoin vault lets users deposit USDC or USDT0 directly into a non-custodial strategy, a shift that trades the convenience of a centralized exchange for full control over private keys. It arrives just months after the exchange-based version of the same product crossed $200 million in assets under management, giving Mantle a track record to lean on as it tests whether DeFi users will follow where CeFi customers already went.
Summary
Key takeaways
- Mantle expanded its real-world asset yield business from a Bybit-based centralized product into a non-custodial DeFi vault accessible through Fluxion.
- The earlier Bybit version of Mantle Vault had already surpassed $200 million in assets under management before the DeFi expansion.
- Depositors use USDC or USDT0 to gain exposure to yield tied to sUSDS, the savings version of Sky’s USDS stablecoin, with a target APY of up to 6.5% plus Fluxion Points and GROVE token incentives.
- The strategy was built by CIAN, sourced through Grove’s connection to the Sky Savings Rate, and accessed through Fluxion, with no leverage involved.
- U.S. availability depends on Fluxion’s compliance terms, and pending legislation could restrict passive stablecoin yield going forward.
Mantle launches non-custodial stablecoin vault in DeFi
Mantle’s latest move takes a proven product and strips out the middleman. The new vault, announced through Mantle’s Aug. 25 update and detailed in a PRNewswire release, extends Mantle Vault beyond its original home on Bybit into an open, self-custodial format built with Grove infrastructure, CIAN’s strategy design, and Fluxion’s access layer.
Transition from centralized Bybit vault to DeFi
The original Mantle Vault launched on Bybit in December 2025, letting customers deposit USDC or USDT through Bybit Earn while their funds moved into Mantle-based yield strategies behind the scenes. That centralized version has since surpassed $200 million in assets under management, a figure Mantle points to as evidence that demand for the strategy already existed before any self-custody option appeared.
The DeFi version changes who holds the keys. Rather than trusting an exchange account to hold and deploy stablecoins, users now interact with smart contracts through Fluxion. Mantle summed up the shift by noting that CIAN used a similar construction for the new product, “except now, you keep your keys.” Emily Bao, Key Advisor at Mantle and Spot Executive at Bybit, framed the expansion as proof of what an open financial network is meant to do: connect participants to institutional-grade assets wherever they are.
Supported assets and yield methodology
Deposits into the Mantle stablecoin vault are currently limited to USDC and USDT0, an omnichain version of Tether’s dollar token built to move across supported networks. That distinguishes it from depositing standard USDT directly. Once inside the vault, stablecoins gain exposure to yield generated by sUSDS, the yield-bearing counterpart to Sky’s USDS. This is where the product’s real innovation lies: instead of a custodian managing the strategy on a user’s behalf, the entire flow — from deposit to yield generation — happens on public infrastructure that anyone can inspect.
Technical design and yield components of the vault
Behind the interface sits a deliberately conservative structure. CIAN designed the underlying strategy without leverage, Grove supplies the connection to yield, and Fluxion handles the liquidity layer users actually touch.
Non-leveraged onchain strategy by CIAN
CIAN, the protocol that built the original Bybit-based product, packages the new vault’s positions and transactions so they remain visible onchain. Mantle said the strategy avoids leverage entirely, which limits one common source of liquidation risk. Luffy, Founder of CIAN, described the approach as translating “institutional-grade portfolio construction into transparent, non-custodial yield infrastructure.”
Yield sources through Grove and Sky governance
Grove provides the capital foundation through Grove Savings, described as the onchain interface to the Sky Savings Rate. That rate is set by Sky governance and delivered through what Grove calls the Sky Agent Network — an independent group of capital allocators competing across diversified, governance-approved strategies. Kevin Chan, Co-Founder of Grove, said the partnership with Mantle, CIAN, and Fluxion helps make “institutional-grade on-chain strategies accessible to more users.”
This governance link matters for anyone weighing the promised returns. An Aug. 6 report on real-world asset deposits found sUSDS supply at 4.61 billion with a savings rate of 3.52% at the time. Because Sky governance can adjust that rate, the underlying sUSDS stablecoin yield feeding the vault is not fixed for the life of a deposit — it moves with governance decisions, market conditions, and the performance of the strategies Sky approves.
Incentives with Fluxion Points and GROVE tokens
On top of the base yield, Mantle’s launch materials advertise a target APY of up to 6.5%, layered with a dedicated incentive program of 5.14 million GROVE tokens plus Fluxion Points. Mantle has been explicit that program terms, duration, and rates may vary based on market conditions, and that incentives are not guaranteed. Fluxion CMO Sham called the partnership a strong start for the platform’s Earn product, positioning Mantle as a hub for real-world assets.
Growth of Mantle’s DeFi ecosystem and real-world asset activity
The vault expansion lands at a moment when Mantle’s broader real-world asset footprint has been climbing fast. According to a Nansen Q2 2026 report, Mantle’s During the first half of the year, DeFi total value locked surpassed the $1 billion threshold, driven by a 230% expansion the year, while RWA-focused DeFi TVL passed $90 million and the earlier Mantle Vault product on Bybit had already topped $200 million in deposits.
Mantle’s own launch materials cite slightly different figures, placing RWA TVL at $257 million — up from $22 million over the prior year — with total DeFi TVL exceeding $755 million. Those gaps likely reflect differences in measurement dates and the categories each data provider counts, but the broader trend line points the same direction: Mantle’s real-world asset business has scaled meaningfully in less than a year.
Stablecoin liquidity on the network has followed a similar path. Nansen put Mantle’s stablecoin market capitalization at $955 million, a 120% year-over-year increase. Tokenized equities have expanded too, growing from 10 products in April to 155 by the end of June, including instruments tied to SpaceX and Franklin Templeton’s U.S. Equity Index ETF. It’s worth noting that these tokenized products don’t automatically carry direct ownership, voting rights, or the investor protections attached to the underlying securities — eligibility still depends on the issuer, distributor, and jurisdiction involved.
Regulatory challenges and U.S. availability considerations
Whether American users can fully access the new vault is a separate question from whether the product exists. Access for U.S. residents depends on Fluxion’s own terms, wallet restrictions, and applicable federal and state rules — Mantle’s description of borderless access doesn’t guarantee every feature or incentive is legally available to every U.S. resident.
Fluxion’s compliance and access restrictions
Fluxion operates as Mantle’s native decentralized exchange and RWA distribution hub, combining an AMM/RFQ trading model with access to tokenized equity trading through xStocks’ xChange. That role now extends to gatekeeping who can use the vault’s Earn features, since compliance obligations sit with the platform users interact with directly rather than with the underlying protocols.
U.S. legislation impact including the GENIUS Act
This is where the regulatory picture gets genuinely complicated. The GENIUS Act already bars payment stablecoin issuers from paying interest or yield directly to holders, but reward structures offered by exchanges, brokers, and DeFi platforms remain an open congressional debate.
That distinction is exactly why Mantle and its partners have framed the vault’s return as strategy-generated yield sourced from sUSDS, with Fluxion Points and GROVE tokens presented as separate promotional incentives rather than direct interest payments. Banking groups have pushed Congress to close what they call loopholes in stablecoin yield provisions. Crypto firms, for their part, argue that returns generated by an external DeFi strategy are fundamentally different from interest paid by a stablecoin issuer itself — a legal line that lawmakers still haven’t fully drawn.
For now, the vault’s design — non-custodial, non-leveraged, and built around a governance-set rate rather than a fixed issuer payment — puts it closer to the kind of DeFi real-world asset yield product regulators have signaled they might tolerate. But with stablecoin regulation still evolving in Congress, that positioning could shift depending on how lawmakers ultimately define passive yield versus activity-based rewards.
FAQ
What stablecoins can be deposited into Mantle’s new DeFi vault?
Users can deposit USDC or USDT0 stablecoins to earn yield based on sUSDS, the savings version of Sky’s USDS stablecoin.
How does the new Mantle vault differ from the previous product on Bybit?
The new vault is non-custodial, allowing users to retain self-custody of their funds and interact directly with smart contracts, unlike the centralized Bybit model.
What is the role of Sky governance in Mantle’s stablecoin vault?
Sky governance sets the savings rate for sUSDS, which can vary over time and impacts the underlying yield returned to depositors.
Is Mantle’s stablecoin vault available to users in the United States?
Availability depends on Fluxion’s terms and adherence to U.S. federal and state regulations; some incentives or features may not be offered to all U.S. residents.
Article produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by the editorial team.
