This report provides an overview of relevant metrics surrounding High Yield USD(hyUSD) on Base in Q1 2025. Taking a look at the governance performance both on the forums and onchain, TVL and other important DeFi metrics, and social media data. The goal being to keep everyone in the community up to date on all things hyUSD.
Market Cap and TVL:
Summary: This section looks at the total market cap of hyUSD and the TVL accounted for in the Reserve Yield Protocol.
hyUSD Total Market Cap: $4 Million previous 6$ Million
hyUSD APY quarter close: 3.3% previous 8.8%
Staked RSR: 80.53 Million RSR previous 87.5 Million RSR
hyUSD’s Total TVL in the Reserve Yield Protocol(Market cap + Staked RSR): $4.5 Million previous $7.1 Million
Governance:
Summary: This section looks at all the governance proposals both onchain and on the forums.
- [RFC] hyUSD Backing Buffer Change to 0.15%
- 5 total voters
- 5 Yes, 0 No
Outcome: hyUSD Backing Buffer Change to 0.15% was brought onchain and results will come in Q2 of 2025.
DeFi and Onchain Metrics
Total Onchain Transactions:
hyUSD transactions on Base - 15,282. Previous Quarter - 21,917
Integrations
Summary: This section looks at the TVL of hyUSD in different protocols on Base.
Morpho on Base
Morpho eUSD vault on Base
- Total hyUSD supplied to this market: $1.95M previous $1.82M
Aerodrome
Aerodrome Pools on Base:
hyUSD/eUSD Basic Volatile Pool:
Total Pool TVL: $4.2M previous $5.5M
hyUSD: 1.95M previous 2.6M
eUSD: $2.1M previous $2.7M
Social Media
Summary: In this section we look at the surrounding data and important metrics from the hyUSD X account.
X Followers: 4,653 previous 4,732
X Impressions: 27k previous 71k
X Engagement Rate: 2.3% previous 2.1%
Conclusion:
In this quarter, we observed a slight decline across most metrics. One key factor contributing to this decline is the annual percentage yield (APY) of hyUSD. At the beginning of January, the APY for hyUSD was approximately 9%, but as of this report, it has dropped to just above 3%. The collateral basket derives 50% of its yield from the eUSD/USDC pool on Aerodrome, where the APY is generated through emissions of the AERO token. These emissions are determined by veAERO holders who vote on specific pools to allocate AERO rewards per epoch. The primary reason for the decline in hyUSD’s APY is the drop in the price of the AERO token, which drives the yield of the eUSD/USDC pool.
hyUSD has two main DeFi integrations on Base: Aerodrome and Morpho. The total value locked (TVL) in the Aerodrome hyUSD/eUSD pool decreased by approximately $1.3 million compared to the previous quarter. The APY for this pool also saw a sharp decline, which likely contributed to the reduction in TVL. As mentioned earlier, the pool’s APY is tied to AERO token emissions, and the falling price of AERO is a major driver of this trend. In contrast, the Morpho market showed growth, with an increase in the amount of hyUSD supplied as collateral by the end of the quarter. One possible explanation for this growth is the use of hyUSD in a looping strategy. Morpho remains one of the few areas where hyUSD saw positive development this quarter.
Only one governance proposal for hyUSD was introduced this quarter. Following a slashing event experienced by stakers during the most recent collateral basket change proposal, it became evident that the backing buffer was set too low, contributing to the issue. Three factors can lead to RSR seizure during a governance-led rebalancing: low liquidity of the traded collateral (causing slippage and potential RSR seizure), the number of auction participants, and the backing buffer percentage. In hyUSD’s latest collateral basket change, all three factors resulted in RSR stakers being slashed. Slippage occurred during the collateral trade, only one auction participant was present (allowing them to maximize profit), and the backing buffer was too low. Even if the backing buffer had been set appropriately, RSR stakers would still have been slashed due to the single auction participant and slippage from the collateral swap. Efforts are underway to attract more auction participants to future auctions (more details on this later). Regarding slippage, in hindsight, it might have been wiser to execute the collateral basket change proposal in smaller increments to minimize slippage. A similar approach was successfully used with Stader’s ETHx in the ETH+ collateral basket, where the transition was done in two steps to ensure efficient minting, redemptions, and liquidity with the new asset. For hyUSD, this incremental approach was overlooked by the RToken Champion.
Social media presence on X remained generally positive this quarter, with an increase in engagement rate—one of the most important metrics—standing out as a highlight. However, impressions dropped significantly compared to the previous quarter. This can be easily explained: last quarter, a single tweet announcing the collateral basket change proposal went viral, generating 17,000 impressions. Additionally, the hyUSD X account previously benefited from a minting bot that posted regular updates, each earning several impressions. The service provider for the minting bot shut down, discontinuing these posts and contributing to the decline in impressions. Next quarter’s data will provide a more accurate comparison of impressions without the influence of the bot or one-off viral tweets.
Disclaimer: This is everything that happened this quarter, a celebration of the community and an invitation to participate in the ongoing success of hyUSD. Continue to participate in the gov ops call, continue to participate on the forums and onchain votes.
hyUSD: created on the Reserve Yield Protocol 
