RealFi announces yield bearing stablecoin testnet with up to 9% APY

RealFi has launched its public testnet, opening access to the first live version of its yield-bearing stablecoin infrastructure ahead of a planned mainnet release later this year.

Summary

• RealFi has opened its public testnet for USDr and its yield bearing staking token sUSDr ahead of a planned mainnet launch later this year.
• The protocol generates returns from traditional fixed income assets instead of crypto token incentives, with indicative yields of up to 9% APY.
• The launch comes as interest in yield bearing stablecoins and tokenized real world assets continues to grow across institutional markets.

According to a press release shared with crypto.news, the public testnet gives users, developers and institutional participants a live environment to test the infrastructure supporting USDr, the protocol’s dollar-pegged stablecoin, and sUSDr, the yield-bearing token users receive after staking USDr.

The company said the rollout is intended to test wallet integrations, staking flows, yield distribution and other protocol functions under live market conditions before the network goes fully live. RealFi added that feedback collected during the testnet phase will be used to refine the platform before its mainnet launch.

Stablecoin backed by traditional financial assets

At the centre of the platform is USDr, a liquid stablecoin that does not generate yield on its own. Users who stake USDr receive sUSDr, which earns returns from a reserve of traditional financial assets rather than crypto-native incentives. According to RealFi, those reserves include money market funds, corporate floating-rate bonds, and direct lending to fintech companies.

The company said it is targeting yields of up to 9% APY through its reserve-backed structure, while noting that returns remain indicative and variable and are not guaranteed. RealFi added that the design focuses on capital efficiency, transparency and sustainability instead of inflationary token emissions.

“Stablecoins have become one of the most important pieces of infrastructure in digital finance, but most of the capital sitting inside them remains economically unproductive,” John O’Connor, CEO of RealFi, said in an accompanying statement. 

He added that the next stage of the market involves allowing on-chain dollars to participate in real economic activity while preserving the liquidity and accessibility expected from stablecoins.

RealFi said the protocol will launch first on Cardano before expanding to Ethereum shortly afterwards. The company added that it combines reserve-backed yield generation with Cardano-native staking while using an architecture designed to reduce reliance on volatile decentralised finance market conditions.

Looking ahead, RealFi said the public testnet will also serve as a large-scale infrastructure and market stress test before the planned mainnet rollout. 

“We believe the future of stablecoins will look far closer to financial infrastructure than speculative crypto products,” O’Connor said, adding that the long-term opportunity lies in creating digital dollars that remain stable while generating productive returns.

Yield-bearing stablecoins gain attention

The launch comes as financial institutions continue exploring tokenized real-world assets and stablecoins backed by income-generating assets. Earlier this month, former Brazil central bank director Tony Volpon introduced BRD, a Brazilian real-pegged stablecoin backed by government bonds that distributes sovereign debt yields to token holders, offering foreign investors blockchain-based exposure to Brazil’s high domestic interest rates.

However, in the U.S., yield-bearing assets have come under scrutiny. In April, the American Bankers Association argued that allowing payment stablecoins to pay interest could encourage deposit outflows from community banks, increase funding costs and reduce local lending, while debate continues around proposed legislation including the GENIUS Act and CLARITY Act.