Yield overview

Yield-Bearing Vaults

High-level brief — how idle USDC earns yield, the rung ladder, and where Ladder sits as FX treasury.

→ Animated walkthrough

What is a yield-bearing vault?

A pooled product where depositors receive share tokens representing a claim on vault assets. The vault deploys capital into lending or other strategies; yield accrues into NAV per share — shares become redeemable for more USDC over time.

DepositUSDC in
→
Vault sharesERC-4626 claim
→
YieldNAV / share ↑
→
RedeemUSDC out
shares = deposit ÷ NAV per share · · · redeem = shares × current NAV

Yield rungs (client-facing)

Clients opt into one or more rungs by jurisdiction and risk appetite. Higher rungs = more yield potential, different liquidity and rate rules.

3
Ladder Series · FX treasury
Pool idle pre-positioned USDC · share per entity · variable in V2 → fixed at Midnight match
Fixed at match
2
Liquid variable vaults
Morpho Vault V2 / Morpho Blue · optional Aave · daily liquidity
Variable APY
1
Spiko T-bills
Regulated UCITS MMF · sovereign short-term · jurisdiction-gated
Regulated
0
Wallet only
No yield · instant liquidity
0% yield

Rung 2 · Yield-bearing vault (variable)

Morpho Vault V2 + Blue

  • Standard ERC-4626 deposit / redeem
  • Curator allocates USDC into Blue markets
  • Supply APY moves with utilization (~2.9% → ~5.4% illustrative)
  • What Ladder uses as the idle FX buffer while matching

Rung 3 · Ladder (custom vault logic)

SeriesVault + Midnight

  • ERC-4626-style shares, custom state machine, per-entity claims
  • Blocks normal withdraw during pool / match
  • Fixed rate locks at match, not at deposit
  • Early exit is that entity’s slice — not the whole pool

Variable vault vs Ladder series

Yield-bearing vault (V2) Ladder Series
RateVariable · floats with BlueVariable then fixed at match
TermOpen-endedFixed term from match (Midnight)
WithdrawRedeem when liquidity allowsBlocked until maturity or early-exit path
Share mathStandard NAV accrualNAV-based mint + per-entity pro-rata at maturity
BuildsIntegration onlySeriesVault · Matcher · EarlyExit

Two layers the FX desk should understand

On-chain pool

Morpho / Spiko / SeriesVault holds assets. Midnight sees one lender (SeriesVault), not five subsidiaries.

Subledger

Each legal entity’s entitlement, fees, and statements — pro-rata shares on the pooled position.

Animated walkthrough Vault V2 ↔ Blue Ladder product