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How to Earn

The Earn page (/earn) lets you deposit USDC.e into Pool Alpha — an ERC-4626 lending vault — and earn the variable supply rate generated by borrower interest. Your yield comes from the interest borrowers pay, not from any prediction market outcome.

What you get​

  • Variable APY in USDC.e — no lock-up, withdraw any time (subject to pool liquidity)
  • dUSDC share tokens — your deposit is represented by NAV-appreciating shares. The share count stays flat; the value per share rises as borrowers pay interest.
  • Zero directional exposure — your earnings do not depend on whether any prediction market resolves YES or NO

How APY is determined​

APY is driven by pool utilisation (borrowed / total deposits):

UtilisationRate behaviour
Below 70%Low APY — incentivises more borrowing
70 – 85%APY rises steeply — target operating zone
Above 85%Borrowing is blocked — pool protects withdrawer liquidity

When utilisation passes 85%, borrowing is halted and the high borrow rate drives repayments, bringing utilisation back into range.

Deposit USDC.e​

  1. Go to Earn and toggle to Deposit
  2. Enter an amount, or use the 25 / 50 / Max shortcuts
  3. If your USDC.e allowance to Pool Alpha is below your deposit, an approval transaction runs first (one-time)
  4. Sign the deposit — Pool Alpha mints dUSDC shares to your address
  5. "My deposits" and "My earnings" in the KPI strip update after confirmation

Withdraw USDC.e​

  1. Go to Earn, toggle to Withdraw
  2. Enter the amount to withdraw
  3. Sign the withdrawal — your dUSDC shares are redeemed for USDC.e at the current share price

Withdrawals draw on the pool's idle balance. If the pool is near its utilisation cap, your withdrawal may be delayed until borrowers repay. Check the TVL cap card for current utilisation before a large withdrawal.

Risks​

  • Liquidity risk — at high utilisation, withdrawals may be delayed until repayments free up liquidity
  • Bad debt risk — if a credit account is liquidated and the collateral is insufficient to cover the debt (e.g., a prediction market resolves against the borrower before liquidation executes), the pool absorbs the shortfall
  • Smart contract risk — Pool Alpha is running on pre-audit contracts. Use amounts you are comfortable with.

See Risk Disclosures for the full picture.