USDT staking: what rate is normal and where it comes from
A normal rate for USDT staking in DeFi on October 11, 2026 is up to 6% a year, and the middle of the market is 3.7%. It is paid mostly by people who borrow USDT against their own crypto. But staking is not a bank deposit: there is no insurance, and a hack can take everything. Above 6%, ask who pays the extra. The Bank of Russia names income many times above the market and a guarantee of that income as signs of a pyramid scheme.
Roman Kaufman, founder of Kaufman Lab · Data as of: October 2026
Say someone on Telegram invites you to put 1,000 USDT in at a fixed 15% a year. Where the service gets that money is clear once you see who pays the interest.
Interest on USDT is paid by borrowers who put up crypto as collateral
USDT staking in DeFi most often works as a loan through a lending protocol, a program for loans without a bank. In our count based on DefiLlama data from October 11, 2026, of the $6.4 billion in the 20 largest USDT offers, almost 9 out of 10 dollars sit in such protocols.
For example, an owner of ether does not want to sell it. He puts the ether up as collateral, borrows USDT and pays interest. According to the Aave protocol documentation, the depositor gets this interest minus the protocol's share, and the collateral is always worth more than the loan. If the collateral loses value, it is sold to pay off the debt. This is protection, not a guarantee.
The rate goes up when borrowers have taken a larger share of the pool, the shared pot of depositors' money, so it jumps around. For the stablecoin USDC on Aave, it averaged 10.6% in March 2024 and 4% in October 2026.
A protocol pays twice as much as a dollar deposit, but with no insurance
A dollar deposit in a bank paid about 1.8% a year on average, according to Bank of Russia data. The middle of the DeFi market pays 3.7% on USDT. Your thousand USDT will bring about $37 in a year, and a deposit about $18.
A ruble deposit for up to a year paid about 13% in August 2026. USDT beats it only if the dollar grows by more than 9% against the ruble in a year. This math leaves out taxes and is not a forecast.
A bank deposit is insured up to 1.4 million rubles (about $16,500 at the Bank of Russia rate of 84.90 rubles per dollar on October 11, 2026); a protocol has no insurance. A protocol can be hacked, and a coin can lose value: USDC fell to 87 cents in March 2023, as the Bank of Russia points out.
A rate above 6% may be a top-up, and top-ups run out
A rate above 6% may be topped up by someone other than borrowers, from a reserve or with tokens, and only while there is something to pay from. Among large stablecoin pools, 97% of the money sits at rates below 8%, and about 0.4% at 12% and above.
Rewards are paid in tokens, the protocol's own coins, and they shrink as the token price falls. For example, a pool shows 50%: 4% of it is the base, the pool's own income, and 46% is tokens. The token drops by half, and 27% is left.
The US regulator, the SEC, writes in its lawsuit against Terraform that the Anchor service promised 19–20% on the "digital dollar" UST. When income was not enough, Terraform topped up the reserve twice, about $520 million in total. In May 2022, UST stopped being worth a dollar, and Terra coins lost at least $40 billion, by the SEC's estimate.
The Bank of Russia lists income many times above the market, a guarantee of that income and payouts from new members' money among the signs of a pyramid scheme. One sign is not a verdict, but your fixed 15% is four times the market, and the payer is not named. Instead of $37 a year, you are promised $150, and you risk the whole thousand.
How to check a rate in 10 minutes
- Market, 3 minutes. defillama.com/yields → "Stables" → USDT in "Search tokens" → "30d". The "USDT median APY" line shows the median yearly rate: half of the pools pay less. Compare USDT on the Tron network with the largest pool there: its 30-day average is about 2.1% a year.
- Comparison, 2 minutes. Up to 6% is a normal market rate. If the rate is from 6 to 11%, go to step 3. If it is above 11%, that is three times the middle of the market: stop.
- Rewards, 1 minute. Under the large total in the APY cell, the first number shows the base, and "+…" shows rewards that can disappear. If there is only "+…", the whole rate comes from rewards.
- Payer, 2 minutes. On the service's website, look in "Docs" or "How it works" for borrower interest (borrow, lending) or another source. If none is named, go no further.
- Advertising, 2 minutes. "Guaranteed income", a fixed rate or a top-up from the company, as with Anchor, is a reason to stop.
If you found even one sign, stop. If there are no signs, compare with a ruble deposit.
Frequently asked questions
Is this legal in Russia?
The Russian law on cryptocurrencies does not directly allow or ban DeFi. From July 1, 2027, residents (except the circulation organizers themselves) "may make deals and operations with digital currencies only through persons who organize the circulation of digital currencies, or with them", and in the Bank of Russia's view the same rules apply to USDT. The exceptions: deals outside "circulation" under Article 2 of the law, payments under a foreign trade contract, and deals with non-resident miners and mining pools using mined crypto outside digital depositories.
From May 2, 2027, resident citizens report operations from their own wallet to the tax office, except those who spent more than 183 days abroad last year.
Do I have to pay tax on the interest?
Most likely yes, but the law does not name the rate. As income from crypto, it is 13%, and 15% above 2.4 million rubles (about $28,300) a year; by analogy with mining, 13–22%. We found no explanations from the Federal Tax Service, and you file the 3-NDFL form (the Russian personal income tax return) yourself by April 30.
Does USDT staking on an exchange work the same way?
No. On an exchange, the exchange itself holds the USDT and lends it out. It takes part of the interest and can delay withdrawals. So the rate is lower: in October 2026, large exchanges paid 2.4–2.8%.
Does a DeFi account in Telegram work the same way?
A DeFi account in Telegram works almost the same way. It is opened in the Walt app, formerly called "Кошелёк" ("Wallet"), and you hold its keys. The "Доход" ("Income") section shows the protocols, but Walt does not guarantee the rate, so check it with the same steps.