USYC zero-fee tier: Circle waives up to $1M daily volume fees on Ethereum & Solana
Circle has introduced an automatic USYC zero-fee tier that waives USYC subscription and redemption fees for up to $1 million in combined daily volume per wallet.
For USYC, the fee break is automatic—no application or opt-in. If daily volume stays below the threshold, users pay nothing. If they exceed it, standard fees apply: 0.04% on subscriptions and 0.03% on redemptions.
USYC is Circle’s tokenized Treasury money-market exposure: it is linked to the Hashnote International Short Duration Yield Fund, which invests in short-term US Treasuries and reverse repo agreements (Circle acquired Hashnote in January 2025). USYC has roughly $3B in assets under management as of late May 2026.
A key structural detail: USYC token prices rise with accrued yields rather than making periodic payouts. The fund also charges a 10% performance fee on generated yields. The zero-fee tier applies to moving capital in/out, not to yield generation.
Eligibility: USYC is designed primarily for non-US institutional investors. For eligible users, redemptions can be near-instant into USDC within capacity limits.
USYC is available on Ethereum and Solana, and also on Base, Canton, and NEAR. Circle positions this as a competitive pricing move in the crowded tokenized Treasury market (e.g., against similar products from large asset managers).
For traders, the immediate effect is lower friction for recurring deposits/redemptions into a USDC-linked tokenized Treasury product—reducing carry/rotation costs without changing underlying risk factors (smart-contract, counterparty structure, and regulatory uncertainty).
Bullish
This is a pricing and usability upgrade to USYC rather than a change to underlying yield or asset exposure, so it isn’t a “risk-on” shock. However, reduced subscription/redemption friction can increase the willingness of moderate-frequency institutional flows to enter and exit tokenized Treasuries—especially in a crowded field where fee basis points matter.
Historically, similar fee cuts or faster on-chain liquidity features in tokenized money-market products tend to attract incremental volume and improve product stickiness, at least in the short term. USYC’s automatic zero-fee tier (no opt-in, clear thresholds) should lower operational friction and encourage rebalancing behavior, which can mildly support demand for the USDC-linked Treasury wrapper.
Short term: traders and allocators may rebalance more often, benefiting from lower entry/exit costs, which can modestly lift usage metrics.
Long term: if USYC sustains volume growth, it reinforces the Circle USDC ecosystem flywheel. That said, smart-contract/counterparty/regulatory risks remain, so the impact on broader crypto market stability is likely limited—more of a sector-specific tailwind than a macro catalyst.