Binance is paying users to hold stablecoins in its Keyless Wallet, with no staking or lockup, offering an estimated 4.75% APR on USDe, 3.6% on USDS and 1.5% on U. The catch: the rewards are funded by partner promotions, not by the tokens themselves, and Binance can change the rates at any time.
The move gives stablecoin holders another way to generate rewards without entering conventional staking arrangements or locking their assets for a predetermined period. Binance said the feature is available through its Keyless Wallet, its self-custody wallet infrastructure.
The launch comes as exchanges increasingly compete to make stablecoins more useful beyond trading and payments. For Binance, Hold to Earn adds another incentive for users to keep eligible assets inside its wallet ecosystem rather than leaving stablecoins idle.
Binance opens rewards without staking or lockups
The core idea behind Hold to Earn is straightforward: users activate the feature, maintain eligible stablecoins in a supported Binance Keyless Wallet and accumulate rewards based on their qualifying balance.
Binance said users do not need to stake their assets, subscribe to a separate service or interact with smart contracts to participate. Eligible assets can still be traded, swapped or transferred, although moving funds can affect the balance used to calculate rewards.
At launch, Binance supports U on BNB Smart Chain, USDe on Ethereum and USDS on Ethereum. The exchange said additional assets may be added in the future.
Binance described the feature as a way to earn rewards while maintaining control of assets through its self-custody wallet. Its Keyless Wallet uses multi-party computation technology, which divides cryptographic key material across multiple locations rather than storing a conventional private key in one place.
Importantly, Binance’s advertised rates are not guaranteed yields generated by the underlying stablecoins. The exchange states that the rewards are funded through promotional contributions from partners and that displayed rates can change.
USDS gets a 3.6% estimated APR hold to earn
USDS is among the three assets included in the initial rollout, with Binance listing an estimated 3.6% APR for the Ethereum-based stablecoin.
USDS is the native stablecoin of the Sky ecosystem and is designed to maintain a value around the US dollar. Sky describes USDS as backed by protocol collateral and says its peg can be maintained through its Peg Stability Module.
Market data also contradicts the original claim that USDS was trading at $0. CoinMarketCap data currently places USDS at roughly $1, with a market capitalization of about $9.64 billion and 24-hour trading volume of approximately $156 million.
That distinction matters because the original report’s “$0” figure appears to be a data or formatting error rather than an indication that the stablecoin has collapsed in value.
Binance’s offering also differs from USDS’s native Sky ecosystem rewards. Sky states that USDS itself does not automatically generate yield, while users can access separate products such as sUSDS to obtain exposure to the Sky Savings Rate.
How Binance calculates the rewards
The mechanics of Hold to Earn are designed to discourage users from temporarily depositing funds just before a reward calculation.
Binance calculates rewards daily using the user’s lowest hourly snapshot balance during the day. Its stated formula is the minimum daily balance multiplied by the applicable APR and divided by 365. Rewards accumulate weekly from Monday through Sunday, based on UTC time.
Users must also activate the feature and hold the eligible asset for at least 24 hours before becoming eligible for rewards. Binance says deposits begin earning from the following day, while rewards can be claimed weekly, beginning Tuesday after midnight UTC.
The minimum participation amount is 10 units of U, USDS or USDe, according to Binance’s launch announcement. Network gas fees may apply when rewards are claimed.
This structure makes the size and consistency of a user’s balance important. A large deposit followed by an intraday withdrawal could result in a lower reward calculation because the lowest hourly balance is used.
What to watch after the launch
The key question now is whether Hold to Earn can meaningfully change how users hold stablecoins on Binance Wallet.
The feature arrives during a broader expansion of stablecoin-related products across the cryptocurrency industry. Stablecoins have increasingly become infrastructure for trading, payments, settlements and decentralized finance, while exchanges are looking for ways to increase the amount of capital users keep within their ecosystems.
Binance’s launch also follows a broader push around stablecoins. On Sept. 22, Binance announced a $100 million investment in Circle and an expanded partnership focused on increasing USDC adoption, including integration into Binance’s savings and investment products.
Against that backdrop, Hold to Earn gives Binance another mechanism for encouraging users to retain stablecoin balances within its wallet environment.
Still, the advertised APR should not be interpreted as a permanent return. Binance explicitly says the rates are variable, promotional funding can change and availability may differ by jurisdiction.
For USDS holders, the immediate development is therefore less about a change to the stablecoin itself and more about a new distribution channel for rewards. How many users activate the feature, how long they maintain qualifying balances and whether Binance expands the program to additional assets will determine its longer-term impact on wallet activity and stablecoin competition.
