Why We Invested in Stay Liquid: Enabling Companies to earn Higher Returns on Stablecoins with an AI risk Engine

Unlocking smarter returns on stablecoins with AI-driven security and scalability

Adam French

Partner
March 30, 2025
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Unlocking yield in stablecoins: bridging the gap between traditional finance and DeFi

Stablecoins are becoming a critical part of the financial technology stack, with total supply surpassing $234 billion as of April 2025 and monthly transaction volumes exceeding $670 billion. This highlights the accelerating shift toward on-chain financial activity. 

Despite this growth, a significant inefficiency remains, over $170 billion in stablecoin assets sit idle, generating no yield. Despite this growth, most trusted stablecoins, such as USDC and USDT, offer no yield to their holders. Large institutional players, hindered by a lack of deep decentralised finance expertise and strict compliance requirements, are unable to address this gap. As a result, an estimated $22 billion in annual gains is left untapped. 

This growing demand for yield, combined with the lack of accessible solutions, presents a massive opportunity to bridge the gap between traditional finance and DeFi in a secure, scalable way.

AI-driven yield-as-a-service: unlocking secure, liquid returns on stablecoins for corporate savings

Stay Liquid’s ‘Yield-as-a-Service’ solution provides a seamless way for customers to earn returns on their stablecoins, pounds, or euros through an intuitive web app or API. By offering a non-custodial approach, Stay Liquid unlocks institutional access to stablecoin exchange fees within decentralised finance, disrupting traditional yield generation. 

Their proprietary AI-powered engine, the AI-Assisted Risk Engine (ARE), dynamically curates low-risk, high-return opportunities, analysing DeFi stablecoin pools based on chain security, protocol security, pool security, and stablecoin security. 

This unique solution enables companies holding surplus capital in fiat or stablecoins to earn yield without sacrificing liquidity, delivering an average return of 12.6% annually in 2024. Stay Liquid’s approach allows portfolios to adapt to market conditions, maximising returns while mitigating risk.

Meet the team: a unique blend of DeFi and AI expertise driving innovation in Web3

Stay Liquid’s team brings together an unparalleled combination of both DeFi and AI expertise. They bring a unique skillset necessary to build in the Web3 space and connect traditional businesses with the world of decentralised finance.

Tom (CEO) has built three companies as CEO, with two successful exits and over $5m raised from VCs and strategic investors. His ventures have included a self-driving car software startup and London’s first fully electric ride-hail solution. With more than 10 years of B2B product and sales experience, Tom most recently served as the CEO of a Web3 B2B treasury solution, where he successfully achieved over $500m in assets locked.

Misha (CTO) has been building in the web3 space for nearly 10 years. As a software engineer and a founder, he has contributed to major protocols on blockchains like Ethereum, Avalanche, and Arbitrum. He has built several DeFi tools and created two open-source libraries for the Tron blockchain, which now see over 10,000 downloads each month. Misha also worked as a core developer at Pairwyse, where he developed domain-specific language on Solidity, the main language used for Ethereum development.

Why we invested 

We’ve been thoroughly impressed with Misha and Tom, who work seamlessly together, bringing exceptional execution and technical skills to the table. Tom’s proven entrepreneurial success in the space, combined with Misha’s deep expertise in the DeFi space, has empowered the team to rapidly develop their product and secure early traction. Their ability to attract top-tier industry advisors and swiftly navigate regulatory hurdles, such as securing the VASP regulatory license, sets them ahead of many competitors in a rapidly evolving market.  

Since our investment, Stay Liquid has achieved impressive growth, with deposits on the platform increasing by 7.5x and a strong annual growth trajectory. With the imminent launch of their API for institutions and a promising pipeline of B2B2C clients, the company is well-positioned to generate over £300,000 in ARR by early 2026, just a year after inception. This swift progress speaks volumes about their ability to execute on both product development and commercial opportunities.  

The evolving industry and regulatory landscape also presents significant tailwinds for Stay Liquid. With institutional adoption of stablecoins and digital currencies on the rise, alongside the European MiCA regulation providing a solid framework for Web3 businesses, StayLiquid is well-positioned to capture this growing market.  

In our view, Stay Liquid has everything it takes to lead this emerging industry, and we are excited to welcome them to our portfolio. We look forward to supporting their journey as they continue to drive innovation and success in the space.

For all press enquiries: press@antler.co

Adam French

Partner

Adam is a Partner at Antler, co-leading the UK fund. He is a Founding Partner and Chair of Houghton Street Ventures, a pre-seed and seed fund investing in alumni of the London School of Economics and a Non-Executive Director at Innovate Finance, the UK industry body for fintech. Previously, he was the Co-Founder and CEO of Scalable Capital, a fintech unicorn valued at $1.4 billion, backed by BlackRock, Tencent, and Hedosophia, as he recognized the opportunity to build a business to make investing more accessible, more convenient and more cost-effective by using technology. Earlier in his career, Adam served as an Executive Director of Trading at Goldman Sachs.

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