Bitwise's Yann Liberman says 20% stablecoin yields with no risk are unrealistic

In short

• Bitwise's Yann Liberman says some allocators still expect 20% a year from stablecoins with no risk and instant withdrawals.
• Cointelegraph reported the comments on X on 28 October 2026, and CoinNess carried the same account.
• Crypto users on X said high yield, no risk and instant liquidity rarely coexist.

Yann Liberman of Bitwise says a 20% annual return on stablecoins, with no risk taken and the money free to be pulled out at any time, is an unrealistic expectation that some asset allocators still hold, Cointelegraph reported. The outlet set out his comments in a post on X on 28 October 2026, and CoinNess ran the same account that day.

Bitwise is a crypto asset manager that runs funds and index products for investors. Yann Liberman works there and made the point during a discussion about whether token farming, the practice of chasing rewards for lending or staking crypto, has left investors with inflated ideas about yield.

Stablecoins are tokens designed to hold a steady value, usually $1 each, and are widely used to move dollars around crypto markets. A 20% annual return on them would be far above what cash or government bonds pay, so the money has to come from somewhere.

Why 20% stablecoin yields don't add up

That is the heart of the argument. High yield, no risk and instant exit are three things that rarely sit together.

This is Raymond's own reasoning rather than a sourced figure, but the arithmetic is simple. A platform promising 20% a year on a dollar stablecoin must generate at least that much from lending, trading or other activity, and keep some for itself, before it can hand anything back.

In 2020 and 2021, the DeFi boom, a period when decentralised finance protocols paid outsized rewards, made such returns look normal.

What crypto users said on X

Commenters on X largely made the same point beneath Cointelegraph's post. Niels noted that instant liquidity and high yields seldom arrive together, while Haze put it as a choice of two out of the three, never all of them. Mihai Daniel Marius said a 20% stablecoin return offering instant liquidity and no risk usually ends with withdrawals frozen, and warned that anyone who cannot see where a yield comes from is themselves the source of it.

Others were more direct. BEST · Jupiter said a 20% return with no risk and cash available instantly was no stablecoin but a promise from an influencer, while Moontok said it sounded like a Ponzi scheme. mrpicule.eth said two years of yield farming had made people lose sight of what ordinary risk feels like.

What it means for stablecoin holders

The practical lesson for ordinary holders is to ask where a stablecoin yield comes from before chasing it. For traders, the comments are a reminder that the headline rate on a lending product says little about the risk behind it. Bitwise, as a fund manager, is talking to the allocators who decide where large sums sit.

It isn't clear yet whether Liberman's remarks were part of a longer interview or a panel, or whether Bitwise plans to publish more on the subject. The discussion around token farming and yield expectations is likely to continue as allocators weigh where to put stablecoin balances.

Questions readers ask

What are stablecoins?

Stablecoins are crypto tokens designed to hold a steady value, usually $1 each, and are widely used to move dollars around crypto markets. A 20% annual return on them would be far above what cash or government bonds pay, so the money has to come from somewhere.

Our view

At InvestIn.News, we think the 20% no-risk stablecoin pitch is a fantasy, and the sooner allocators accept that, the safer their capital will be.

The arithmetic is unforgiving. A platform promising 20% a year on a dollar stablecoin must earn at least that much from lending, trading or other activity, and keep a margin, before it can pay anyone. Nobody funds a yield from their own pocket, as our writer puts it.

The 2020 and 2021 DeFi boom taught a generation of investors to expect outsized rewards. Those conditions are gone, and treating them as normal today is a mistake.

We would change our view if a regulated stablecoin issuer or lender published audited accounts showing a durable 20% return with instant redemption and no capital risk. Until then, the three-way promise deserves scepticism.

— Raymond

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Raymond