Introducing Ern
Ern is a non-custodial DeFi protocol on Ethereum that allows users to deposit stablecoins and receive daily yield paid in Bitcoin.
Users deposit USDC or USDT. Those deposits are supplied to decentralized money markets — on-chain lending protocols that connect suppliers of capital with borrowers through smart contracts, with no intermediaries. Borrowers pay interest to access that liquidity. The interest generated flows back to depositors. Ern collects that yield, converts it into wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC), and distributes it to depositors once a day. The principal remains in stablecoins throughout and can be withdrawn at any time.
Ern does not introduce leverage, recursive borrowing, or looping positions. Returns originate solely from lending activity in the underlying decentralized money markets and the subsequent conversion of the yield generated into Bitcoin.
Yield
The APY displayed on Ern is a variable rate derived from the supply and demand mechanics of the decentralized money markets used on Ethereum mainnet. The rate is not set by the Ern team — it reflects the active market rate for borrowing USDC or USDT within the DeFi ecosystem at any given time. The platform updates the current APY hourly to reflect the rate being generated by the underlying smart contracts.
Daily earnings are calculated by applying this annualised rate to the user's stablecoin principal, pro-rated for the 24-hour period. Rather than adding accrued interest back to the principal balance, Ern converts the stablecoin yield into wrapped Bitcoin at the time of distribution. The amount of wBTC received each day therefore depends on both the prevailing lending rate and the spot conversion rate between stablecoins and Bitcoin at the time of the daily payout.
Fees
Ern charges no deposit fee and no withdrawal fee. A protocol fee of 10% applies to yield generated. A 0.1% early withdrawal fee applies to withdrawals made within 48 hours of deposit. No fee applies after that window.
Security
Ern is non-custodial. User funds are held in smart contracts on Ethereum and are not accessible to the Ern team at any point. The core vault contracts are immutable — they cannot be upgraded or modified after deployment. The protocol has been audited by Halborn and CREED, and maintains an active bug bounty program on Immunefi. All audit reports are publicly available at github.com/ernorg/audits.
Getting started
Ern is accessible at ern.app. Users connect a wallet, deposit USDC or USDT, and begin receiving daily Bitcoin yield from that point forward.