Decibel Foundation launched its own protocol-native stablecoin, USDCBL. On launch day, it raised $42 million and is positioned as the default collateral for Decibel’s on-chain perpetual futures as the protocol prepares for its mainnet launch.
Decibel’s initiative seeks to reshape the decentralized exchange economy by internalizing the returns generated by the reserves backing its native stablecoin, USDCBL. Instead of that return going to external issuers, the protocol aims to retain it within its own infrastructure.
According to the announcement, USDCBL is issued by Bridge and is designed not as a widely used retail stablecoin, but as a core exchange infrastructure. The reserves backing it are described as a combination of cash and short-term US Treasury securities, the returns of which are held within the protocol.
In just 12 hours, deposits exceeded $42 million, a figure reported by KuCoin and presented by the foundation as proof of confidence in a native collateral model that captures the on-chain reserve economy. However, the real test will be whether that initial demand translates into sustained activity once the system is fully operational on the mainnet.
Operational validation of Decibel and its stablecoin
The testnet launched in December reportedly attracted over 650,000 unique accounts and exceeded one million daily transactions, although these figures have not been independently verified. Even so, they reflect significant early interest in the proposed architecture.
On the other hand, the foundation indicated that it is working with Aptos Labs and the risk analysis firm Gauntlet to deploy risk engines and monitoring systems aimed at managing leverage, liquidity, and potential insolvency events before the mainnet launch, planned for February 2026.
For operators, making USDCBL the protocol’s native collateral implies potential benefits in the form of lower implicit costs and more efficient funding mechanisms within perpetuals. However, for institutional treasuries, the model raises key questions: reserve transparency, attestation frequency, custody structure, and regulatory clarity.
Ahead of the official launch, the market will be closely watching independent attestations of reserves, on-chain settlement details, and the specific way in which retained earnings are redistributed within the ecosystem.
