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Digital dollars that work for you.

Your money stays yours. kUSD sits in your own wallet on Base, backed one for one by USDC, so an ETH crash does not touch it. Back to USDC in one transaction, with no lockup and no cooldown.

$100 in ETH vs modeled skUSD
ETH follows its historical price. The skUSD model compounds changing rates based on historical funding.
ETH $65Modeled skUSD $104.45
Sep 2025
Sep 2026
25 Sep 2025–24 Sep 2026 · ETH: CoinGecko. Green: modeled skUSD growth.
How this is modeled

Sampled APYs use historical funding, with today’s staking input and strategy assumptions applied throughout. Each rate compounds until the next observation. This is a hypothetical comparison, not past skUSD performance. Source data and calculation.

    BaseHexensHyperliquidSourcifyEthereumChainlinkDefiLlama

A dollar you can check every hour.

kUSD is backed one for one by USDC, with reserves signed every hour and anyone able to rerun them from chain. Stake it for skUSD, an ERC 4626 vault with no cooldown: unstake back to kUSD in one transaction.

Check the math
  • LoadingProjected skUSD APY
  • 100.1%Backed by USDC at the last signed statement
  • HourlyReserves signed, and anyone can rerun them
  • 10 to 5 bpsFee to mint or redeem, lower on bigger tickets

The best known stablecoins, with their APYs side by side.

The honesty board.

Kerne’s live modeled APY alongside measured peer rates. Open the full board to compare published rates with on-chain results for 21 vaults.

Open the board
  • KerneskUSD, live modeled APYLoading
  • FraxsfrxUSD, advertised 5.00%4.75%
  • EthenasUSDe, advertised 4.22%4.73%
  • Falcon FinanceFalconsUSDf, advertised 4.60%4.69%
  • SkysUSDS, advertised 3.52%3.58%
  • CurveCurvescrvUSD, advertised 0.83%1.75%

Kerne’s figure is a live modeled APY from its published formula. Peer figures are annualized on-chain share-price growth from the honesty board, signed 6 Oct 2026, 20:37 UTC. Advertised peer rates are quoted from each protocol’s own page, captured 31 Aug 2026. Rates vary; the model is not a record of paid yield.

kUSD on Base

From kUSD back to USDC.

See what you receive after conversion fees. Follow a $10,000 example from deposit to withdrawal.

A $10,000 example · USDC → kUSD → USDC
01 / YOU START WITH
USDC
10,000.00

Convert to kUSD · $10.00 fee

02 / YOU HOLD
kUSD
9,990.00

Convert back · $9.99 fee

03 / YOU RECEIVE
USDC
9,980.01

Returned to your wallet

$19.99total conversion fees

0.1% each way in this example.

Network fees are additional. Conversion depends on available liquidity.

Explore the reserves ↗

kUSD backing

Markets crash. Every kUSD still has a dollar behind it.

Every kUSD is backed by a dollar of USDC, not by ETH, so ETH can fall 50% overnight and the backing does not move. The code is verified on Sourcify, and you can check the reserves yourself on chain, any time.

Live from Base

USDC in three PSM contracts on Base against every kUSD outstanding, read live from chain.

Where the backing sitskerne.fi/api/por, 24 Sep 2026
USDC in the PSMs1,110.89
Prior mint PSM0x07eB…5993995.00
Legacy redeem PSM0xFf30…5Fbc85.89
Live mint PSM0xaBDE…980330.00
kUSD outstanding1,109.71
Backing100.1%

Redeem one for one, less the fee, up to the USDC held in the PSM you redeem from (read live).

Projected skUSD growth

Choose your amount and duration. Explore the projected return.

PROJECTED APY—
12 months
Projected earnings—
Balance after 12 months—
Stake kUSD

Modeled at today's APY, compounded over your selected duration. Rates vary; fees not included.

Three more things behind every kUSD

Verified source

The live mint PSM runs the source Hexens reviewed and is an exact match on Sourcify. kUSD and skUSD have partial source matches; kUSD predates the reviewed commit.

Depeg gate

Every mint and redeem on the live PSM checks Chainlink’s USDC/USD feed and reverts if USDC slips off its peg.

48-hour timelock

Changing a PSM gate or who can mint kUSD waits 48 hours in a public timelock that only the governance multisig can propose to. The emergency pause is the exception: the Safe can pull it at once.

Kerne row

Kerne’s own row sits on the board, read the same way as every other.

Ethena

sUSDe advertised 4.22% and realized 4.73% over 30 days. The advertised figure is its 30 day average.

Falcon

sUSDf advertised 4.60% and realized 4.69% over the same 30 days, read the same way.

See what backs kUSD.
Compare what yield delivers.

Proof of reserves ↗

Inspect the USDC backing kUSD and the signed reserve statement.

Honesty board ↗

Compare advertised yields with returns measured on chain.

Kerne Proof of reserves page showing the signed reserve statementKerne Honesty board page explaining advertised and realized yields

Page previews · Open either page to explore the full report.

Explore the data behind Kerne.

BACKINGReading Base
—USDC backed
USDC reserves
—
kUSD supply
—

Proof of reserves

Every dollar of backing.
Check it on chain.

Loading live reserves…
VAULT RETURNS30 DAYS
AdvertisedRealized

Loading live comparisons…

The honesty board

Compare the rate you see
with the return you get.

INDEPENDENT REVIEW2026
Hexens
8 Fixed2 Acknowledged

10 findings · None critical

Open by design

The full audit.
Every finding and response.

Verified source Risk monitor Risk curation

Every finding published.
Every response, on record.

Hexens reviewed five contracts at a specified commit. Read the final report and our response to each of its ten findings.

Hexens

Kerne Protocol
Final audit report

31 July 2026, reissued 20 August 2026 · Five contracts

Read the full report
10Findings
8Fixed
2Acknowledged

No critical findings in this review.
Every finding has a published disposition.

Explore every finding The review covers the named source at one commit. The deployed-source record and current open findings are published separately.

Report. Findings. Deployed source.
Follow the complete security record.

All audit records

Hexens audited kUSD, and SBSecurity and independent researchers reviewed it. None found a critical flaw.

Audited by Hexensreviewed by SBSecurity and independent researchers
  • 0critical findings from Hexens or SBSecurity. Hexens went through five contracts and found none.
  • 100%of Hexens findings answered. Eight fixed, two acknowledged, every one published with its status.
  • VerifiedThe mint path contracts are verified on Sourcify. Anyone can read exactly what runs, before they send a cent.
  • 24/7bug bounty, standing. Any researcher, any time, no invitation needed.

Latest reports

More from Kerne

Built on the same habit.

Kerne is a delta-neutral stablecoin company first, and everything above is kUSD. Two newer lines run on the same rule: publish the limits and the live numbers.

Risk curation, new in October 2026

Kerne Curation

Kerne decides what a lending vault may lend against, how much, and when to pull back, and publishes the rules before the money. Blue-chip collateral and market-priced oracles only, never Kerne's own assets, and cap increases wait three days.

Kerne USDC on Morpho, Base: reading the chain

For businesses, early access

Confidential Treasury

Receive USDC into positions that only your business's keys control, show a counterparty you hold at least an amount without handing over those keys, and settle in USDC, or in kUSD or skUSD when you choose. Who owns a position stays private; amounts and transfers are public on Base.

Approved businesses only. Deposits are capped at 50,000 USDC, and this contract has not had an independent audit.

Kerne’s kUSD is always backed by one real dollar, and you can check it every hour.