ECB Study Finds Limited Impact of US Monetary Policy on DeFi Rates

A new European Central Bank Working Paper has found that changes in US monetary policy have a limited and uneven effect on interest rates for stablecoin deposits in decentralised finance (DeFi) lending markets.

The study, titled 'DeFi-ying the Fed? Monetary policy transmission to stable-coin deposit rates', looked at data from January 2021 to January 2026 and found that DeFi deposit rates were on average around 100 basis points above the Federal funds rate, but also remained below it for extended periods.

The research also pointed out that changes in Bitcoin prices and demand for leverage in crypto markets play a significant role in these movements. It was observed that higher transaction costs, limited capital, and differences in market participation can make arbitrage between traditional financial markets and DeFi difficult.