How your money is held, what things cost, how yield works, and the risks you carry.
This page explains the money layer of StableAccount in plain terms. It is written to be transparent and precise. It contains no guarantees, no projected returns, and no promises of value. Nothing here is legal, tax, or investment advice.
On this page: 1) How funds are held · 2) Fees · 3) Earn & yield · 4) FX for non-USD books · 5) USDC peg & depeg risk · 6) Key facts at a glance.
1. How funds are held (non-custodial)
StableAccount never holds your money or your keys. StableAccount is designed to operate as a software interface and non-custodial technology provider. On that basis, StableAccount does not consider itself to be a bank, a money transmitter that holds funds, a broker-dealer, or an investment adviser — but this is StableAccount’s characterization of its own activity, not a determination binding on any regulator (see Compliance & risk).
Your dollars live in accounts that you control:
- Sign-in and keys. You sign in with email or a social login through Privy, which provisions an embedded wallet. Privy manages the underlying key material within its infrastructure so that transactions can only be authorized through your login. StableAccount cannot move your funds on your behalf. The security of your account depends on your login method and Privy’s infrastructure.
- Your account. Each account is an ERC-4337 smart account (built on ZeroDev Kernel) that you control.
- Home asset. Your balance is held in USDC on Base. You see it as a single dollar balance (”$”); the app abstracts away the underlying network and asset. See Chain & asset abstraction.
- Gas is always paid in USDC. A paymaster (Pimlico / ZeroDev) covers network gas and charges it in USDC, so you never need to hold ETH or any other native token.
- Multi-signature accounts. Shared accounts are Gnosis Safe smart contracts. The Safe — not StableAccount — controls the funds. See Multisig.
- Earn balances are held in third-party lending vaults that you deposit into directly and can withdraw from subject to available liquidity (see §3). These are also non-custodial.
What this means for you: because funds are self-custodied, there is no deposit insurance of any kind and no equivalent anywhere. No such scheme applies because your balance is not a bank deposit. You may lose some or all of your funds, and you are responsible for your account access and keys. See Security.
2. Fees
StableAccount’s fees are small and tied to the real cost of moving money on-chain. There are three components you may encounter.
| Fee | What it is | Paid in |
|---|---|---|
| Network fee | A small fee on transfers. | USDC |
| Cross-network solver spread | When a payment routes across networks or between tokens, the routing solver charges a spread. | Built into the amount you receive/send (not a separate line item) |
| Gas | Blockchain transaction cost, covered by the paymaster. | USDC |
Details:
- Same-network USDC transfers (USDC on Base to USDC on Base) settle directly and are the cheapest path.
- Cross-network and cross-token transfers are routed automatically via smart routing (NEAR Intents / “1Click”). The solver that fills the route charges a spread. This spread is part of the exchange the solver performs and is separate from the flat network fee.
- Gas for every operation is paid in USDC via a paymaster, so you never need ETH. You will not be asked to top up a native gas token.
- On-ramp / off-ramp fees. Buying dollars with a bank or card is handled by MoonPay; selling back to fiat is handled by Transak (each a third-party provider). MoonPay’s and Transak’s own fees and exchange rates apply to on-ramp and off-ramp transactions respectively, and are shown at the point of the transaction. See Convert to fiat.
Fees are charged in USDC and reflected in the transaction at the time you approve it. StableAccount does not take custody of any fees — they are settled on-chain.
Subscription plan fees are separate; see Pricing.
3. Earn — how yield is generated
Earn lets you put idle USDC to work by depositing it into third-party lending vaults. It is important to understand exactly what this is — and what it is not.
How it works:
- Earn deposits your USDC into third-party ERC-4626 lending vaults on Base — for example Morpho vaults (such as Steakhouse, Gauntlet) and Spark. These vaults are operated by independent third parties and, according to those providers, have undergone third-party security audits; StableAccount does not audit these vaults, does not verify audit status, and makes no representation about their security.
- These are independent DeFi lending markets operated by third parties, not by StableAccount. Any yield generally arises from borrowing demand in those markets and may also reflect incentives or other protocol mechanics.
- Deposits and withdrawals are non-custodial. You interact with the vault directly, and you can withdraw subject to the vault’s available on-chain liquidity — withdrawals are not guaranteed and may be delayed or unavailable in stressed conditions.
- The displayed APY is live and VARIABLE. It reflects current market conditions and moves up and down over time.
What Earn is NOT:
- Earn yield is not guaranteed. We make no projection or promise of any return.
- Earn is not a deposit product and not a bank account.
- There is no deposit insurance on Earn balances — no government or deposit-insurance scheme applies.
- StableAccount does not lend your money, does not set the rate, and does not custody your Earn balance.
Risks you bear. When you use Earn, you bear the risk, including:
- Smart-contract risk — vaults are software; even code described by its provider as audited can still contain bugs or be exploited, and an exploit can cause partial or total loss.
- Market risk — rates vary, and in stressed conditions vault liquidity or the value of underlying positions can be affected; market events (including defaults, bad debt, or liquidity stress) can reduce yield or cause loss of principal.
Earn is access to third-party DeFi lending. It is not investment advice or a recommendation. Only you can decide whether it is appropriate for you. See the full feature page: Earn.
4. FX for non-USD books
StableAccount’s balance and settlement asset is the US dollar (USDC). For accounting in another currency, the app captures foreign-exchange values for your records:
- Every movement can be recorded with an FX value captured at a daily-close reference rate, so a non-USD book has a consistent basis for each transaction.
- These FX values are for accounting and reporting — they populate your transaction, FX, and accountant-package reports. See Accounting & reports.
- Reference-rate FX values are user-editable. You (or your accountant) can adjust them to match your bookkeeping policy or the rate your jurisdiction requires.
- FX values are a reference for record-keeping, not a live trading or conversion rate. Actual on-ramp conversions through MoonPay and off-ramp conversions through Transak use each provider’s own rates at the time of the transaction.
These outputs are not guaranteed to satisfy the bookkeeping or tax rules of any jurisdiction. You remain responsible for the correctness of your books and for applying the FX methodology your tax and accounting rules require.
5. The USDC ≈ $1 peg and depeg risk
Your ”$” balance is denominated in USDC, a stablecoin issued by Circle and designed to track the US dollar at approximately 1 USDC ≈ 1 USD.
You should understand:
- The peg is a design target, not a guarantee. USDC is issued and maintained by Circle, a third party. StableAccount does not issue USDC and does not guarantee its value or its redeemability, and any direct redemption with the issuer is governed by Circle’s own terms and eligibility.
- Depeg risk exists. Under stress, a stablecoin can trade below (or above) its target. If USDC deviates from $1, the dollar value of your balance can move with it — this risk is outside StableAccount’s control.
- Because balances are held in USDC, all balances, transfers, Earn positions, and fees are exposed to USDC’s value.
6. Key money facts at a glance
- Non-custodial. Funds live in your smart accounts and in third-party protocols you deposit into. StableAccount never custodies your money or keys.
- No insurance. No deposit-insurance scheme of any kind applies on your balance or on Earn, because this is not a deposit. You may lose some or all of your funds.
- Fees are in USDC: a small network fee on transfers, a solver spread built into cross-network/cross-token routing, and gas paid in USDC.
- Tiers (Free / Solo / Business) gate advanced features; some metered usage carries a take-rate overage (a small percentage charged only on usage above your plan’s included allowance); billing via Paddle. See Pricing.
- Earn yield is from third-party lending markets, variable, not guaranteed, not a deposit, and uninsured; you bear smart-contract and market risk and can lose principal.
- FX values are captured at daily-close reference rates for non-USD books and are user-editable.
- USDC ≈ $1 is a design target issued by Circle; depeg risk exists.
Availability and features vary by jurisdiction and may be unavailable in some regions. Identity verification (KYC/AML) and the fiat on-ramp are performed by MoonPay, and the fiat off-ramp is performed by Transak, each under its own license; StableAccount does not itself custody fiat. Nothing in this document is legal, tax, or investment advice — you are responsible for your own tax, accounting, and compliance. See Compliance & risk.