In this episode of Stableminded, This Week in Fintech's stablecoin-focused series, Drew Rogers sits down with Pierre, CEO of Usual Protocol, the decentralized platform redistributing stablecoin yield back to users instead of concentrating profits with issuers. Pierre brings a unique perspective from his background in politics and regulation, where he worked extensively on stablecoin policy before recognizing that tomorrow's money would inevitably be tokenized. His conviction led him to launch Usual Protocol in 2022 with a clear mission: create a fairer financial system where users, not corporations, capture the value from their deposits.

Founded during the post-COVID interest rate environment, Usual Protocol emerged when traditional stablecoin giants like Circle and Tether began generating billions in revenue from user deposits while offering zero yield in return. "When I quit my function and my mandate I decided to create usual with the aim to make a stablecoin, decentralized one but backed by real world assets," Pierre explains. Unlike centralized issuers that pocket Treasury bill yields, Usual redistributes 90% of protocol value directly to token holders through their governance model.

Since launching, Usual has achieved remarkable scale with $645.15M TVL, $25.45M in revenue redistributed to users, and over 218,790 participants across their ecosystem. Their flagship USD0 stablecoin maintains 610 million tokens in circulation with a strong 99.77% peg ratio, while UsualM represents their strategic integration with M0 protocol, generating $1.2M+ in accrued yield for users rather than shareholders.

During the conversation, Pierre reveals Usual's sophisticated approach to "pristine collateral"—backing stablecoins with assets that have zero counterparty risk. "Pristine collateral means something that is issued directly by central banks or by states," he explains. This philosophy drove their strategic M0 partnership, utilizing Treasury Bills held in bankruptcy-remote structures that legally separate assets from any issuer's balance sheet, protecting users from institutional failures like the SVB collapse that temporarily depegged Circle's USDC.

Usual's technical innovation centers on governance tokens that represent actual cash flows, not just voting rights. "With the governance token, you receive close to 100% of the revenue of the protocol," Pierre emphasizes. This contrasts sharply with speculative DeFi tokens, creating sustainable value distribution through their USUAL token while maintaining decentralized infrastructure that can operate independently of the founding team.

Looking ahead, Pierre envisions expanding beyond stablecoins into a complete DeFi ecosystem. "We will make a few announcements in the next coming weeks that will be not just a stablecoin architecture, that will be product next to that," he reveals. Planned Q3 launches include vault products bridging TradFi strategies to DeFi and infrastructure solutions addressing "missing parts" in the current ecosystem, positioning Usual as a comprehensive financial platform rather than just another stablecoin issuer.

Usual's UsualM integration with M0 demonstrates the power of collaborative infrastructure, with UsualM representing approximately 10% of Usual's collateral while maintaining full interoperability with M0's canonical $M token. This partnership enables bidirectional value creation—M0 gains a major ecosystem participant while Usual accesses institutional-grade Treasury infrastructure with enhanced transparency and safety.

Visit current Usual Protocol analytics on their Dune dashboard and M0 extension page.

Thank you to M0 for powering this season of Stableminded, Building Stablecoins. Learn more about building your own stablecoin here.

Watch the full episode on YouTube below, or Spotify!