Maple launches first perpetual trading use case for syrupUSDC on Drift Protocol

Maple Finance, the largest on-chain asset manager by assets under management, has introduced syrupUSDC as collateral for perpetual futures trading on Drift Protocol. 

According to a press release shared with crypto.news on Aug. 13, the integration enables traders on the Solana-based decentralized exchange to earn between 7% and 8% APY on margin collateral while actively trading.

Boosting capital efficiency in DeFi trading

Drift (DRIFT), the second-largest perpetuals DEX on Solana (SOL) with $1.21 billion in total value locked, now supports syrupUSDC, along with its current cross-collateral system. This solves the long-standing capital efficiency gap in DeFi margin trading by enabling traders to generate passive income or offset funding costs without moving assets out of position

To encourage adoption, Maple (SYRUP) has deployed $100,000 in incentives and set an initial supply cap of $50 million for syrupUSDC collateral on Drift. The launch builds on Maple’s June expansion of syrupUSDC to Solana, which initially rolled out on platforms like Kamino and Orca (ORCA) with $30 million in liquidity.

Powered by Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol, that deployment saw $60 million minted on Solana within two weeks.

Expanding Maple’s DeFi footprint

Sid Powell, chief executive officer of Maple, said the integration creates “otherwise unavailable possibilities for traders to do more with their capital,” enabling them to trade, earn, and compound returns simultaneously.

Drift’s cross-margin architecture also makes it possible for syrupUSDC to be used alongside other collateral types, a feature not common on decentralized exchanges that typically limit collateral to USD or USD Coin (USDC).

SyrupUSDC has become DeFi’s fastest-growing yield-bearing stablecoin, with $1.9 billion in AUM. It generates yield from Maple’s institutional lending pools, which produced an average annual percentage yield of 5.2% on Bitcoin (BTC) yield products and 9.2% on high-yield products in Q2 2025.

Maple now manages $3.24 billion in assets, surpassing BlackRock in on-chain AUM, and has raised its year-end target to $5 billion. With this launch, Maple is expected to become more prominent in Solana’s growing DeFi ecosystem and establish a standard for incorporating yield-bearing stablecoins into leveraged trading settings.

In addition, it positions syrupUSDC as margin collateral for upcoming listings on other protocols.