Looking at stable returns from the "Black Swan" perspective: A panoramic comparison of mainstream CEX financial products.

Recently, the Black Swan Event on Binance has highlighted the potential risks of financial products offered by Centralized Exchanges (CEX). (Background: MEXC launched a $30 million MEXC Foundation to cultivate the next generation of leaders for the future of Web3.) (Additional context: MEXC is collaborating with Solana to hold an ecosystem month event, continuously distributing a million-dollar reward pool.) *This article is a sponsored piece written and provided by MEXC and does not represent the position of the editorial team, nor is it investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell. Please refer to the responsibility warning at the end of the article. The crypto market experienced another Black Swan Event on October 11. On the Binance (Binance) platform, financial products related to USDE, BNSOL, and WBETH faced extreme depeg, leading to a massive liquidation of leveraged positions. Many users lost all their capital overnight. This disaster serves as a wake-up call: even seemingly stable financial products from Centralized Exchanges (CEX) carry numerous risks. This article will delve into the risk pain points of major CEX financial products, helping you identify hidden dangers, build a sustainable financial strategy, and maintain the ability to respond in extreme market conditions while seeking stability in victory. Overview of financial products: from “passive income” to “high-risk bets” Currently, CEX financial products are primarily divided into four types, covering diverse needs from basic savings to high-leverage operations. Low-risk products are similar to “crypto assets fixed deposits,” emphasizing capital preservation and interest guarantee; high-risk products are closer to “leveraged futures,” where both returns and risks are magnified by leverage. Below, we will analyze them according to the risk gradient. Earning coins easily: The most basic financial product, akin to bank savings or fixed deposits. Users deposit assets into the platform's “flexible/fixed” accounts to earn interest. For example, MEXC's USDT flexible financial product not only allows flexible deposits and withdrawals but also offers regular returns of 5% to 20%. The earnings mainly come from the platform lending funds to institutions, high-frequency traders, or conducting on-chain staking. These products have lower interest rates, but also lower risks; the principal is usually isolated by the platform's risk control mechanisms, with no direct market exposure. Extreme market conditions will not directly affect the principal. The flexible earning coins product is particularly suitable as “emergency funds,” and can even serve as a “buy the dip ammo depot” in extreme market conditions, ensuring stable cash flow. Earning coins on-chain: Essentially, CEX integrates on-chain Decentralized Finance (DeFi) protocols into their platforms, allowing users to stake, provide liquidity, or engage in liquidity mining directly from their exchange accounts, earning interest or token rewards without needing to set up wallets or execute complex transactions. Earnings mainly derive from the reward mechanisms of on-chain protocols, such as staking returns or liquidity incentives. In extreme market conditions, there may be a chain reaction leading to crashes, causing users' funds to be locked, returns to turn negative, or even principal evaporation. Dual currency investment: Users deposit basic cryptocurrencies, select currency pairs (like BTC/USDT), and set target prices and expiration dates. Settlement at expiration is based on market prices: if the target is reached, users receive the target currency plus returns; otherwise, they recover the original currency plus interest. Earnings mainly come from platform arbitrage and market fluctuations, with annual percentage rates usually quite high. During a Black Swan event, drastic price changes can lead to unfavorable settlements, locking up funds and missing opportunities to sell high/buy low. Suitable for taking profits in a bull run or buying the dip in a bear market, but requires careful assessment of market volatility. Leveraged products: Integrating leverage to magnify returns, such as Bybit's SOL leveraged staking: staking SOL to borrow more SOL for further staking, generating bbSOL for DeFi operations, creating a snowball effect. Users can also add leverage themselves, such as mortgaging USDE to borrow USDT, then using USDT to buy USDE, and mortgaging USDE again to borrow USDT, and so on, continuously cycling, using the borrowed USDE for financial management. Returns come from the leveraged staking/arbitrage returns, with high annual percentage rates. However, in extreme market conditions, collateral devaluation can trigger liquidation engines to force sell, amplifying chain losses and causing rapid evaporation of principal. Suitable for high-risk tolerance individuals but requires strict risk management. MEXC Earn core product dissection: As previously mentioned, providing users with a “stable, transparent, sustainable” source of returns amid market fluctuations has become a key aspect of building trust for exchanges. MEXC's Earn/financial product system has gradually been established under such demand — prioritizing hedging, flexible liquidity, and transparency is an important tool for “catching a breath” in a bear market and a “water reservoir” before a bull run. The following will provide a structured dissection of MEXC Earn's core products. Robust main lineup: flexible, fixed, spot holdings earning coins, contract earning coins. Overview of MEXC Earn core products: Category, Product, Features, APR, Cycle/Flexibility, Risk Points, Suitable Users. Spot, Flexible Financial Management, Automatic staking returns, flexible withdrawal, Regular 5%~20%, Fully flexible, redeemable at any time, Interest rates adjusted with market fluctuations, Low-risk tolerance, liquidity-seeking newbie users. Fixed Financial Management, Fixed returns, locked principal, Returns can reach over 100%, new users have exclusive higher returns (around 600%), Fixed term, Liquidity frozen, early redemption results in loss of returns, Users with idle funds seeking higher stable returns. Spot Holdings Earning Coins, No operation required, holding positions earns interest, Earnings calculation formula: Daily Earnings = Holdings earning coins staked amount × estimated APR / 365. Please note that the estimated APR for holdings earning coins may change at any time and is not fixed. The estimated APR is determined by various factors. Fully flexible, can be traded at any time, Earnings dynamically adjusted, All holding users, investors preferring “lazy financial management.” Contract, Contract Earning Coins, Contract earnings automatically settled, Up to 15%, Instant interest calculation, daily settlement, Contract holding risk, APR adjusted with the market, High-frequency contract traders, suitable for both newbies and experienced users. Flexible Financial Management: Flexible deposits and withdrawals, Flexible financial management is the most basic cryptocurrency earning product, similar to a bank's flexible savings, allowing users to deposit or withdraw funds at any time while earning interest during the holding period. The biggest advantage is high liquidity, with users' assets not locked, allowing for trading or withdrawal at any time, automatically earning daily interest without any staking operations, making it very suitable for new users just starting or investors with short-term funding needs. Fixed Financial Management: Locking in for better rates, Fixed financial management is akin to bank fixed deposits, requiring users to lock up the principal for a fixed term in exchange for higher interest rate returns. During the lock-in period, user assets are frozen and cannot be traded or withdrawn, but the principal and interest are payable upon expiration. It is important to note that fixed financial management has lower liquidity, and early redemption is often not feasible or results in loss of returns. Therefore, users should plan their funds' lock-in period before participating. Additionally, if the invested currency is a highly volatile non-stablecoin, users should also consider the potential risks brought by price fluctuations during the lock-in period. Spot Holdings Earning Coins: Holding coins to earn, Spot Holdings Earning Coins is an important model in MEXC Earn's product system that embodies the “lying down to earn” philosophy. It allows users to earn returns automatically just by holding specified cryptocurrencies in their spot accounts without any operations required. This product provides ample flexibility, allowing users' coins to earn interest while still being traded, withdrawn, or used at any time, with no locking restrictions on funds. Meanwhile, MEXC dynamically adjusts the interest rate daily based on on-chain earnings and the total holdings of all users, ensuring that the source of interest is transparent and sustainable.