A stablecoin is supposed to do one thing: stay at a dollar. Apyx Finance’s apxUSD, which bills itself as the first dividend-backed synthetic stablecoin, couldn’t quite manage that on June 4 when it dropped to between $0.90 and $0.93. The culprit was a decline in STRC preferred shares, the very asset propping up the token’s value.
The depeg happened as Bitcoin slid below $63,000, pulling down the valuations of Bitcoin-adjacent equities including the Digital Asset Treasury companies whose preferred shares back apxUSD. A 7-10% deviation from peg is the kind of thing that makes DeFi users reach for the exit button, especially when the stablecoin in question has a circulating supply between $415 million and $476 million.
How apxUSD actually works
Instead of fiat reserves, apxUSD is collateralized by preferred shares of Digital Asset Treasury companies, specifically STRC shares. As of March 2026, Apyx Finance held approximately 288,888 STRC shares valued at around $29 million. The protocol maintains an over-collateralization ratio exceeding 100%, meaning there’s theoretically more value backing the stablecoin than the stablecoin itself represents.
The stability mechanism relies on several layers. Dividend disbursements from the underlying DAT companies provide ongoing cash flow. Cash buffers absorb short-term volatility. And arbitrage incentives encourage traders to buy apxUSD when it’s cheap and redeem it when it’s expensive, naturally pushing the price back toward $1.
One important wrinkle: redemptions are processed in USDC, not in the underlying STRC shares themselves. Apyx also offers a companion token called apyUSD, designed to accrue yield from the dividends generated by the collateral.
Minting new apxUSD is restricted to authorized participants, which is meant to prevent the kind of uncontrolled supply expansion that has torpedoed other stablecoin experiments.
This isn’t the first time STRC has wobbled
STRC preferred shares have dipped below par value on four previous occasions since August 2025. Each time, they recovered.
Apyx Finance itself characterized the June 4 depeg as an expected occurrence rather than a failure of the model. No widespread liquidations occurred in linked lending markets, which suggests the broader ecosystem absorbed the shock without cascading failures.
What this means for investors
The dividend component adds a layer that traditional stablecoins don’t offer. If the DAT companies continue paying preferred dividends, those cash flows provide a genuine source of value independent of token price speculation.
Preferred shares of Bitcoin companies are correlated with Bitcoin’s price. A stablecoin backed by Bitcoin-correlated assets inherits that correlation at the worst possible moments. The four prior STRC recoveries since August 2025 happened in a broadly favorable macro environment for crypto.
Watch the over-collateralization ratio closely in coming weeks. If STRC shares recover as they have historically, apxUSD should migrate back toward its peg. If the shares continue declining, the protocol’s cash buffers and arbitrage mechanisms face a more demanding test.