With the announcement of Aave App, @aave directly competes with banks (and neo banks) by offering a better yield on deposits to the common user. But how competitive are Aave rates historically? We analysed Aave stablecoin APYs and compared with T-Bills across three monetary-policy regimes: - Low-rate period (Jan 2021–Mar 2022): Fed at near-zero. - High-rate period (Jul 2023–Sep 2024): Peak tightening with Fed at 5.25–5.50%. - Mid-high period (Sep 2024–Oct 2025): Transition as rates start falling but remain elevated. Across all three, Aave stablecoin APYs outperform T-bills, NSR, and MMR on average. Aave consistently beats NSR and MMR throughout and while T-bills occasionally surpass Aave, those periods are shorter, rarer, and offer a smaller spread than the stretches where Aave yields are higher. In other words: the valleys are smaller than the peaks, which is why Aave maintains a structurally higher average. This matters now more than ever. T-bill rates are expected to fall by the next year, entering their lowest range in 2–3 years. The same pattern holds when comparing EUR stablecoin yields on Aave with the Euro Short-Term Rate (ESTR). While the data window is shorter (EUR stablecoins were added to the protocol more recently) the relationship is clear: Aave APYs consistently run 1 to 2 percentage points above ESTR, maintaining a similar yield premium to what we see on the USD side. Across different rate environments, geographies and reference benchmarks, the pattern has been consistent: @aave was able to deliver a persistent yield premium relative to traditional low-risk alternatives. DeFi wins by offering a better value proposition: higher yield, accessible to everyone.