---
title: "Overview"
description: "Overlayer is a non-custodial protocol that upgrades supported stablecoins into productive on-chain assets — T+ from USDT, C+ from USDC — without replacing them."
keywords:
  - "overlayer"
  - "stablecoin"
  - "overlaid asset"
  - "non-custodial"
  - "T+"
  - "C+"
canonical_url: https://docs.overlayer.fi/
md_url: https://docs.overlayer.fi/index.md
last_updated: 2026-05-05T15:42:56.000Z
---

# Overview

> Overlayer is a non-custodial protocol that upgrades supported stablecoins into productive on-chain assets — T+ from USDT, C+ from USDC — without replacing them.

![Banner](https://docs.overlayer.fi/assets/images/overlayer_banner-583bea9a66124558c0035d786a8f15dd.jpg)

Overlayer is a non-custodial protocol that upgrades supported stablecoins into productive on-chain assets without replacing them.

When a user deposits a supported stablecoin, the protocol mints the corresponding overlaid asset. The overlaid asset remains liquid, transferable, non-rebasing, and fully composable. If the user wants yield exposure, they can stake it and receive a separate staking representation that accrues value through share-based accounting rather than balance rebasing.

This separation between settlement and yield is one of the core design choices of the protocol. Overlayer is a receipt-based architecture with deterministic minting, redemption, and explicit separation between the base asset and the yield-bearing representation.

### Core Guarantees

At a high level, Overlayer is built around a small set of core guarantees:

* Full backing
* Deterministic accounting
* No leverage
* Permissionless core operations
* Separation between transferable settlement and yield participation

### Supported Upgrades

At launch, the protocol will be live only on Ethereum mainnet with the following possible upgrades:

| Underlying Asset | Overlaid Asset |
| :--- | :--- |
| **USDT** | **T+** |
| **USDC** | **C+** |

:::caution Risk Dependencies
Overlayer does not eliminate the risks of the underlying stablecoin, the external venue used to generate yield, or the bridge layer used for cross-chain transport. It makes those dependencies explicit and bounded instead of hiding them.
:::