Gearbox Protocol Launches USDC Vault on Etherlink - Managed by Re7 for Maximum Yield

DeFi just got a major upgrade as Gearbox Protocol expands to Etherlink with a powerful new USDC vault strategy.

Managed by Re7 Labs—known for their aggressive yield farming tactics—this vault promises to squeeze every basis point from the stablecoin landscape. The move positions Gearbox as the first major lending protocol to leverage Etherlink's low-fee environment for institutional-grade yield products.

Yield hunters get a streamlined path to leveraged farming strategies without the usual gas-guzzling overhead. The vault automatically compounds returns while managing risk parameters—because apparently even DeFi needs babysitters now.

Another day, another protocol promising alpha while traditional finance still struggles to explain what a blockchain actually does.

Gearbox’s integration opens new possibilities for capital efficiency in leveraged strategies

mBASIS, mTBILL, and mMEV are now part of Apple Farm S2 by @etherlink.

Explore opportunities across @CurveFinance and @SuperlendHQ, offering $XTZ incentives to eligible users. pic.twitter.com/kB5GzacG9B

Founder and CTO at Gearbox Protocol, Mikhail Lazarev, said the firm has been looking for the right L2 to expand Gearbox Permissionless until it found Etherlink’s performance metrics and ecosystem. He argued that the integration opens up new possibilities for capital efficiency in Leveraged strategies since it will enable soft confirmations. As previously reported by Cryptopolitan, the community-driven L2 delivers sub-second confirmations with negligible fees. 

Managing partner at Re7 Labs, Evgeny Gokhberg, stated that the company will offer significant expertise as a vault curator. It manages over $700 million TVL across more than 100 pools on 14 blockchains.

The DeFi curator also delivers returns through proprietary risk management frameworks. Gokhberg acknowledged that the vault strategy focuses on looping return-bearing tokens against USDC to boost underlying returns while maintaining conservative risk parameters.

“Etherlink’s infrastructure and Gearbox’s credit layer give us the ideal foundation to scale our strategies. We’re bringing institutional-grade yield to a new audience with the same discipline and risk management we apply across $1B+ in DeFi capital.”

-Evgeny Gokhberg, Managing Partner at Re7 Capital.

According to Gokhberg, the vault will also benefit Apple Farm Season 2 incentives, combined with GEAR token distributions from the Gearbox DAO. Gearbox revealed that its users generated around $2.8 billion in trading volume across ethereum decentralized exchanges over seven months. The protocol’s TVL also grew by 230% in the first half of 2025 to $400 million.

Anthony Hayot, head of DeFi adoption at Nomadic Labs, argued that having Gearbox launch on Etherlink was a big win for the company. He argued that the integration offers significant institutional credibility and a product that will give real value to Etherlink users.

Gearbox revealed that it has maintained a flawless security record for over four years with zero exploits or bad debt. It has also invested significant amounts in audits by reputable firms, while operating under strict governance structures with 24-hour timelocks for vault parameter changes.

Etherlink launches Apple Farm Season 2

The integration of Gearbox follows a period of significant momentum for Etherlink, which successfully launched Apple Farm Season 2 with over $3 million in incentives. As previously reported by Cryptopolitan, the firm also integrated Curve Finance, enabling low-slippage stablecoin swaps. Etherlink also had a 68.4% surge in TVL in July that positioned it among the fastest-rising Layer 2s.

Etherlink also partnered with Bitcoin capital markets provider Lombard Finance to spur DeFi activity on Tezos. It deployed its staking token called LBTC atop the network.

The integration aims to enable holders to maintain their BTC exposure while earning staking rewards through the bitcoin staking protocol, Babylon. The initiative has already brought in $2 billion worth of LBTC into circulation across Ethereum, BNB Chain, Ethereum, and more. 

70% of the tokens have been deployed for DeFi use on platforms like Aave and Morpho. Hayot said the company preferred LBTC due to its characteristics, including ease of use and liquidity.