Stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Financial has acquired Hashnote, the company behind the US Yield Coin (USYC), a tokenized real-world asset (RWA) fund. Announced on Jan. 21, the acquisition aims to position USYC as a preferred form of yield-bearing collateral across crypto exchanges, custodians, and prime brokers.
Hashnote’s USYC is currently the largest tokenized money market fund by market capitalization, with a total value locked (TVL) of approximately $1.25 billion, according to RWA.xyz.
Circle Partners with DRW for Liquidity
As part of the deal, Circle has partnered with DRW, a leading institutional crypto trading firm. The partnership will enhance DRW’s liquidity and settlement capabilities for both USDC and USYC, streamlining collateral management. Circle also revealed plans to integrate USYC with its flagship stablecoin, USDC, to enable seamless transitions between tokenized money market fund (TMMF) collateral and USDC.
USDC, with a market capitalization of roughly $48 billion, is the second-largest stablecoin after Tether’s USDt, which leads the market with $138 billion in capitalization, according to CoinGecko data as of Jan. 21. USDC has been gaining market share against USDt since December, as Tether faces scrutiny regarding compliance with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA).
Tokenized RWAs: A Booming Market
Tokenized real-world assets, such as US Treasury bonds and other yield-bearing instruments, represent a $30-trillion market opportunity globally, as highlighted by Polygon’s institutional capital lead, Colin Butler. The demand for tokenized money market funds has surged, with competitors like the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) and Franklin OnChain US Government Money Fund (FOBXX) managing TVLs of $630 million and $525 million, respectively.
Tokenization of assets like Treasury bills is being closely watched by regulators. A report from the US Treasury Department in October acknowledged the potential for operational innovation in the Treasury market but also warned of potential risks to financial stability.
