Tokenized treasuries: the boring product reshaping crypto yield
BlackRock BUIDL holds $2.5B. Ondo OUSG holds $500M. Tokenized US Treasuries are the most important crypto product launched since stablecoins. Here is what they are and how to use them.
24/04/2026 · 11 min de leitura · RWA · Yield · Stablecoins
What a tokenized treasury is
A tokenized treasury is a blockchain-based representation of a money market fund holding US Treasury bills. You hold an ERC-20 token that represents your share of the fund. The fund holds T-bills with daily liquidity. Yield is the T-bill rate, currently around 4.5% APR.
BlackRock's BUIDL launched in March 2024 on Ethereum. It tokenizes BlackRock's USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund. As of mid-2026, BUIDL holds over $2.5B in assets.
Other major issuers: Ondo Finance (OUSG), Franklin Templeton (FOBXX, BENJI), Hashnote (USYC). Each has slightly different structure but the same underlying: short-duration USTs.
Why this matters
Real yield, not crypto-native yield. The 4-5% APR is paid by the US government via T-bill coupons. It doesn't depend on protocol revenue, token emissions, or counterparty health.
On-chain composability. You can use BUIDL as collateral in DeFi. You can program payments in T-bills. You can move it between wallets instantly. None of this is possible with a traditional money market fund.
It bridges TradFi and crypto. Treasury allocations from BlackRock and Franklin Templeton are now native to the crypto stack. Institutions that wouldn't touch unbacked DeFi yield can hold tokenized T-bills.
Who can buy
Most tokenized treasuries are limited to qualified or accredited investors. BUIDL requires a $5M minimum subscription. Ondo OUSG requires accredited status. These are not yet retail-accessible in the US.
Some products (Ondo USDY, Hashnote USYC retail tier) are open to non-US qualified investors. These are typically the more accessible paths for individual users outside the US.
Brazilian users currently face limited access due to local securities regulation. CVM is reviewing tokenized RWA frameworks but as of mid-2026, no broad retail product is approved.
How the yield works mechanically
The fund holds T-bills and earns coupon payments. The fund's NAV grows daily. The tokenized share's price reflects the NAV growth.
Some products use rebasing (your token balance grows). Others use a fixed share price and let NAV accumulate (your share's USD value grows). Tax treatment differs between the two.
Daily liquidity in normal market conditions. Redemptions are settled within one business day. During stress, redemption queues can form (this happened briefly in March 2023 SVB-related stress).
Risks
Issuer risk. The fund holds the T-bills; the smart contract represents your share. If the issuer (BlackRock, Ondo, Circle) fails operationally, your access to the underlying is at risk.
Custody risk on the underlying. T-bills are custodied by traditional banks (Bank of New York Mellon, State Street). Bank failures are rare but not zero.
Smart contract risk. The token contract itself can have bugs. Major products are audited and have been live for over a year, but residual risk remains.
How to use tokenized treasuries
Treasury reserve for protocols and DAOs. Many protocols now hold tokenized T-bills instead of (or alongside) stablecoins. Better yield, comparable liquidity.
Stablecoin alternative for sophisticated users. If you're holding $1M+ in USDC, splitting between USDC and BUIDL captures 4-5% yield on the BUIDL portion while keeping liquidity.
Collateral in DeFi lending. Aave, Spark, and others accept tokenized T-bills as collateral. You can borrow stablecoins against your T-bill position, effectively levering the position.
The competitive dynamic
Stablecoin issuers (USDT, USDC) earn the spread on T-bills. Their users (you) earn nothing. Tokenized T-bills pass the yield through to holders. The market is starting to demand this passthrough.
Regulatory pressure on stablecoins to share yield is growing. If USDT/USDC are eventually required (or competitively forced) to pay yield, the tokenized T-bill market shrinks because the spread disappears.
Until then, tokenized T-bills are the cleanest way for crypto-native users to capture US Treasury yield while staying on-chain.
Bottom line
Tokenized treasuries are the most important real-yield product in crypto. They convert TradFi yield (T-bills) into on-chain liquidity that integrates with DeFi.
Access for retail users is improving but still gated by jurisdictional rules. For institutions and qualified investors, the products are mature and worth understanding. Expect the category to grow 5-10x by 2028.