Skip to main content
Important: We do not provide financial advice or custody funds. All transactions occur on third-party platforms.
CryptoBipto
Log in

Tokenized Treasuries: BlackRock BUIDL, Ondo, Mountain

The biggest RWA category. BlackRock BUIDL, Ondo OUSG/USDY, Franklin Templeton BENJI, Mountain USDM, and the Securitize/BNY Mellon plumbing behind them.

35 min · advanced · part of Tokenized Real-World Assets (RWA)

Why Tokenized Treasuries Are the Killer App

If you had to pick a single product category where blockchain rails are actually delivering on the institutional-finance promise, it is tokenized U.S. treasuries. Stablecoins are bigger by an order of magnitude, but stablecoins pay zero yield (or pay it to the issuer rather than the holder). Tokenized treasuries pay roughly the prevailing T-bill yield — in the 4-5% range through most of 2025 — directly to token holders, while preserving 24/7 transferability, instant settlement, and composability with the rest of the on-chain economy. That combination — safest yield-bearing asset in the world, paid on-chain, settled in minutes, available globally to verified investors — is a genuinely compelling product. It is why BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, Wisdom Tree, Janus Henderson, and a parade of other asset managers have rushed in. By late 2025, total tokenized treasury TVL ran in the **$5-8 billion range**, with BlackRock BUIDL alone at multi-billion-dollar AUM. By 2026 the category continued growing as more chains, more wrappers, and more institutional integrations came online. The pitch is straightforward. A hedge fund that holds idle USDC overnight earns zero. A hedge fund that holds tokenized BUIDL or OUSG earns the T-bill rate, can use the position as collateral in DeFi, can transfer it to another counterparty in seconds, and can redeem to USDC during business hours. For institutional treasurers, this is structurally better cash management than what they had before crypto. This lesson covers the major products, the legal structures behind them, the custodians, and the redemption mechanics. By the end you should be able to look at any tokenized treasury product and immediately identify the key actors: the asset manager (who runs the fund), the transfer agent (who maintains the holder registry), the custodian (who holds the actual T-bills), and the redemption path (how a token holder gets back to fiat or stablecoins).

Also in this lesson

  • BlackRock BUIDL: The Category Leader
  • Ondo Finance: OUSG and USDY
  • Mountain USDM, Franklin BENJI, Hashnote USYC, and the Rest
  • Custody, Audits, and the Off-Chain Trust Stack
  • Redemption: T+0 Stablecoin vs. T+1 Fiat

Key terms

BlackRock BUIDL
BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund, launched March 2024 on Ethereum in partnership with Securitize. Tokenized money market fund holding cash, T-bills, and repo. Grew from launch to multi-billion-dollar AUM and remains the largest tokenized treasury product.
Securitize
SEC-registered transfer agent and broker-dealer that runs the on-chain tokenization platform for BUIDL and many other regulated tokenized securities. Maintains holder registries, KYC, allowlists, and mint/burn operations.
Ondo OUSG
Ondo Finance's tokenized short-term U.S. government bond fund, restructured in 2024 to primarily hold BlackRock BUIDL. Permissioned to qualified purchasers; available on multiple chains.
Ondo USDY
Ondo Finance's tokenized note for non-U.S. investors, structured under Cayman law, backed by short-term Treasuries and bank deposits. Rebases upward as yield accrues. Available globally except in restricted jurisdictions.
Franklin Templeton BENJI (FOBXX)
Franklin Templeton OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund — the first SEC-registered '40 Act money market fund with on-chain share recordkeeping. Operates across multiple chains (Stellar, Polygon, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Base, Aptos, Solana).
Mountain Protocol USDM
A rebasing yield-bearing stablecoin backed by short-duration Treasuries, structured as an offshore e-money product (Bermuda). Acquired by Anchorage in 2025. Hundreds of millions of dollars in AUM.
Hashnote USYC
Tokenized money market fund focused on institutional crypto users; integrated as collateral in MakerDAO/Sky's RWA strategy. Acquired by Circle in early 2025.
BNY Mellon (custodian)
Bank of New York Mellon — the dominant custodian for tokenized treasury fund assets, holding the actual T-bills and cash that back tokens like BUIDL.
T+0 USDC redemption
Instant on-chain redemption of a tokenized treasury for USDC via a smart-contract integration. Pioneered by BUIDL in 2024 and now standard for most major products. A market maker fronts the USDC against the burned token, settled with the issuer the next business day.
ONDO governance token
Ondo Finance's governance/equity token, separate from OUSG and USDY. Not a claim on tokenized treasury assets — purely governance and value capture for the Ondo Foundation.

Continue this lesson — 5 more sections in the CryptoBipto app.

Open lesson

Educational only — not financial advice.