The Aptos Foundation has announced the launch of Ondo Finance’s yield-bearing stablecoin, the Ondo US Dollar Yield (USDY), on the Aptos blockchain. This stablecoin, backed by United States Treasury securities, will be available for non-US residents using the Aptos blockchain. USDY has not yet been registered under the Securities Act in the US.
Stablecoin issuers and other companies within the crypto industry have become significant buyers of US government debt. Tether, for instance, backs its stablecoin, USDT, with US dollar reserves and US Treasury bills, holding $72.5 billion in Treasury bills in 2023. Former US lawmaker Paul Ryan has highlighted the potential benefits of stablecoins pegged to the US dollar, which could create demand for the dollar amid geopolitical efforts to reduce its use in international trade settlements. This demand could potentially extend US dollar dominance for decades.
The Aptos Foundation emphasized the benefits of stablecoins in serving underserved communities and democratizing finance, underscoring their role in fostering financial inclusion.
In July, Binance.US received regulatory approval to invest customer funds in US Treasury bills, provided it used a third-party custodian and did not reinvest the funds back into Binance.US or related business operations.
Research strategist Tom Wan predicts that the tokenized US Treasury market will reach $3 billion by the end of 2024. Tokenized Treasury offerings from BlackRock and Securitize are expected to attract more capital to this market. BlackRock’s Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) is already the world’s largest tokenized Treasury investment fund.