Tokenized U.S. Treasuries Surge to Record $4.2B as Crypto Investors Seek Stability
Ondo Finance, BlackRock-Securitize, and Superstate saw the most growth among major issuers, while Hashnote’s USYC declined.
As the crypto market experienced a widespread correction in recent weeks, investors turned to tokenized U.S. Treasury products as a safe haven.
Since late January, the total market capitalization of Treasury-backed tokens has surged by $800 million, reaching a new all-time high of $4.2 billion, according to data from rwa.xyz.
Ondo Finance (ONDO), a leading real-world asset (RWA) platform, saw its OUSG and USDY tokens—backed by short-term bonds—climb nearly 53% in market value, bringing their combined total close to $1 billion. Meanwhile, BUIDL, the token issued through a collaboration between asset management giant BlackRock and tokenization firm Securitize, rose 25% to surpass $800 million. Franklin Templeton’s BENJI token expanded to $687 million, a 16% increase, while Superstate’s USTB soared 63% to reach $363 million.
However, not all issuers saw gains. Hashnote’s USYC token dropped over 20% to $900 million, largely due to the struggles of DeFi protocol Usual. The token serves as the primary backing asset for Usual’s USD0 stablecoin, which has seen its supply shrink from a January peak of $1.8 billion to under $1 billion.
“The recent surge in tokenized treasuries highlights a flight to quality, mirroring traditional markets where investors shift from equities to U.S. Treasuries during economic downturns,” said Brian Choe, head of research at rwa.xyz, in a statement to CoinDesk.
Choe compared the market cap trends of tokenized treasuries and stablecoins, noting that between November and January—when crypto markets were rallying—stablecoins outpaced treasury-backed assets. However, as the market turned bearish in February, the growth of tokenized treasuries accelerated beyond that of stablecoins.
“This suggests that instead of completely exiting the market, some investors are reallocating capital into lower-risk, yield-generating assets while waiting for better market conditions,” Choe added.
