Woo X, a cryptocurrency exchange, has introduced tokenized United States Treasury Bills (T-Bills), making it the first platform to offer this service to retail investors. The exchange launched RWA Earn Vaults, which are real-world-asset (RWA) tokenization vaults that allow users to earn yield by holding Circle’s USD Coin (USDC). These vaults are backed exclusively by U.S. T-bills and offer an annual percentage rate (APR) of 4.5% to 4.7% for USDC holders. The partnership between Woo X and OpenTrade, a London-based tokenization platform supported by Circle, facilitated the launch of this yield-earning product. Circle is the issuer of the second-largest stablecoin, USDC, which has a market cap of $34 billion, trailing only Tether (USDT) with a market capitalization of over $109 billion, as reported by CoinMarketCap.
CoinGecko’s recent report highlighted that RWAs were the second most profitable narrative in the crypto industry during the first quarter of 2024. Analyst Lim Yu Qian from CoinGecko emphasized the increasing institutional interest in the RWA sector. BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, launched the USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund, known as “BUIDL,” valued at over $298 million as of the time of writing. Additionally, Dune data revealed that $1.15 billion worth of U.S. Treasurys had been tokenized through 17 tokenization products by April 22, compared to $1 billion by March 28. Franklin Templeton’s Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX) is currently the largest treasury tokenization fund, with a value exceeding $390 million.
The introduction of tokenized T-Bills marks a significant development in the crypto space, with the potential to transform traditional finance.