Digital Asset and a consortium of financial institutions announced a real-time, fully on-chain financing of US Treasuries (UST) against USDC. The transaction, executed on Tradeweb, surpasses prior on-chain repo activities by providing near-instant, atomic settlement on a public blockchain, outside of traditional market hours, on weekends.
Most significantly, this live transaction was conducted entirely on-chain, with USDC serving as the cash leg and on-chain UST as collateral, providing true 24/7 liquidity and eliminating the limitations of off-ledger cash and market-hour restrictions seen in legacy implementations – all of which is critical to creating a real, always-available, interoperable capital markets infrastructure.
Members of the working group focused on advancing on-chain initiatives include: Bank of America, Circle, Citadel Securities, Cumberland DRW, Digital Asset, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), Hidden Road, Societe Generale, Tradeweb, and Virtu Financial.
Key highlights:
- On-chain real-world assets (RWAs): prime brokers held client UST in custodied accounts at a DTCC subsidiary, The Depository Trust Company (DTC), and enabled their clients to create on-chain UST on the Canton Network, unlocking their utility as freely transferable collateral
- Native on-chain stablecoin liquidity: USDC was minted and redeemed on the Canton Network specifically to demonstrate this use case while supporting near-instant liquidity and atomic settlement
- Round-the-clock financing: the transaction occurred on a Saturday, demonstrating the ability to access financing outside traditional global settlement windows
- Industry collaboration beyond individual trades: this transaction represents a foundational activation for the broader Canton Network Working Group, encompassing traditional financial institutions and digital asset market participants
“The successful completion of this transaction marks a significant step toward 24/7 trading in these markets. Tradeweb’s deep US Treasury liquidity and electronic execution capabilities, combined with the Canton Network’s interoperable and decentralized framework, enabled this trade to happen outside of traditional settlement windows. It’s an industry first and reflects the power of collaboration in building a more connected, resilient, and always-on global capital market ecosystem,” said Justin Peterson, chief technology officer at Tradeweb, in a statement.
“This transaction marks a significant advancement in the evolution of capital markets infrastructure. The successful use of tokenized US Treasuries and on-chain settlement via USDC underscores the power of collaborative innovation across traditional and digital financial institutions,” said Kash Razzaghi, chief business officer at Circle, in a statement.
“We’re done talking theory when it comes to blockchain for capital markets — over a weekend, real-time, on-chain financing of tokenized US Treasuries against USDC has been executed. This lays the foundation for how blockchain is unlocking 24/7 funding,” said Chris Zuehlke, partner at DRW and global co-head of Cumberland, in a statement. “As a TradFi firm that bet on blockchain over a decade ago, participating in this milestone proof case is worth celebrating. We applaud the work of everyone involved, and we’re excited to collaborate with the broader financial ecosystem to scale these capabilities.”
“This milestone underscores DTCC’s commitment to advancing infrastructure that meets the market and the moment,” stated Brian Steele, managing director and president for Clearing & Securities Services at DTCC, in a statement. “We will continue to drive forward solutions that support evolving client needs with a scalable, future-focused, and digital-first approach.”
“This first live transaction is a foundational step in building the Global Collateral Network on the Canton Network, highlighting its ability to respect the confidentiality of individual institutions while transacting on a public blockchain,” said Kelly Mathieson, chief business development officer at Digital Asset, in a statement. “It demonstrates how market participants can unlock real-time collateral mobility and round-the-clock financing using assets on chain, which lays the groundwork for a fundamentally more efficient and accessible global financial system.”
“This landmark transaction represents a giant leap forward in how market participants can maximize their collateral utility. Digital Assets has demonstrated that real-time, 24/7 financing is within reach on the Canton Network,” said Dan Eckstein, head of Rates Sales at Virtu Financial, in a statement
“Distributed ledger technology holds valuable potential to modernize financial operations. We are excited to collaborate in this initiative to explore new applications of blockchain within traditional finance for the benefit of our institutional clients,” said Sonali Theisen, global head of FICC E-Trading and Markets Strategic Investments at Bank of America, in a statement.