Tokenized Treasuries, which are shares of funds holding U.S. Treasury bills recorded on public blockchains, reached $16.21 billion across 87 products held by 63,010 addresses as of August 9, 2026, and the broader tokenized real-world asset market stood at $38.17 billion, according to rwa.xyz data [1][2]. The four largest Treasury products were Circle's USYC at $3.00 billion, BlackRock's BUIDL at $2.68 billion, Ondo's USDY at $2.14 billion and Franklin Templeton's iBENJI at $1.72 billion [1]. These instruments pay Treasury bill yield to holders, which is exactly what a payment stablecoin may not do under the GENIUS Act signed on July 18, 2025, and that distinction explains most of their growth [3].
What tokenized Treasuries are and how they work
A tokenized Treasury product is usually a money market fund or a similar vehicle that buys short-dated Treasury bills and repurchase agreements, then records ownership of its shares as tokens on one or more blockchains instead of, or alongside, a conventional transfer agent ledger. The token is the share. Yield accrues either through a rising token price or through daily distributions of new tokens, depending on the product. Franklin Templeton's BENJI, for example, represents shares of the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund and is issued on nine networks, including Stellar, Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Aptos, Base and BNB Smart Chain [4]. Ondo's USDY is structured as a tokenized note backed by short-term U.S. Treasuries and bank deposits and is offered to non-U.S. individuals and institutions under Regulation S, which means U.S. persons cannot hold it [5].
The mechanics differ from a stablecoin in three ways:
- The holder owns a claim on a portfolio of bills and earns its yield; a stablecoin holder owns a fixed-value redemption claim and earns nothing from the issuer.
- Transfers are usually restricted to wallets that have passed identity checks, because the token is a security.
- Value moves with accrued interest rather than staying at exactly one dollar.
How big the market is in 2026 and who holds it
| Product (issuer) | Value, August 9, 2026 |
|---|---|
| USYC (Circle) | $3.00 billion |
| BUIDL (BlackRock, via Securitize) | $2.68 billion |
| USDY (Ondo) | $2.14 billion |
| iBENJI (Franklin Templeton) | $1.72 billion |
| All tokenized U.S. Treasuries (87 products) | $16.21 billion |
| All tokenized real-world assets | $38.17 billion |
Source: rwa.xyz via gncrypto.news, figures exclude issuer statements [1]. The live tracker is at rwa.xyz [2].
Two features of the holder base stand out. First, 63,010 addresses hold Treasury tokens while 1,701,650 addresses hold tokenized real-world assets of any kind, so Treasury products are concentrated among a small number of large holders, consistent with institutional and platform treasury use rather than retail saving [1]. Second, the largest products are issued or distributed by regulated asset managers and a stablecoin issuer, not by crypto-native protocols, which is why counterparty and legal structure, not code, is the first thing to read in a prospectus.
Why the yield rule in the GENIUS Act matters
Public Law 119-27, the GENIUS Act, requires permitted payment stablecoin issuers to hold identifiable reserves on at least a one to one basis in assets such as cash, insured deposits, Treasury bills with 93 days or less to maturity, overnight repurchase agreements backed by Treasuries, government money market funds and tokenized versions of those assets [3]. Section 4(a)(11) then bars issuers from paying holders any form of interest or yield solely for holding, using or retaining the stablecoin [3]. The bill yield that a stablecoin issuer keeps is the yield a tokenized Treasury fund passes through. For a corporate treasury or a trading platform that parks cash on a blockchain, that difference at short-term Treasury rates is the whole business case, and it is why USYC, issued by the same company that issues USDC, is the largest product on the list [1].
What tokenized Treasuries are used for
Three uses account for most of the demand. Trading firms post tokenized Treasury shares as collateral on exchanges and lending venues, earning yield on margin that would otherwise sit idle. Decentralized finance protocols hold them as reserve assets behind their own stablecoins or savings products. And non-U.S. holders use products like USDY as a dollar savings instrument where local banks offer no equivalent [5]. None of these uses requires the bitcoin price to move; bitcoin (BTC) closed at $63,024 on August 15, 2026 after a 34.6% slide from January to June, and Treasury token balances are meant to be indifferent to that path [6]. Investors who want to see how volatile the rest of the crypto market is can compare on DataPorium's crypto price page.
Risks that the yield does not cover
The credit risk is that of U.S. Treasury bills, which is why these products are described as near-cash. The remaining risks are structural. Redemption terms vary: some products settle in stablecoin within minutes, others require a fund redemption during business hours. Smart contract and key management failures can freeze or misdirect tokens even when the underlying bills are safe. Transfer restrictions mean secondary market liquidity depends on how many wallets are whitelisted. And legal treatment differs by product: a Regulation S note such as USDY is not available to U.S. persons, while a registered money market fund such as BENJI is [4][5]. A market-oriented reading is that competition among issuers is doing what regulation alone would not: driving fees toward those of conventional money funds and settlement toward near-instant. The fair counterpoint is that a 24-hour redeemable claim on a Treasury portfolio has not yet been tested by a sustained run, and the March 2023 stablecoin episode showed that even high-quality reserves can be hard to reach when banks are closed.
Tokenized Treasuries grew to $16.21 billion by August 2026 because they pass Treasury bill yield to holders in a form that payment stablecoins are legally barred from offering.
Key takeaways
- Tokenized U.S. Treasuries totaled $16.21 billion across 87 products on August 9, 2026, inside a $38.17 billion tokenized real-world asset market [1].
- Circle's USYC ($3.00 billion), BlackRock's BUIDL ($2.68 billion), Ondo's USDY ($2.14 billion) and Franklin's iBENJI ($1.72 billion) led the category [1].
- The GENIUS Act requires one to one reserves for payment stablecoins and bars issuers from paying holders yield, which pushes yield-seeking cash into tokenized funds [3].
- Products differ in legal form: BENJI is a registered money fund on nine networks; USDY is a Regulation S note closed to U.S. persons [4][5].
- Credit risk is Treasury risk; the real risks are redemption terms, smart contracts, key management and transfer restrictions.
Frequently asked questions
What is a tokenized Treasury?
It is a share or note in a fund that holds short-term U.S. Treasury bills, recorded as a token on a blockchain so it can settle and be used as collateral on-chain while paying Treasury yield to the holder [1][4].
How big is the tokenized Treasury market in 2026?
As of August 9, 2026, tokenized U.S. Treasuries totaled $16.21 billion across 87 products held by 63,010 addresses, according to rwa.xyz data [1].
Why do stablecoins not pay interest?
Section 4(a)(11) of the GENIUS Act, enacted July 18, 2025, prohibits permitted payment stablecoin issuers from paying holders any interest or yield solely for holding or using the stablecoin, so yield-bearing cash on-chain takes the form of tokenized funds instead [3].
Can U.S. investors buy tokenized Treasury products?
Some, not all. Franklin Templeton's BENJI is a U.S. registered money market fund, while Ondo's USDY is offered under Regulation S to non-U.S. persons only, so eligibility depends on the specific product [4][5].
Sources & References
- [1] gncrypto.news: Tokenized RWAs reach $38.17B, Treasuries lead at $16.21B (rwa.xyz data, August 10, 2026)
- [2] rwa.xyz: Tokenized U.S. Treasury funds tracker
- [3] Public Law 119-27, GENIUS Act (Congress.gov)
- [4] Franklin Templeton Digital Assets: BENJI, Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund
- [5] Ondo Finance: USDY, U.S. Dollar Yield token
- [6] DataPorium crypto prices (BTC-USD daily history)
