Tokenized treasuries: the largest funds and how to exit them

Tokenized treasuries put a US Treasury fund on a blockchain, and the fund you can hold, and how quickly you can turn it back into USDC, depends on who you are and which exit route the fund supports.

Tokenized treasuries are shares in a US Treasury or government money market fund recorded as tokens on a public blockchain, so they can be held in a wallet and moved like a stablecoin while earning the short-term Treasury rate. On 23 September 2026 tokenized treasury funds held $14.93 billion across 108 products, with a 7-day average yield of 3.50%, according to rwa.xyz. The six largest funds account for about $10.8 billion of that total.

Most of that money sits in funds that ordinary investors can't buy. Minimums run from $1 to $5 million, several funds are closed to US persons, and the speed at which a holder gets USDC back ranges from seconds to more than a business day.

What are tokenized treasuries?

A tokenized treasury fund holds the same assets as a conventional government money market fund: Treasury bills, short-dated notes, repurchase agreements and cash. The SEC's investor bulletin describes government money market funds as investing 99.5% or more of their assets in cash, government securities and fully collateralized repos. The difference is the share register, which lives onchain as a token the fund's transfer agent recognizes as the legal record of ownership.

Yield reaches holders in one of two ways. Some funds hold the token at $1 and pay dividends as extra tokens, while others let the token's price rise as interest accrues. Ondo's USDY offers both versions, an accumulating token and a rebasing one that stays at $1.00 (Ondo docs).

What assets are being tokenized right now?

Treasuries are the largest category of tokenized real-world assets outside stablecoins. The rwa.xyz dashboard on 23 September 2026 also tracked these classes:

• Commodities: $4.77 billion, mostly tokenized gold
• Active strategies: $3.22 billion
• Private credit: $2.75 billion
• Private equity and venture: $1.53 billion
• Stocks: $1.28 billion

Treasuries lead because the asset is simple to price, settles daily, and gives crypto-native treasuries a dollar return without leaving the chain. Our explainer on how RWA-backed stablecoins generate yield covers the neighbouring category, where Treasury income backs a stablecoin.

The largest tokenized treasury funds on 23 September 2026

Sizes, eligibility and minimums are from each fund's rwa.xyz asset page, and USDY's eligibility rules are from Ondo's own documentation. Issuers set these terms and can change them.

Permissioned vs permissionless tokenized treasuries

A permissioned fund token can only move between wallets the issuer or its transfer agent has approved after identity checks, and a transfer to any other address fails at the contract level. Five of the six largest funds work this way, including USYC, BUIDL, iBENJI and WTGXX. A permissionless token moves like a stablecoin once it's issued. Ondo's USDY is the exception among the six: after a 40-day lockup from subscription it's freely transferable onchain between any wallets, though Ondo's terms still bar US persons from holding it.

• Where it can go: a permissioned token can't be dropped into a DEX pool, lending market or vault unless that contract is itself approved by the issuer, which is why USDY is the only large fund with a public DEX pool.
• Who carries the checks: permissioned funds run KYC on every holder, while a permissionless token runs it once at subscription and relies on sanctions blocklists after that.

Which tokenized treasury can I actually buy?

Eligibility narrows the field faster than yield does. Among the six largest funds, the route depends on where you live and how much you hold:

• US retail investor: WTGXX is the only large fund open to ordinary US investors, with a $1 minimum, because it's registered as a mutual fund under Form N-1A.
• Non-US individual: USDY, subject to local thresholds. In Singapore, for example, Ondo requires accredited-investor status.
• Non-US company or fund: USYC from 100,000 USDC, or USDY.
• Large US institution: BUIDL for qualified purchasers, and iBENJI or JLTXX for qualified institutional buyers.

Holder counts show how concentrated the market is. BUIDL had 107 holders and USYC had 36 on 23 September 2026, against 18,358 for USDY, which is the one widely used by individuals outside the US.

How fast can you get USDC back?

A token can be burned in one block, but the fund still has to sell Treasuries and settle through banking rails. Holders have three ways out, and each trades speed for size or cost.

Redemption terms are from rwa.xyz, Circle's BUIDL announcement and Circle's USYC page. Pool depth is from DefiLlama's yield data on 23 September 2026. The largest onchain USDY trading pool held $2.91 million, about 0.1% of USDY's $2.27 billion supply, so a large seller on a DEX would move the price.

Instant USDC exits with Upshift Clear

Upshift Clear is a pool of USDC that pays out instantly against tokenized assets and then waits for the issuer's normal redemption in the background. Liquidity providers fund the pool and receive clrRWA, a receipt token that earns the spread on each redemption plus lending yield on idle USDC (Upshift Clear docs). A redemption works in five steps:

1. The holder approves the tokens to the redemption contract.
2. The holder submits them with a minimum USDC amount, which reverts the transaction if the price moves.
3. The contract reads a live Chainlink oracle price for the asset.
4. It converts the tokens to USDC and deducts a spread, configurable between 0.05% and 5% per asset.
5. USDC arrives in the holder's wallet in the same transaction.

The first asset on the Clear redemption page is Superstate's USCC, at a 0.05% spread on 23 September 2026. Issuers of tokenized treasury funds can integrate the same contract so their holders skip the settlement wait, and LPs are exposed to the asset only for the settlement window. Clear runs on Upshift's vault contracts, which have had 10 smart contract audits by 6 independent firms.

What is the downside of tokenization?

The token makes the fund easier to move, and the fund's rules still apply to every holder. The main drawbacks are:

• KYC gates: most funds only transfer between allowlisted wallets, so a token sent to an unapproved address can't be redeemed.
• Redemption windows: standard redemptions follow business days and cut-off times, so a Friday evening request waits for Monday.
• High minimums: three of the six largest funds start at $1 million or more.
• Offchain lag: the net asset value is struck once a day, and cash moves through custodians and banks after the token is burned.
• Thin secondary markets: DEX pools hold a small fraction of fund supply.
• Smart contract and oracle risk: instant facilities depend on contract code and on price feeds staying accurate and fresh.

Always make sure to do your own research and be aware of the above and any other risks before depositing.

Frequently asked questions

What is the largest tokenized treasury fund?

Circle's USYC, at $2.51 billion on 23 September 2026, followed by Ondo's USDY at $2.27 billion and BlackRock's BUIDL at $2.23 billion, according to rwa.xyz.

Can US retail investors buy tokenized treasuries?

Among the largest funds, WisdomTree's WTGXX is open to US investors with a $1 minimum. BUIDL, iBENJI and JLTXX are limited to qualified purchasers or institutional buyers, and USYC and USDY exclude US persons.

What yield do tokenized treasuries pay?

The 7-day average across tokenized treasury funds was 3.50% on 23 September 2026. Yields follow short-term US interest rates and fall when the Federal Reserve cuts.

How long does it take to redeem a tokenized treasury?

Standard issuer redemptions take up to one business day. Instant facilities such as Circle's BUIDL contract or Upshift Clear pay USDC in one transaction, subject to the pool's available liquidity.

Are tokenized treasuries the same as stablecoins?

They differ in who keeps the interest. A tokenized treasury is a security that passes Treasury income to its holders, while the GENIUS Act bars a payment stablecoin issuer from paying holders interest, so the issuer keeps the reserve income.

Keep reading

• How companies earn yield on treasury cash. Where corporate treasuries put idle dollars onchain.
• How traditional asset managers are controlling risk in DeFi. Policy engines and mandate limits.
• How onchain yield vaults are secured. Audits, access controls and pause rules.