Briefing
Usual Protocol has launched its Real-World Asset (RWA) backed stablecoin, USD0, establishing a new model for decentralized finance by collateralizing the asset exclusively with tokenized US Treasury Bills. This innovation directly addresses the systemic risk and opaque governance structures of incumbent stablecoin issuers, positioning USD0 as a secure, bankruptcy-remote alternative that is fully collateralized and permissionless. The protocol’s core strategic consequence is the creation of a powerful value-distribution flywheel, with 90% of the value generated by the collateral being returned to users, a mechanism that drives deep liquidity and aligns long-term incentives. This product-market fit is quantified by the immediate and rapid accumulation of $575.31 million in Total Value Locked (TVL) shortly after its debut.
Context
The decentralized application landscape has long been anchored to centralized stablecoin issuers, which operate with opaque fractional reserve models and retain the vast majority of collateral yield, thereby centralizing value accrual. This prevailing structure introduced a significant product gap → users lacked a fully transparent, decentralized, and yield-distributing stable asset that was simultaneously backed by high-quality, off-chain collateral. Furthermore, existing crypto tokenomics often prioritized short-term speculation, leading to value leakage and poor alignment between the protocol’s success and its long-term contributors. The market required a foundational primitive that could combine the security of traditional financial assets with the transparency and composability of decentralized finance.
Analysis
The launch of USD0 fundamentally alters the stablecoin and lending application layers by introducing a fully collateralized, non-fractional reserve asset backed by diversified short-term US Treasury Bills. This specific collateral choice establishes a superior security profile and a clear, verifiable cash flow. The system’s innovation lies in its tokenomics → the protocol’s generated revenue is systematically redistributed, with a commitment to channeling 90% of the value back to users through the $USUAL governance token and the liquid staking derivative, USD0++.
This mechanism transforms the user from a mere holder into a protocol owner, creating a powerful, defensible network effect. The chain of cause and effect is direct → T-Bill collateral provides institutional-grade security and a predictable yield; the high value redistribution acts as a robust incentive structure, rapidly attracting and retaining liquidity; this deep liquidity then enhances USD0’s utility as a composable building block across the broader DeFi ecosystem, forcing competing protocols to re-evaluate their own collateral and value-capture models to remain competitive.
Parameters
- Total Value Locked → $575,317,885 – The total capital secured by the protocol, indicating immediate market trust and liquidity depth.
- Collateralization Ratio → 101.85% – The current percentage by which the USD0 supply is over-backed by US Treasury Bill tokens.
- Yearly Protocol Revenue → $23.19 Million – The annualized revenue generated from the underlying RWA collateral.
- Value Redistribution → 90% – The percentage of protocol-generated value that is systematically returned to the community and users.
Outlook
The immediate success of USD0 positions the Usual Protocol to become a foundational liquidity layer for the next cycle of DeFi growth, particularly in the Real-World Asset vertical. The next phase of the roadmap, which includes the launch of a yield optimizer, fixed rates, and fixed-term products, will further enhance the capital efficiency of the USD0 primitive. The high-yield, high-transparency model of USD0 is an innovation that competitors will be forced to fork or integrate.
Protocols that fail to offer a similarly high percentage of collateral yield back to their users will experience capital flight. This new, fully collateralized, and value-distributing stablecoin sets a new standard for decentralized financial primitives, making it an essential building block for other dApps seeking a secure, productive, and politically neutral base currency.
