cryptoslate.com
Circle announced on Jan. 21 the acquisition of the tokenization firm Hashnote, the issuer of the USYC token. Additionally, the company closed a partnership with the market maker DRW Cumberland to drive USYC and USD Coin ($USDC) in crypto and traditional markets.
According to rwa.xyz data, Hashnote’s tokenized money fund Hashnote Short Duration Yield Coin is the largest in the world, with over $1.2 billion worth of tokens USYC issued on multiple blockchain networks, including Ethereum.
Circle aims to fully integrate USYC with its $USDC stablecoin to enhance accessibility between tokenized money market fund collateral and the stablecoin market. The goal is to make USYC the preferred yield-bearing collateral on exchanges, custodians, and prime brokers.
Jeremy Allaire, CEO and Chairman of Circle, stated:
“As cash and yield-bearing short-duration treasury bill assets become fungible and convertible at blockchain speeds, this development unlocks significant opportunities for institutional adoption and sets a new standard for financial market structures.”
Circle also partnered with DRW, a major institutional crypto trader, via its subsidiary Cumberland to enhance $USDC and USYC liquidity.
$USDC on Canton
In addition to the Hashnote announcement, Circle revealed the issuance of native $USDC on the layer-1 blockchain Canton.
Circle stated that Canton has issued over $3.6 trillion in tokenized real-world assets (RWA), as its infrastructure is already “used and supported by major traditional banks, trading firms, asset managers, and exchanges.”
Notably, Circle has been trying to make $USDC catch up with Tether USD ($USDT), the largest stablecoin in the market. In December, the $USDC issuer partnered with Binance to make its stablecoin an essential part of the exchange’s corporate treasury asset.
Additionally, Circle recently published a report revealing that $USDC surpassed $20 trillion in all-time transaction volume and a 78% year-over-year growth in circulation supply.
However, $USDC still has a lot of ground to cover. $USDT dominates the stablecoin market with a nearly $141 billion supply, equivalent to 69% of the market. It amounts to over 3x the current $USDC supply of $44.6 billion, based on Artemis data.