Circle acquires RWA issuer Hashnote, partners with DRW to enhance USDC liquidity

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.