Coin columns · Ethereum City (Capital)
Circle USYC: A Tokenised Fund of Treasury Bills and Repo Loans
A Hashnote yield token, now run by USDC issuer Circle
USYC is a token representing shares in a fund that invests in short-term US Treasury bills and reverse repurchase agreements. It was created by Hashnote and became Circle’s product when the USDC issuer bought the company in 2025.
1. Who issues it
USYC was launched by the asset manager Hashnote as its “Short Duration Yield Coin”. Hashnote ran an offshore short-term yield fund set up in the Cayman Islands, and each USYC corresponds to one share of that fund. The value of the fund’s assets and its interest flow straight into the token’s value.
In January 2025 Circle announced it was buying Hashnote and said USYC would be linked to USDC for near-instant conversion. Now branded Circle USYC, it is issued on Ethereum, BNB Chain and Solana. On the Crypto Nation map, USYC stands in Ethereum City (the capital), the first chain CoinGecko lists for it.
2. How it works
The fund mainly lends cash overnight against Treasury collateral (reverse repo) and holds short-dated Treasury bills. Interest is not paid out as new tokens; instead the value of each token, its net asset value (NAV), rises slowly, so USYC is not fixed at one dollar.
Only institutional and professional investors who pass identity and eligibility checks can subscribe and redeem, and US investors are excluded. Investors put in USDC and receive USYC, then get USDC back on redemption, a swap Circle aims to make close to real time. Transfers are generally limited to approved (whitelisted) wallets.
3. Where it is used
Institutions use USYC to keep idle dollars on-chain while earning Treasury-level interest. A key use is as margin: in 2025 Binance began accepting USYC as off-exchange collateral from institutional clients. That lets traders keep their collateral in place while it earns interest.
In March 2026, press reports described USYC, alongside BlackRock’s BUIDL, as a leading tokenised Treasury product. For Circle it links a payment dollar (USDC) with a yield-bearing dollar asset (USYC) inside one company.
4. Things to know
USYC is a fund share, not a bank deposit, so there is no deposit insurance, and its yield falls when interest rates fall. Treasury credit risk is considered low, but holders depend on the fund manager, the custodian bank and Circle to operate smoothly, and redemptions could slow if many investors exit during a market shock.
Because only eligible investors can use it and transfers are restricted, it is unlike freely circulating stablecoins. The issuer controls the token contract and can freeze or limit transfers, and securities and fund rules, and so access, differ from country to country.
Written from information public up to October 2026. It does not recommend or rate any coin and is not investment advice. If something is wrong, please tell us through the contact page.