Coin columns · Ethereum City (Capital)
Usual USD (USD0): A Stablecoin Backed by Tokenized US Treasuries
A Treasury-backed coin shaken by a January 2025 rule change
Usual USD (USD0) is a dollar stablecoin issued by the DeFi (blockchain-based finance) protocol Usual and described as backed by tokenized short-term US Treasuries. In January 2025 a redemption-rule change to its companion product, USD0++, shook that product’s price.
1. The Usual protocol, USD0++ and USUAL
Usual began in 2022 as a project of Usual Labs, with investment from Binance Labs and Kraken Ventures. Its USD0 is a stablecoin (a coin designed to hold a steady value) meant to stay near one US dollar. Usual says it is fully backed by tokenized short-term US Treasuries rather than bank deposits.
On the Crypto Nation map, USD0 stands in Ethereum City (the capital), because it was first issued on Ethereum. USD0++ and the governance coin USUAL have similar names but are different tokens.
2. How the Treasury backing works
Tokenization means putting rights to a traditional asset, here short-term US government bonds (T-bills), onto a blockchain as a token. The interest they earn is not paid straight to USD0 holders; it becomes protocol revenue, part of which is shared through the USUAL token.
USD0++ is USD0 locked for four years, designed like a zero-coupon bond (one paying no interest until maturity), with USUAL rewards for holders. USUAL is a governance token (a vote on how the project runs) whose holders vote on yield rates, new real-world-asset collateral and upgrades, and share in protocol revenue.
3. Uses and milestones
The USUAL token launched on 13 November 2024. USD0 and USD0++ traded in pools (places where coins are deposited for swapping) on exchanges such as Curve and were used in DeFi services such as Pendle.
Around 9–10 January 2025 Usual set a redemption floor for USD0++ of 0.87 and said it would rise to one dollar over four years. Leaving at one dollar (a ‘conditional exit’) meant forfeiting accrued rewards. The news pushed USD0++ well below one dollar, and on 13 January Usual started its ‘revenue switch’, sharing revenue with the community, earlier than planned.
4. Things to know
Start with the January 2025 change. The documentation said the floor was set manually, critics said the 1:1 redemption was lowered without proper notice, and multimillion-dollar liquidations were reported on Curve and Pendle. Defenders said USD0++ is a four-year bond that approaches par over time. USD0 itself stayed near one dollar, but products in one protocol can carry different risks.
USD0’s stability depends on the tokenized Treasuries behind it, the institutions that issue and hold them, smart-contract safety and the redemption rules being kept. The ‘fully backed’ claim comes from the project, and rules for tokenized Treasuries and stablecoins are still being settled in many countries. Changes to redemption terms and revenue sharing since January 2025 should be checked in current official documents.
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.