Asset tokenisation platform developer Digital Asset has completed a real-time, fully on-chain financing of US treasuries (UST) against USDC stablecoin. The transaction, made in collaboration with a working group of financial institutions that includes the Depository Trust and Clearly Corporation (DTCC), was completed on the Canton Network. The blockchain claims in a press release that successful initiative was the first of its kind.
Other members in the working group were the Bank of America, Circle, Citadel Securities, Cumberland DRW, Hidden Road, Société Générale, Tradeweb, and Virtu Financial.
Team effort
To complete the transaction, UST were held in custodied accounts at DTCC subsidiary, The Depository Trust Company (DTC). This enabled the creation of on-chain UST on the Canton Network, unlocking UST as a freely transferable collateral. USDC was then minted and redeemed on the Canton Network to support near-instant liquidity and atomic settlement. Participants used Tradeweb’s execution capabilities to complete the transaction, which was made on a Saturday to demonstrate accessing financing outside global settlement windows.
Big step forward
According to Canton Network, the transaction “marks a foundational step towards building capital markets where high-quality liquid assets, such as UST, are available and usable at all times, regardless of traditional market hours or legacy settlement constraints”. Since it was conducted entirely on-chain, with USDC serving as the cash leg and UST as collateral, it provided 24/7 liquidity and removed the limitations of off-ledger cash and market hours.
More similar transactions are in the pipeline later this year.
