USDC Acquires Stablecoin Issuer Hashnote, $1.3B RWA Firm

Circle, the crypto company behind the $48 billion USDC stablecoin, announced on Tuesday that it has acquired tokenized real assets (RWA) issuer Hashnote.

The companies closed the deal this morning, a Circle spokesperson told CoinDesk, and the announcement was made at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. The companies did not disclose pricing details.

Circle aims to integrate USYC with USDC, Circle’s flagship stablecoin, enabling conversion between cash and profitable collateral on blockchains, according to a press release. Hashnote will issue a $1.3 billion USYC token massive growth became the largest tokenized US Treasury product on the market last year rwa.xyz data.

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said this is a significant step to align traditional financial structures with the speed and transparency of blockchain-based markets.

“This is increasingly driven by institutional adoption and is a major lock-in for a market where participants expect common market structures in TradFi,” Aller said.

Circle shared plans revealed a year ago, the crypto industry expects the IPO to take place later this year.

Tokenization and stablecoins

The acquisition highlights the synergy between the hottest trends in crypto: stablecoins and tokenization. Circle’s main stablecoin competitor is Tether a tokenization platform last year.

Stablecoins, a $200 billion asset class of cryptocurrencies whose value is primarily pegged to the US dollar, are a critical piece of infrastructure in tokenization efforts. They are used as a bridge between fiat money and digital assets and are widely used to settle transactions on the blockchain rail.

RWAs such as Treasury bills and money market funds are rapidly gaining traction among sophisticated investors and asset managers as collateral for trading. Unlike traditional markets, blockchain-based assets promise transparency, accessibility and round-the-clock settlement. Treasury-backed tokens allow investors to earn income posted as collateral or margin for trading, which increases returns compared to trading backed by cash or stablecoins.

For example, Singapore-based hedge fund QCP Capital in early January done Bitcoin (BTC) based trading using the money market fund token issued by BUIDL, BlackRock and Securitize.

USDC in Canton

Circle also announced an agreement with DRW-affiliated crypto trading firm and market maker Cumberland to provide liquidity and facilitate settlements for USDC and USYC. The partnership aims to expand USYC as a form of collateral on exchanges and custodial platforms.

Additionally, Circle has laid out plans to deploy USDC to the Canton Network, a blockchain used by traditional financial institutions for real-world asset transactions. The integration with Canton enables constant liquidity between cash and collateral and ensures seamless transfers between decentralized and traditional markets.