Tokenized Treasuries hit a record $15.35 billion on May 13 as Fed rate-hike fears drove investors toward on-chain yield.
Summary
- Total value locked in tokenized Treasuries surpassed the previous mid-April peak of $15.10 billion, with rwa.xyz data confirming the $15.35 billion record on May 13.
- April’s US CPI came in at 3.8% annually, sharply raising the probability of a Federal Reserve rate hike and weakening the case for near-term cuts.
- Circle’s USYC and BlackRock’s BUIDL lead the sector, which has grown from $3.9 billion in early 2025 to exceed $15 billion in 16 months.
Tokenized Treasuries reached $15.35 billion in total value locked on May 13, surpassing the previous mid-April peak of $15.10 billion, according to rwa.xyz data.
The push came as markets began pricing in a higher probability of a Federal Reserve interest-rate increase, a sharp reversal from the rate-cut expectations that dominated earlier in 2026.
“The June cut just got significantly harder to defend, and the allocator positioning we flagged, capital sat in BlackRock’s BUIDL and tokenized T-bills rather than spot crypto, is going to look prescient by Friday,” Iggy Ioppe, co-founder of Polygon Ventures, said in an email.
April’s US CPI came in at 3.8% annualised, accelerating from 3.3% in March and raising the stakes around the PPI report due May 14.
Why tokenized Treasuries are drawing capital away from spot crypto
Rising real interest rates make yield-bearing on-chain instruments structurally more attractive than spot cryptocurrency. Tokenized Treasuries currently offer a seven-day average yield of around 3.41%, a return that is easily legible to institutional allocators trained on money market fund mechanics.
Circle’s USYC now leads the sector with approximately $2.9 billion in assets, having overtaken BlackRock’s BUIDL in mid-March 2026. BUIDL remains the second-largest product at roughly $2.58 billion. Fidelity’s FDIT, Franklin Templeton’s BENJI, and Ondo’s OUSG round out the top five.
The broader tokenized real-world asset market has crossed $30.9 billion, up 44% year to date and more than 200% year over year, with tokenized Treasuries accounting for roughly half the total. The growth from $3.9 billion in early 2025 to $15 billion in 16 months reflects a structural shift in how institutions are deploying capital on-chain.
What comes next as macro risk builds
Bitcoin held above $80,000 as of May 13 but faced difficulty breaking higher, with the 200-day moving average overhead and miner balance-sheet pressures adding potential selling on rallies.
WTI crude oil bounced back above $100 while copper approached record highs, both signalling commodity-led inflation that could sustain elevated rates and continued demand for tokenized yield products.
Flows into tokenized Treasuries could accelerate further if the PPI print confirms pipeline inflationary pressure.
BlackRock separately pushed the OCC this week to reclassify tokenized Treasury products as equivalent to their traditional counterparts for stablecoin reserve purposes, a move that could further entrench them as the default institutional on-chain cash instrument.
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