Tokenized Treasuries Hit $15B Milestone While Bitcoin Remains Stagnant
On May 13, the total value of tokenized Treasuries soared to an impressive $15.35 billion, fueled by concerns over potential Federal Reserve rate hikes, which led investors to pursue on-chain yields.
Summary
- The value locked in tokenized Treasuries has surpassed the mid-April high of $15.10 billion, with rwa.xyz confirming the record of $15.35 billion as of May 13.
- The US CPI for April revealed an annual rate of 3.8%, significantly raising the odds of a Federal Reserve rate hike and reducing expectations for immediate cuts.
- Circle’s USYC and BlackRock’s BUIDL are leading the sector, increasing from $3.9 billion in early 2025 to over $15 billion in just 16 months.
As of May 13, tokenized Treasuries achieved a total locked value of $15.35 billion, exceeding the previous mid-April high of $15.10 billion, according to rwa.xyz data.
This increase came as the market began to acknowledge a higher likelihood of a Federal Reserve interest rate hike, representing a significant change from earlier expectations for rate cuts in 2026.
“Defending a June cut just became significantly more challenging, and the allocator positioning we mentioned, where capital is sitting in BlackRock’s BUIDL and tokenized T-bills instead of spot crypto, is likely to become insightful by Friday,” stated Iggy Ioppe, co-founder of Polygon Ventures, in an email.
The annualized US CPI for April stood at 3.8%, up from 3.3% in March, heightening interest in the upcoming PPI report scheduled for release on May 14.
Reasons for the shift from spot crypto to tokenized Treasuries
Rising real interest rates make yield-generating on-chain assets more attractive compared to spot cryptocurrencies. Currently, tokenized Treasuries offer a seven-day average yield of approximately 3.41%, a return that institutional investors familiar with money market fund operations find appealing.
Circle’s USYC now leads the market with about $2.9 billion in assets, having overtaken BlackRock’s BUIDL in mid-March 2026. BUIDL is currently the second-largest product with roughly $2.58 billion. Fidelity’s FDIT, Franklin Templeton’s BENJI, and Ondo’s OUSG complete the top five.
The overall market for tokenized real-world assets has surpassed $30.9 billion, reflecting a 44% increase year-to-date and over 200% year-over-year, with tokenized Treasuries accounting for approximately half of this total. The rise from $3.9 billion in early 2025 to $15 billion over 16 months signifies a major transformation in institutional capital deployment on-chain.
Anticipating future macro risks
As of May 13, Bitcoin remained above $80,000 but struggled to advance further, affected by the overhead 200-day moving average and potential selling pressure from miner balance sheets during price rallies.
WTI crude oil prices rebounded above $100, while copper approached all-time highs, both signals of commodity-driven inflation that might maintain elevated interest rates and sustained demand for tokenized yield products.
Investment in tokenized Treasuries may rise further if the PPI report confirms ongoing inflationary trends.
Moreover, BlackRock urged the OCC this week to reclassify tokenized Treasury products to better align with traditional counterparts for stablecoin reserve purposes, potentially solidifying their position as the primary institutional on-chain cash instrument.