Usual is a DeFi bank built on three principles that set it apart from traditional banks and from most other on-chain platforms. Once you understand them, the rest of the product suite becomes easy to navigate.
1. Real assets back every balance
When you deposit dollars with Usual, your balance is not an IOU from Usual. It is a claim on real-world assets held by institutional custodians.
What that means in practice:
Every USD0 in circulation is backed by short-term US Treasury Bills and equivalent instruments.
Every EUR0 is backed by European Treasury Bills.
The backing is public. You can verify the reserves at any time.
No fractional reserves. No loans made from your deposit without your knowledge.
Who holds the real assets:
Token | Provider | Underlying asset |
USYC | Hashnote | US Treasury Bills |
USTBL | Spiko | US Treasury Bills |
EUTBL | Spiko | European Treasury Bills |
UsualM | M0 Foundation | Tokenized cash equivalents |
wstETH | Lido | Staked ETH (backs ETH0) |
This is the key difference between Usual and a stablecoin issuer that parks dollars in a commercial bank: the reserves are real assets that you can see directly, not deposits subject to a third party's balance sheet.
2. You own your balance. The community owns the platform.
Usual uses a two-layer ownership model.
Layer 1 — You own your balance directly. Your USD0, EUR0, bUSD0, and every other balance lives in your own account. Usual never moves funds without a transaction you sign. Even Usual Labs cannot touch your balance.
Layer 2 — The community owns the platform. Governance is controlled by holders of the USUAL token. Usual Labs builds and maintains the platform as a service provider. The DAO — not Labs — owns 100% of protocol assets (UIP-15, December 2025).
This is not a marketing slogan. It is enforced by the contracts.
3. How Usual makes money — and where it goes
Usual generates revenue from two main sources:
Yield on the real assets backing balances. The Treasury Bills backing USD0 and EUR0 pay interest. That interest is captured by the platform.
Fees on investment and credit products. Savings accounts, bUSD0, and Usual Credit generate fees as users deposit and borrow.
Where the revenue goes:
100% of revenue is shared with the community through two channels:
Share | Destination | Purpose |
30% | Locked USUALx holders | Direct reward to active participants |
70% | DAO treasury | Funds new products, audits, liquidity, operations |
There are no shareholders to pay. No venture capital to enrich. The platform exists to serve the people who use it and own it.
4. The USUAL token — your stake in the platform
Holding USUAL gives you a share of the platform and a share of its revenue.
Max supply | 3 billion USUAL (revised from 4B via UIP-11, November 2025) |
Distribution | Airdrop, Binance Launchpool, ongoing rewards to platform users |
Revenue share | Via USUALx (staked USUAL) |
Governance | One USUAL = one vote on UIPs (Usual Improvement Proposals) |
Users earn USUAL by using the platform. Holders share the revenue the platform generates.
Note: Understanding these three concepts answers most of the questions you will have. If you want the full technical picture, start with the docs.
Technical note (for DeFi users): Usual is an on-chain protocol deployed on Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, and BNB Chain. USD0 is minted against RWA (real-world asset) collateral tokenized by Hashnote (USYC), Spiko (USTBL, EUTBL), M0 Foundation (UsualM), and Lido (wstETH for ETH0). The DAO owns 100% of protocol assets per UIP-15. Revenue flows through the Distribution contract and is split between USUALx (ERC-20 staking) and the DAO treasury.
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