USD0 is Usual's dollar balance. As a DeFi bank built on US Treasury Bills, every USD0 you hold is a direct claim on real reserves — not a deposit in a commercial bank.
What makes USD0 different
USD0 | USDC | USDT | |
Backing | US Treasury Bills (transparent, verifiable) | Bank deposits + Treasuries | Mixed reserves |
Transparency | Real-time, per token | Monthly attestations | Quarterly reports |
Revenue sharing | 100% to the community | None | None |
Bank risk | None | Yes (SVB event) | Partial |
Governance | Community (USUAL token) | Corporate | Corporate |
Key facts
Peg | 1 USD0 = 1 USD |
Backed by | US Treasury Bills and equivalent real assets |
Chains | Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, BNB Chain |
Redemption | 1:1 at any time |
Revenue model | 100% of yield shared with the community |
How to get USD0
Three ways:
Deposit USDC (recommended for most users) — trade USDC for USD0 directly in the app. Fastest path for retail.
Swap on a market — buy USD0 on Curve, Uniswap, or another supported venue. Best for smaller amounts.
Deposit tokenized Treasury Bills (for institutions) — if you already hold USYC, USTBL, or similar, deposit them directly for USD0 at 1:1.
See How to deposit and withdraw USD0 for step-by-step instructions.
What you can do with USD0
Hold it as a stable balance backed by real assets
Save with sUSD0 or bUSD0 to earn a rate
Borrow against it via Usual Credit
Send it across four chains without giving up control
Use it in other apps — USD0 is accepted as collateral on major platforms
Note: USD0 is not covered by a government deposit insurance scheme. Its safety comes from the quality of the underlying Treasury Bills and the transparency of the reserves. See What backs USD0? for the full breakdown.
Technical note (for DeFi users): USD0 is the first Liquid Deposit Token (LDT) in Usual's framework. It is minted 1:1 against RWA collateral via the DaoCollateral contract (direct, RWA path) or the SwapperEngine contract (indirect, USDC path with Collateral Providers). Addresses: Ethereum 0x73A15FeD60Bf67631dC6cd7Bc5B6e8da8190aCF5 · Arbitrum 0x35f1C5cB7Fb977E669fD244C567Da99d8a3a6850 · Base 0x758a3e0b1F842C9306B783f8A4078C6C8C03a270 · BNB 0x758a3e0b1f842c9306b783f8a4078c6c8c03a270. See the docs for the full technical reference.
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