This article shows how to get USD0 and how to exit back to USDC or to the underlying Treasury Bills. Usual is a DeFi bank, so the steps are different from a traditional bank — but simpler than most on-chain platforms.
Two ways to deposit
1. Deposit USDC (most users)
Best for retail users and anyone who already holds USDC.
Connect your account to app.usual.money
Select Deposit on the USD0 card
Pick USDC as the source asset
Enter the amount
Approve USDC spending (one-time per chain)
Confirm the transaction
Receive USD0 in your account
Time: under a minute. Fees: a small gas fee on the chain you chose.
2. Deposit tokenized Treasury Bills (institutions)
Best for institutions and large holders who already hold tokenized Treasury Bills such as USYC, USTBL, or UsualM.
Connect your account
Select Deposit on the USD0 card
Pick the tokenized asset you hold
Enter the amount
Confirm the transaction
Receive USD0 at 1:1
No intermediary fees. Direct deposits below 100,000 USD0 are routed through the secondary market for efficiency.
Two ways to withdraw
1. Withdraw to USDC (most users)
Convert USD0 back to USDC on the open market.
Select Withdraw on the USD0 card
Pick USDC as the destination
Enter the amount
Confirm the transaction
Receive USDC
Time: under a minute. Fees: a small gas fee plus any market slippage.
2. Redeem directly for Treasury Bills (institutions)
If you want the underlying tokenized Treasury Bill back:
Select Redeem in the app
Pick the tokenized asset you want
Enter the amount of USD0
Confirm
Receive the underlying token at 1:1
Available for any size, but practical only for institutional holders.
A worked example
Deposit path:
You have 10,000 USDC in your account
You deposit 10,000 USDC into USD0
You receive 10,000 USD0 (1:1, minus gas)
Your USD0 is now backed by US Treasury Bills
Withdrawal path:
You hold 10,000 USD0
You withdraw to USDC
You receive approximately 10,000 USDC (minus a small market slippage)
Fees and limits
Gas fee — paid to the blockchain, not to Usual. Varies by chain.
Slippage — applies only when going through the secondary market.
No deposit fee — Usual does not charge for depositing or withdrawing USD0.
No withdrawal delay — your balance is liquid at any time.
Minimum for direct mint — 100,000 USD0. Below that, orders are routed through the secondary market automatically.
Note: Always check the network you are on before depositing or withdrawing. USD0 on Arbitrum is not automatically available on Ethereum — you need to bridge it first. See Using USD0 across chains.
Technical note (for DeFi users): Direct mint uses DaoCollateral (0xde6e1F680C4816446C8D515989E2358636A38b04) for RWA deposits. Indirect mint uses SwapperEngine (0xB969B0d14F7682bAF37ba7c364b351B830a812B2) for USDC with Collateral Provider matching. Below the 100,000 USD0 threshold, the protocol routes through the Curve USD0/USDC pool for efficient execution. The redeem path mirrors the mint path. See the docs for the full flow specification.
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