Usual is owned by its community. 100% of protocol assets belong to the DAO, and 100% of protocol revenue is distributed to the people who hold USUAL. There are no shareholders. This is not a marketing line — it is enforced by the contracts.
The short version
Usual DAO owns the protocol, all its reserves, and all its contracts.
USUAL token holders make every major decision through on-chain voting.
Usual Labs builds and maintains the platform as a service provider. Labs does not own anything.
Three layers of ownership
```
┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 1. USUAL holders (the community) │
│ ↓ vote on everything │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 2. Usual DAO │
│ Owns 100% of protocol assets │
│ Controls all contracts │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 3. Usual Labs │
│ Service provider — builds & runs │
│ No ownership, no veto │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘
```
What "DAO owns 100%" means in practice
This was made formal through UIP-15 (December 2025), which transferred complete ownership of protocol assets to the DAO. What this covers:
Reserves — the Treasury Bills, stETH, and all other collateral backing USD0, EUR0, ETH0, bUSD0
DAO treasury — the accumulated revenue (70% of protocol revenue lives here)
Governance contracts — the voting contract, the Lockup contract, the distribution contract
Upgrade rights — the ability to update protocol parameters through governance
Product contracts — the minting and redemption contracts for every product
If Usual Labs ceased to exist tomorrow, the DAO would still own everything. The community could vote to hire a new service provider and continue operating the platform without interruption.
How USUAL holders exercise ownership
Three ways:
Voting on UIPs — every major decision is subject to a community vote. See How voting works.
Staking into USUALx — locked USUALx holders receive a weekly USD0 revenue share, directly from protocol revenue.
Governance forum participation — proposing, debating, and refining UIPs before they go to a vote.
What Usual Labs does and does not do
Usual Labs can | Usual Labs cannot | |
Build new features | Yes | |
Maintain the codebase | Yes | |
Propose UIPs | Yes | |
Execute DAO-approved upgrades | Yes | |
Move DAO funds | No — requires DAO vote | |
Change protocol parameters | No — requires DAO vote | |
Override governance | No — ever | |
Earn a private margin on revenue | No — 100% goes to the community |
Usual Labs is paid as a service provider under a contract reviewed by the DAO. It does not own equity in the protocol.
Why this matters
Most DeFi protocols have a foundation, a for-profit parent company, and often a hidden cap table that captures most of the value. Usual takes the opposite approach: there is no private profit layer. The people who use the platform are the people who own it.
Consequences:
All upgrades are public and subject to community vote
There is no "exit" for insiders — no IPO, no private sale of equity
The platform cannot be pivoted or shut down without a DAO vote
Every revenue dollar goes back to the community
How to verify ownership
UIP-15 — the governance proposal that transferred 100% ownership to the DAO (December 2025). Public record.
Contract ownership — on-chain inspection of the protocol contracts shows the DAO as the owner for upgradeable parameters.
Revenue distribution — on-chain tracking of the Distribution contract shows 100% of revenue flowing to USUALx and the DAO treasury, with 0% retained privately.
Note: "DAO-owned" is a claim that can be abused if not enforced. At Usual, it is enforced by the contracts. Anyone can inspect the chain and verify.
Technical note (for DeFi users): UIP-15 transferred protocol contract ownership to a DAO-controlled multisig and governance module. The multisig signers and governance parameters are specified in the UIP text. The DAO's Distribution contract at 0x75cC0C0DDD2Ccafe6EC415bE686267588011E36A enforces the 30/70 split of revenue. See the governance forum and docs for the full record.
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