This article lists the exact collateral types behind Usual's products, the providers that tokenize them, and the profile of each underlying asset.
The full collateral stack
Token | Provider | Underlying | Used to back | Duration |
USYC | Hashnote | US Treasury Bills and repo | USD0 | Short-term |
USTBL | Spiko | Short-term US Treasury Bills | USD0 | Under 6 months |
UsualM | M0 Foundation | Tokenized cash equivalents | USD0 | Very short-term |
EUTBL | Spiko | Eurozone Treasury Bills (France, Germany, and others) | EUR0 | Under 6 months, avg under 60 days |
wstETH | Lido | Staked ETH | ETH0 | Perpetual (Lido staking) |
USCC | Superstate | CME BTC/ETH basis carry fund | USD0 Alpha | Rolling basis |
USTB | Superstate | Short-term US Treasury Bills | USD0 Alpha buffer | Very short-term |
US Treasury Bills
US Treasury Bills are short-term debt issued by the US Treasury. They are widely considered the safest dollar-denominated asset in the world. Key characteristics:
Issuer — US federal government (via the Treasury)
Maturity — ranges from 4 weeks to 52 weeks
Yield — set at auction based on current interest rates
Credit risk — effectively zero for practical purposes
Liquidity — the largest and most liquid debt market in the world
Usual holds US T-Bills through three providers to diversify tokenization risk: Hashnote (USYC), Spiko (USTBL), and M0 Foundation (UsualM).
Eurozone Treasury Bills
Eurozone T-Bills are short-term debt issued by Eurozone countries (France, Germany, and other high-rated sovereigns). Characteristics:
Issuer — individual Eurozone member states (not the ECB)
Maturity — short-term, typically under 6 months for Usual's use
Yield — tied to ECB policy rates and market conditions
Credit risk — very low for high-rated issuers (France, Germany)
Currency — euro (no FX exposure for EUR0)
Usual holds Eurozone T-Bills through Spiko's EUTBL fund, which is a regulated EU money market fund structure.
Staked ETH (wstETH)
wstETH is the wrapped version of stETH, Lido's liquid staking receipt. Characteristics:
Provider — Lido Finance
Underlying — ETH staked with Lido validators
Yield — ~3.0–3.5% APR from Ethereum validator rewards
Liquidity — very high, accepted across major DeFi platforms
Non-rebasing — wstETH balance stays constant, ETH value per wstETH grows
Usual holds wstETH as the collateral for ETH0.
The providers
Provider | Assets | Regulation | Audits |
Hashnote | USYC | CIMA / CFTC | Multiple institutional audits |
Spiko | USTBL, EUTBL | EU-supervised | PwC (financial), Trail of Bits (contracts) |
M0 Foundation | UsualM | Institutional | Multiple audits |
Superstate | USTB, USCC | US (SEC compliance framework) | Multiple audits |
Lido | wstETH | N/A (DeFi protocol) | Extensive audit history, largest LST |
All providers are vetted by Usual's due diligence process:
Regulatory framework check
Asset protection and ring-fencing verification
Redemption process evaluation
Smart contract audit review
Operational and counterparty risk assessment
Policy rules for collateral
Usual applies strict rules to every collateral type:
Fully collateralized (1:1) — no leverage, no fractional reserves
Sovereign-grade credit — no corporate debt, only sovereign or cash equivalents for stable products
Short duration — average under 60 days for EUR0, under 6 months for USD0 reserves
Zero FX risk — dollars back USD0, euros back EUR0
Transparent — verifiable on-chain and audited off-chain
Liquid — the underlying assets can be redeemed or sold on short notice
These rules are encoded into the due diligence process and enforced via DAO approval of each new collateral addition.
How collateral additions are approved
Any new collateral type must go through a UIP:
Proposer drafts the UIP with a full risk analysis
Community discusses on the governance forum
Temperature check on Snapshot
On-chain vote
If passed, the collateral is added with a target portfolio weight
The DAO can also remove a collateral type through the same process.
Note: The collateral composition shown in the table is accurate as of early 2026. Governance can add, remove, or re-weight providers at any time. Always check the live composition in the app.
Technical note (for DeFi users): The Multi Collateral Controller contract governs the target portfolio weights for each USD0 collateral type and adjusts collateral provision rewards ($\xi_i$) to incentivize providers to maintain the target allocation. See the litepaper for the exact controller formula and the docs for current weights.
Related articles