Usual's reserves live in three distinct layers: on-chain (visible to everyone), held by regulated institutions (ring-fenced from those institutions' own balance sheets), and audited by independent firms. This article explains each layer.
Layer 1 — On-chain reserves
The tokenized Treasury Bills backing USD0, EUR0, and ETH0 are held by Usual's collateral contracts on Ethereum. The balances of each collateral token are visible on-chain in real time.
How to inspect them:
Go to any block explorer (Etherscan, Blockscout)
Look up the DaoCollateral contract
View the balance of each collateral token (USYC, USTBL, EUTBL, UsualM, wstETH)
Compare with the circulating supply of the corresponding product
The ratio should always match the 1-to-1 backing promise.
Layer 2 — Institutional custody
The underlying Treasury Bills, repo contracts, and staked ETH are held off-chain by the tokenization providers:
Provider | What they hold | Where |
Hashnote | US Treasury Bills and repo | Regulated custody, segregated accounts |
Spiko | US and Eurozone Treasury Bills | Regulated EU custody, segregated accounts |
M0 Foundation | Cash equivalents | Institutional custody |
Lido | Staked ETH with validators | On-chain, but via a validator set |
Each provider operates under a regulatory framework appropriate for its jurisdiction. The assets they hold on behalf of Usual are ring-fenced from the providers' own balance sheets — in the event of provider bankruptcy, the assets are returned to their rightful owners (Usual users) through the provider's legal structure.
Layer 3 — Independent audits
Multiple independent firms audit Usual's reserves and contracts:
Auditor | What they audit | Frequency |
PwC | Spiko's financial reserves (EUTBL, USTBL) | Ongoing |
Trail of Bits | Spiko smart contracts | At release, periodic |
Cantina | Usual smart contracts | Regular |
Sherlock | Usual smart contracts, bug bounty | Ongoing |
Spearbit | Usual smart contracts | Periodic |
Halborn | Usual smart contracts | Periodic |
Hexens | Usual smart contracts | Periodic |
Paladin | Usual smart contracts | Periodic |
Blackthorne | Usual smart contracts | Periodic |
Over 20 audits have been performed on the Usual contracts since launch. Audit reports are published on the docs.
The daily NAV publication (for EUR0)
Spiko publishes the daily NAV (Net Asset Value) of EUTBL on-chain through a Chainlink oracle. This means:
You can verify the value of each EUR0 in real time
The value is derived directly from the underlying Eurozone Treasury Bills' market value
No need to wait for monthly attestation reports
USYC (Hashnote) and other providers follow similar transparency patterns, with NAV updates and public reporting.
The Distribution contract (for revenue)
Revenue collection and distribution is handled by the Distribution contract at 0x75cC0C0DDD2Ccafe6EC415bE686267588011E36A. It enforces:
30% of revenue → locked USUALx holders (weekly, in USD0)
70% of revenue → DAO treasury
The contract's logic is public. Any community member can verify that revenue is flowing according to the Revenue Switch rules.
What about the DAO treasury itself?
The DAO treasury holds accumulated revenue (70% of all protocol revenue). As of September 2025, the treasury composition was approximately:
~67% stables and stablecoin derivatives
~16% ETH exposure
~11% USUAL and USUALx
~6% yield strategies
This composition is public, held in DAO-controlled multisigs, and is subject to governance votes on allocation and deployment.
What happens if a provider fails?
Each provider has a legal structure that ring-fences the assets held on behalf of Usual. In the event of provider insolvency:
The ring-fencing mechanism preserves the assets for their rightful owners
Usual's smart contract enables direct redemption routes when possible
The DAO can replace the provider with another via governance
Diversification across multiple providers limits exposure to any single failure
This is not a zero-risk situation, but the risk is heavily mitigated by design.
Note: Full transparency does not mean full safety. Reserves being visible does not eliminate smart contract risk, provider counterparty risk, or unexpected events. Read Risks & Security for a complete picture.
Technical note (for DeFi users): The DaoCollateral contract is verifiable on Ethereum mainnet. NAV oracles for Spiko tokens use Chainlink. DAO treasury addresses are published on gov.usual.money. The full audit registry with report PDFs is on docs.usual.money.
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