German tokenization protocol Midas has launched a tokenized US Treasury bill on the Algorand blockchain, offering European investors exposure to yield-bearing government bonds with no investment minimum required.
The mTBILL is a tokenized certificate that references short-term US Treasury exchange-traded funds (ETFs), Midas announced on May 29.
The first atomic swap was executed by a third party on the Algorand blockchain on May 27. As part of the transaction, $2 million in USDC (USDC) was exchanged for mTBILLS.
Midas says the mTBILL offers a lower barrier to entry for retail investors than existing tokenized money market funds, such as BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), which requires a minimum investment of $5 million.
The mTBILL, by contrast, has no investment minimums, potentially making it more attractive for retail investors. The mTBILL offers a net yield of 4.06% as of May 29.
Algorand is a decentralized network known for offering scalable applications and rapid transactions. It has a $1.84 billion market capitalization, according to CoinMarketCap.
The Algorand Foundation commented on the mTBILL launch, saying, “These assets will make their way to our DeFi ecosystem in the coming weeks.”
Related: US real estate asset manager launches $100M tokenized fund with institutional backing
Tokenized money market funds on the rise
Tokenized money market funds are gaining popularity due to increasing institutional adoption of digital assets. As reported by Cointelegraph, BlackRock’s BUIDL has seen a surge in total value locked, with funds more than tripling over a three-week period.
In March, asset manager Fidelity filed for a blockchain version of its US dollar money market fund, aiming for a May 30 launch. According to regulatory filings submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Fidelity said its OnChain share class would help provide verifiable tracking of its Treasury Digital Fund.
Franklin Templeton also joined the tokenization race by launching its OnChain US Government Money Fund on Solana and Base, Coinbase’s layer-2 network.
Tokenized Treasury funds have become one of the hottest corners of the real-world asset (RWA) market. Excluding stablecoins, they account for roughly 31% of tokenized RWAs, according to industry data.
Related: Bitget enters real-world asset race with yield-bearing BGUSD stable asset
