Crypto startup Hamilton has unveiled tokenized United States Treasury bonds on Bitcoin’s layer-2 blockchains, marking what the company claims to be a pioneering launch in the field.
Hamilton U.S. T-Bills (HUST) will be accessible on the Stacks, Core, and BoB (Build on Bitcoin) Bitcoin layer-2 platforms. The first HUST transaction took place on July 4, as per a company statement.
Combining the BTC Network’s Stability with Enhanced Yield
Utilizing Bitcoin’s layer-2 decentralized finance ecosystems, this innovation merges the Bitcoin network’s stability with the U.S. dollar’s reliability. Bitcoin layer-2s improve the network’s scalability and functionality. Hamilton’s co-founder and CEO, Kasstawi, elaborated on this approach. Notably, an investor in the blockchain sector named Mohamed Elkasstawi is related to this venture.
Source: Hamilton
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Tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), including T-Bills, real estate, and other financial instruments, are now part of the Web3 economy, allowing for swapping, transferring, and leveraging. The total value locked in these assets has reached $8 billion. The U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy has made T-Bills competitive with stablecoin yields, offering much lower risk.
Since 2023, the Bitcoin network has introduced three token standards. Besides Bitcoin (BTC), Ordinals were launched at the beginning of that year to support non-fungible tokens inscribed on satoshis. In April 2024, Runes were introduced to facilitate the issuance of altcoins directly on the Bitcoin blockchain.
The increased traffic on the Bitcoin network, which has led to slower processing times and higher fees, has spurred the development of Bitcoin layer-2 solutions. The Bitcoin layer-2 Lightning Network was created to expedite BTC transfers beyond the capabilities of layer-1.
Layer-2 solutions also enable smart contract-dependent decentralized finance, termed BTCfi, on the Bitcoin network.
Core DAO, which hosts HUST, operates a layer-1 blockchain alongside its BTC layer-2 solution, supported by cryptocurrency exchanges such as Bitget and MEXC.
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