Tokenized US Treasury Market Surpasses $10.8 Billion Amid Economic Uncertainty

The tokenized US Treasury market has experienced significant growth, exceeding $1 billion since the start of 2026, despite ongoing macroeconomic challenges and concerns about the increasing national debt of the United States. According to Cointelegraph, tokenized US Treasurys are government debt instruments represented on blockchain as tokens, classified as real-world assets (RWAs). The market capitalization of these tokenized Treasurys has risen to over $10.8 billion from $8.9 billion on January 1, as reported by RWA.xyz. The market has expanded 50 times since 2024, driven in part by the launch of BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) in March 2024, which now boasts a market cap exceeding $1.2 billion. This growth has persisted despite a downturn in the broader cryptocurrency market that began in October 2025, alongside rising US government debt levels and investor uncertainty about the macroeconomic outlook for 2026. The World Uncertainty Index, which tracks investor sentiment, reached record highs in 2025, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. In December 2025, the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), a global provider of clearing and settlement services, announced plans to introduce an asset tokenization service, starting with US Treasurys. DTCC CEO Frank La Salla stated that the service would eventually expand to include a wide range of assets, with exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and equities expected to follow the tokenization of US Treasurys on the Canton network. As the largest clearinghouse globally, DTCC settled $3.7 quadrillion in transaction volume in 2024. US Treasurys are regarded as a cornerstone of global and corporate finance due to the deep liquidity of the US Treasury market. Corporations and institutional investors often use short-term Treasurys, with durations of one year or less, as a substitute for physical cash. Proponents of the technology suggest that the rise in tokenized US Treasurys and other government debt could generate substantial revenue for blockchain networks where these assets are minted.