In the wave of tokenization, Superstate quietly rises to become an important player

In the current cryptocurrency market cycle, tokenization is becoming a prominent trend, attracting not only the attention of Wall Street but also the recognition of regulatory agencies. Amid this wave of tokenization, the asset management company Superstate, founded by Compound founder Robert Leshner and based on compliance, has developed into a significant player in the tokenization market, attracting hundreds of millions of dollars in funding.

Launch multiple tokenization products and receive substantial funding support

With the rising trend of real-world assets being put on the blockchain, tokenization is becoming a new growth point in the global financial market. From the proof-of-concept stage to the current explosive growth of hundreds of billions of dollars, real-world assets (RWA) have attracted the attention of many traditional financial giants. In this wave, Superstate, which has been established for just over two years, has already secured a certain position in the tokenization market.

Superstate is Leshner's new attempt in the cryptocurrency industry. Previously, he was well-known for founding Compound, which sparked a liquidity mining craze in June 2020 through its "borrow-to-mine" mechanism, propelling Compound to a leading position in the DeFi space, with its total locked value (TVL) peaking at several billion dollars.

However, as the DeFi market continues to be sluggish, user activity is declining, capital outflows are evident, and TVL is continuously decreasing, the once booming on-chain financial ecosystem has entered a cooling period. In this retreat, Leshner chose to leave Compound, turning to the more realistically grounded RWA track, and founded Superstate.

As a leader in the DeFi space, Superstate has successfully completed two rounds of funding in its early stages, raising a total of tens of millions of dollars, with investment from several well-known institutions.

Superstate's positioning is very clear, which is to develop on-chain financial products that are compliant and linked to real assets for institutional investors under the U.S. financial regulatory framework. Currently, Superstate has launched three tokenized products covering three major sub-sectors: government bonds, crypto arbitrage, and equity assets, gradually building a diversified on-chain asset portfolio.

In February 2024, Superstate launched its first on-chain fund product USTB. This is a short-term U.S. Treasury Fund, registered and fully compliant with the SEC, with ownership records regulated by U.S. federal law. At the same time, its ownership records exist in token form on Ethereum and are synchronized daily with the net asset value (NAV) through a smart contract, allowing users to conduct on-chain subscriptions, redemptions, and trading settlements.

USTB is primarily aimed at qualified institutional investors in the United States and supports subscriptions and redemptions in US dollars or the stablecoin USDC. The product circulates on Ethereum, Solana, and Plume Network. Compared to traditional zero-yield stablecoins, USTB provides actual interest returns for on-chain funds while maintaining the on-chain liquidity of the assets, significantly reducing the opportunity cost of funds.

This design makes USTB a fundamental yield asset for an increasing number of DeFi protocols. Several well-known projects have included USTB in their asset allocation or as an underlying support asset.

As of August 6, the asset management scale of USTB has approached $420 million, with a 7-day yield of 4.04%, showing outstanding performance among tokenization U.S. Treasury bond funds.

In July 2024, Superstate launched its second investment product, the Superstate Crypto Carry Fund(USCC). This is an on-chain crypto arbitrage fund aimed at qualified purchasers, with a core strategy based on the "cash and carry" mechanism found in traditional finance.

USCC primarily focuses on the positive basis of the Bitcoin and Ethereum futures markets by buying spot assets while selling corresponding futures contracts of the same duration to lock in the price difference profits, thereby constructing a risk-neutral and stable return investment portfolio. Additionally, USCC integrates Ethereum staking and short-term US Treasury bonds to enhance overall capital efficiency and strengthen the portfolio's ability to withstand volatility.

USCC can be considered another exploration of the integration of on-chain asset composability and off-chain compliance. Currently, the asset management scale of USCC has exceeded $220 million, with an annualized strategy return rate of approximately 16.17%, far higher than the industry average level of traditional arbitrage products, and has established cooperation with multiple protocols.

Layout Tokenization of Stocks, Promoting the Compliance Process

In May of this year, Superstate further expanded its product line, venturing into the tokenization of stocks with the launch of the new platform Opening Bell. This platform supports the direct issuance and trading of publicly registered stocks on the blockchain network, with the first phase supporting Solana and gradually expanding to more on-chain ecosystems. Investors can hold and trade these compliant stock assets directly through a crypto wallet, achieving direct interaction between traditional equity and DeFi protocols. Currently, Opening Bell has partnered with multiple companies to promote the on-chain tokenization of their stock assets.

To promote the adoption of tokenization in the financial markets, Superstate has also launched the Superstate Industry Committee (SIC), attracting over fifty members from traditional and crypto sectors to join.

Leshner saw the trend of DeFi merging with traditional finance as early as the Compound era, but progress was difficult due to regulatory pressure. Before founding Superstate, Compound had attempted to launch fixed-rate products aimed at enterprises and institutions, but ultimately shut down due to market fluctuations and other reasons.

Leshner is very optimistic about the potential of asset tokenization. He believes that tokenization is a more efficient way to record ownership, eliminating cumbersome intermediaries and significantly reducing transaction and settlement costs. In his view, tokenization will become a core trend in future financial markets, bringing various types of assets onto the blockchain and achieving a more efficient, transparent, and compliant market structure.

At the same time, Leshner has always considered compliance to be a core strategy. He believes that appropriate regulation should not be an obstacle, but rather a tool to make DeFi more inclusive, secure, and widely accepted. He predicts that by the end of 2025, the securities tokenization market will truly take off in a more mature regulatory environment.

Regarding compliance, Superstate has intensified its efforts this year. In addition to registering as a transfer agent with the U.S. SEC, aiming to fully integrate tokenized assets into the existing financial regulatory framework, it is also actively promoting breakthroughs in tokenization policies and the establishment of industry standards. For example, Superstate collaborated with a lobbying organization to submit a proposal called Project Open, advocating for the issuance and trading of securities on public blockchains, and submitted relevant legal framework proposals, arguing for allowing traditional assets like stocks and bonds to be tokenized on-chain, and providing specific regulatory exemptions for non-custodial blockchain protocols.

It is worth mentioning that Leshner himself is also actively involved in the current popular coin-stock gameplay, including exchanging company preferred shares using NFTs, acquiring shares in liquor companies, and attempting to establish a crypto treasury program.