In a move that expands institutional access to yield-bearing digital assets, Binance has integrated Circle’s USYC token as eligible collateral for over-the-counter derivatives.
The development strengthens ties between two major players in the crypto space and marks a notable shift in Circle’s positioning following its earlier alignment with Coinbase.
The addition of USYC will allow Binance’s institutional clients to use the token in a range of trading scenarios, bringing tokenized fixed-income exposure directly into crypto derivatives. The asset, which functions similarly to BlackRock’s BUIDL, is backed by Treasury-linked structures and is now natively available on BNB Chain, Binance’s blockchain.
Catherine Chen, who heads Binance’s VIP and Institutional division, said the move underscores the exchange’s goal of providing more efficient and secure infrastructure for sophisticated market participants.
The integration follows Circle’s acquisition of Hashnote, a tokenization platform built by Cumberland Labs, which helped lay the groundwork for USYC’s entry into broader financial use cases. According to data from RWA.xyz, nearly $700 million in assets tied to US government debt are already represented on-chain through structures like reverse repos — many of which are associated with USYC.
Functioning as a hybrid between stablecoin liquidity and Treasury exposure, USYC offers rapid settlement and serves as a yield-generating asset that’s becoming increasingly attractive to exchanges, custodians, and prime brokers.
By leveraging Binance’s scale and Circle’s expanding on-chain infrastructure, the partnership could reshape how institutional players approach collateralization and asset efficiency in the digital markets.
