Global credit rating agency Moody’s Ratings has granted an ‘A-bf’ bond fund rating to Hill Lights International Limited, responsible for the issuance of OpenEden’s tokenized U.S. Treasury bills, known as TBILL Tokens. 

The “A-bf” rating is a high credit rating, suggesting that the bond fund is viewed as having a strong capacity to meet its financial goals. A superior grade would be the classic triple-A (AAA) rating. Moody’s is considered one of the top three global credit rating agencies, alongside Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings.

The fund primarily invests in U.S. Treasury bills, or government securities. They are considered a safe investment since they are backed by the U.S. government.

Tokenization is the process of converting rights to an asset into a digital token on a blockchain. It allows assets, ranging from bonds to real estate and artworks, to be traded online.

OpenEden’s TBILL is only available for institutional investors. It has over $36 million in total value locked at the time of writing, promising an estimated annual return of 4.99% while charging a transaction fee of 0.05%. According to the company’s website, the fund allows users to access U.S. Treasurys through smart contracts without restrictions on trading hours or location.

Moody’s has rated several tokenized bonds in the past, including those issued by the European Investment Bank (EIB).

T-bills onchain

Over $1.5 billion in U.S. Treasurys have now been tokenized, marking a significant milestone in the integration of traditional finance with blockchain technology.

Traditional Wall Street players like BlackRock and Franklin Templeton are driving this trend. BlackRock recently launched the USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), which rapidly grew to manage a significant portion of the market with $462.7 million in assets. Franklin’s OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX) holds $357.6 million and is tokenized on both the Stellar and Polygon blockchains.

In April, Woo X Exchange launched what is claimed as the world’s first tokenized T-bills for retail customers, allowing investors to earn yield on USDC holdings backed by U.S. T-bills.

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