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What is Usual?

Usual is a decentralized stablecoin protocol that issues USD0, a permissionless fiat-equivalent stablecoin fully backed by tokenized real-world assets, primarily short-duration US Treasury Bills and overnight reverse repurchase agreements. The project was founded by Pierre Person, a former French parliamentarian, alongside co-founders Adli Takkal Bataille and Hugo Sallé de Chou, and is operated by Usual Labs with backing from investors including IOSG Ventures, Kraken Ventures, GSR, Mantle, and StarkWare.

The protocol officially launched its mainnet in July 2024 and rapidly scaled, with USD0's total value locked surpassing $1 billion within months of its debut, placing it among the fastest-growing stablecoin launches in DeFi history. The USUAL governance token, which began trading on major exchanges in December 2024 following a Binance Launchpool campaign, was designed to redistribute protocol ownership and revenue to the community rather than concentrate profits with a centralized issuer, positioning Usual as a direct philosophical counterweight to Tether (USDT) and Circle (USDC).

Users can mint USD0 by depositing approved real-world asset collateral, then lock it into bUSD0 (originally launched as USD0++), a liquid bond that keeps USD0 locked until a fixed maturity, 11 June 2028 for the current series, in exchange for daily USUAL rewards. The ecosystem has expanded through integrations with Curve, Pendle, Morpho, Euler, and Arbitrum, with USD0 and bUSD0 becoming widely used collateral across major DeFi money markets.

Usual has not been without controversy: in January 2025, the protocol modified the redemption mechanism for USD0++, introducing a floor price of $0.87 for instant unstaking unless users opted for a longer unlock path, which triggered sharp price volatility in USUAL, significant depegs in secondary markets, and heated community debate about governance transparency.

Despite the turbulence, the protocol responded by accelerating its revenue-sharing rollout, launching USUAL staking with direct protocol fee distribution, and publishing more detailed reserve attestations to reassure holders. Usual operates primarily on Ethereum mainnet with plans for multichain expansion, and its on-chain reserves are held in bankruptcy-remote special purpose vehicles managed through partners like Hashnote's USYC and M^0, giving the stablecoin institutional-grade collateral quality while preserving on-chain composability.

The team positions the protocol as a new model for stablecoin economics where every dollar minted generates yield that flows back to users and token holders rather than to a corporate balance sheet, a structural shift made possible by the tokenization of Treasury instruments and the maturation of real-world asset infrastructure in 2024 and 2025. As of its current state, Usual continues to rank among the top decentralized stablecoin protocols by TVL, with USUAL listed on Binance, Bybit, KuCoin, and Kraken, and the project remains actively developed with ongoing governance proposals, new vault integrations, and deeper expansion into tokenized private credit and institutional RWA partnerships.

Its combination of transparent reserves, yield redistribution, and a politically minded founding team gives Usual a distinct identity in a sector long dominated by opaque centralized issuers, though its long-term success will depend on navigating regulatory scrutiny around tokenized securities and maintaining community trust after the USD0++ redemption incident.

Key Features of Usual

• Real-World Asset Backing: USD0 is collateralized exclusively by short-duration US Treasury Bills and overnight reverse repurchase agreements held in bankruptcy-remote structures. This eliminates the commercial paper and opaque reserve risks historically associated with centralized stablecoins, ensuring 1:1 backing verifiable through regular attestations.
• Community Yield Redistribution: Unlike Tether or Circle, which retain Treasury Bill yields as corporate profit, Usual channels that revenue back to USUAL stakers and bUSD0 holders. This inverts the traditional stablecoin business model and aligns token value directly with stablecoin adoption and growth.
• bUSD0 Liquid Bond: bUSD0, formerly USD0++, is a liquid bond: USD0 stays locked until a fixed maturity, 11 June 2028 for the current series, while holders earn daily USUAL rewards and can trade the position on secondary markets such as Curve and Pendle. Under UIP-12, each newly minted bUSD0 comes with an rt-bUSD0 redemption token that allows early exit at par.
• Permissionless Governance: USUAL token holders vote on collateral onboarding, fee parameters, emission schedules, and treasury deployments through an on-chain governance framework. This gives the community direct control over protocol evolution rather than delegating decisions to a central issuer.
• Deep DeFi Integrations: USD0 and bUSD0 are integrated across Morpho, Euler, Pendle, Curve, and Arbitrum ecosystems, enabling lending, yield trading, and liquidity provision. These integrations make Usual's assets composable building blocks for broader DeFi strategies beyond simple holding.

Usual Use Cases

• Yield-Bearing Savings: Users holding USD0 can lock it into bUSD0 (formerly USD0++) to earn daily USUAL rewards funded by Treasury Bill revenue, without surrendering custody to a centralized institution. This offers a crypto-native alternative to traditional money market funds with on-chain transparency.
• DeFi Collateral: USD0 and bUSD0 serve as high-quality collateral on lending markets like Morpho and Euler, allowing users to borrow against their stablecoin holdings while continuing to accrue yield. This unlocks capital efficiency for traders and treasuries managing on-chain liquidity.
• Stablecoin Liquidity Provision: Liquidity providers deposit USD0 into Curve pools paired with USDC, USDT, or crvUSD to earn trading fees, CRV rewards, and USUAL incentives. Deep stablecoin liquidity helps maintain USD0's peg while generating competitive returns for LPs.
• Governance Participation: USUAL holders vote on protocol parameters, new RWA collateral types, and revenue allocation, directly shaping the future of the platform. Staked USUAL also captures a share of protocol fees, rewarding active governance participants.
• Treasury Diversification: DAOs and crypto-native treasuries use USD0 to park idle capital in a yield-bearing, fully collateralized stablecoin without exposure to centralized issuer risk. The transparent RWA backing makes it attractive for organizations requiring auditable reserves.

Usual Tokenomics

Total Supply

USUAL's maximum supply is 3 billion tokens: Usual governance proposal UIP-11 cut it from the original 4 billion in November 2025. UIP-11 also replaced the original emission model, which tied new USUAL to protocol growth, with fixed daily allocations, and the full supply is projected to be distributed by June 2028.

Circulating

Circulating supply at launch in December 2024 was approximately 494 million USUAL. Daily emissions now go to the Usual DAO, USUALx stakers, insiders (team and investors), holders of bUSD0 (formerly USD0++) and ETH0, and liquidity providers.

Utility

USUAL is the governance and revenue-sharing token of the Usual protocol, granting holders voting rights and, when staked, a direct claim on protocol revenue generated from USD0 collateral yield. It also functions as the primary incentive asset distributed to bUSD0 holders and liquidity providers.

Emission

Since UIP-11 in November 2025, about 1.35 million USUAL are emitted each day in fixed allocations, roughly half the previous rate, and emissions no longer vary with collateral yield, TVL growth or protocol revenue. About 41% goes to the Usual DAO, 22% each to USUALx staking rewards and insiders, 10% to bUSD0 and ETH0 holders and 5% to liquidity providers.

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