Key Takeaways
- • Digital Asset CEO Yuval Rooz told TheStreet Roundtable at Token2049 that the U.S. Treasury will issue bills directly on blockchain rails within two to five years, answering "A hundred percent" when asked whether issuance would move on-chain.
- • Rooz argues Treasuries are the simplest asset class to tokenize, lacking the corporate actions, proxy votes and issuer complexity that complicate equities.
- • The Canton Network handles $300 billion to $400 billion in repo daily, according to Rooz, more than all crypto trading volume combined, much of it flowing through Broadridge's Distributed Ledger Repo platform.
- • DTCC plans to mint a subset of DTC-custodied Treasuries on Canton, and Ondo became the first tokenization company on DTCC's Fund/SERV.
- • Rooz says institutions remain cautious and that the industry must prove it can operate systemically critical infrastructure before assets are issued natively on-chain.
Summary
Yuval Rooz, co-founder and CEO of Digital Asset, which built the Canton Network, told TheStreet Roundtable at Token2049 that the U.S. Treasury will issue bills directly on blockchain rails, a shift he said could occur within two to five years. Asked whether the Treasury would issue on-chain rather than relying on secondary tokenized markets, Rooz responded "A hundred percent."
Rooz argued that Treasuries are a natural first asset class for blockchain issuance. "Stocks have corporate actions, they have proxy votes, they have issuers," he said. "(Treasuries are) a much simpler asset." Treasuries already serve as the main reserve asset behind stablecoins and money market funds, and tokenized U.S. Treasuries have grown 2.5 times over the past year, according to the article.
On the scale of tokenized repo, Rooz said crypto-native participants often doubt Canton's figures. He stated the network processes $300 billion to $400 billion in repo daily, more than all crypto trading volume combined, much of it through Broadridge's Distributed Ledger Repo platform. He placed U.S. Treasury repo at roughly $13.5 trillion per day. For comparison, the Office of Financial Research estimated the full U.S. repo market at about $12.6 trillion in average daily exposures in the third quarter of 2025.
The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) plans to mint a subset of DTC-custodied Treasuries on Canton and is working with other tokenization firms. Ondo became the first tokenization company on DTCC's Fund/SERV. Rooz also expects money market funds and stablecoins to be created and redeemed natively on-chain, a process that currently occurs only during operating hours.
Institutional adoption remains cautious. Rooz compared the hesitation to banks' early resistance to online banking and said the industry must demonstrate it can run systemically critical infrastructure. "When that happens, you're just going to see these assets issued natively into these networks," he said. Until then, tokenized Treasuries will continue operating alongside existing settlement systems rather than replacing them.
Rooz argued that Treasuries are a natural first asset class for blockchain issuance. "Stocks have corporate actions, they have proxy votes, they have issuers," he said. "(Treasuries are) a much simpler asset." Treasuries already serve as the main reserve asset behind stablecoins and money market funds, and tokenized U.S. Treasuries have grown 2.5 times over the past year, according to the article.
On the scale of tokenized repo, Rooz said crypto-native participants often doubt Canton's figures. He stated the network processes $300 billion to $400 billion in repo daily, more than all crypto trading volume combined, much of it through Broadridge's Distributed Ledger Repo platform. He placed U.S. Treasury repo at roughly $13.5 trillion per day. For comparison, the Office of Financial Research estimated the full U.S. repo market at about $12.6 trillion in average daily exposures in the third quarter of 2025.
The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) plans to mint a subset of DTC-custodied Treasuries on Canton and is working with other tokenization firms. Ondo became the first tokenization company on DTCC's Fund/SERV. Rooz also expects money market funds and stablecoins to be created and redeemed natively on-chain, a process that currently occurs only during operating hours.
Institutional adoption remains cautious. Rooz compared the hesitation to banks' early resistance to online banking and said the industry must demonstrate it can run systemically critical infrastructure. "When that happens, you're just going to see these assets issued natively into these networks," he said. Until then, tokenized Treasuries will continue operating alongside existing settlement systems rather than replacing them.
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