The rise of the tokenization asset management company Superstate, attracting hundreds of millions of dollars in just two years.

Tokenization is becoming one of the few narratives that can gain recognition from Wall Street and regulatory agencies in the current crypto cycle. Amid this RWA craze, the tokenized asset management company Superstate, led by the founder of Compound, has quietly grown into an important player with compliance as its cornerstone, attracting hundreds of millions of dollars to get on board.

Three tokenization products have been launched, receiving considerable funding support.

Tokenization is becoming a new growth engine for the global financial market, with the trend of real-world assets going on-chain rapidly heating up. From proof of concept to explosive growth on a scale of hundreds of billions of dollars, RWA has attracted numerous financial giants to lay out their plans. In this wave, Superstate, established just over two years ago, has secured a place in the tokenization market.

The founder of Superstate has extensive experience in the cryptocurrency industry. He previously founded Compound and in June 2020, he sparked the liquidity mining craze with the "lending is mining" mechanism, which once pushed Compound to the top position in DeFi, surpassing hundreds of billions of dollars at its TVL peak.

However, as the DeFi market continues to languish, user activity has plummeted, capital outflows are evident, and TVL is steadily declining. The once-hot on-chain financial ecosystem has entered a cooling period. In this tide retreat, the founder chose to leave Compound, turning to the more reality-based RWA track, and founded Superstate.

The leader in DeFi has embarked on a new venture, naturally attracting the attention of numerous investment institutions. Superstate completed two rounds of financing in its early stages, with a total amount reaching tens of millions of dollars.

Superstate's positioning is very clear. Under the financial regulatory framework of the United States, it develops on-chain financial products that can be accessed in compliance and are linked to real assets, targeting institutional investors. Currently, Superstate has launched three tokenized products covering three major segments: government bonds, crypto arbitrage, and stock assets, gradually building a diversified on-chain asset portfolio.

In February 2024, Superstate launched its first on-chain fund product, USTB. It is a short-term U.S. Treasury bond fund, registered with the SEC and fully compliant, with ownership registration regulated by U.S. federal laws; at the same time, its ownership records exist in token form on Ethereum, and the net asset value (NAV) is synchronized daily through smart contracts, allowing users to perform on-chain subscriptions, redemptions, and trading settlements.

USTB is mainly aimed at qualified institutional investors in the United States, supporting purchases and redemptions in USD or stablecoin USDC, with the product circulating on Ethereum, Solana, and Plume Network. Compared to traditional zero-yield stablecoins, USTB provides actual interest returns for on-chain funds while retaining the on-chain liquidity of the assets, significantly reducing the opportunity cost of capital.

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

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

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

USCC mainly 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, locking in price differential returns to build a risk-neutral and stable return investment portfolio. Additionally, USCC integrates Ethereum staking and short-term U.S. Treasury bonds to enhance overall capital efficiency and strengthen the portfolio's resistance to volatility.

USCC is another exploration of the fusion of on-chain asset composability and off-chain compliance. As of now, the asset management scale of USCC has exceeded $220 million, with an annualized strategy yield of approximately 16.17%, far exceeding the industry average level of traditional arbitrage products, and has established partnerships with several well-known protocols.

Layout tokenization of stocks to promote the tokenization compliance process

In May of this year, Superstate further expanded its product line by entering the tokenization of stocks sector, launching the new platform Opening Bell. This platform supports the direct issuance and trading of publicly registered stocks on the blockchain network, starting with support for Solana and gradually expanding to more on-chain ecosystems. Investors can directly hold and trade these compliant stock assets through crypto wallets, 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), which has so far attracted over fifty members from both traditional and crypto sectors.

The founder of Superstate saw the trend of the integration of DeFi and traditional finance in previous projects, but progress was difficult due to regulatory pressure. He is very optimistic about the potential of asset tokenization and has repeatedly stated that tokenization will become the core trend of future financial markets, bringing various types of assets onto the blockchain to achieve a more efficient, transparent, and compliant market structure.

Meanwhile, Superstate consistently prioritizes compliance as a core strategy. The founders believe that appropriate regulation should not be an obstacle, but rather a tool to make DeFi more inclusive, secure, and widely accepted. They predict that by the end of 2025, the security 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 US SEC, it is also actively promoting breakthroughs in tokenization policies and the construction of industry standards. For example, recently Superstate, in collaboration with relevant organizations, submitted a proposal advocating for the issuance and trading of securities on public blockchains. It also submitted a proposal for a relevant legal framework, arguing for the allowance of traditional assets such as stocks and bonds to be placed on-chain, and providing specific regulatory exemptions for non-custodial blockchain protocols.

It is worth mentioning that the founder of Superstate is actively involved in the current popular coin-stock play, such as exchanging NFTs for preferred shares worth $5.15 million in a certain company; he also invested about $2.03 million to acquire a majority stake in a liquor company, trying to establish a crypto treasury plan, which once triggered a dispute over control of the company.