Ethereum (ETH)-based tokenised U.S. Treasuries have grown to an $8 billion market in about six months, accelerating the convergence of regulated finance and blockchain. As major financial firms such as BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, Fidelity and WisdomTree enter one after another, an assessment is emerging that Ethereum is becoming core infrastructure for institutional tokenised assets.

On May 7 (local time), blockchain outlet Cryptopolitan reported that the Ethereum-based tokenised U.S. Treasury market doubled to $8 billion in May from about $4 billion in November 2025.

Tokenised Treasuries split ownership of U.S. government bonds into blockchain-based tokens for trading. The underlying asset is similar in nature to traditional Treasuries, but the settlement and transfer methods differ. Because trading takes place on a blockchain, settlement is available 24 hours a day including weekends and holidays, and the typical 1 to 2 business-day settlement time in traditional markets can be shortened to seconds. Another factor cited for market growth is that access is possible without a U.S. bank account as long as investors have a crypto wallet.

A key difference from traditional Treasuries is that they can be combined with decentralised finance, or DeFi. Tokenised Treasuries can be used as collateral for stablecoin loans, or programmed to automatically distribute interest through smart contracts. Transparency from recording transaction histories and fund flows on a public blockchain is also seen as an attraction for institutional investors.

A small number of large products are currently leading the market. BlackRock's BUIDL fund, managed by Securitize, is the largest at about $2.63 billion. Ondo Finance's USDY stands at about $2.14 billion, and Franklin Templeton's iBENJI is about $2.1 billion. Centrifuge's JTRSY, WisdomTree's WTGXX and Superstate's USTB are also expanding market share.

An analysis says smart-contract functions and institutional friendliness are behind Ethereum's position as the central chain. Ethereum can reliably implement complex financial logic such as automatically distributing interest to wallets holding tokens. By contrast, Bitcoin has limited programming functionality, and Solana has fast processing speed but its relatively short operating history is cited as a weakness.

Most major tokenised Treasury products either operate on Ethereum or use Ethereum as the core chain even when they support multiple chains. Ethereum-based tokenised Treasuries stand at about $8 billion, far ahead of BNB Chain's $3.4 billion. Solana, Stellar and the XRP Ledger are each below $1 billion.

The backdrop to the rapid market growth is cited as both the interest-rate environment and institutional inflows. In a period of high U.S. interest rates, the appeal of Treasuries that can offer annual returns of about 5 to 10 percent has grown, and the combination with blockchain-based efficiency is said to have accelerated institutional inflows. Ethereum's price rising to about $2,464 in May from about $1,748 in February is also cited as a factor that increased expectations for higher collateral value.

Still, it is difficult to be certain the growth will continue. If the U.S. Federal Reserve cuts interest rates, the appeal of Treasury yields could weaken, and regulation of tokenised securities in the United States is also not fully in place.

Even so, the market is producing an assessment that Ethereum is expanding beyond a simple cryptocurrency platform into the role of institutional financial infrastructure. Future interest-rate moves and the pace of U.S. regulatory development are expected to emerge as key variables for growth in the tokenised Treasury market.