Tether, Tokenization Pioneers Unveil Startup Focused on GENIUS-Aligned Digital Dollars

News Back to menu News Markets Finance Tech Policy Focus Prices Back to menu Prices Data Back to menu Data Trade Data Derivatives Order Book Data On-Chain Data API Research & Insights Data Catalogue AI & Machine Learning Indices Back to menu Indices Multi-Asset Indices Reference Rates Strategies and Services API Insights & Announcements Documentation & Governance Research Back to menu Research Events Back to menu Events CoinDesk: Policy & Regulation Consensus Hong Kong Consensus Miami Sponsored Back to menu Sponsored Thought Leadership Press Releases CoinW MEXC Phemex Advertise Stellar Videos Back to menu Videos CoinDesk Daily Shorts Editor's Picks Podcasts Back to menu Podcasts CoinDesk Podcast Network Markets Daily Gen C Unchained with Laura Shin The Mining Pod Newsletters Back to menu Newsletters CoinDesk Headlines Crypto Daybook Americas State of Crypto Crypto Long & Short Crypto for Advisors Webinars Back to menu Webinars English Select Language English en Deutsch de Français fr Español es Русский ru Українська uk Italiano it Nederlands nl 한국어 ko Filipino fil Português pt-br 中文 zh Search / News Prices Data Indices Research Events Sponsored Search / Sign In Sign Up BTC $ 117,279.49 0.83 % ETH $ 4,581.55 1.94 % XRP $ 3.1152 3.43 % USDT $ 1.0003 0.00 % BNB $ 993.70 4.23 % SOL $ 246.64 5.25 % USDC $ 0.9997 0.01 % ADA $ 0.9138 4.79 % TRX $ 0.3463 1.56 % DOGE $ 0.2794 3.94 % HYPE $ 57.90 4.79 % LINK $ 24.21 4.89 % AVAX $ 32.92 9.94 % SUI $ 3.8877 8.06 % USDE $ 1.0010 0.01 % BCH $ 639.64 6.74 % XLM $ 0.3977 3.27 % HBAR $ 0.2470 5.35 % WBT $ 43.89 0.88 % CRO $ 0.2424 6.77 % BTC $ 117,279.49 0.83 % ETH $ 4,581.55 1.94 % XRP $ 3.1152 3.43 % USDT $ 1.0003 0.00 % BNB $ 993.70 4.23 % SOL $ 246.64 5.25 % USDC $ 0.9997 0.01 % ADA $ 0.9138 4.79 % TRX $ 0.3463 1.56 % DOGE $ 0.2794 3.94 % HYPE $ 57.90 4.79 % LINK $ 24.21 4.89 % AVAX $ 32.92 9.94 % SUI $ 3.8877 8.06 % USDE $ 1.0010 0.01 % BCH $ 639.64 6.74 % XLM $ 0.3977 3.27 % HBAR $ 0.2470 5.35 % WBT $ 43.89 0.88 % CRO $ 0.2424 6.77 % Ad Finance Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Tether, Tokenization Pioneers Unveil Startup Focused on GENIUS-Aligned Digital Dollars STBL transforms tokenized securities such as money market funds into freely usable stablecoins, and allow-listed, interest-accruing NFTs. By Ian Allison | Edited by Sheldon Reback Sep 18, 2025, 10:08 a.m. STBL CEO Avtar Sehra (Kaio) What to know : STBL’s novel structure mirrors traditional finance bond-stripping mechanics. The issued stablecoin design is intended to remain a non-security in spirit and align with the GENIUS Act. Traditional finance has long had a way of splitting capital from coupons, allowing investors to separate interest-payment flows from the principal. Now, a team of stablecoin and blockchain-based real-world asset (RWA) pioneers is doing the same for tokenized assets. A new startup, STBL , emulates TradFi's zero-coupon strip structures by converting digital assets into a dollar-pegged stablecoin and yield-bearing non-fungible token (NFT) . Just as with the traditional equivalent, the components can be held separately, allowing investors to keep the part that appeals to them and sell the other bit to counterparties with different attitudes to risk. STORY CONTINUES BELOW Don't miss another story. Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today . See all newsletters Sign me up By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . The product, currently in beta testing, goes beyond just packaging risk into different tranches. It also widens the stablecoin issuance model. With regular stablecoins, like USDT, the issuing company, in this case Tether, keeps the returns on the Treasuries they hold to maintain the token's peg to the dollar. It's profitable business, Tether reported $4.9 billion net profit in the second quarter. With STBL, whoever deposits a tokenized asset into the system becomes the minter and keeps the returns. “Our mission at STBL is to evolve stablecoins from corporate products into public infrastructure,” said STBL co-founder Reeve Collins , who was also a cofounder of Tether. “For the first time, minters, not issuers, retain the value of reserves. This is the defining shift of Stablecoin 2.0: money that is stable, compliant, and built to serve the community.” When a yield-bearing on-chain asset — this could be any yield-bearing RWA, such as Franklin Templeton’s BENJI, BlackRock’s BUIDL or Ondo’s USDY — is deposited and locked into the STBL protocol, it splits into a stablecoin (USST) that can circulate and serve as collateral or reserves in decentralized finance (DeFi) and a separate, yield-accruing non-fungible token (NFT) called YLD. The design is intended to remain a non-security in spirit and align with the U.S. GENIUS Act and other regulatory frameworks by separating principal from yield, said CEO Avtar Sehra, who is also a co-founder of the project and was CEO and founder of Kaio (formerly Libre Capital ). “When a user who’s already whitelisted with a Franklin Templeton or BlackRock fund locks that asset into STBL, they receive an NFT that controls the vault,” Sehra said in an interview. “You hold the NFT and accrue interest, while the stable asset can be used as collateral, as reserves, or to mint an ecosystem-specific stablecoin aligned with GENIUS Act requirements.” In the year or so before STBL started up, Sehra and Collins were looking at how RWAs or tokenized securities could be used in DeFi; asking how they worked as collateral; how money market funds became the reserves for minting stablecoins, and so on. There had been a view that wrapping an asset , that is taking a tokenized security and placing it into a vault, meant the asset no longer counted as a security as far as U.S. regulations were concerned. But it's not clear that wrapping something "deviates from or extracts the security-like essence" of the asset, Sehra said. To ensure the USST stablecoin component isn't viewed as a security required a mechanism to maintain the dollar peg. This is achieved by ensuring it is slightly over collateralized coupled with an incentive system related to mint fees and burn credits should deviation happen in a volatile market. Sehra referred to STBL's peg-maintenance system as “synthetic” rather than “algorithmic.” “The reason I call it a synthetic is because, even though it has this interest-rate algorithmic component to it, it is 103% over collateralized with pure money market assets,” he said. “As a result of this novel structure, eligible participants that hold permitted RWAs can mint and burn compliant stablecoins. So while minters can hold the yield, the stable asset can be openly used without breaking the non-yield bearing requirements of the GENIUS Act. That's exactly how STBL operates.” The protocol’s decentralized governance token, also called STBL, has been added to Binance Alpha, Binance Futures and Kraken Spot, and will list on other spot exchanges soon, Sehra said. The Sept. 16 debut of the STBL governance token has been lauded as one of the most successful token generating events of 2025, Sehra added. It launched at $100 million fully diluted value, and demand pushed it over $1 billion. It is currently at $1.3 billion , having hit an all time high of about $2.3 billion within 24 hours. The next steps involve a $100 million minting using Franklin Templeton’s BENJI token, Sehra said, and also the announcement of several other partnerships, including with a U.S. based payments firm. The protocol is due to open to the public in the fourth quarter. Stablecoins Tokenization DeFi Finance More For You Ripple, Franklin Templeton and DBS to Offer Token Lending and Trading By Omkar Godbole | Edited by Parikshit Mishra 5 hours ago DBS is considering allowing holders of Franklin Templeton's money market fund to pledge their tokens as collateral to borrow funds. What to know : DBS, Franklin Templeton, and Ripple have signed an MOU to offer trading and lending solutions using tokenized money market funds on the XRP Ledger. Franklin Templeton will tokenize its money market fund on the XRP Ledger, enabling DBS clients to balance portfolios between a stablecoin and a yield-generating fund. The collaboration aims to enhance liquidity and efficiency in global financial markets, with potential for sgBENJI tokens to be used as collateral for borrowing. Read full story Latest Crypto News BNB Hits $1,000 All-Time High as Binance Nears DOJ Deal, Rumors of CZ’s Return Grow 35 minutes ago Australia's Financial Watchdog Offers Exemptions to Stablecoin Intermediaries 1 hour ago Bitcoin ETF Inflows Reverse as Fed’s Hawkish Outlook Triggers Market Caution 2 hours ago BTC, XRP, SOL, DOGE Resume Slow Grind Higher After Fed, Dollar Index Is Resilient Too 4 hours ago Ripple, Franklin Templeton and DBS to Offer Token Lending and Trading 5 hours ago Asia Morning Briefing: Bittensor’s dTAO Shows a Retail Path to AI Exposure Beyond Robinhood’s SPVs 11 hours ago Top Stories BTC, XRP, SOL, DOGE Resume Slow Grind Higher After Fed, Dollar Index Is Resilient Too 4 hours ago SEC Makes Spot Crypto ETF Listing Process Easier, Approves Grayscale's Large-Cap Crypto Fund 12 hours ago Ripple, Franklin Templeton and DBS to Offer Token Lending and Trading 5 hours ago Bitcoin ETF Inflows Reverse as Fed’s Hawkish Outlook Triggers Market Caution 2 hours ago First U.S. XRP ETF Launches Sept. 18, CME to List Options on XRP Futures Oct. 13 13 hours ago Australia's Financial Watchdog Offers Exemptions to Stablecoin Intermediaries 1 hour ago About About Us Masthead Careers Blog Investor Relations Contact Contact Us Accessiblility Advertise Sitemap System status News Markets Finance Tech Policy Focus Videos CoinDesk Daily Editors Picks Shorts Spotlight Podcasts CoinDesk Podcast Network Markets Daily Gen C Unchained with Laura Shin The Mining Pod Cryptocurrencies Prices Bitcoin (BTC) Ethereum (ETH) XRP Solana (SOL) Data Trade Data Deriviatives OrderBook Data On-Chain Data API Data Catalogue AI & Machine Learning Indices Mult-Asset Indices Reference Rates Strategies & Services Insights & Announcements Documentation & Governance Events CoinDesk: Policy & Regulation Consensus Hong Kong Consensus Miami Webinars Sponsored Thought Leadership Press Release MEXC Phemex Stellar Research Research Reports Ethics Privacy Terms of Use Cookie Settings Do Not Sell My Info X icon © 2025 CoinDesk, Inc. Disclosure & Polices : CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies . CoinDesk has adopted a set of principles aimed at ensuring the integrity, editorial independence and freedom from bias of its publications. CoinDesk is part of Bullish (NYSE:BLSH), an institutionally focused global digital asset platform that provides market infrastructure and information services. Bullish owns and invests in digital asset businesses and digital assets and CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive Bullish equity-based compensation.