Global credit rating agency Moody’s Ratings has granted an “A-bf” bond fund rating to Hill Lights International Limited, responsible for the issuance of OpenEden’s tokenized United States Treasury bills, known as TBILL Tokens. 

The “A-bf” rating is a high credit rating, suggesting that the bond fund is viewed as having a strong capacity to meet its financial goals. A superior grade would be the classic triple-A (AAA) rating. Moody’s is considered one of the top three global credit rating agencies, alongside Standard Poor’s and Fitch Ratings.

The fund primarily invests in U.S. Treasury bills or government securities. They are considered a safe investment since they are backed by the U.S. government.

Tokenization is the process of converting rights to an asset into a digital token on a blockchain. It allows assets, ranging from bonds to real estate and artworks, to be traded online.

OpenEden’s TBILL is only available for institutional investors. It has over $36 million in total value locked at the time of writing, promising an estimated annual return of 4.99% while charging a transaction fee of 0.05%. According to the company’s website, the fund allows users to access U.S. Treasurys through smart contracts without restrictions on trading hours or location.

Moody’s assigns ‘A-bf’ rating for OpenEden’s tokenized fund image 0 Source: Eugene Ng

Moody’s has rated several tokenized bonds in the past, including those issued by the European Investment Bank (EIB).

T-bills onchain

Over $1.5 billion in U.S. Treasurys have now been tokenized, marking a significant milestone in the integration of traditional finance with blockchain technology.

Traditional Wall Street players like BlackRock and Franklin Templeton are driving this trend . BlackRock recently launched the USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), which rapidly grew to manage a significant portion of the market with $462.7 million in assets. Franklin’s OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX) holds $357.6 million and is tokenized on both the Stellar and Polygon blockchains.

In April, Woo X Exchange launched what is claimed as the world’s first tokenized T-bills for retail customers, allowing investors to earn yield on USD Coin ( USDC ) holdings backed by U.S. T-bills.

Magazine:  Crypto exposes sudden rift among Democrats months ahead of election