Spark Drops $1B Bomb on Tokenized Treasuries Race—Wall Street Left Scrambling
DeFi heavyweight Spark just doubled down—hard. Their latest $1 billion commitment cements their lead in the tokenized treasuries arms race, leaving traditional finance players choking on blockchain dust.
Why it matters: Tokenized U.S. Treasuries now represent over $1.2 trillion in crypto-collateralized value. Spark’s move signals this isn’t just a niche play—it’s the future of institutional DeFi.
The kicker? While banks spend millions ’exploring blockchain initiatives,’ Spark’s engineering team probably built this infrastructure between coffee breaks. Another reminder that in fintech, speed eats bureaucracy for breakfast.
Tokenization nation
The latest allocation offers a clearer picture of how tokenized RWAs, primarily short-term U.S. Treasuries, are being actively adopted as primary reserves by major DeFi protocols seeking to stabilize yields and reduce exposure to crypto-native volatility.
The Tokenization Grand Prix, launched in July 2024, was an open call for asset issuers to propose RWA products for Spark’s stablecoin-backed treasury.
Thirty-nine applications were reviewed by Steakhouse Financial, a firm embedded in the Spark ecosystem with experience underwriting RWA protocols.
Evaluations focused on liquidity, pricing transparency, and alignment with Spark’s goal of integrating low-volatility, yield-generating assets into DeFi.
The assets were onboarded via the Spark Liquidity Layer (SLL), which holds stablecoins including USDC, USDS, sUSDS, USDe, and sUSDe.
BlackRock’s BUIDL fund holds approximately $2.81 billion in tokenized U.S. Treasuries, making it the largest among the three.
Superstate’s USTB follows with $490.7 million, while Centrifuge’s JTRSY stands at $237.1 million, according to DeFiLlama data.
All three funds are backed by short-duration government debt and structured to reinvest as securities mature.
Spark’s role within Sky, a rebranded MakerDAO, has grown since the governance overhaul was announced in August 2024.
Now operating as a standalone “Star” (Sky’s designation for modular sub-protocols), Spark has reported around $40 million in revenue in Q1 2025 and launched a USDC Savings Vault, which has attracted more than $41 million in deposits, according to the protocol.
The protocol also expanded to Arbitrum and Base earlier this year.
While many DeFi protocols have explored exposure to sovereign debt, Spark’s combined $2.4 billion deployment places it ahead of peers.
RWA.xyz data shows that total tokenized U.S. Treasury assets across protocols now exceed $3.5 billion, meaning Spark alone accounts for more than two-thirds of the current market.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
