Compound chief executive to launch Ethereum fund focused on U.S. Treasury securities

Founder of the crypto-lending platform Compound, Robert Leshner filed an application with the SEC to launch a fund focused on investments in U.S. Treasury securities.

The structure will include a traditional transfer agent to track holders via the Ethereum network as an additional source.

“The adviser believes that an integrated blockchain-based accounting system can deliver operational efficiency and improve the shareholder experience without adversely affecting service quality. In the future, the fund’s shares may be available for purchase, sale, or transfer from one owner to another through the use of secondary entries on the network,” — the document states.

The latter refers to reconciling the “official transfer-agent registry with blockchain data to effect any peer-to-peer stock transfers”.

The fund will be founded by the organization Superstate.

“The company’s mission is to create regulated financial products that connect traditional markets and blockchain ecosystems. This is the first step on a long road to modernization,” — Leshner commented.

Today, I’m excited to announce the founding of a new company, @superstatefunds

Superstate’s mission is to create regulated financial products that bridge traditional markets & blockchain ecosystems.

— Robert Leshner (@rleshner) June 28, 2023

In addition to U.S. Treasury bills, the fund will also invest in agency securities and other state-backed instruments. The structure will focus on short-term instruments.

Initially, Superstate plans to sell securities worth $3.75 million.

The initiative was supported by Parafi Capital, 1kxnetwork, Cumberland, CoinFund, Distributed Global, which participated in the seed round of the organization.

Leshner estimated hundreds of trillions of dollars of assets that are offline could be registered on the blockchain. He added that DeFi currently restricts itself to crypto-native instruments.

The primary limiting factor to DeFi is that crypto-native assets are the only interoperable assets.

But eventually, hundreds of trillions of ‘offline’ assets will find their way onto blockchains.

We plan to facilitate that migration.

— Robert Leshner (@rleshner) June 28, 2023

Following the news, Compound’s utility token rose 7.8%, according to CoinGecko. It has risen 52.4% over the past week.

In June, the DeFi platform MakerDAO increased the amount of U.S. Treasury bonds in its reserves from $500 million to $1.2 billion.

Earlier, Leshner warned of an “Armageddon” in the crypto industry due to actions by U.S. regulators.