Earn the risk-free rate on dollars. The exposure that made tokenization real. The same T-bills sit behind an ETF at a broker, a direct purchase at TreasuryDirect, and a token on Ethereum — and the yield you keep differs by rail.
| Venue & instrument | All-in to buy $1000 | Ongoing /yr | Hours | Settlement | What you own | Dividends | Who can buy | Protection | First trade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
TradFiTreasuryDirect4-week bill | $0.000.00% | 0.00% | 9:30–16:00 ET | T+1 | Direct obligation of the US Treasury, registered to you | Paid in cash | USUS persons excluded | Full faith and credit of the US government | 1–3 days (account opening) |
| $0.000.00% | 0.50% | 24/7 | Instant | Share of a BVI/Delaware fund, recorded as a permissioned token | Paid in cash | Qualified purchasersUS persons excluded | None — fund, not a brokerage account | Days — onboarding and whitelisting | |
| $0.000.00% | 0.15% | 24/7 | Instant | Tokenized share of a fund holding BUIDL and short treasuries | Accrues in token price | Qualified purchasersUS persons excluded | None | Days | |
| $0.100.01% | 0.09% | Extended hours | T+1 | ETF share holding 0-3 month T-bills | Paid in cash | US | SIPC $500k | Minutes to 1 day | |
| $0.100.01% | 0.14% | Extended hours | T+1 | Fund unit held in your name at a broker-dealer | Paid in cash | US | SIPC $500k | Minutes to 1 day | |
| $0.500.05% | 0.50% | 24/7 | Instant | Token note secured by short-term treasuries and bank deposits | Accrues in token price | Non-US, most jurisdictionsUS persons excluded | None | Minutes to hours (KYC) | |
| $1.100.11% | 0.09% | Extended hours | T+1 | Fund unit held in your name at a broker-dealer | Paid in cash | US, APACExcludes EEA retail (no UCITS KID) | SIPC $500k | Minutes to 1 day |
Costs from published schedules, verified 2026-08-14. Spread estimates are typical rather than guaranteed and widen off-hours, which matters most on the 24/7 rails.
| Route | Buy | 5y holding | Exit | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TreasuryDirect 4-week bill | $0.00 | $0.00 | $1.50 | $1.500.15% |
| Fidelity SGOV | $0.10 | $4.50 | $0.20 | $4.800.48% |
| Interactive Brokers SGOV | $1.10 | $4.50 | $1.20 | $6.800.68% |
| Charles Schwab BIL | $0.10 | $6.78 | $0.20 | $7.080.71% |
| Ondo OUSG OUSG | $0.00 | $7.50 | $0.00 | $7.500.75% |
| BlackRock BUIDL BUIDL | $0.00 | $25.00 | $0.00 | $25.002.50% |
| Ondo USDY USDY | $0.50 | $25.00 | $0.50 | $26.002.60% |
TreasuryDirect is the only route with no intermediary at all: you own the bill, the Treasury pays you, and the cost is zero. An ETF like SGOV costs nine basis points and is instantly liquid at any broker with SIPC behind it. For most US dollars, this is where they should sit.
The token rail wins when the treasuries need to do something else afterwards: post as collateral in a lending market, settle in minutes on a weekend, or sit in a corporate wallet in a jurisdiction with no easy access to US brokerage. Tokenized treasuries are cash management for on-chain balance sheets, not a cheaper ETF.
The ETF risk is negligible. Tokenized funds add issuer risk, smart-contract risk and — critically — transfer restrictions: most are permissioned to whitelisted, KYC-verified wallets, so 'liquid 24/7' only holds inside that whitelist. Minimums on some products run into six figures.
No. They hold the same bills and charge a comparable or higher management fee, so the gross yield is the same and the net is usually a touch lower. What you buy is on-chain settlement and composability, not extra yield.
Not practically. It is offered to qualified purchasers with large minimums and whitelisted wallets. USDY and OUSG have lower barriers, but all of them exclude US retail in one form or another.
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Informational comparison only — not investment advice or a recommendation to trade. Jurisdiction exclusions are shown as published by each venue and change without notice.