Ramazan Eles 
OpenEden’s TBILL receives a strong credit rating as the trend of on-chain Treasury bills grows.
On June 19th, Moody’s Ratings, a leading global credit rating agency alongside Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings, assigned an “A-bf” rating to Hill Lights International Limited, the issuer behind OpenEden’s tokenized U.S. Treasury bills (TBILL Tokens).
The “A-bf” rating signifies a high level of creditworthiness, indicating Moody’s view of the bond fund’s strong capacity to meet its financial obligations. It falls just below the coveted “AAA” (triple-A) rating, the highest available.
The OpenEden TBILL fund primarily invests in U.S. Treasury bills, government securities considered safe investments due to their backing by the U.S. government.
Tokenization is the process of converting ownership rights of an asset into a digital token on a blockchain. This technology allows for online trading of various assets, including bonds, real estate, and even artwork.
Currently, the OpenEden TBILL caters exclusively to institutional investors. It boasts over $36 million in total value locked (TVL) at the time of writing. The fund offers an estimated annual return of 4.99% with a transaction fee of 0.05%. Notably, the company website highlights the ability to access U.S. Treasuries through smart contracts, eliminating restrictions on trading hours or location.
This isn’t Moody’s first foray into rating tokenized bonds. They have previously evaluated offerings from the European Investment Bank (EIB).
A significant milestone has been reached as the total value of tokenized U.S. Treasuries surpasses $1.5 billion. This development underscores the growing integration of traditional finance with blockchain technology.
Traditional Wall Street players like BlackRock and Franklin Templeton are actively participating in this trend. BlackRock launched the USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), which has rapidly grown to manage a substantial market share with $462.7 million in assets. Similarly, Franklin Templeton’s OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX) holds $357.6 million and is tokenized on both Stellar and Polygon blockchains.
In April, Woo X Exchange introduced what they claim to be the world’s first tokenized T-bills for retail investors. This innovation allows them to earn yield on their USD Coin holdings backed by U.S. Treasury bills.