Author: Ana Paula Pereira, CoinTelegraph; Translated by: Tao Zhu, Golden Finance

Global credit rating agency Moody’s Ratings has assigned an “A-bf” rating to the Hill Lights International Limited bond fund, which is responsible for issuing OpenEden’s tokenized U.S. Treasury bonds, or TBILL tokens.

An "A-bf" rating is a high credit rating, indicating that the bond fund is seen as having a strong ability to achieve its financial objectives. A higher rating would be the classic triple A (AAA) rating. Moody's is considered one of the top three credit rating agencies in the world, alongside Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings.

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

Tokenization is the process of converting the rights to an asset into digital tokens on a blockchain. It allows online trading of assets ranging from bonds to real estate and art.

OpenEden's TBILL is only available to institutional investors. As of this writing, the fund has a total value locked of over $36 million, promises an annual return of 4.99%, and a transaction fee of 0.05%. According to the company's website, the fund allows users to purchase U.S. Treasuries through smart contracts, without restrictions on trading time or location.

Source: Eugene Ng

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

Treasury Bonds on Chain

Currently, more than $1.5 billion in U.S. Treasury bonds have been tokenized, marking an important milestone in the integration of traditional finance and blockchain technology.

Traditional Wall Street players such as BlackRock and Franklin Templeton are driving this trend. BlackRock recently launched the USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), which has grown rapidly and manages $462.7 million in assets, taking a large share of the market. Franklin's OnChain U.S. Government Currency Fund (FOBXX) holds $357.6 million and is tokenized on the Stellar and Polygon blockchains.

In April, Woo X Exchange launched what it said was the world’s first tokenized Treasury note for retail clients, allowing investors to earn yield on their USDC holdings, which are backed by U.S. Treasuries.