BitGo Supports World's First Onchain Sovereign Bond

BitGo has introduced custody and settlement services for USDM1, the world's first onchain sovereign bond. Issued by the Republic of the Marshall Islands, this USD-denominated bond is structured to live natively on Stellar, Ethereum, and Solana.

USDM1 is fully collateralized with short-duration U.S. Treasuries held in a bankruptcy-remote structure, ensuring that each token has a real Treasury bill backing it. This feature provides enforceable par redemption, allowing holders to redeem at face value under defined conditions.

BitGo's role in this arrangement is to provide custody and settlement infrastructure for institutional clients. They can hold USDM1 in segregated, regulated cold storage with offline key management, enabling T+0 off-exchange settlement around the clock. This reduces counterparty exposure during the settlement window and opens the door to using USDM1 in margin trading and treasury workflows.

The Marshall Islands have embedded USDM1 directly into its 20-year nationwide Universal Basic Income program, demonstrating that a sovereign government can issue debt natively on public blockchains for both domestic programs and institutional investors. This multi-chain deployment across Stellar, Ethereum, and Solana is a deliberate choice to leverage the strengths of each platform.