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OpenEden whitepaper

OpenEden: On-Chain U.S. Treasury Yield and Real-World Asset Tokenization System

The OpenEden whitepaper was published by the core OpenEden team after its founding in 2022, coinciding with the launch of its core product in April 2023. Its aim is to address the Web3 sector’s demand for low-risk, highly liquid crypto cash management solutions and to promote the integration of real-world assets (RWA) with decentralized finance.

The theme of the OpenEden whitepaper is “OpenEden: A Real-World Asset Tokenization Platform Bridging Traditional Finance and Decentralized Finance.” OpenEden’s uniqueness lies in its proposal of a “regulated real-world asset tokenization framework,” bringing traditional financial assets such as U.S. Treasuries on-chain through products like TBILL and USDO. The significance of OpenEden is in laying the foundation for compliant and secure application of real-world assets (RWA) in DeFi, providing Web3 users and institutional investors with low-risk, highly liquid on-chain yield opportunities.

OpenEden’s original intention is to build a bridge between traditional finance and decentralized finance, addressing the challenges of compliance, security, and accessibility for real-world assets on-chain. The core viewpoint articulated in the OpenEden whitepaper is: by combining regulated entity operations, institutional-grade compliance standards, and the transparency and efficiency of blockchain, OpenEden can provide verifiable, low-risk real-world asset yields in a decentralized environment.

Interested researchers can access the original OpenEden whitepaper. OpenEden whitepaper link: https://docs.openeden.com/

OpenEden whitepaper summary

Author: Noam Ben-David
Last updated: 2025-09-14 13:49
The following is a summary of the OpenEden whitepaper, expressed in simple terms to help you quickly understand the OpenEden whitepaper and gain a clearer understanding of OpenEden.

What is OpenEden

Friends, imagine the money we keep in banks or invest in government bonds—these are tangible “real-world assets.” Blockchain acts as a transparent, efficient digital ledger. OpenEden (project abbreviation: EDEN) is like a bridge, with its main mission being to bring these Real-World Assets (RWA), such as U.S. Treasury bonds, onto the blockchain, enabling more people to invest in and manage them via blockchain technology.

Simply put, OpenEden is a real-world asset tokenization platform. It transforms traditional financial assets, like U.S. short-term Treasury bills (T-Bills), into digital tokens that can circulate on the blockchain. This way, you can conveniently invest in these traditionally high-barrier assets just like trading cryptocurrencies.

OpenEden currently has two core products:

  • TBILL: This is a tokenized U.S. Treasury bill. You can deposit your stablecoins (such as USDC) into OpenEden’s TBILL vault and receive TBILL tokens. Each TBILL token is backed 1:1 by real U.S. Treasury bills and USD reserves. This allows you to enjoy the yield from U.S. Treasuries while trading and settling TBILL tokens on the blockchain 24/7.
  • USDO: This is a yield-bearing stablecoin. Think of it as a special USD-pegged stablecoin that not only maintains price stability but also automatically earns yield for you, as its reserve assets are TBILL and other tokenized government bonds.

OpenEden’s target users are mainly professional investors seeking low-risk, highly liquid assets in the crypto world, such as Web3 company treasurers, decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) fund managers, and institutional investors.

A typical usage flow looks like this: you first complete identity verification (KYC, or “Know Your Customer,” is a process where financial institutions verify client identities to prevent illegal activities such as money laundering and terrorist financing), then deposit USDC stablecoins to mint TBILL tokens and enjoy Treasury yields; or mint USDO stablecoins, which also automatically accrue interest.

Project Vision and Value Proposition

OpenEden’s vision is clear: it aims to be the bridge connecting traditional finance and decentralized finance (DeFi, or “Decentralized Finance,” refers to financial applications built on blockchain that provide financial services without traditional banks or intermediaries), unlocking trillions of dollars in value by bringing real-world assets on-chain. They believe that internet-native money will make real-world assets accessible, creating a more inclusive, permissionless, and freely flowing economic system.

The core problems OpenEden seeks to solve are:

  • On-chain accessibility of traditional assets: In the Web3 world, many investors want easy access to safe, low-risk traditional financial assets like U.S. Treasuries, but traditional finance often has complex barriers and processes. OpenEden solves this through tokenization, making these assets more accessible on-chain.
  • Transparency and efficiency: Leveraging blockchain technology, OpenEden offers 24/7 trading and settlement, and ensures asset transparency through real-time reserve proofs and audits.
  • Compliance and institutional-grade trust: OpenEden places great emphasis on compliance, operating regulated entities in regions such as the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and Bermuda, and its TBILL fund has received “A” and “AA+” ratings from agencies like Moody’s and S&P—leading in the RWA space. This means it is highly recognized in traditional finance, providing confidence for institutional investors.

What sets OpenEden apart from similar projects is that it is not just a DeFi experiment, but a platform with a regulated structure. Its yield comes from real U.S. Treasury interest, not from token incentives—this is called “Real Yield.” Additionally, partnerships with major financial institutions like BNY Mellon further enhance its institutional trust and compliance.

Technical Features

OpenEden’s technical core lies in its ability to tokenize real-world assets and ensure proper management and verification both on-chain and off-chain.

  • Asset backing and custody: OpenEden’s TBILL tokens are backed 1:1 by real U.S. short-term Treasury bills and USD reserves. These underlying assets are held by regulated custodians (such as BNY Mellon), ensuring asset security.
  • Smart contract vaults: The project uses smart contracts (Smart contracts: code stored on the blockchain that automatically executes protocol terms when preset conditions are met, without third-party intervention) to manage TBILL and USDO minting, redemption, and asset handling. These smart contracts run on blockchains like Ethereum and are publicly accessible.
  • Transparency mechanisms: To build trust, OpenEden provides real-time reserve proofs and Net Asset Value (NAV) audits, allowing users to verify the real asset backing of their tokens at any time.
  • Cross-chain scalability: OpenEden plans to deploy its yield-bearing stablecoin USDO and its wrapped version cUSDO to more Layer 1 and Layer 2 blockchains, enhancing interoperability across different blockchain ecosystems.
  • KYC/AML compliance: To meet regulatory requirements, OpenEden implements strict KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) processes, requiring all participants to pass identity verification and whitelist mechanisms.

Tokenomics

The OpenEden ecosystem is powered by its native token EDEN, designed to incentivize community participation and long-term holding.

  • Token symbol: EDEN
  • Issuance chain: Primarily issued on Ethereum, with potential expansion to other chains as the project develops.
  • Total supply: 1,000,000,000 EDEN (1 billion)
  • Token utility:
    • Governance: EDEN token holders can participate in community governance, voting on major project decisions such as reserve strategies and product roadmap updates. Staking EDEN (xEDEN) grants voting rights.
    • Incentives: Used to incentivize ecosystem participants, e.g., through airdrops and reward mechanisms.
    • Discounts and rebates: Users holding EDEN tokens may receive special discounts and rebates.
  • Token allocation:
    • Bills airdrop: 7.5%
    • Ecosystem and community: 38.5%
    • Early adopters: 6.0%
    • Foundation: 10.0%
    • Investors: 18.0%
    • Team and advisors: 20.0%
  • Token unlocking and circulation:
    • As of October 2025, circulating supply is about 183.87 million EDEN, accounting for 18.387% of total supply.
    • OpenEden has designed a “HODLer Bonus Mechanism,” a 120-day token distribution system aimed at reducing post-listing volatility and rewarding long-term holders. The mechanism stipulates that token allocation is split into a 20% initial portion (claimable anytime without penalty) and an 80% remaining portion. The claimable amount of the remaining portion increases linearly over 120 days, with early claims subject to penalties (i.e., some tokens are forfeited).
    • Forfeited tokens go into a shared reward pool for long-term holders.
    • Currently, 81.6% of EDEN tokens remain locked, and future unlocking may pose dilution risks.
  • Team, Governance, and Funding

    OpenEden’s team background and governance model reflect its commitment to institutional standards and compliance.

    • Core members and team characteristics: OpenEden was co-founded by former Gemini exchange executives Jeremy Ng and Eugene Ng (Eugene Ng was later dismissed for personal conduct). Team members have extensive experience in traditional financial institutions (such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank) and crypto-native companies (such as Gemini, OKX). This hybrid background enables the team to better understand and connect both worlds.
    • Governance mechanism: OpenEden achieves decentralized governance through its native token EDEN. EDEN holders can stake (Staking) to obtain voting rights (xEDEN), participating in key project decisions such as reserve asset management strategies and future product roadmap development. This mechanism aims to gradually decentralize project control to the community, enabling broader participation and oversight.
    • Funding and financing: OpenEden has completed multiple funding rounds, raising at least $5 million, including investment from YZi Labs (formerly Binance Labs). This indicates recognition and support from well-known industry investors.
    • Strategic advisor: Arthur Cheong, CEO of DeFiance Capital, has joined OpenEden as a strategic advisor to promote the integration of real-world assets and DeFi.

    Roadmap

    Since its inception, OpenEden has achieved a series of important milestones and has a clear plan for the future.

    Historical milestones and events

    • 2022: OpenEden project founded.
    • April 2023: OpenEden mainnet officially launched.
    • Early 2023: TBILL product launched, offering tokenized U.S. Treasury bills.
    • 2023: TBILL fund received Moody’s “A-bf” fund rating, becoming the first tokenized bond fund to receive this rating.
    • September 2024: Completed a round of strategic financing.
    • January 2025: USDO yield-bearing stablecoin launched.
    • September 2025: OpenEden’s native token EDEN officially launched.
    • September 30, 2025: EDEN token listed on major exchanges such as Binance.
    • October 9, 2025: OpenEden’s TBILL fund received S&P’s “AA+f” credit rating and “S1+” volatility score, becoming the first tokenized U.S. Treasury product to receive ratings from both S&P and Moody’s.

    Future plans and milestones

    • Q3 22025: Deepen DeFi integration, expand cUSDO’s use in lending and structured product protocols.
    • Q4 2025:
      • Multi-chain expansion: Plan to deploy USDO/cUSDO to more Layer 1 and Layer 2 blockchains to enhance cross-chain interoperability.
      • Cross-border payments: Aim to integrate USDO into payment gateways supporting over 170 countries, enabling crypto-to-fiat transactions and supporting payment methods such as credit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.
    • 2025:
      • Tokenized fund partnership: Plan to establish a tokenized fund partnership with a traditional financial giant.
      • Regulated crypto yield products: Launch more regulatory-compliant crypto yield products.
    • Common Risk Reminders

      Investing in any blockchain project comes with risks, and OpenEden is no exception. It is crucial to understand these potential risks before participating. Here are some common risks to note:

      Technical and Security Risks

      • Smart contract risk: Although OpenEden’s smart contracts have been audited (e.g., by Hacken and ChainSecurity), smart contracts are not flawless and may still contain undiscovered vulnerabilities or bugs, potentially leading to asset loss or service disruption.
      • Centralized control risk: Audit reports indicate that OpenEden has certain centralized control points, such as administrators having the authority to upgrade contract logic, pause deposits and withdrawals, adjust transaction fees, etc. Such centralization may lead to single points of failure or, in extreme cases, decisions by a few privileged roles that are detrimental to users.
      • Oracle risk: TBILL token price calculation relies on off-chain oracle data. If the oracle fails or is manipulated, it may result in inaccurate price information, affecting asset value.

      Economic Risks

      • Interest rate risk: OpenEden’s TBILL product is linked to U.S. Treasuries, so its value and yield are affected by market interest rate changes. If rates fall, TBILL yields may decrease, even impacting market value.
      • Liquidity risk: During market turmoil or large-scale redemption requests, the fund may struggle to quickly sell its Treasuries to meet redemptions, potentially causing delays or sales below market price.
      • Credit risk: Although U.S. Treasuries are considered low-risk assets, their value still depends on the U.S. government’s ability to repay. In extreme cases, a U.S. government default would impact TBILL token value.
      • Market risk: Global political events, macroeconomic changes, inflation or deflation, and other factors can affect financial markets and, in turn, the value of OpenEden’s underlying assets.
      • Token unlocking and dilution risk: OpenEden’s EDEN token has a large locked supply. Future unlocking may increase circulating supply, and if market demand does not grow in tandem, token prices may face downward pressure.

      Compliance and Operational Risks

      • Regulatory risk: The global digital asset regulatory environment is rapidly evolving and uncertain. Any new laws or regulations in the future may negatively impact OpenEden’s operating model, product legality, or token value.
      • Banking relationship risk: OpenEden’s operations involve fiat deposits and withdrawals, relying on partnerships with traditional banks. Changes in bank policies or regulations may affect service availability.
      • KYC/blacklist risk: Even after passing KYC verification, users may be blacklisted for suspected illegal activities, resulting in frozen accounts and inaccessible assets.
      • Redemption process risk: TBILL redemption depends on centralized operators and sufficient underlying funds. If operators encounter issues or funds are insufficient, user redemption requests may not be processed promptly.
      • Team reputation risk: One of the project’s co-founders, Eugene Ng, was dismissed for personal conduct, which may impact the project’s reputation and community trust.

      Verification Checklist

      As rational researchers, we should conduct multi-faceted checks on the project to ensure information accuracy and reliability.

      • Block explorer contract addresses:
        • EDEN token contract address (Ethereum):
          0x235b6fe22b4642ada16d311855c49ce7de260841
          . You can check this address on Etherscan and other block explorers to view token holder distribution, transaction history, etc.
        • TBILL and USDO smart contract addresses should also be found and verified in official documentation.
      • GitHub activity:
        • Visit OpenEden’s GitHub organization (OpenEdenHQ).
        • Check codebase update frequency, commit history, and contributor count. Currently, there are 8 repositories, some with recent updates, e.g.,
          openeden.usdoexpress.audit
          updated 14 hours ago,
          openeden.assets
          updated last week,
          openeden.vault.audit
          updated on September 7. This indicates ongoing development or audit activities.
      • Audit reports:
        • OpenEden has commissioned multiple third-party audits. Hacken has audited OpenEden’s Vault several times (e.g., January 2024 and December 2024). ChainSecurity has also audited USDO smart contracts.
        • Additionally, Ernst & Young has independently audited key processes and controls of the TBILL vault, issuing a satisfactory report with no critical or high-risk findings.
        • It is recommended to review the original audit reports to understand the scope, findings, and how the project team addressed issues.
      • Official website and documentation:
        • Official website: https://openeden.com/
        • Official documentation: https://docs.openeden.com/
        • Carefully read the website and documentation to understand the latest project information, product details, risk disclosures, and legal terms.
      • Community activity:
        • Follow OpenEden’s official accounts on Twitter, Telegram, and other social media to gauge community engagement, project announcements, and team interactions.

      Project Summary

      OpenEden is a project dedicated to bringing the stability and yield of traditional finance into the blockchain space. By tokenizing U.S. Treasury bills (TBILL) and issuing yield-bearing stablecoins (USDO), it provides a compliant, transparent, and efficient fund management solution for institutions and professional investors in the Web3 ecosystem.

      The project’s core strengths lie in its emphasis on compliance and institutional-grade trust. Operating in regulated jurisdictions and recognized by leading rating agencies like Moody’s and S&P, OpenEden sets a high standard in the real-world asset tokenization field. Its partnerships with financial giants like BNY Mellon further enhance its credibility.

      OpenEden’s tokenomics are designed to incentivize long-term community participation and sustainable project development through the governance function of the EDEN token and the HODLer bonus mechanism.

      However, like all emerging blockchain projects, OpenEden faces technical, economic, and regulatory risks. Smart contract vulnerabilities, centralized control points, market volatility, and the ever-changing regulatory landscape all pose challenges to its development.

      Overall, OpenEden demonstrates great potential in bridging traditional finance and decentralized finance, especially in the rapidly growing field of real-world asset tokenization. It offers an attractive option for crypto investors seeking stable yield and compliant solutions. But remember, the above information is for project introduction only and does not constitute investment advice. Always conduct your own thorough research (DYOR - Do Your Own Research) and fully assess all potential risks before making any investment decisions.

Disclaimer: The above interpretations are the author's personal opinions. Please verify the accuracy of all information independently. These interpretations do not represent the platform's views and are not intended as investment advice. For more details about the project, please refer to its whitepaper.

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