- Sonic’s USSD stablecoin offers permissionless, zero-fee USD access with institutional backing for secure, composable liquidity.
- Cross-chain minting and redemption make USSD a flexible dollar for trading, lending, and treasury operations across networks.
- Yield from USSD’s backing assets flows back into Sonic, boosting ecosystem growth, buybacks, and on-chain incentives.
Sonic Labs has unveiled USSD, a network-native U.S. dollar stablecoin, aiming to provide the Sonic ecosystem with a dependable and composable liquidity layer. This launch represents a pivotal move to centralize dollar liquidity on Sonic, enhancing DeFi and cross-chain capabilities.
As per the blog post, built on Frax’s GENIUS-compatible frxUSD infrastructure, USSD pairs on-chain flexibility with institutional-grade backing from BlackRock, Superstate, and WisdomTree. Consequently, Sonic users now have permissionless, zero-fee access to a stablecoin that can be minted, redeemed, and moved across more than ten chains.
USSD addresses a key challenge for blockchain networks: predictable and composable liquidity. “Stablecoins are the ‘money layer’ of on-chain finance,” Sonic explained. The network’s native dollar ensures liquidity compounds within Sonic rather than leaking to external markets.
Moreover, USSD underpins Sonic’s vertical integration strategy, connecting trading, lending, payments, and treasury operations through a unified USD primitive. By consolidating liquidity on-chain, Sonic strengthens market efficiency and incentivizes ecosystem growth.
Institutional-Grade Backing and Permissionless Access
USSD is fully backed 1:1 by high-quality, short-duration USD assets. Reserves include tokenized U.S. Treasury products from established institutions like BlackRock (BUIDL), Superstate (USTB), and WisdomTree. This conservative structure combines predictable backing with on-chain composability.
Additionally, minting occurs through non-custodial smart contracts, allowing anyone to deposit supported USD assets, such as USDC, USDT, PYUSD, and receive USSD with zero fees. Hence, both retail and institutional participants can seamlessly access Sonic’s dollar liquidity.
Cross-Chain Flexibility and Ecosystem Yield
Beyond single-chain utility, USSD supports flexible cross-chain minting and redemption. Users can move liquidity efficiently between networks, facilitating settlements, treasury management, and market rebalancing.
Moreover, yield generated from backing assets flows back into the Sonic ecosystem. This feature positions USSD as more than a standard stablecoin; it contributes to buybacks, ecosystem incentives, and sustainable network growth. Sonic emphasized, “A native stablecoin turns liquidity that visits the ecosystem into something that compounds within it.”
The protocol is currently live on Sonic, Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, and seven others, with more on the way. With its reserves, cross-chain functionality, and free minting fees, USSD has the potential to establish a new paradigm for native stablecoins on a chain.
Disclaimer: The information on this page may come from third parties and does not represent the views or opinions of Gate. The content displayed on this page is for reference only and does not constitute any financial, investment, or legal advice. Gate does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information and shall not be liable for any losses arising from the use of this information. Virtual asset investments carry high risks and are subject to significant price volatility. You may lose all of your invested principal. Please fully understand the relevant risks and make prudent decisions based on your own financial situation and risk tolerance. For details, please refer to
Disclaimer.
Related Articles
Hyperliquid rejects $1 billion in funding: Jeff Yan sticks to the no-investor principle
Hyperliquid founder Jeffrey Yan declined the financing after receiving an expression of interest from an investment of $100 million at an estimated valuation of about $1 billion, to maintain the neutrality of the agreement. He believes that bringing in outside capital would undermine users’ trust in the agreement, and chose to support operations with his personal funds. Hyperliquid’s four core principles emphasize extreme decentralization and an operating model with no outside shareholders, distinguishing it from other DeFi projects.
MarketWhisper2h ago
Pi Network Major Transformation: 210 Ecosystem Applications Deployed, 23k Developers Ready
The Pi Network ecosystem is accelerating its transition, with more than 210 active applications and 23,000 developers actively participating in Pi Studio, spanning multiple areas such as payments, community engagement, education, and gaming. The ecosystem’s diversity shows indicators of healthy development, and developers’ engagement is driving ongoing application optimization. In the future, improving the usefulness of the mainnet will be a key challenge, including issues that need to be urgently addressed such as scalability, security, and user adoption rates.
MarketWhisper7h ago
Bittensor founder accuses former brother of betrayal; TAO’s sudden plunge sparks 9.1 million liquidations
Bittensor co-founder Jacob Steeves accuses Covenant AI’s Simon Dare of intentionally causing damage to the agreement, leading to a sharp drop in TAO tokens. Steeves proposes a locked-staking mechanism that uses on-chain code to enforce commitments and prevent founders from making sudden, surprise exits. Even as the crisis unfolds, Bittensor’s open-source architecture can still ensure the agreement continues to operate, and it is set to hold a meeting to introduce the new mechanism.
MarketWhisper7h ago
Scroll team manually increased the fee-rate parameters; users were overcharged with fees exceeding $50,000 within four days.
Ethereum Layer 2 network Scroll saw roughly 139,000 transactions have excess fees of more than $50k because the manual increase in the gas price multiplier led to higher transaction costs than expected. The actual cost was far above the forecast. The incident sparked widespread questions about its subsidy strategy, and Scroll’s TVL also fell sharply to $24 million.
GateNews7h ago
Aave DAO uses a 75% approval victory framework, routing protocol earnings to the governance treasury.
Aave DAO has passed the “Aave Will Win” framework, allocating $25 million to Aave Labs, and confirming that all brand application earnings will be fully directed into the DAO treasury. It will reform its governance structure by replacing bureaucratic procedures with a results-oriented approach. Future agreement revenue is expected to reach $140 million. Funding for each specific product still requires a separate proposal review.
MarketWhisper7h ago
BNB Chain Flags Critical Update Ahead of April 28 Hard Fork - U.Today
The Osaka/Mendel hard fork on BSC will launch on April 28, requiring node operators to update to BSC v1.7.2. The upgrade enhances block construction, transaction handling, and introduces a gas limit cap for improved network stability.
UToday7h ago
