New York, November 10th / PRNewswire / -- Membrane Labs and M1X Global announced today that they will integrate USDM1 into the institutional credit and lending infrastructure of Membrane. USDM1 is a sovereign bond denominated in US dollars and issued natively on the blockchain, supported by short-term US Treasury instruments at a 1:1 ratio. The platform of Membrane has already supported over $13 billion in institutional loans and transactions. With the addition of USDM1, the range of assets that can be used for collateral financing will further expand to include stablecoins and tokenized fund equity.
This integration enables eligible institutional trading desks, borrowers, lenders, and custodian institutions to connect to USDM1 through the infrastructure of Membrane for bilateral lending, repurchase, and collateral management. The platform of Membrane supports counterparty discovery, financing negotiations, and collateral processes, providing the infrastructure for institutions to finance, mobilize, and reuse sovereign collateral in the digital asset credit market.
As institutional trading and financing activities migrate to the blockchain, the importance of collateral characteristics for capital efficiency is increasing. For banks, market makers, and institutional counterparties, whether collateral is qualified, whether netting settlement is feasible, the method of financing processing, and whether collateral can be reused all have a substantial impact on balance sheet requirements as well as the scale of trading and credit activities that a particular asset pool can support.
Unlike payment tools or tokenized fund interests issued by companies, USDM1 directly represents a sovereign bond denominated in US dollars. It is issued under the laws of New York State and is backed 1:1 by short-term US Treasury instruments held within a bankruptcy-protected structure. This instrument combines enforceable mortgage rights, programmable blockchain infrastructure, and 24-hour, T+0 settlement. It pays sovereign interest and is structured to support sovereign penetration into the underlying US Treasury collateral under applicable credit risk mitigation and liquidity arrangements. It can be used within mature institutional frameworks such as ISDA, GMRA, and GMSLA.
Through Membrane, institutional counterparties can incorporate USDM1 into secured lending, repurchase, collateral replacement, and financing processes, including intrahour and intraday financing structures used for refined liquidity management.
Membrane Labs Founder and CEO Carson Cook stated: "By integrating USDM1, institutional counterparties will be able to access a new type of sovereign collateral within Membrane's principal brokerage service ecosystem. By combining digitally native sovereign debt with mature institutional credit structures, documentation, and risk management practices, we are expanding the types of collateral that can be financed and utilized through our infrastructure."
M1X Global, co-founder and CEO, Mark Lurie stated: "In institutional financing, high-quality sovereign collateral is the foundation for margin, liquidity management tools, and working balance sheet inventory. Membrane connects lending, repurchase, and collateralization processes within the institutional system. The integration of USDM1 enables counterparties to finance, deploy, and reuse digital native sovereign collateral within the infrastructure that the institutional credit market relies on."
This integration connects the originally issued sovereign debt with the credit, risk management, and collateral infrastructure required to support recurring institutional financing activities, and it is also built upon the growing usage of USDM1 in the institutional financing market. USDM1 previously served as the sovereign securities side in the first full-chain repurchase transaction completed by Virtu Financial and Tradeweb on the Canton network, and was later used in the first institutional repurchase transaction on Stellar. The latter demonstrated continuous financing capabilities, including 72 automated hourly repurchases that covered overnight and weekend activities.
USDM1 also receives support from institutional custodian service providers, including Anchorage Digital Bank, BitGo Bank, Trust, N.A, and tZERO for their managed infrastructure. It has been utilized by counterparties such as STS Digital and Nonco for institutional collateral processes. The integration of Membrane will extend this ecosystem to institutional lending and collateral management, supporting the broader use of sovereign digital collateral in on-chain capital markets.
USDM1 is a fully collateralized, dollar-denominated, sovereign bond issued directly on the blockchain. Its structure is similar to Brady bonds and is governed by New York state law, with a clear waiver of typical sovereign immunity; it is backed by short-term U.S. Treasury securities pledged to a U.S. trust company in a 1:1 ratio and is placed within a bankruptcy protection structure. This instrument is compatible with ISDA, GMRA, and GMLSA protocols, which are used for derivatives, repurchases, and securities lending. Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton LLP act as the issuing attorneys. USDM1 is issued by the Republic of Marshall Islands, which operates entirely under the U.S. Dollar standard according to its free association agreement with the United States.
M1X Global is a sovereign financial infrastructure and technology company that connects public finance with the on-chain capital market. M1X Global operates in partnership with the Republic of Marshall Islands, responsible for coordinating the legal, compliance, technical, custody, and institutional infrastructure behind sovereign digital tools. M1X Global is also a member of the DTC Digital Assets Solutions Industry Working Group, which aims to promote the development of tokenization and digital assets.
Membrane Labs provides the infrastructure for connecting institutional digital asset lending with secured financing, covering all aspects from identifying opportunities to managing loans and their collateral throughout the entire lifecycle. Its Credit Discovery Hub and Loan Management System support institutions in conducting business between counterparties and custodian institutions, and connections are established through CustodyLink ™ Network. The infrastructure of Membrane has already supported over $13 billion in institutional loans and transactions. For more information, please visit membranelabs.com.
This communication is for informational purposes only and is not intended to directly market, offer, or solicit the purchase or sale of USDM1 or any financial products, whether from Membrane Labs, M1X Global, the Republic of Marshall Islands, or any other parties. USDM1 is offered and sold outside of the United States in accordance with the revised Securities Act of 1933, Regulation S (Regulation S). The Republic of Marshall Islands has not registered any issuance of USDM1 under the Securities Act or any other federal and state securities laws of the United States. Therefore, unless registered, exempted, or not subject to the registration requirements of the Securities Act, USDM1 may not be offered, sold, pledged, or otherwise transferred within the United States, or to Americans (as defined by Regulation S), or for their accounts or interests.
No content in this communication constitutes, nor should it be interpreted as, any advice from Membrane Labs, M1X Global, the Republic of Marshall Islands, or any third party regarding the acquisition or disposition of USDM1 or any other securities, or participation in any investment strategy or transaction.
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not historical facts. Terms such as anticipates, believes, estimates, expects, intends, plans, will, and similar expressions are used to identify forward-looking statements. Statements regarding the trends of USDM1 as well as the future expansion or projects of USDM1 are also forward-looking statements. These statements reflect current views and are subject to risks and uncertainties, and are based on certain assumptions, including general economic and market conditions, industry conditions, and operational factors. There is no guarantee that anticipated events or results will necessarily occur, and any changes in assumptions may lead to significant differences between actual results and current expectations.
