Currency One USD (C1USD) is a fully reserved, insured US dollar stablecoin from Kinesis, backed one-to-one by dollars held at regulated financial institutions under an insurance wrapper. Unusually for a stablecoin it advertises a yield, paid monthly to verified Kinesis account holders with no lock-up, funded from platform revenue rather than the reserve itself. C1USD scores 71/100 (Tier 2) on the RWTS Trust Score, helped by its insured reserve and regulatory standing but held back by a short track record and lighter third-party verification than the largest stablecoins.
- Issuer / protocol
- Kinesis Money
- Jurisdiction
- Cayman IslandsCIMA-registered VASP
- Backing
- 1:1 USD (regulated financial institutions, insurance wrapper)
- Redemption / lock-up
- None
- Audit & proof of reserves
- Independently audited
- Availability
- Global
- Chain
- Ethereum
- Tier
- Tier 2 — Treasury & Fiat-Backed
- Contract
- 0x40ca…674c
Scored on the published RWTS methodology (v1.1), reviewed quarterly and on material events. Ratings are independent and never pay-influenced.
C1USD is a yield-bearing stablecoin issued under Currency.one with reserves split between US Treasuries and Kinesis-allocated precious metals. The headline 7.5% APY paid to KMS holders on the Kinesis exchange is supported by a combination of T-bill carry (Fed funds-driven, like BUIDL/USDY/OUSG) and the KMS fee-share economics that flow value back to token holders. So C1USD has two distinct return drivers: the front-end UST yield (procyclical with the rate cycle) and the Kinesis transactional volume that funds the metals-side fee share.
C1USD is the only stablecoin wrapper where the yield is meaningfully diversified between USD-curve carry and a precious-metals fee-share component, which gives it structural resilience to a zero-rate or low-rate regime that would compress pure-Treasury yields. CIMA regulation plus Chainlink Proof of Reserves places C1USD operationally above the average DeFi yield wrapper. The current question for any allocator is whether KMS-on-Kinesis gating restricts the holder base enough to cap distribution growth — that gating is the price paid for the 7.5% headline.
- ›Fed funds path (Treasury-side carry mechanics)
- ›Kinesis exchange volumes (KMS fee-share economics)
- ›C1USD circulating supply growth relative to KMS active holders
- ›Chainlink PoR feed updates (frequency, deviation)
- ›CIMA / UK Section 21 regulatory commentary
- ×Sustained drop in Kinesis transactional volume collapsing the fee-share
- ×CIMA regulatory action against the Kinesis exchange
- ×A regulated US-domiciled competitor with comparable headline yield without the KMS gate
Editorial macro context · refreshed each methodology cycle · not investment advice
Calculations are indicative. Actual yields may vary.
Price data from CoinGecko. Not financial advice.
Current yield of 7.50% sits at NaN% of the observed range. There may be room for rates to improve.
Projections assume constant APY of 7.50%. Actual returns may vary. Not financial advice.
Audited fiat reserves; relatively new product.
Methodology v1.0 · independent rating · published rubric · no issuer payments
1:1 USD over-collateralised reserves at regulated financial institutions, with insurance wrapper; regulated fiat reserve backing.
Chainlink Proof of Reserves feed live on-chain; underlying attestation reports currently stale, refresh expected within 1 week. Scored to current state per integrity-first methodology.
1:1 redemption to USD via Kinesis exchange; no lockup; held by verified Kinesis account holders earning 7.5% APY paid monthly.
Simple ERC-20 token contract; Kinesis ecosystem audits apply; no documented dedicated bug bounty for C1USD specifically.
Issued by Kinesis Money Panama S.A. (registered company 155727241), governed by Panama law; held at CIMA-regulated Kinesis exchange; UK SCR21 promoter; fully regulated multi-jurisdictional structure.
Whitepaper dated September 2025; product launched late 2025; ~6-12 months of operation as of May 2026.
ATTESTATION_BACKLOGIndependent attestation publication cadence currently stale at currency.one; refreshed cadence expected to publish within 1 week. Material event re-score will follow.
NEW_PRODUCTProduct launched late 2025; under 12 months of operational track record.
Caveats document operational realities that don't change the dimensional score but shape practical use.
Beyond C1USD's own score, two structural questions matter: what is it built on, and what has broken before in this part of the market. A high score in isolation can still carry hidden, shared exposure.
What this and similar assets are built on, and where contagion could spread.
The depegs, defaults, and exploits that inform the Track Record dimension.
Liquidity read: TVL of $2.87B indicates deep on-chain liquidity. Lock-up: None.