UGLYCASH ~Q2 (4 Months) Update

Happy weekend eUSD community

Since our last update, two major new product lines have launched inside UGLYCASH.

The first is self custody investing: giving customers access to not just crypto & DTFs, tokenized equities, ETFs.

The second is short-term credit access through a partner: an early income-gap coverage product for users who already rely on UGLYCASH as part of their financial life.

Together, these are starting to make UGLYCASH feel less like a wallet and more like a financial home for internet earners.

1. Investing: tokenized equities are showing real demand

The most important new product surface this period has been investing.

In the latest 30-day trading snapshot, DTFs are still very early, representing roughly 2.3% of total trading volume. Most trading demand is still in crypto and tokenized RWAs:

The read is that DTFs are not yet a major demand layer on UGLYCASH.

But the encouraging signal is that tokenized RWAs are already meaningful. Customers are clearly interested in more than crypto speculation. They want access to global investment themes.

Within tokenized equities, that behavior is especially thematic. In the last few weeks, roughly 69% of tokenized equity volume was tied to AI-related names, while ETFs represented roughly 12%.

That matters for future DTFs.

Users are not primarily asking for passive index exposure yet. They are chasing narratives they recognize: AI, semiconductors, data centers, software, power, and other themes moving global markets.

For Reserve-native index products, this gives a clearer roadmap of where global south customers are.

DTFs still need to earn demand, but tokenized equity behavior suggests that thematic index products could become useful for users in the global south who want simpler access to global market upside.

We’re excited about what the protocol team is building on this front :slight_smile:

2. Credit: early income-gap coverage through a partner

The second major launch is short-term credit access through a partner.

We are keeping some details opaque for now, but the early signal is worth sharing.

Someone is going to figure out on-chain, under-collateralized credit. We think the right starting point is not large, long-duration loans. It is small, short-term income-gap coverage for users who already rely on the product as part of their financial life.

In the first roughly 2.5 months, about $250k has been advanced. Without much optimization or modeling, repayment is around 92% overall and near 96% among our core customer segment.

These product lines are still early, but they are an important evolution of the UGLYCASH stack.

Our core customers need to:

  • earn income at lower fees

  • hold and earn APY in dollar balances

  • spend through our Visa Card

  • invest when they have abundance

  • get covered when they have an income gap

And like the 60%+ of American’s that live paycheck to paycheck, there are similarities in Internet Earners.

This is why credit is so interesting. It is not a standalone lending product. It is a coverage layer around a financial home users already value, already doing 3x more revenue than trading.

3. Usage depth is improving more than headline MAUs

Headline MAUs have not moved dramatically over this period.

There were many initial high activity segments that were not the right focus fit for us (some in Nigeria, in Bolivia) as they were not internet earners.

But the more important signal is that usage depth has improved, especially among core customers.

We are seeing that through:

  • higher assets under custody

  • larger eUSD balances

  • increased trading activity

  • early credit usage

  • stronger behavior from our highest-value customer segments

That is the direction we care about most right now.

The goal is not just to get more people to try a stablecoin wallet once. The goal is to prove UGLYCASH can become the primary financial product for internet earners who need global dollar access, investing, spending, and short-term liquidity.

4. eUSD balances continue growing

At the time of the last update in mid February, UGLYCASH had just eclipsed $10M in customer eUSD balances. Today, customer eUSD balances are more than $13.65M.

We do not want to overstate this signal. Yield still matters a lot to users, and eUSD continues to offer a highly attractive dollar yield compared to most alternatives they can access.

But it is encouraging that balances have continued growing while the top-line eligible rate came down by roughly 1 percentage point and while the broader product surface expanded.

5. eUSD basket economics and sustainability

We are also working with the community on the next evolution of eUSD basket economics.

The goal is to preserve the product’s core value of useful, safe dollar yield for customers, while improving sustainability for UGLYCASH and RSR stakers.

A better approved collateral mix could help create a healthier balance between:

  • customer & RSR staker yield

  • lower RSR burn

  • fintech revenue

  • long-term product sustainability

We have walked through & submitted the relevant materials for expanded assets to our core regulator in El Salvador, CNAD, and expect a response in

We also built a simple interactive model so people can explore how different basket assumptions of possibly approved assets from CNAD could affect APY & revenue potential.

[LINK: Interactive basket model]

6. Strategic partner grants for distribution

A major theme this period is that strategic partners are increasingly funding UGLYCASH growth because they see real traction and brand value in what we are building.

We received a meaningful MoneyGram grant — many hundreds of thousands of dollars — to promote UGLYCASH across LatAm.

This is not about remittance. MoneyGram is making this bet because UGLYCASH is creating a new use case around internet earners who need better ways to cash out.

UGLYCASH has become one of MoneyGram’s strongest partners globally and a big bet for them in LatAm.

Below is one of 3 long for content we expect to splash across the region.

Sneak Peek (temporary link) to a UNGLYCASH + MoneyGram Docuseries

We also received an Ondo grant, many tens of thousands of dollars, to run distribution tests around tokenized stocks over the coming months.

These grants matter because they are non-dilutive growth capital from strategic partners. They help us test distribution, tell larger stories, and grow the ecosystem without relying only on our own balance sheet.

They also validate something important: larger companies want to be associated with the UGLYCASH brand because we are reaching real users with real financial needs in markets they care about.

It shows the compounding effect of Reserve project funding & ecosystem support. Which has been instrumental to this market leading situation birthing more compounding support.

What we are watching next

Over the next quarter, the relevant things to the Reserve community we are focused on:

  • whether tokenized equity demand continues expanding

  • whether DTFs can earn demand through more thematic products

  • whether partner-powered credit repayment remains strong as volume & distribution scales

  • whether eUSD balances continue growing as rate conditions evolve

  • whether basket economics improve sustainability for users, UGLYCASH, and RSR stakers

  • whether strategic partner grants can convert into repeatable internet earner distribution

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