# Usual — The First Two Years > We started with a question: why don't the people who use stablecoins own what they create? Two years later, we have the answer — and we're still building it. *From founding to five business lines. A look at what we've shipped.* *** ### The Story in Five Phases | Phase | Period | Theme | | ------------------- | ------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------ | | **Origins** | 2022 – April 2024 | Founding, research, first funding | | **Launch & Growth** | May – December 2024 | Products, markets, $2B in deposits | | **Maturation** | January – August 2025 | Revenue sharing, governance framework, ETH0 | | **Unification** | September – December 2025 | Multi-currency, disinflation, full DAO ownership | | **V2 Foundations** | January – February 2026 | Credit, five business lines, neobank vision | *** ### Phase 1 — Origins (2022 – April 2024) Usual Labs was founded in France in 2022. The mission: build a financial system where the people who use it actually own it. Two years of research, design, and security groundwork followed. By April 2024, the protocol had funding from 15 investors, two completed audits, and $75M in committed deposits. | Date | Milestone | | ------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | 2022 | **Usual Labs founded** in France — three co-founders, one mission | | November 2023 | **Kraken Ventures** confirms seed participation | | April 2024 | **$7M seed round** led by IOSG Ventures and Kraken Ventures (15 investors including GSR, Mantle, Starkware, Psalion) | | April 2024 | Protocol **exits stealth** with $75M committed — covered by CoinDesk and The Block | | May 2024 | First smart contract audit by **Cantina** | | June 2024 | **Cantina Pegasus** — public audit competition completed | *** ### Phase 2 — Launch & Growth (May – December 2024) Six months of shipping. USD0 went live in May — a dollar balance fully backed by US Treasury Bills. bUSD0 followed in July. By November, Usual was the 61st project on Binance Launchpool. By December, total deposits reached $2B. | Date | Milestone | | -------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | May 2024 | **USD0 launched** — dollar balance backed by US Treasury Bills (Hashnote USYC) | | July 2024 | **bUSD0 launched** — fixed-term deposit earning daily USUAL rewards | | October 2024 | **Paladin audit** of L2 contracts — multi-chain deployment prepared | | November 15–18 | **Binance Launchpool** (61st project) — 300M USUAL distributed | | November 19 | **USUAL listed on Binance** — circulating supply: \~494.6M (12.37% of total) | | November 2024 | **Listed on OKX and ByBit** | | November 2024 | Major audits completed by **Cantina, Halborn, and Sherlock** | | December 2024 | **$10M Series A** led by Binance Labs and Kraken Ventures | | December 2024 | Additional audits by **Blackthorne and Cantina** | | Late 2024 | **Deposits reach \~$2B** | #### Investor alignment The Series A brought together four major exchange venture arms in one round: Binance Labs, Kraken Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, and OKX Ventures. Alongside them: Galaxy Ventures, Symbolic Capital, Amber, and GSR. Total funding raised: **$17M.** *** ### Phase 3 — Maturation (January – August 2025) This phase was about building the infrastructure that turns a product into a platform. Revenue sharing launched in January — the mechanism that distributes protocol earnings directly to locked USUAL holders every week. Eight governance proposals were debated and voted on. ETH0 extended the product line to Ethereum-denominated assets. Twelve additional audits hardened the codebase. | Date | Milestone | | ------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | January 2025 | **Revenue sharing activated** — protocol revenue distributed weekly to locked USUAL holders | | February 2025 | **UIP-1** — Usual Stability Loan (USL) implemented | | February 2025 | **UIP-2** — USL capacity increased | | March 2025 | **UIP-3** — DAO treasury staking proposal. The community voted against it (72%) — governance working as designed | | April 2025 | **UIP-6** — USUALx value maximization | | April 2025 | **UIP-7** — Redemption fee redistribution to holders | | May 2025 | **ETH0 launched** — ETH balance backed by wstETH | | May 2025 | **USUALx Lockup deployed** — lock 1 to 12 months to earn revenue share | | June 2025 | **UIP-8** — wstETH approved as ETH0 collateral | | July 2025 | **UIP-9** — Locking mechanism, buybacks, and revenue alignment | | July 2025 | **UIP-10** — USL parameters optimized | | July 2025 | **bUSD0 upgraded** — burn redemption mechanism introduced | Revenue model refined during this phase: **70% of protocol revenue retained by the DAO treasury. 30% distributed weekly to locked USUAL holders.** A buyback program launched at \~$300K/week, repurchasing over 10% of circulating supply by late 2025. **12 audits completed** during this period — Spearbit, Sherlock, OAK Security, Halborn, Hexens. *** ### Phase 4 — Unification (September – December 2025) The most transformative quarter in Usual's history. Four new products launched. The disinflation vote (UIP-11) reduced USUAL max supply from 4B to 3B and halved daily emissions. And in December, five governance proposals in fifteen days completed the convergence: bUSD0 received its final structure, new collateral was approved, and the DAO took full ownership of all protocol assets. | Date | Milestone | | ------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | October 2025 | **EUR0 launched** — euro balance backed by European sovereign bonds | | November 2025 | **sUSD0 launched** — dollar savings account | | November 2025 | **sEUR0 launched** — euro savings account | | November 2025 | **USD0a launched** — advanced strategy with market-neutral returns | | November 13 | **UIP-11 — Disinflation era begins**: max supply **4B → 3B**, daily emissions **halved** | | November 25 | **Vesting cliff** — \~207M USUAL distributed to stakeholders | | December 8 | **UIP-12** — bUSD0 restructured with rt-bUSD0 (Redeem Token) for flexible exit | | December 2025 | **Liquidity migration** to new infrastructure | | December 17 | **UIP-13** — USUAL\* (STAR) converted to soulbound, phased out by June 2028 | | December 18 | **UIP-14** — USTBL approved as USD0 collateral | | December 23 | **UIP-15 — Full DAO Convergence**: the DAO owns 100% of protocol assets. Usual Labs becomes a service provider. IP transfer scheduled for Q1 2026 | #### UIP-11 — Disinflation at a glance | | Before | After | | --------------------------- | ----------------- | --------------------- | | Max supply (4 years) | 4.0 billion | **3.0 billion** | | Daily emissions | \~2,738,000 USUAL | **\~1,350,000 USUAL** | | Projected full distribution | \~November 2028 | **June 2028** | Five governance proposals in fifteen days. Each one moved ownership closer to the community. By December 23, the DAO owned everything. *** ### Phase 5 — V2 Foundations (January – February 2026) Credit arrived. In January, the DAO acquired a fixed-rate lending protocol and launched it as **Usual Credit**. Three governance proposals in three days established the credit infrastructure. The protocol now operates five business lines — currencies, savings, credit, security, and governance — under one platform. | Date | Milestone | | ----------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | | January 6 | **UIP-16** — UZR approved as USD0 collateral | | January 8 | **UIP-17** — DAO acquires Fira lending protocol | | January 8 | **UIP-18** — UZR lending market launched | | January 14 | **Usual Credit goes live** on the Usual app | | January 27 – February 3 | **USUALx Early Unlock window** — voluntary exit for holders | | January 2026 | **EUR0a preparation** — EUR0 Alpha audits and communications initiated | | February 2026 | **Weekly revenue sharing active** | | February 2026 | Continuous production releases on the Usual app | #### Five business lines, one platform | Business line | Products | | ------------------------- | ------------------------------------------- | | **Currencies & Deposits** | USD0, EUR0, ETH0, FX rails | | **Savings & Yield** | sUSD0, sEUR0, USD0a, bUSD0, Usual Vaults | | **Credit** | Usual Credit — fixed-rate lending | | **Security & Compliance** | 20+ audits, monitoring, compliance rails | | **Governance** | USUAL token, DAO ownership, revenue sharing | *** ### What We've Built — By the Numbers #### 12 products shipped in 20 months | Product | Launch | What it does | | -------------------- | -------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | | **USD0** | May 2024 | Dollar balance backed by US Treasury Bills | | **bUSD0** | July 2024 | Fixed-term deposit — lock until June 2028, earn daily USUAL | | **USUAL** | November 2024 | Ownership and governance token — 3B max supply | | **USUALx** | November 2024 | Locked USUAL — earn weekly revenue share | | **ETH0** | May 2025 | ETH balance backed by wstETH | | **EUR0** | October 2025 | Euro balance backed by European sovereign bonds | | **sUSD0** | November 2025 | Dollar savings account | | **sEUR0** | November 2025 | Euro savings account | | **USD0a** | November 2025 | Advanced strategy — market-neutral returns | | **bUSD0 + rt-bUSD0** | December 2025 | Restructured bond with flexible early exit | | **Usual Credit** | January 2026 | Fixed-rate credit — borrow against your assets | | **EUR0a** | In preparation | Euro advanced strategy | #### 20+ audits by 8 independent firms **Cantina · Sherlock · Spearbit · Halborn · Hexens · Paladin · Blackthorne · OAK Security** Every product, every upgrade, every new contract goes through independent review before reaching users. Security is not a feature — it's the foundation. | Period | Firms | | ------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------- | | 2024 | Cantina, Cantina Pegasus, Paladin, Halborn, Sherlock, Blackthorne | | H1 2025 | Spearbit, Sherlock, OAK Security, Halborn, Hexens | | H2 2025 | Sherlock, Hexens, Halborn, Cantina | | 2026 | Fira audit, EUR0a and EUR0 Oracle audits initiated | #### 16 governance proposals voted 15 approved. 1 rejected by the community. Every major decision — from tokenomics to IP ownership — decided by vote. | UIP | Date | Decision | | ------ | ------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- | | UIP-1 | February 2025 | Usual Stability Loan implemented | | UIP-2 | February 2025 | USL capacity increased | | UIP-3 | March 2025 | DAO treasury staking — **rejected by community vote** | | UIP-6 | April 2025 | USUALx value maximization | | UIP-7 | April 2025 | Redemption fee redistribution | | UIP-8 | June 2025 | wstETH approved as ETH0 collateral | | UIP-9 | July 2025 | Locking, buybacks, revenue alignment | | UIP-10 | July 2025 | USL parameters optimized | | UIP-11 | November 2025 | **Disinflation: supply 4B → 3B, emissions halved** | | UIP-12 | December 2025 | bUSD0 restructured with rt-bUSD0 | | UIP-13 | December 2025 | USUAL\* (STAR) soulbound, phased out June 2028 | | UIP-14 | December 2025 | USTBL approved as USD0 collateral | | UIP-15 | December 2025 | **Full DAO Convergence — 100% community ownership** | | UIP-16 | January 2026 | UZR approved as USD0 collateral | | UIP-17 | January 2026 | **DAO acquires Fira lending protocol** | | UIP-18 | January 2026 | UZR lending market launched | #### $17M raised from tier-1 investors | Round | Date | Amount | Lead investors | | -------- | ------------- | ------ | ------------------------------ | | Seed | April 2024 | $7M | IOSG Ventures, Kraken Ventures | | Series A | December 2024 | $10M | Binance Labs, Kraken Ventures | Backed by: Binance Labs · Kraken Ventures · Coinbase Ventures · OKX Ventures · Galaxy Ventures · Symbolic Capital · Amber · GSR · Mantle · Starkware #### Infrastructure * **4 chains**: Ethereum (primary), Arbitrum, Base, BNB Chain * **Revenue model**: 30% to locked USUAL holders / 70% to DAO treasury — distributed weekly * **USUAL supply**: 3B max, \~1.35M emitted daily, full distribution by June 2028 * **DAO ownership**: 100% of protocol assets since December 2025 *** ### The Evolution | Phase | What we were | What we built | | --------- | --------------------- | ------------------------------------------ | | 2022–2024 | A team with a thesis | A stablecoin backed by real assets | | 2024–2025 | A stablecoin protocol | A multi-product platform with governance | | Late 2025 | A platform | Five business lines, fully community-owned | | 2026 | A Defi-Fintech | **Money you actually own.** | *** > Two years ago, we asked: why don't people own what they create? > > Today, Usual is a platform with twelve products, twenty audits, sixteen governance votes, and full community ownership. Built on real assets. Shared with the people who use it. > > That was the foundation. Now comes what we build on top of it. ***