Crypto startup Saturn is raising funding for an on-chain dollar product, USDat, that routes yield from Strategy’s Bitcoin-linked credit instruments into DeFi.
The round included $500,000 from YZi Labs and a $300,000 angel raise led by Sora Ventures, as Saturn positions USDat as a dollar-denominated token whose returns are tied to Strategy’s STRC preferred equity.
STRC is a Nasdaq-listed perpetual security that currently pays an annualized dividend of 11% distributed monthly, according to Strategy.
Rather than framing USDat as a conventional yield-bearing stablecoin, Saturn is packaging public-market credit exposure into a blockchain-native format.
Saturn’s USDat turns Strategy-linked yield into a blockchain-native asset
The structure converts Strategy’s dividend-paying preferred stock into a digital asset that can be held, transferred, and eventually used within DeFi protocols.
The approach places Saturn closer to a tokenized credit wrapper than to stablecoins backed solely by short-term U.S. Treasuries.
Strategy’s STRC, branded internally as “Stretch,” is designed to trade near $100 par through monthly dividend resets, with the company adjusting payouts to stabilize secondary-market pricing.
Strategy lists the current dividend rate at 11.00% annualized, a level that stands well above prevailing cash benchmarks.
U.S. three-month Treasury bills yielded about 3.6% in mid-January 2026, according to Trading Economics.
Tokenized Treasury products tracked roughly 3.1% over seven days as of early January, according to RWA.xyz.
That gap is central to Saturn’s pitch.
The yield does not come from higher on-chain interest rates, but from exposure to Strategy’s capital structure and its ability to sustain preferred dividends through Bitcoin-backed financing and securities issuance.
In this structure, Bitcoin price volatility feeds into Strategy’s balance sheet, which supports STRC’s dividends, which Saturn then channels into tokenized dollar liabilities.
Saturn’s own messaging reflects this layered design, though not always consistently.
How Saturn turns Strategy exposure into tokenized yield
One Saturn explainer distinguishes between USDat, described as a liquidity-focused dollar token initially backed by tokenized U.S. Treasuries, and sUSDat, a staked variant that earns yield sourced from STRC.
At the same time, Saturn’s homepage markets USDat directly as offering “11%+ yield,” compressing the distinction between cash-like exposure and credit-backed returns.
This structure aligns with a broader shift in digital dollar markets toward differentiated tiers of risk and return.
Cash-equivalent stablecoins continue to serve payments and settlement use cases, while portfolio-backed dollar tokens introduce explicit exposure to credit, liquidity, and issuer risk.
Saturn is attempting to occupy that second category using Bitcoin-treasury-company credit as its yield engine.
The macro context makes the contrast more pronounced.
Tokenized Treasuries have grown to roughly $8.86 billion in total value, according to RWA.xyz, demonstrating rapid adoption of on-chain cash equivalents.
At the same time, stablecoins have expanded into mainstream financial plumbing.
More than $300 billion in stablecoins are now circulating globally, with Visa and other incumbents integrating stablecoin settlement into existing payment rails.
As stablecoins begin offering yield rather than just transactional utility, they increasingly intersect with products such as money-market funds, broker cash sweeps, and short-duration credit vehicles.
That convergence has drawn regulatory scrutiny, particularly around whether yield-bearing dollar tokens function as unregulated deposit substitutes.
Saturn’s growth hinges on Strategy’s issuance capacity and market conditions
Saturn’s scaling ambitions are closely tied to Strategy’s issuance capacity.
Strategy’s STRC initial public offering raised about $2.47 billion and was later supplemented by a $4.2 billion at-the-market program, according to company disclosures.
While this provides several billions of potential float, it also imposes a structural ceiling on how much STRC-backed digital credit can be issued without leverage.
Reaching $10 billion in Saturn-issued liabilities would likely require a substantial share of available STRC supply, along with liquidity buffers to manage redemptions during market stress.
That dependency becomes more visible in adverse scenarios.
If Bitcoin prices fall sharply and capital markets tighten, Strategy’s ability to maintain preferred dividends through ongoing issuance could be tested.
If STRC were to trade meaningfully below par, any wrapper assuming near-par stability would face coverage pressure during redemptions unless overcollateralized.
Policy risk adds another layer of uncertainty
U.S. lawmakers just delayed progress on a crypto market-structure bill following objections from Coinbase, with draft language that could restrict interest or rewards paid on stablecoins.
Banking groups have also pushed back against yield-bearing tokens, arguing they compete with insured deposits.
Frameworks such as the GENIUS Act subject stablecoin issuers exceeding $10 billion in circulation to heightened federal oversight, raising questions about how products like USDat would ultimately be classified.
These pressures are likely to force design tradeoffs.
If passive yield on stablecoins becomes constrained, issuers may need to pivot toward tokenized securities, restrict distribution, or tie returns to activity rather than simple holding.
Despite those uncertainties, investors backing Saturn are framing the project as an early bridge between public-market Bitcoin credit and on-chain finance.
Sora Ventures founder Jason Fang said the firm backed Saturn because it connects institutional credit products with DeFi infrastructure in a way that existing stablecoins do not.
Saturn co-founder Kevin Li said the protocol aims to scale transparent yield distribution into the billions of dollars using Strategy’s digital credit products.
As tokenized Treasuries, payment stablecoins, and yield-bearing dollars continue to converge, Saturn’s model places public-market credit behavior, rather than DeFi mechanics alone, at the center of whether digital dollars can sustain double-digit returns at scale.
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