What Is TrueUSD (TUSD)?

TrueUSD is a U.S. dollar stablecoin pegged to USD at 1:1. First launched to a limited investor base in January 2018, TrueUSD has since grown to incorporate almost $400 million of backed tokens as of October 2020.

TrueUSD is one of a number of cryptocurrency stablecoins administered by TrustToken, a platform for tokenizing real-world assets.

As with other stablecoins, TrueUSD aims to facilitate increased liquidity and provide cryptocurrency traders and general users with a nonvolatile asset relative to free-floating tokens such as Bitcoin (BTC).

Who Are the Founders of TrueUSD?

TrueUSD is a stablecoin launched by parent company TrustToken, whose co-founder and CEO is Rafael Cosman.

Cosman has a lifelong attachment to cryptography, studying it along with artificial intelligence (AI) before working at both Google Brain and software company Palantir. He left Google to create TrustToken in 2017.

Cosman has stated that TrueUSD was always just the start of TrustToken’s product line, involving relatively little work in return for creating a high-impact asset.

At the time of launch, he noted that regular auditing of the stablecoin formed an important focus for the company, giving investors peace of mind at a time when many cryptoassets were seeing heavy volatility in the wake of the initial coin offering (ICO) phenomenon.

What Makes TrueUSD Unique?

TrueUSD aims to balance stability and utility — the main use cases of any stablecoin — with security in the form of regular attestations.

From its launch onwards, parent company TrustToken has sought to underscore the importance of independent verification of the stablecoin’s provenance. As such, the stablecoin’s appeal is geared towards larger investors looking to reduce risk, in addition to smaller private traders.

TrustToken describes TUSD as “the first regulated stablecoin fully backed by the US Dollar.”

TrueUSD is part of an ever-expanding stablecoin market, which now includes a large number of USD-backed assets. Tether (USDT) remains by far the largest, with a market cap of $15 billion as of October 2020, compared to TUSD’s $382 million.

TrustToken has entered various corporate partnerships as part of its business activities, including options for TUSD holders to increase annualized passive income returns.

How Many TrueUSD (TUSD) Coins Are There in Circulation?

There was around 381.9 million TUSD in circulation as of October 2020. Given its status as a stablecoin, the supply is uncapped, and will continue to expand according to demand.

There are two incarnations of TUSD available: an ERC-20 token on Ethereum and another, also known as TUSDB, a BEP-2 token on Binance Chain.

TrueUSD’s equivalent redeemability for USD is maintained via partnerships with banks and fiduciary entities.

How Is the TrueUSD Network Secured?

TrustToken aims to deliver maximum transparency using tools such as real-time auditing of TUSD’s backing and reliability.

Beyond trusting the validity of its USD peg, any security issues relate to those which affect all ERC-20 standard tokens. Transactions, for example, can suffer from abnormally high fees if gas prices on the Ethereum blockchain spike.