GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands, March 9, 2026 — Sonic Labs announced the introduction of USSD, a U.S. Treasury-backed stablecoin intended to serve as a native source of stable liquidity across the Sonic network and support on-chain financial activity within its ecosystem. USSD is built on Frax’s GENIUS-compatible frxUSD stablecoin infrastructure, which Sonic Labs said provides the basis for a network-native stablecoin with institutional-backed reserves.
According to the company, USSD reserves consist of tokenized U.S. Treasuries associated with financial institutions, including BlackRock, WisdomTree, and Superstate. Sonic Labs said the use of Frax infrastructure is intended to bring Treasury-based collateral into the Sonic ecosystem to support applications such as lending, trading, and other on-chain financial services.
USSD is backed by U.S. Treasury bills and can be minted 1:1 with USDC, allowing users to convert USDC into USSD. Sonic Labs said that, using Frax infrastructure, USSD can also be redeemed back into USDC on chains supported by Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP). Subject to applicable KYC/AML requirements and issuer approval, eligible users will also be able to redeem USSD directly for U.S. dollars into bank accounts. The company described the launch as the first stage of a broader rollout tied to Sonic’s vertical integration initiative.
Sonic Labs said USSD is being introduced without minting caps and is intended to be available to users from launch as part of the network’s vertically integrated model. Through LayerZero interoperability, the company said users will be able to mint USSD from more than 10 chains directly onto Sonic. Sonic Labs also said that, as issuance and usage increase, revenue associated with USSD is expected to be directed back into the Sonic ecosystem through measures such as buybacks and incentives. The company said expanding revenue sources beyond the S token is part of its long-term growth strategy.
Samuel Harcourt, Core Contributor at Sonic Labs, said USSD is part of the company’s vertical integration strategy and is intended to connect the Sonic network more directly to Treasury-based yield at the protocol level. He said the stablecoin is designed to support stable liquidity within the ecosystem while using reserves linked to real-world assets.
Sam Kazemian, Founder and CEO of Frax, said Frax’s white-label stablecoin infrastructure is designed to provide full backing, transparency, cross-chain functionality, and fiat on-ramps for partners using the system. He said the infrastructure supporting USSD is intended to help Sonic establish a base stable asset within its network.
USSD became available to users on the Sonic network on March 9, 2026. Sonic Labs said additional details on related ecosystem initiatives will be released in the coming weeks.
