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OpenEden whitepaper

OpenEden: Real-World Asset Tokenization, the Bridge to On-Chain Real Yield

The OpenEden whitepaper was initiated by the core project team in 2022 and released in early 2023, aiming to address the urgent demand in the DeFi market for stable, low-risk, and compliant on-chain yield assets, and to seize the huge opportunity of bringing trillion-dollar real-world assets onto the blockchain.

The theme of the OpenEden whitepaper can be summarized as “OpenEden: A Real-World Asset Tokenization Platform Bridging Traditional Finance and DeFi.” OpenEden’s uniqueness lies in its “Smart Contract Vault (TBILL Vault) + Regulated Yield-Bearing Stablecoin (USDO) + Institutional-Grade Compliance Framework” end-to-end tokenization solution, ensuring transparency and security through regulated entities, real-time reserve proofs, and third-party audits. The significance of OpenEden is to provide Web3 users and institutional investors with a stable, low-risk source of on-chain yield, laying the foundation for the on-chain real-world asset (RWA) ecosystem and significantly lowering the barrier for traditional financial assets to enter DeFi.

OpenEden’s original intention is to build an open and neutral bridge to safely and compliantly bring trillion-dollar real-world assets into DeFi, unlocking their potential value. The core viewpoint articulated in the OpenEden whitepaper is: by combining institutional-grade compliance with blockchain transparency and composability, OpenEden can achieve reliable, efficient, and verifiable tokenization of real-world assets in decentralized finance, providing users with stable and yield-generating on-chain financial products.

Interested researchers can access the original OpenEden whitepaper. OpenEden whitepaper link: https://docs.openeden.com/

OpenEden whitepaper summary

Author: Niklas Voss
Last updated: 2025-10-05 00:51
The following is a summary of the OpenEden whitepaper, expressed in simple terms to help you quickly understand the OpenEden whitepaper and gain a clearer understanding of OpenEden.

What is OpenEden

Friends, imagine that we usually deposit money in banks or invest in traditional financial products like government bonds. These are generally safe, but the returns may be low, and the procedures can be cumbersome with time restrictions. In the blockchain world, although it’s vibrant and full of novel investment opportunities, the risks are relatively high and returns are often unstable. The OpenEden project acts as a bridge connecting the traditional financial world and the blockchain world.

Simply put, OpenEden’s goal is to bring those safe, stable, and yield-generating assets from the traditional financial world—such as U.S. Treasury Bills (T-Bills)—onto the blockchain, allowing everyone to invest conveniently through their crypto wallets.

It mainly achieves this through two core products:

  • TBILL: Think of this as a digital certificate for U.S. Treasury Bills. You deposit stablecoins (such as USDC) into OpenEden’s “vault” (TBILL Vault) and receive TBILL tokens. Each TBILL token is backed 1:1 by real short-term U.S. Treasury Bills, USDC, or USD reserves. This means your TBILL holdings are supported by actual, regulated U.S. government bonds, providing stable returns.
  • USDO: This is a yield-bearing stablecoin. It’s pegged to the U.S. dollar, but unlike regular stablecoins, USDO’s reserve assets are TBILL, so it automatically generates yield. You can think of USDO as a “dollar that lays golden eggs”—it’s not only stable but also helps you earn returns. OpenEden also offers a “wrapped” version of USDO—cUSDO—for easier use in more decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.

So, OpenEden is designed for Web3 users, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), and institutional investors who want to enjoy low risk, high liquidity, and stable returns from traditional financial assets in the blockchain world.

Project Vision and Value Proposition

OpenEden’s vision is ambitious: it aims to unlock trillions of dollars in value by bringing real-world assets (RWA) into DeFi. They believe that internet-native money will make real-world assets accessible, creating a more inclusive, permissionless, and freely flowing economic system.

The core problem it wants to solve is: in DeFi, while there are many high-risk, high-reward opportunities, there is a lack of stable, low-risk, and yield-generating assets. At the same time, for Web3 users, investing in traditional financial assets often faces time restrictions, regulatory barriers, and complex entry requirements.

OpenEden’s value proposition includes:

  • Providing the stability of traditional finance and the flexibility of DeFi: It brings U.S. Treasury Bills—considered one of the world’s safest investments—on-chain via blockchain technology, allowing users to access and trade 24/7.
  • High compliance and institutional-grade trust: OpenEden places great emphasis on compliance. Its TBILL fund has received Moody’s “A-bf” and S&P’s “AA+” credit ratings, and it partners with renowned institutions like BNY Mellon for asset custody. This is like giving your digital assets the “gold standard” of traditional finance, greatly increasing trust.
  • Transparency and verifiability: OpenEden promises real-time reserve proofs and Net Asset Value (NAV) audits, all verifiable on-chain to ensure transparency.

Compared to similar projects, OpenEden’s uniqueness lies in its strict adherence to regulatory standards and deep cooperation with traditional financial giants. It’s not just about moving assets on-chain, but doing so within a regulated framework, providing a more reassuring option for institutions and professional investors.

Technical Features

Technically, OpenEden is committed to building a secure, transparent, and efficient bridge between traditional finance and the blockchain world:

  • Smart Contract Vault: The core of OpenEden is its TBILL Vault, managed by smart contracts. Think of it as a highly automated digital safe that receives users’ stablecoin deposits, issues TBILL tokens, and ensures real Treasury Bills back them.
  • Multi-chain support: The OpenEden ecosystem supports multiple mainstream blockchain networks, including Ethereum, Base, Binance Smart Chain (BSC), Solana, and Arbitrum. This means you can participate in OpenEden’s ecosystem regardless of which chain your assets are on.
  • DeFi composability: OpenEden’s products, especially USDO and cUSDO, are designed for seamless integration into various DeFi protocols. Like Lego blocks, you can use OpenEden’s yield-bearing stablecoins as a foundation to build more complex DeFi strategies, such as lending or structured products on protocols like Pendle, Morpho, and Balancer.
  • Security audits: To ensure smart contract security, OpenEden’s code has been audited by professional third-party security firms such as Chainsecurity and Hacken. It’s like hiring expert security consultants to thoroughly check the vault and reduce potential vulnerabilities.
  • KYC (Know Your Customer) requirements: To meet regulatory requirements, OpenEden requires investors to undergo KYC identity verification. This helps ensure platform compliance but also means it’s not a fully anonymous or permissionless platform.
  • Asset custody: Funds deposited by users and the corresponding real-world assets are managed by OpenEden’s licensed investment management entity and held by regulated third-party custodians such as BNY Mellon. It’s like having your money and assets kept by professional, trusted “banks” rather than solely by the project team.

Tokenomics

The core of the OpenEden ecosystem is its native token—EDEN. You can think of the EDEN token as the stock and voting right certificate of the OpenEden “digital economy.”

Token Basic Information

  • Token Symbol: EDEN
  • Total Supply: 1,000,000,000 (1 billion) EDEN
  • Launch Date: The EDEN token will be launched in September 2025.

Token Utility

The EDEN token is not just a tradable digital asset; it plays multiple roles in the OpenEden ecosystem:

  • Governance: Users who hold and stake EDEN tokens (i.e., xEDEN) can participate in major decisions for the OpenEden project. Like a company’s shareholder meeting, you can vote on important matters such as reserve strategies and product roadmaps, jointly deciding the project’s direction.
  • Staking Rewards: EDEN holders can stake tokens to receive a share of the yields and fees from the TBILL and USDO vaults. It’s like lending your “stock” to the company, and the company pays you dividends.
  • Growth Incentives: A portion of EDEN tokens is used to incentivize ecosystem growth, such as liquidity mining, supporting exchange listings, and other community participation rewards.
  • Rebates & Premium Access: Users who hold or stake EDEN tokens may receive fee discounts or priority access when minting or redeeming assets.

Token Allocation and Unlocking

The total supply of EDEN tokens is 1 billion, and its allocation is designed to incentivize long-term holding and ecosystem development:

  • Ecosystem & Community: 38.50% (or 41.22%) of tokens are for ecosystem development, including grants, marketing, partnerships, staking rewards, and liquidity mining.
  • Team & Advisors: 20.00% of tokens are allocated to the team and advisors, usually with a cliff and linear vesting mechanism, such as at least a 6-month cliff followed by linear unlocking over 24 months, ensuring long-term alignment between the team and the project.
  • Investors: 18.00% (or 15.28%) of tokens are allocated to early investors, also with a cliff and 24-month linear unlocking.
  • Foundation: 10.00% (or 2.0% + 8.0%) of tokens support OpenEden’s long-term operational needs, grant programs, and future expansion.
  • TBILL Airdrop (Bills Airdrop): 7.50% of tokens reward early TBILL users, using a special “HODLer reward mechanism.”
  • Early Adopters: 6.00% of tokens are allocated to early supporters, also using a similar “HODLer reward mechanism.”

HODLer Reward Mechanism

OpenEden has designed a unique HODLer reward mechanism, a 120-day token distribution system aimed at reducing post-listing volatility and rewarding long-term holders. Specifically, token allocation is split into two parts: 20% of tokens can be claimed at any time without penalty, while the remaining 80% unlocks linearly over 120 days. If users choose to claim this 80% early, a portion of tokens will be forfeited and redistributed to long-term holders. This encourages “holding for the long term” rather than “quick in and out.”

As of October 2025, the circulating supply of EDEN is about 183.87 million tokens.

Team, Governance, and Funding

Team

OpenEden’s team has a strong background, composed of seasoned professionals from both traditional finance and the crypto industry:

  • Core Founders: The project was founded by former Gemini (a well-known crypto exchange) executive Jeremy Ng and Eugene Ng. However, Eugene Ng was later dismissed for personal reasons.
  • Team Experience: Core team members have worked at top financial institutions and crypto-native companies such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, Gemini, OKX, and Bybit. This shows the team’s deep knowledge in traditional finance compliance, risk management, and crypto technology and operations.
  • Key Members: CTO is Duke Du, and General Counsel is Wayne TAN.
  • Strategic Advisor: Arthur Cheong, founder of DeFiance Capital, has joined OpenEden as a strategic advisor to promote the integration of DeFi and traditional finance.

Governance

OpenEden adopts a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) governance model, with the EDEN token playing a central role.

  • Token Holder Voting: EDEN token holders can stake tokens (xEDEN) to gain voting rights and participate in key project decisions, such as adjusting reserve strategies, deciding product roadmaps, and fee structures.
  • Community Driven: This governance model aims to involve community members in the project’s future development, ensuring transparency and decentralization.

Funding

OpenEden received funding support in its early development:

  • Fundraising: The project has completed at least two rounds of financing, raising at least $5 million. This includes undisclosed amounts from YZi Labs (formerly Binance Labs).
  • Core Investors: Major investors include Adam Jin, YZi Labs, and Summer Ventures.
  • Vault Management: OpenEden’s TBILL vault is managed by a regulated investment management entity, further emphasizing its professionalism and compliance in fund management.

Roadmap

As a project closely tied to regulated assets, OpenEden’s roadmap may differ from purely crypto-native projects. According to available information, OpenEden has not published a fixed, time-specific “roadmap”. This is because, under a managed investment structure, any new product or feature launch must go through legal and compliance approval processes. However, we can outline the project’s trajectory from its historical events and future plans:

Key Historical Milestones and Events

  • 2022: OpenEden project established.
  • April 2023: OpenEden mainnet officially launched.
  • January 2025: Yield-bearing stablecoin USDO launched.
  • September 2025:
    • OpenEden completed strategic financing.
    • Native token EDEN officially launched.
    • EDEN token listed on major crypto exchanges such as Binance, KuCoin, and OrangeX.
    • HODLer Bonus Mechanism launched to reward long-term token holders.
    • DeFiance Capital founder Arthur Cheong appointed as strategic advisor.
  • October 2025: OpenEden’s TBILL fund received dual credit ratings—S&P “AA+f” and Moody’s “A-bf”—the first tokenized U.S. Treasury Bill product to achieve dual ratings.

Future Key Plans and Milestones (as of October 2025)

  • Q3 2025:
    • DeFi Integration Expansion: Further expand cUSDO’s use in lending and structured product protocols, such as integration with Pendle, Morpho, and Balancer.
  • Q4 2025:
    • Multi-chain Expansion: Expand USDO/cUSDO to more new blockchain networks.
    • Cross-border Payments: Integrate with fintech companies and emerging banks to explore cross-border payment applications.
  • Full Year 2025:
    • Tokenized Fund Collaboration: Partner with a traditional financial giant to launch a tokenized fund.
    • Regulated Crypto Yield Products: Launch more crypto yield products that meet regulatory requirements.

Common Risk Reminders

Friends, all investments carry risks, and blockchain projects are no exception. Although OpenEden strives to provide more stable investment options, there are still some risks to be aware of:

Technical and Security Risks

  • Smart Contract Risk: Although OpenEden’s smart contracts have been professionally audited, there may still be undiscovered vulnerabilities. If a vulnerability occurs, it could lead to asset loss.
  • Blockchain Network Risk: OpenEden operates on multiple blockchain networks, which themselves may face technical failures, network congestion, or security attacks.

Economic Risks

  • Token Price Volatility Risk: As a governance and incentive token, EDEN’s price may be affected by market sentiment, supply and demand, and overall crypto market fluctuations. For example, EDEN experienced significant price volatility during its initial listing.
  • Token Unlocking Risk: Most EDEN tokens are currently locked. When these tokens unlock and enter circulation as scheduled, it may increase selling pressure and cause the token price to drop.
  • Underlying Asset Risk: Although U.S. Treasury Bills are considered low-risk assets, global economic conditions and interest rate policy changes can still affect their yields. Additionally, while TBILL tokens are 1:1 pegged to Treasury Bills, in extreme market conditions, the redemption process may face operational risks.
  • Liquidity Risk: In some cases, if market depth is insufficient, large TBILL or USDO redemptions may impact market liquidity.

Compliance and Operational Risks

  • Regulatory Policy Change Risk: Tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) is an emerging field, and global regulatory policies are constantly evolving. Any new regulations in the future could affect OpenEden’s operating model, product offerings, and market access.
  • Centralization Risk: OpenEden manages real-world assets through regulated entities and licensed custodians and requires users to undergo KYC verification. This introduces some centralization, differing from the pure decentralization ideal of DeFi. Users need to trust these centralized entities to fulfill their duties and comply with relevant regulations.
  • Operational Risk: The project relies on third-party custodians, fund managers, and legal advisors, whose operational efficiency and compliance also affect OpenEden’s overall performance.
  • Team Reputation Risk: Any negative news or controversy involving team members (such as the incident with former co-founder Eugene Ng) may impact the project’s reputation and market confidence.

Remember, the above risks are not exhaustive. Always conduct thorough personal research and risk assessment before making any decisions.

Verification Checklist

To help you better understand the OpenEden project, here are some important verification links and information you can check yourself:

  • Official Website: https://openeden.com/
  • DApp Application: https://app.openeden.com/
  • Project Documentation/Whitepaper Alternative: https://docs.openeden.com/ (Contains detailed project introduction and technical documentation)
  • Twitter (X): https://x.com/openeden_x (Get the latest updates and community interaction)
  • Telegram: https://t.me/openeden (Join community discussions)
  • Block Explorer Contract Addresses:
    • EDEN token contract address: For example, shown as 0x24A3...0035 on CoinMarketCap. Since OpenEden supports multiple chains, you may need to check TBILL, USDO, and EDEN contract addresses on block explorers for Ethereum, BSC, Solana, etc.
    • You can find the latest and accurate contract addresses via the official documentation or DApp.
  • GitHub Activity: Although search results do not directly provide a GitHub link, the project has been audited by Chainsecurity and Hacken, which usually means its codebase is public. You can look for the GitHub link in the official documentation to assess code update frequency and community contributions.
  • Audit Reports: Review Chainsecurity and Hacken’s audit reports on OpenEden’s smart contracts to understand their security assessment results.
  • Credit Rating Reports: Review Moody’s and S&P’s credit rating reports for the OpenEden TBILL fund.

Project Summary

OpenEden is a blockchain project dedicated to bridging the gap between traditional finance and decentralized finance. By tokenizing real-world assets (RWA) such as U.S. Treasury Bills, it provides Web3 users, DAOs, and institutional investors with a way to access low-risk, high-liquidity, and stable returns on-chain.

The project’s core products include the TBILL token representing tokenized U.S. Treasury Bills and the yield-bearing stablecoin USDO backed by TBILL. OpenEden stands out for its strong emphasis on compliance; its TBILL fund has received institutional-grade credit ratings from Moody’s and S&P and partners with traditional financial giants like BNY Mellon for asset custody, establishing a foundation of trust in the RWA space.

The native token EDEN plays key roles in governance, staking rewards, and incentives within the ecosystem, and features a unique HODLer reward mechanism to encourage long-term holding. The team has extensive experience in both traditional finance and crypto, and the project has completed multiple funding rounds.

Although OpenEden shows great potential in connecting TradFi and DeFi and emphasizes compliance and transparency, investors should still be aware of potential risks such as token price volatility, unlocking risk, regulatory changes, and centralized operations.

In summary, OpenEden offers an attractive option for investors seeking more stable and compliant returns in the crypto world. However, this is not investment advice. Always conduct thorough personal research and carefully assess your own risk tolerance before making any investment decisions.

Disclaimer: The above interpretations are the author's personal opinions. Please verify the accuracy of all information independently. These interpretations do not represent the platform's views and are not intended as investment advice. For more details about the project, please refer to its whitepaper.

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