Spark CEO sees stablecoins driving tokenised U.S. treasuries

Spark CEO Sam MacPherson expects stablecoin adoption to drive demand for tokenised treasuries. 

As the market matures, MacPherson said it will drive demand for lending markets and institutional credit, while Spark expands its allocation infrastructure to support it.

Spark held more than two-thirds of the tokenised Treasury market when it stood at about USD $3.5 billion in May of last year, according to Decrypt. 

Tokenised U.S. Treasury funds held about USD $15.65 billion in mid-September, according to RWA.xyz data. Spark said it owns around USD $5 billion of the volume.

MacPherson said a Treasury bill (T-bill) packaged correctly can generate returns while keeping capital accessible. He added that combining returns with liquidity is valuable for a fund running a trading strategy, or for institutions that need to move large sums of money at times that cannot wait for business hours.

"The stablecoin industry is the natural buyer of tokenised treasuries. As the main driver of on-chain finance, it's only natural that this market outsizes other tokenised assets," said MacPherson, adding that stablecoins like Sky Protocol-issued USDS, need low-risk, dollar-denominated assets that generate returns, a requirement Treasury bills meet.

GENIUS-compliant stablecoins act like narrow banks, he said: they are backed by high-quality liquid reserve assets, like treasuries and bank deposits, while serving settlement and liquidity. On top sits a credit layer, such as Sky and Spark, which deploys capital across lending markets, assets and institutional credit to generate returns. 

The credit side, he said, is cyclical. Spark's revenue may rise by a multiple of three to four during bull-market conditions relative to bear-market conditions. He pointed to stablecoins heading toward the USD $3 trillion many expect by 2030. Total stablecoin supply was about USD $285 billion as of early November 2026, according to rwa.xyz.

On yield, he said returns do not come from new deposits, but from the assets those deposits are deployed into. The base layer is Treasury bills, so returns track short-term dollar interest rates. 

"Because the base yield comes from real assets, it scales with deposits. More capital going into Treasuries doesn't automatically dilute the returns.  Those returns are driven primarily by prevailing interest rates rather than the number of depositors."

While he sees great potential for banks and payment providers to use stablecoins for faster transaction settlement and cross-border transfers outside traditional banking hours, he sees a larger opportunity in treasury management.

Many think stablecoins will make major payment companies like Visa or Mastercard obsolete. MacPherson pushed back against this idea, arguing that financial institutions can use crypto to settle transactions faster.

He added that businesses hold significant capital across accounts, currencies and jurisdictions, often idle while waiting for settlement or the next payment. Stablecoins let that capital move around the clock, he said, while on-chain credit and savings infrastructure can put balances to work between transactions.

"The driver behind everything is stablecoin adoption and the need for liquid on-chain capital, so USD-denominated assets like treasury bills and investment-grade corporate debt naturally grow alongside it. They offer relatively low credit risk and dollar-denominated returns. But I wouldn't rule out stocks. I think borrowing against tokenised equities could be the next major opportunity, as those assets become more widely used as collateral. Assets come on-chain one piece at a time, as borrower demand develops."