Invesco Is Taking Over USTB: Superstate's Jim Hiltner on Tokenizing Trillions with FundOS

From asset manager to technology

Superstate spun out of Compound, with Robert Leshner as CEO, and Hiltner now describes it as a technology company connecting the world's assets to blockchains. He said Superstate started USTB as a private fund and suggested that Invesco take it over as portfolio manager, so Superstate could focus on technology and Invesco on managing assets. He said Bitwise is taking over a second Superstate fund in the same way.

Hiltner said Invesco sees tokenization as "existential" to its business as it looks to reach new investors. He expects its Nasdaq 100 product QQQ, which he puts at about $400 billion in assets, to eventually have a tokenized version directly through Superstate, with no separate wrapper.

FundOS and Coinbase

Hiltner called FundOS the unveiling of Superstate as a partner to managers like Invesco, not a competitor. The first outside manager is Coinbase Asset Management, whose fund CUSHY (Coinbase USD Stablecoin Yield fund) will have a traditional share class and a tokenized share class that holders can use as collateral on Aave. He said he owns 100 shares of the fund, which he says yields 9.5%. Excluding Invesco, he said, managers plugging into Superstate represent $10 trillion in client base.

Composability and lending

Hiltner said Superstate has markets on Aave Horizon, Kamino and Morpho, and that borrowing against tokenized equity at around 3% can cost less than a US mortgage, which he put at six to 8% for a 30-year loan. He also said brokers lend out clients' shares and keep the income. His example: $10,000,000 of Nvidia lent out at 30% earns the broker $3,000,000 a year, and the client gets zero. He compared it to someone running an Airbnb in your house without paying you.