Surus, a full-stack financial infrastructure platform, announced its role as trustee, collateral agent, and custodian for USDM1, a USD-denominated sovereign financial instrument issued by the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
USDM1 is collateralized 1:1 by U.S. Treasury instruments and issued natively on blockchain infrastructure for 24/7 settlement across one of the world’s most geographically dispersed island nations – more than 1,200 islands and atolls spanning approximately 750,000 square miles of the North Pacific Ocean. The asset was developed in support of the Marshall Islands’ ENRA program, the world’s first long-term funded nationwide Universal Basic Income initiative.
Surus’s Role: U.S. Trustee, Collateral Agent, and Custodian
The Republic of the Marshall Islands, through its exclusive services provider M1X Global, selected Surus as an infrastructure provider for USDM1, serving as U.S.-based trustee, collateral agent and custodian under the instrument’s New York law governed indenture. These are functions typically spread across multiple providers.
As trustee, Surus administers USDM1’s trust arrangement with proper collateral segregation and maintains security interests in all collateral backing the bonds. As collateral agent, Surus holds a perfected first-priority security interest in the underlying U.S. Treasury collateral under New York law, keeping bondholder protections insulated from the sovereign issuer. As custodian, Surus provides hybrid custody of U.S. Treasuries, cash, digital assets and tokenized money market funds.
“USDM1 represents a new category of sovereign financial instrument – one that combines blockchain-native issuance with the legal and structural protections required for use by the government and Marshallese people, as well as in institutional markets” said Patrick Murck, Founder & CEO of Surus.
Mark Lurie, CEO of M1X Global said: “USDM1 is designed to set a new standard for trust and transparency in sovereign collateral. Every unit is backed by short-dated US Treasury instruments held through Surus , giving holders clear and enforceable rights under US law.
In partnership with Surus, this structure removes the need to rely on sovereign counterparties alone – combining the efficiency of blockchain with the certainty and protections of traditional financial infrastructure.
Institutional-Grade Infrastructure
USDM1 is structured as a fully collateralized sovereign bond, backed 1:1 by short-duration U.S. Treasury instruments, governed under New York law with an explicit customary waiver of sovereign immunity. USDM1’s design supports government disbursements and aligns with existing industry agreements and market standards for collateral, margin, netting and financing workflows.
As a U.S. trustee, Surus provides infrastructure supporting USDM1’s HQLA qualification under Basel standards.
About Surus
Surus is a full-stack financial infrastructure platform that provides digital asset builders with qualified custody, reserve management, stablecoin issuance, asset tokenization, and fund administration, all under a single regulated trust company. Surus wholly owns Surus Trust Company, a North Carolina-chartered trust company.
For more information, visit surus.io.
About USDM1
USDM1 is USD-denominated sovereign debt issued natively on-chain by the Republic of the Marshall Islands, secured 1:1 by short-duration U.S. Treasury instruments held in bankruptcy remote custody. The RMI operates exclusively on the U.S. dollar standard under its Compact of Free Association with the United States, which establishes the dollar as its sole legal tender. For more, see the government’s white-paper “Financial Access and the Path to USDM1.”
USDM1 is structured in the style of a fully collateralized Brady bond under New York law, with an explicit customary waiver of sovereign immunity. RMI has granted the collateral agent, Surus Trust Company, a perfected first-priority security interest in the collateral in order to further protect the interests of USDM1 holders. Unlike privately issued digital dollar instruments, USDM1 is structured as sovereign debt with collateral perfected by control under the UCC, enabling compatibility with ISDA netting frameworks and supporting inclusion in ISDA netting sets. As institutional-grade collateral, USDM1 supports integration in institutional margin, repo and financing workflows and operates within existing legal, accounting, and capital frameworks, improving capital efficiency and balance sheet treatment.
Cleary Gottlieb serves as issuer’s counsel and advised with respect to the structuring of the instrument under New York law with the participation of partners specializing in sovereign debt, UCC and secured transactions, creditors’ rights, netting and digital asset market infrastructure.