Michigan mortgage lender LitFinancial has launched a U.S. dollar stablecoin, litUSD, on the Ethereum blockchain as it seeks cheaper funding and more flexible treasury operations. The announcement, made Sept. 10, 2025, marks another example of traditional financial firms using tokenized dollars for corporate liquidity and payments.
LitFinancial says litUSD is an ERC‑20 token backed 1:1 with cash and cash equivalents held in reserve. The company chose Ethereum for its network stability and decentralization, and tapped FinCEN‑registered Brale to manage issuance and redemptions. Advisory firm Stably supported token economics and DeFi integration.
The lender plans to use litUSD to lower funding costs and improve treasury management, and is exploring on‑chain settlement of mortgage payments. If adopted, tokenized loan cashflows could be tracked more transparently, with potential implications for pricing and liquidity in the secondary mortgage market.
Consumers and counterparties can mint or redeem litUSD through bank transfers or by swapping Circle’s USDC via Brale’s verified business accounts. LitFinancial — founded in 2024 and staffed by industry veterans from Rocket Mortgage and Coinbase — projects an annual mortgage origination run‑rate above $1 billion by 2026.
This rollout comes amid growing institutional interest in stablecoins after federal clarity on the asset class. Market‑making firm Keyrock has forecast stablecoin payment volumes could top $1 trillion annually by 2030, while U.S. lawmakers advanced the GENIUS Act earlier this year.
Risks to watch: reserve transparency, regulatory compliance, and operational integration remain key. Publicly visible on‑chain activity could improve transparency but may raise privacy and secondary‑market complexity. Companies and counterparties should evaluate custodial arrangements and legal frameworks before adoption.
Source: CoinDesk. Read the original coverage for full details.
