Theo co-founder Ari Pingle told Cointelegraph that the capital was committed through a structured facility known as the Genesis Vault, which reached its $100 million cap within 24 hours. The funds were deposited into the facility to support the launch of thUSD, rather than representing venture funding for the company.
The company uses the deposited funds to buy tokenized gold while simultaneously shorting gold futures on the CME to hedge price movements. The strategy is designed to reduce exposure to gold price volatility while generating yield from gold financing and futures market spreads.
Theo realized an average annual return of 8.27% in 2025 using that strategy and targets returns of 5% to 12%, depending on market conditions, Pingle said.
While gold-backed stablecoins remain relatively nascent, several blockchain projects have issued tokens backed by physical bullion, including Tether Gold and Paxos Gold. Unlike dollar-pegged stablecoins, these tokens track the market price of gold, with each token typically representing one troy ounce of vaulted bullion.
Investors in Theo include Hack VC and Anthos Capital, as well as angel investors from Jane Street, Optiver and JPMorgan, according to a company announcement.
Related: Gold is acting like the hedge Bitcoin promised to be
The tension over “yield” under US GENIUS Act
The launch comes as yield-bearing stablecoins have gained traction following recent regulatory developments in the United States.
The GENIUS Act restricts payment stablecoin issuers from distributing yield on reserve assets, such as Treasury bills. Theo says thUSD differs because returns are generated through the underlying trading and asset structure rather than issuer-paid interest.
“The GENIUS Act restricts issuers of payment stablecoins from paying yield to holders simply for holding the token. The intent is to prevent stablecoins from functioning like interest-bearing bank deposits,” Pingle told Cointelegraph, adding that this restriction applies to “issuer-paid yield on payment stablecoins backed by reserves like T-Bills.”
He added:
“Products structured around tokenized assets or separate financial primitives can generate yield differently, because the return comes from the underlying asset or system rather than from the issuer distributing reserve income. thUSD falls into that latter category.”
Nevertheless, debate over stablecoin yield in the United States continues to weigh on broader crypto-market structure talks in Washington, where lawmakers and banking groups remain divided over whether third parties should be allowed to offer yield on stablecoin holdings.
Related: SEC’s ‘Crypto Mom’ calls for simpler disclosure rules, flags tokenization debate