A bank deposit, tokenized.
OZD represents a dollar deposit held under Stellus's Wyoming special-purpose depository institution charter — the regulated banking layer underneath the network.
Where ozUSD is an open bearer instrument, OZD is a tokenized claim on an actual bank deposit. Each OZD corresponds to a dollar on deposit at Stellus, a Wyoming-chartered SPDI. The dollar never leaves the bank's books — the token is a programmability layer over an existing deposit liability.
That distinction is the point. For institutions that want their on-chain dollars to inherit bank-law treatment — deposit insurance where applicable, interest where wanted, balance-sheet residence by default — OZD is the instrument.
What makes OZD different
- Bank liability, not a bearer reserve
OZD is a deposit liability of a chartered institution. The dollar stays on the bank's books; the token is the programmable layer.
- Can be interest-bearing
Unlike payment stablecoins — which the federal framework prohibits from paying yield to holders — a tokenized deposit can carry interest, because it's a deposit.
- Deposit-insurance treatment
Federal regulators' posture is that the technology used to record a deposit does not change its deposit status. A tokenized deposit at an insured institution remains an insured deposit, within standard per-depositor limits.
- Bank-rail native
Designed to settle alongside Fedwire, ACH, FedNow, and RTP — and to be the on-chain counterpart to the messaging your treasury already runs.
- Identity-gated
OZD moves between verified parties through OzID — built for permissioned, compliant settlement among regulated counterparties.
- Convertible to ozUSD
Step between the permissioned bank layer and the open bearer layer in one API call when openness, speed, or 24/7 reach matters more than bank treatment.
The technology doesn't change the legal substance.
Federal regulators have signaled that recording a deposit on a distributed ledger doesn't change what it is. A tokenized deposit at an insured institution remains an insured deposit; the rules and the protections that apply to bank deposits apply here, within the same per-depositor limits.
Stellus's SPDI charter sits at the center of that posture — OZD is a deposit liability on a regulated bank's books, not a reserve token held by a non-bank.
On the balance sheet. On the chain.
OZD stays where deposits belong — on the bank's books — so lending capacity, capital and liquidity treatment, and the familiar audit posture all carry over. The chain is the programmability layer, not the residence.
Stays on the bank.
Unlike stablecoins, which pull funds off bank balance sheets into reserves, a tokenized deposit keeps the liability with the issuing institution.
Native to the wire.
Designed to settle alongside Fedwire, ACH, FedNow, and RTP — the on-chain counterpart to the rails treasuries already run.
Treated as a deposit.
Carries deposit-side accounting and tax treatment rather than property classification — easier on corporate treasuries that already track deposits.
Compliance, as code.
Stellus lets banks and PSPs define the rules their tokenized dollars must follow — counterparty, jurisdiction, risk, velocity, quorum, hours — and enforces them inline on every transfer, before settlement. Chainalysis screening powers the wallet and sanctions layer.
1// Programmable policy · runs inline on every transfer2policy.require({3 counterparty: verified("OzID"),4 riskScore: ≤ 3 // Chainalysis KYT,5 jurisdiction: not.in(sanctions.list),6 velocity: ≤ $1M / 24h,7 approvers: quorum(2, role.treasurer),8});9 10// → policy resolves before settlement; failure is deterministic- CounterpartyOnly OzID-verified wallets, Chainalysis risk score ≤ 3.
- JurisdictionBlock transfers originating from or terminating in sanctioned regions.
- VelocityCap institutional outflows at $1M per 24h; auto-flag bursts.
- QuorumRequire two-of-three approver signatures above a configurable threshold.
- HoursPermit on-chain settlement only during your defined operating window.
- AssetAllow OZD-only flows between specific account types; allow ozUSD broadly.
Programmable compliance applies to both ozUSD (the bearer stablecoin) and OZD (the tokenized deposit). Policy is a runtime contract — change it, and the next transfer obeys.