A brief history
True USD was created in 2018 by TrustToken, a San Francisco-based exchange that specializes in asset-backed tokens that are designed to be easily exchanged around the world. The fundamental goal of TUSD is to provide its users with a reliable, stable, and simple alternative to traditional dollars. TrueUSD is partnered with licensed trust companies and banks to securely hold the funds that back TrueUSD tokens. For increased security, the trust companies handle all funds directly and the TrueUSD team does not have access to the escrowed funds. In addition to TUSD, TrustToken has announced the launch of several other tokenized fiat currencies. These include a tokenized version of the Australian dollar (TAUD), the British Pound (TGBP), the Canadian dollar (TCAD), and the Hong Kong dollar (THKD). In addition, a tokenized version of the Singapore dollar (TSGD) is expected in the future.
TUSD in practice
When an escrow account gets USD, a new TUSD is instantly created. When a user redeems USD, an equal quantity of TUSD is immediately burnt. As a result, TrustToken assures a 1:1 USD to TUSD ratio between escrow funds and TUSD in circulation. Any institution or individual with a verified TrueCoin account that passes a standard KYC/AML check can redeem TrueUSD for USD. During the current alpha version of the TrustToken platform, there is a $1000 minimum on redemptions. This amount is common for the platform's current institutional users and TrustToken aims to reduce this minimum for retail users in the future.