## What are Treasury Bills?

Treasury bills (T-bills) are short-term debt securities issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury with maturities of one year or less. Common maturities include 4, 8, 13, 26, and 52 weeks.

T-bills are sold at a discount and mature at their face value. The difference between the purchase price and the maturity value represents the yield.

Because they are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government and trade in a deep secondary market, T-bills are widely used by banks, corporations, and financial institutions to hold short-term U.S. dollar liquidity.

## Why Jiko uses T-bills

Jiko accounts hold balances in Treasury bills instead of traditional bank deposits. This allows accounts to maintain U.S. dollar balances while earning the yield associated with short-term Treasury securities.

From an integration perspective, developers interact with standard banking primitives such as balances, transfers, and payments. The underlying Treasury exposure is managed by the Jiko platform.

This structure separates the developer-facing API from the asset management layer that supports the account.

## Why T-bills are used for cash management

T-bills are commonly used for managing short-term cash because they have several characteristics that make them well suited for storing liquid USD value:

- **Low credit risk** due to issuance by the U.S. government
- **Short maturities**, which limit interest rate exposure
- **High liquidity**, supported by one of the deepest markets in global finance
- **Predictable settlement value**, since the security matures at par


Because of these characteristics, T-bills are often treated as a baseline "risk-free" asset in U.S. financial markets.

## Who can hold T-bills

Treasury bills can be held by individuals, corporations, financial institutions, funds, and governments.

In the Jiko model, the platform manages the lifecycle of the underlying securities on behalf of account holders. This includes purchasing T-bills, maintaining custody, and rolling securities as they mature.

Developers integrating with the Jiko Partner API do not need to manage Treasury auctions, maturities, or security settlement. Your integration works with account balances and payments while Jiko manages the underlying Treasury holdings.