Things to Watch This Week (August 31 - September 4)

· Markets Turn Cautious as Fed Rate Hike Expectations Rise

Global markets remained cautious as expectations for a September Fed rate hike increased following hawkish signals from Jackson Hole and stronger inflation data. Higher Treasury yields and a firmer dollar weighed on risk assets, while investors turned their attention to upcoming U.S. employment and inflation data for further clues on the Fed’s next move.

Random Musing This Week

Things to Watch This Week (August 31 - September 4)

• Markets Turn Cautious as Fed Rate Hike Expectations Rise

  • Global markets remained cautious as expectations for a September Fed rate hike increased following hawkish signals from Jackson Hole and stronger inflation data. Higher Treasury yields and a firmer dollar weighed on risk assets, while investors turned their attention to upcoming U.S. employment and inflation data for further clues on the Fed’s next move.

Random Musing This Week

Dogecoin Without the Hype: What Actually Gives a Meme Coin Value?

Dogecoin has recently slipped outside the top ten cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, as newer assets such as Hyperliquid’s HYPE have risen rapidly. Yet perhaps the more interesting question is not why Dogecoin has fallen in the rankings, but why it remains so valuable at all. Created in 2013 as a joke based on the popular “Doge” internet meme, Dogecoin became the first major example of what is now known as a meme coin. Unlike traditional financial assets, meme coins generally have no underlying cash flows or productive assets, and unlike many blockchain projects, they often have limited technological utility. Their value instead depends heavily on community, cultural relevance, speculation and, above all, attention.

This dependence on attention also helps explain why most meme coins eventually disappear. The barriers to creating a new token have become extremely low, allowing new meme coins to emerge whenever a new internet trend, celebrity or cultural moment attracts attention. A successful meme coin can experience extraordinary price appreciation as social-media interest brings in traders and liquidity. However, the same process can quickly reverse when attention moves elsewhere. Without sustainable demand or another source of fundamental value to support the price, declining interest often leads to falling liquidity and sharp losses. In this sense, meme coins compete not only for capital but also for a scarce resource: investor attention.

Dogecoin, however, has proven remarkably different. Despite repeated market crashes, long periods of declining prices and the emergence of thousands of competing meme coins, DOGE has survived for more than a decade and remains one of the world’s largest crypto assets. Part of this resilience comes from its first-mover advantage and unusually strong brand recognition. Dogecoin also developed a large community long before meme-coin speculation became an established crypto sector, while years of exchange listings, liquidity and network activity created a network effect that newer tokens cannot easily replicate. Unlike many modern meme coins that exist simply as tokens on another blockchain, Dogecoin also operates its own proof-of-work network. Its association with prominent figures such as Elon Musk has further reinforced its cultural relevance. In other words, Dogecoin may have started without traditional fundamental value, but longevity itself has gradually created something valuable: a recognizable brand, a persistent community and a durable network effect.

Dogecoin’s survival therefore offers an interesting lesson for the future of meme coins. It suggests that an asset does not necessarily need conventional utility to retain value, but it does need something capable of sustaining attention beyond a short speculative cycle. Most meme coins can become viral; very few can remain culturally relevant for years. As the number of easily created tokens continues to grow, temporary attention may become increasingly abundant while lasting attention becomes increasingly scarce. Dogecoin may ultimately prove to be an exception rather than a model that other meme coins can easily reproduce. Perhaps the real lesson of DOGE is that, in meme-driven markets, attention itself can become a form of value — but only when it lasts long enough to become a brand, a community and eventually a network effect.

Recap of Top Stories (August 24 - August 28)

Top Story of the Week

U.S. State Banking Associations Plan to Launch Their Own Nationwide Blockchain Network
[Banking] [Blockchain] [Infrastructure] [Stablecoin]

• On August 25, 39 U.S. state banking associations announced the BankChain Alliance, an initiative to build a nationwide blockchain network operated by the banking industry. The network is targeting a 2027 launch and is intended to support financial applications including smart payments, tokenized deposits and stablecoins within the regulated banking system.

• The initiative is notable because it represents a coordinated effort by thousands of U.S. banks rather than an individual institution experimenting with blockchain technology. Described as “industry-owned, industry-designed and industry-governed,” the planned network would allow institutions of different sizes to access blockchain-based financial infrastructure while remaining within the existing regulatory framework. The group is currently seeking a technology partner and intends the network to be interoperable with other systems.

Also, In Focus

Coinbase Debuts Tokenized Stocks on Base Network, Joining Race to Bring Equities Onchain
[Tokenization] [Capital Markets] [Equities]

• On August 24, Coinbase launched tokenized U.S. stocks on its Base blockchain, beginning with Apple, Nvidia, Meta and Alphabet. The products are available to eligible investors outside the U.S. and are backed 1:1 by underlying shares held with Alpaca, a regulated broker and custodian.

• The tokens were launched under the Abu Dhabi Global Market regulatory framework, where Coinbase recently established its international tokenization hub, and can trade around the clock on eligible onchain venues. The move places Coinbase alongside other crypto exchanges seeking to bring traditional equities onchain as tokenization expands beyond Treasuries, private credit and investment funds.

SEC Resurrects U.S. Crypto Custody Rule the Previous Administration Failed to Land
[Regulation] [Custody] [Institutional] [Policy]

• On August 26, the SEC took an initial step toward a new rule governing crypto custody for registered investment advisers, sending the initiative to the White House for review. The proposal is expected to modernize existing custody requirements for client and fund assets, explicitly addressing crypto assets while removing certain outdated regulatory burdens.

• The move revisits a controversial 2023 proposal under former SEC Chair Gary Gensler, which would have significantly restricted where investment advisers could hold clients’ crypto assets by requiring them to use a narrow group of qualified custodians. That proposal was ultimately withdrawn, while the new effort under Chair Paul Atkins is expected to take a more industry-friendly approach and provide greater clarity for institutional crypto custody.

Visa Doubles Down on South Korea With Upbit Operator Dunamu on Stablecoin Payments
[Payments] [Stablecoin] [Asia] [Institutional]

• On August 28, Visa and Upbit operator Dunamu agreed to explore stablecoin and AI-powered payment services in South Korea, expanding Visa’s digital-asset presence in one of Asia’s largest crypto markets. The agreement follows a similar partnership announced earlier in the week between Visa and Shinhan Financial Group.

• The companies will explore payment and settlement models based on OUSD, an open-standard stablecoin, alongside infrastructure for agentic commerce, where AI agents can search for products and complete purchases on behalf of users. The partnership highlights how stablecoin adoption in South Korea is beginning to extend beyond crypto trading into mainstream payment and settlement infrastructure.

Upcoming Market Events

• September 9 - Stablecon USA

• September 15 - CLARITY Act procedural vote

Things to Watch This Week (August 24 - August 28)

· Markets Look to Jackson Hole as Policy and Geopolitical Uncertainty Persist

Global markets remained cautious as investors awaited further guidance on U.S. monetary policy from the Fed’s Jackson Hole Symposium. Attention also turned to upcoming inflation data, while continued tensions involving Iran and the Strait of Hormuz kept energy and geopolitical risks elevated.

Random Musing This Week

Bitcoin and Gold in the Recent Market Rally: Is Bitcoin Truly Emerging as “Digital Gold”?

Recently, Bitcoin and gold have shown remarkably similar price movements. Both assets went through a period of correction before rebounding sharply in August, with their rallies accelerating as concerns over U.S. fiscal conditions and the value of the dollar intensified. Gold has traditionally been viewed as a safe-haven asset and a hedge against inflation and currency depreciation. Bitcoin, meanwhile, has increasingly been described as “digital gold,” largely because of its fixed supply of 21 million coins. The recent simultaneous rally has once again brought this comparison into focus.

The recent decline and subsequent recovery of the two assets were also driven, to some extent, by similar macroeconomic factors. Changes in liquidity and interest-rate expectations, together with a stronger dollar, initially weighed on both gold and Bitcoin. As concerns over U.S. fiscal sustainability grew and the dollar weakened, however, both assets rebounded strongly. In particular, expectations of lower long-term yields and growing concerns over the purchasing power of fiat currencies encouraged investors to seek scarce assets as alternative stores of value. In this environment, both gold and Bitcoin have benefited from the so-called “debasement trade.”

Despite these similarities, the underlying drivers of their price movements remain significantly different. Gold continues to benefit from traditional factors such as central-bank purchases and safe-haven demand during periods of geopolitical and economic uncertainty. Bitcoin, on the other hand, is influenced not only by macroeconomic conditions but also by crypto-specific factors, including institutional flows through spot ETFs, regulatory developments, leverage in derivatives markets, and large-scale short liquidations. As a result, even when Bitcoin and gold move in the same direction, Bitcoin tends to experience much larger gains and losses.

Overall, recent price movements suggest that Bitcoin is increasingly sharing some of gold’s characteristics. Both assets have limited supply and are independent of issuance by any single government, making them potential alternatives during periods of dollar weakness, inflation concerns, and fiscal uncertainty. However, unlike gold, which has a long-established role as a safe-haven asset, Bitcoin continues to exhibit characteristics of a risk asset, with significantly higher volatility and greater sensitivity to crypto-specific market dynamics. Therefore, rather than viewing Bitcoin as a direct substitute for gold, it may be more appropriate to describe it as a “high-beta digital gold” — an asset that increasingly shares gold’s macroeconomic narrative, but with substantially greater risk and volatility.

Recap of Top Stories (August 17 - August 21)

Top Story of the Week

SEC Proposes Regulation Crypto Assets, Its First Tailored Framework for Token Offerings
[Regulation] [Market Structure] [Policy] [Capital Markets]

• On August 18, the SEC proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, a 402-page framework establishing its first offering regime built specifically for crypto assets. It applies to “covered investment contracts” — crypto assets sold alongside a promise of future managerial effort — rather than reclassifying the tokens themselves as securities.
  

• The proposal creates two exemptions from Securities Act registration: a startup exemption for offerings up to $5 million over four years, and a two-tier fundraising exemption modeled on Regulation A permitting up to $20 million and up to $75 million in any 12-month period, the latter with ongoing reporting obligations.
  
  It also includes a conditional safe harbor under which a covered investment contract ceases to exist once an issuer completes or permanently ceases the managerial efforts it promised, and would preempt state registration requirements. It is the SEC’s first formal crypto rulemaking, open for comment for 60 days.
  

Also, In Focus

Treasury Proposes the First Major Rule Implementing the GENIUS Act
[Regulation] [Stablecoin] [Policy]

• On August 17, the U.S. Treasury issued a notice of proposed rulemaking implementing Section 3 of the GENIUS Act, defining when a payment stablecoin is issued, offered, or sold in the United States — the boundary that determines which firms must hold a federal or state license.
  

• The rule sets the jurisdictional trigger at stablecoins issued in the U.S. or to a person located there, and creates a pathway for foreign issuers to access the U.S. market. Comments are due October 19, and the Act’s effective date remains January 18, 2027.

Citi Unveils Custody+ and Will Launch Institutional Bitcoin Custody This Year
[Banking] [Institutional] [Infrastructure]

• On August 18, Citi introduced Custody+, a modular custody suite, and confirmed it will go live with native Bitcoin custody for institutional clients before the end of 2026 — placing the $2.78 trillion bank alongside the largest custodians building digital-asset infrastructure.
  

• Clients would hold traditional and crypto assets within the same account structure, reporting stack, and risk and compliance workflows used for equities and bonds. The suite also includes a white-label platform allowing other institutions to plug into Citi’s back office.

Ripple and Jeonbuk Bank Bring Round-the-Clock Settlement to Korean Regional Banking
[Payments] [Asia] [Banking]

• On August 18, Ripple partnered with JB Jeonbuk Bank, making it the first regional bank in South Korea to deploy Ripple Payments for cross-border business remittances — replacing multi-day correspondent banking with settlement in seconds to minutes, available around the clock.

• The service targets import-export firms, IT startups, and content creators, running behind the scenes so customers never handle digital-asset wallets. It is Ripple’s third Korean institutional partnership of 2026, after Kyobo Life and Kbank.

Upcoming Market Events

• August 28-29 - Bitcoin Asia 2026

• September 9 - Stablecon USA

• September 15 - CLARITY Act procedural vote

Things to Watch This Week (August 10 - August 14)

· Markets Weigh Fed Outlook and Renewed Geopolitical Risks

Global markets remained sensitive to shifting expectations for U.S. monetary policy and renewed geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Signs of weakness in the U.S. labor market increased expectations for a more accommodative Fed stance, while renewed tensions involving Iran and the Strait of Hormuz raised concerns over energy supply and oil prices. Investors continued to balance the prospect of easier monetary policy against geopolitical and inflation risks.

Random Musing This Week

GRVT: Expanding from a Perpetual DEX into an On-Chain Financial Platform

Grvt recently completed the Token Generation Event (TGE) for its native token, $GRVT. Grvt is a hybrid decentralized exchange (Hybrid DEX) for trading crypto assets and related financial products. The platform initially focused on perpetual futures and has recently expanded its services to include spot trading, yield products, and investment products.

One of Grvt’s key features is its hybrid exchange model, which combines elements of centralized exchanges (CEXs) and decentralized exchanges (DEXs). Functions that require fast processing, such as order matching, are performed off-chain, while user assets are managed through smart contracts and settlement takes place on-chain. Grvt also uses ZK infrastructure based on ZKsync technology to improve scalability and transaction privacy. Users retain control over their assets without transferring custody to the exchange.

In this respect, Grvt shares several similarities with Hyperliquid, one of the leading perpetual DEXs. Both platforms primarily offer order book-based perpetual futures trading and aim to provide trading speed and user experience comparable to centralized exchanges while allowing users to retain custody of their assets.

However, the two platforms differ in their technical architecture and expansion strategies. Hyperliquid operates its trading infrastructure and liquidity ecosystem on its own Layer 1 blockchain, HyperCore. In contrast, Grvt uses ZK-based infrastructure connected to Ethereum, with privacy and capital efficiency as key features. While Hyperliquid has primarily expanded around its trading ecosystem, Grvt is broadening its services beyond trading by integrating yield and investment products within the same platform.

One of the key components of this strategy is Grvt’s “One Balance” model. Traditionally, trading collateral and yield-generating assets are often managed separately. Grvt aims to connect trading and asset management through a single balance. This allows users to access functions such as Trade, Earn, and Invest within the same platform without repeatedly moving assets between different protocols or accounts. Its recent expansion into spot trading and RWA-related investment products is also part of this strategy.

If successfully implemented, this structure could allow Grvt to expand beyond perpetual trading and develop a broader platform combining trading and asset management. In particular, as tokenized assets and the RWA market grow, providing crypto trading and various investment products within a single platform could attract additional users and assets. The $GRVT token is linked to platform membership and user benefits, and whether increased platform usage translates into greater utility for the token will be another important factor to monitor.

However, the perpetual DEX market in which Grvt operates is highly competitive. Hyperliquid has already established significant trading volume, liquidity, and a large user base, making it challenging for new platforms to gain market share. In addition, Grvt’s hybrid architecture differs structurally from fully on-chain exchanges, as certain trading functions rely on off-chain infrastructure. Following the TGE, key factors to monitor include whether trading volume and liquidity can be sustained, whether the One Balance model and new investment products lead to actual user growth, and whether the expansion of these services translates into sustained platform usage.

Recap of Top Stories (August 3 - August 7)

Top Story of the Week

BlackRock Launches Two Tokenized Money Market Funds Built for Stablecoin Reserves
[Tokenization] [Institutional] [Stablecoin] [Infrastructure]

• On August 3, BlackRock launched the Daily Reinvestment Stablecoin Reserve Vehicle (BRSRV), a money market fund built to serve as a reserve asset for stablecoin issuers, alongside tokenized on-chain shares of its existing Select Treasury-Based Liquidity Fund (BSTBL).
  

• Ownership of both funds is recorded across Ethereum, Solana, and Stripe’s Tempo blockchain, with Securitize as transfer agent managing whitelisted wallets. The funds hold only cash, short-term Treasuries, and overnight repo — no crypto exposure — with a $3 million minimum.
  
  BRSRV is structured to qualify as an eligible reserve asset under the GENIUS Act, and BlackRock has told investors it intends to become the stablecoin reserve manager of choice — following comparable funds from State Street and Invesco.
  

Also, In Focus

Wells Fargo to Launch Tokenized Deposits for Corporate and Commercial Clients
[Tokenization] [Banking] [Payments]

• On August 4, Wells Fargo announced tokenized deposits — blockchain-based representations of commercial bank money — for select corporate and commercial clients, rolling out this fall with a limited U.S. dollar to British pound exchange on its proprietary blockchain.
  

• The program expands through 2027 to more clients, countries, and currencies, routing payments automatically and retaining the same deposit-insurance eligibility. Wells Fargo joins JPMorgan and Citi, and is expected to connect to the shared bank tokenized-deposit network announced last month.

Western Union Launches Stablecard, Pairing Its Own Stablecoin with a Visa Card
[Stablecoin] [Payments] [Retail Access]

• On August 4, Western Union launched Stablecard with infrastructure provider Rain — a digital wallet holding USDPT, its dollar-backed stablecoin issued by Anchorage Digital Bank on Solana, paired with a Visa secured credit card. It went live in 37 markets, targeting 60-plus by year-end.
  

• Recipients can take remittances directly into the wallet, hold the balance in dollars, and spend anywhere Visa is accepted. For a 175-year-old money-transfer company it is a genuine strategic shift, though USDPT circulation remains small against the roughly $100 billion Western Union moves each year.

Japan’s JPYC Raises $38 Million as a Logistics Giant Adopts Its Yen Stablecoin
[Stablecoin] [Asia] [Adoption]

• On August 5, JPYC — issuer of Japan’s first registered yen-pegged stablecoin — completed a 6 billion yen ($38 million) Series B extension, with Tokyo-listed logistics group AZ-COM Maruwa investing 1 billion yen as a new strategic partner.

• AZ-COM, whose clients include Amazon Japan, plans to pay roughly 2,300 logistics partners in JPYC. The token is also being piloted at Lawson convenience stores.

Upcoming Market Events

• August 12 - July CPI

• August 28-29 - Bitcoin Asia 2026

Things to Watch This Week (August 3 - August 7)

· Markets Focus on Fed Outlook, AI Earnings, and Semiconductor Competition

Market sentiment remained mixed this week as investors assessed the Federal Reserve's policy outlook, corporate earnings, and intensifying competition in the AI and semiconductor sectors. Despite ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, resilient earnings and easing geopolitical tensions continued to support risk assets.

Random Musing This Week

Will the IPO Wave of Crypto Firms Signal the Next Growth Phase for the Industry?

Source: webopedia

The cryptocurrency market has entered another period of weakness. Trading activity has slowed, Bitcoin has experienced a significant correction from its highs, and several long-standing crypto businesses have either downsized or exited the industry altogether. From a traditional four-year market cycle perspective, many investors would describe the current environment as the “downcycle.”

Yet beneath the surface, a very different story is unfolding. While market sentiment remains subdued, an unprecedented number of crypto companies are preparing to enter the public markets. Exchanges such as Upbit, Kraken, OKX, and Bithumb, alongside infrastructure providers including Fireblocks, Anchorage Digital, FalconX, Chainalysis, Consensys, and asset manager Grayscale, are all either actively pursuing or reportedly considering IPOs.

At first glance, this appears counterintuitive. If the industry were truly entering a prolonged decline, why would so many companies choose one of the most demanding and expensive corporate milestones? The answer lies in the distinction between market performance and industry development.

An IPO is not a short-term decision based on the expectation that Bitcoin will rally next quarter. Preparing for a public listing often requires years of audited financial statements, governance improvements, regulatory compliance, internal controls, and operational restructuring. Companies undertake this process because they believe the long-term opportunity justifies the investment. In other words, while token prices may fluctuate, many leading crypto firms continue to invest in the future of the industry.

This confidence is supported by broader structural trends. Stablecoins are becoming an integral part of global payments, tokenization of real-world assets continues to accelerate, traditional financial institutions are expanding their digital asset offerings, and institutional participation has steadily increased through ETFs, custody services, and blockchain infrastructure. These developments suggest that the underlying crypto ecosystem continues to mature even during periods of weaker market performance.

For this reason, the current IPO pipeline may be viewed less as a signal of an imminent bull market and more as evidence that the crypto industry is entering a new phase of institutionalization.

History has shown that some of the most important infrastructure investments are made during periods of market weakness rather than market euphoria. Likewise, today’s IPO wave may represent companies positioning themselves for the next stage of industry growth—not because a bull market has already arrived, but because they believe the long-term trajectory of digital assets remains intact.

While market prices remain cyclical, the industry’s structural development appears to be moving in only one direction. The growing number of crypto IPOs may therefore be less about predicting the next rally and more about preparing for it.

Recap of Top Stories (July 27 - July 31)

Top Story of the Week

America’s Largest Banks Formalize a Shared Tokenized-Deposit Network
[Tokenization] [Banking] [Infrastructure] [Payments]

• On July 28, the four largest U.S. banks — JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citi, and Wells Fargo — alongside more than a dozen peers including BNY, HSBC, PNC, TD, and U.S. Bank, announced a shared tokenized-deposit network operated by The Clearing House, targeting a first-half 2027 launch.
  

• The network would convert commercial bank deposits into tokens that move between member banks around the clock — with instant settlement, programmable treasury tools, and cross-border capability, keeping funds inside the regulated banking system rather than migrating to stablecoins. Multinational corporates are the first users.
  
  The move is the banking sector’s coordinated response to roughly $260 billion in circulating stablecoins, building comparable programmability inside a regulated structure and building on the GENIUS Act, which lets tokenized deposits stay on bank balance sheets.

Also, In Focus

BIS Project Agorá Completes Its First Live Cross-Border Settlement with Real Tokenized Money
[Tokenization] [Banking] [Infrastructure]

• On July 30, the Bank for International Settlements confirmed Project Agorá moved past prototype to real-value testing: 28 institutions and five central banks — including the Bank of Korea, Bank of Japan, Bank of England, and Swiss National Bank — settled about $1 million across six currencies using tokenized reserves and deposits.
  

• The 30 transactions settled in about 80 seconds on average through atomic payment-versus-payment exchange on a shared ledger — far faster than correspondent banking. Private participants included JPMorgan, Citi, UBS, Deutsche Bank, and Standard Chartered, with further testing planned through year-end.

Aviva Wins Ireland’s First Approval for a Tokenized Fund, Launching on the XRP Ledger
[Tokenization] [Institutional] [Europe]

• On July 29, Aviva Investors, the asset-management arm of UK insurer Aviva, launched a tokenized share class of its US Dollar Liquidity Fund on the XRP Ledger — the first tokenized fund structure approved by the Central Bank of Ireland, a regulatory first for Europe.
  

• Built with Ripple, the fund uses a “digital twin” model — BNY Mellon custodies the underlying assets while Komainu and Licuido handle the on-chain layer — with the same terms and protections as the conventional class, giving other EU managers a live compliance template.

Samsung SDS Moves to Build Stablecoin Infrastructure with Upbit Operator Dunamu
[Stablecoin] [Asia] [Infrastructure]

• On July 30, Samsung SDS — the IT arm of Samsung Group — said it is building joint infrastructure for stablecoins and AI-based payments with Dunamu, operator of South Korea’s largest crypto exchange, Upbit, following its 4% stake in Dunamu taken in May with Samsung Securities and Samsung Card.

• Samsung SDS said it has already validated the full stablecoin process from issuance to settlement, framing the Dunamu tie-up as a strategic move into digital-asset infrastructure.

Upcoming Market Events

• August 5-6 - Bank of England Monetary Policy meeting

• August 28-29 - Bitcoin Asia 2026

Things to Watch This Week (July 27 - July 31)

· Markets Navigate Middle East Escalation and Earnings Season

Market sentiment remained cautious this week as escalating U.S.-Iran tensions and higher oil prices weighed on investors. Attention also shifted to major corporate earnings and the upcoming Federal Reserve meeting. Despite heightened geopolitical uncertainty, resilient earnings expectations continued to support risk assets.

Random Musing This Week

The End of an Era: What BitMEX’s Exit Tells Us About the Crypto Industry

In September 2026, BitMEX announced that it would cease operations, marking the end of one of the most influential exchanges in cryptocurrency history. Once the dominant platform for crypto derivatives trading, BitMEX played a pivotal role in shaping today’s digital asset market. Yet what stood out most was not the announcement itself, but rather the market’s muted reaction. Unlike in the early years of the industry, the exit of a major exchange no longer appears to threaten the broader crypto ecosystem.

BitMEX’s legacy extends far beyond its market share. The exchange pioneered the adoption of perpetual futures, a product that fundamentally transformed crypto derivatives trading by allowing traders to gain leveraged exposure without contract expiry. Today, perpetual futures have become the industry standard, offered by virtually every major centralized exchange and increasingly by decentralized trading platforms as well. In many ways, BitMEX helped establish the foundation of the modern crypto derivatives market.

However, innovation alone is rarely enough to secure long-term leadership. As the industry matured, competitors introduced deeper liquidity, broader product offerings, improved user experience, and stronger global distribution. The center of liquidity gradually shifted, and BitMEX’s influence diminished accordingly. Its closure therefore reflects the competitive evolution of the industry rather than a structural weakness in the crypto market itself.

Perhaps the most significant takeaway is the resilience the market has demonstrated. Liquidity is now distributed across multiple centralized exchanges, decentralized exchanges, institutional trading venues, and regulated investment products. The industry’s infrastructure has become far more diversified than it was several years ago, reducing dependence on any single platform. As a result, the exit of an individual exchange no longer carries the systemic implications it once might have.

BitMEX’s departure marks the end of an important chapter in crypto’s history, but it also highlights how far the industry has evolved. Mature industries are defined not by the permanence of individual companies, but by their ability to continue growing despite changes in market leadership. Just as the internet continued to expand beyond Yahoo and the mobile industry advanced beyond Nokia, the cryptocurrency ecosystem is increasingly driven by technological innovation and a broader market infrastructure rather than any single participant.

While BitMEX will no longer operate, its contributions to the industry remain deeply embedded in today’s market. More importantly, the market’s ability to absorb the departure of one of its earliest pioneers reflects an ecosystem that is becoming increasingly resilient, competitive, and capable of supporting long-term growth.

Recap of Top Stories (July 20 - July 24)

Top Story of the Week

Circle Partners with Kakao and Toss to Bring USDC into South Korea
[Stablecoin] [Payments] [Asia] [Adoption]

• On July 23, Circle signed separate memoranda of understanding with Kakao Group — which runs KakaoTalk, Kakao Pay, and KakaoBank — and with Toss/Viva Republica to build stablecoin payment infrastructure in South Korea. Kakao Pay alone reaches 40 million-plus users, giving USDC a major foothold in Asia.
  

• The agreements cover merchant settlement, cross-border remittance, and programmable and biometric USDC payments, with Kakao and Circle also exploring a won-denominated stablecoin — moving Circle beyond exchange listings toward mainstream consumer and banking distribution. Circle is the only major issuer with both GENIUS Act alignment in the U.S. and MiCA authorization in Europe, positioning it as a reference partner for regulated institutions in Korea.

Also, In Focus

Kraken’s Payward Takes Tokenized Stocks Global, Starting with Hong Kong Equities
[Tokenization] [Asia] [Capital Markets]

• On July 22, Payward, the parent company of Kraken, partnered with infrastructure provider GTN to expand its xStocks tokenized-equity platform beyond U.S. stocks for the first time — starting with Hong Kong-listed shares, later extending to UK, European, and South Korean equities.
  

• GTN, connected to 90-plus global markets, handles execution, custody, and recordkeeping for the shares backing each token. xStocks now supports over 500 tokenized securities with more than $35 billion in cumulative volume, opening onchain access to Asian capital markets.

Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Capital Tokenizes a Private-Markets Fund as Coinbase Takes a Stake
[Tokenization] [Institutional] [RWA]

• On July 23, Mubadala Capital — the asset-management arm of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, overseeing about $430 billion — launched a tokenized version of one of its private-markets funds for qualified investors, using UAE tokenization firm KAIO across Base, Solana, and Sui.
  

• The fund drew roughly $75 million in onchain assets, and Coinbase took direct exposure on its own balance sheet — an early case of a public crypto firm backing a tokenized private-markets fund, joining BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and Invesco.

Augustus Raises $180 Million to Build a Federally Chartered Clearing Bank for the Stablecoin Era
[Stablecoin] [Banking] [Infrastructure]

• On July 21, Augustus raised $180 million in a Series B led by Tiger Global at a $1 billion valuation to build a federally chartered clearing bank for the stablecoin era, holding conditional OCC approval for a U.S. national bank charter — one of only eight granted since 2010.

• Rather than issue its own stablecoin, Augustus targets correspondent banking, giving fintechs and banks direct access to always-on U.S. dollar rails. Kraken is already a customer.

Upcoming Market Events

• July 28-29 - FOMC Meeting

• July 30 - U.S. SEC Crypto Task Force Roundtable

Things to Watch This Week (July 20 - July 24)

· Earnings Season Begins Amid Geopolitical Tensions

Market sentiment remained cautious this week as renewed geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and higher oil prices kept investors on edge. Markets are now focused on major technology earnings and further signals from the Federal Reserve, with solid earnings expectations supporting risk assets despite ongoing geopolitical uncertainty.

Random Musing This Week

Will Stablecoins Become the New Money?

Stablecoins were originally created to provide crypto investors with a stable means of moving funds between volatile digital assets. Today, however, they are beginning to serve a much broader purpose. As payments, securities and other financial assets move onchain, stablecoins could become the money used to settle these transactions. In the future, consumers may use them to shop, companies may use them to pay suppliers, and financial institutions may use them to settle tokenized stocks, bonds and funds. Stablecoins may therefore evolve from a crypto-market instrument into a new digital form of money.

Stablecoins are still rarely used for everyday purchases, but their circulation and transaction activity are growing rapidly. Visa estimates that stablecoin supply increased from approximately $186 billion at the end of 2024 to $274 billion at the end of 2025. Adjusted transaction volume exceeded $10 trillion over the same period, while the number of monthly active users reached approximately 47 million. Stablecoin-linked card payments also grew by 319% in 2025, although their volume remained equivalent to only 0.04% of Visa’s total payment volume. These figures show that adoption is expanding quickly but remains at a very early stage compared with the conventional financial system.

For now, this emerging form of money is overwhelmingly denominated in US dollars. USDT and USDC dominate stablecoin circulation, liquidity and onchain settlement, while euro-, yen- and pound-denominated alternatives remain comparatively small. The result is that the dollar is extending its existing international role into digital markets. Even when users are located outside the United States, they frequently use dollar stablecoins for crypto trading, cross-border transfers, savings and access to decentralized finance. Stablecoins may therefore strengthen, rather than challenge, the dollar’s position as the world’s principal settlement currency.

This raises an important question for other major economies. If tokenized stocks, bonds and funds are ultimately settled mainly in USDT or USDC, countries could become increasingly dependent on dollar-based infrastructure even when the underlying economic activity is domestic. Europe, Japan and the United Kingdom are therefore developing their own digital-money and tokenized-market infrastructure. Their objective is not necessarily to displace dollar stablecoins globally. Instead, they want European assets to remain denominated and settled in euros, Japanese assets in yen and British assets in pounds. Europe’s digital-euro project similarly reflects concerns about dependence on a small number of non-European payment providers, although the digital euro would be central-bank money rather than a privately issued stablecoin.

The future of stablecoins could consequently develop in several ways. Under the first scenario, dollar stablecoins become the default money of the global onchain economy, much as the dollar dominates international trade and finance today. Under the second, a regional system emerges in which tokenized assets are generally settled using the corresponding local currency: euro stablecoins for European securities, yen stablecoins for Japanese assets and pound stablecoins for British markets.

A third and more selective outcome is also possible. Stablecoins may not be viable for every national currency. Their usefulness depends on deep capital markets, reliable reserves, regulatory clarity, convertibility and sufficient international demand. As a result, stablecoins may become concentrated in a small group of major freely convertible currencies, such as the US dollar, euro, Japanese yen, British pound and Swiss franc. Smaller economies may continue using their domestic bank money for local payments while relying on dollar or other major-currency stablecoins for international settlement.

Stablecoins are therefore unlikely to create entirely new currencies. They are more likely to create a new digital form of existing currencies. The central question is whether this technology will eventually be adopted by nearly every country or remain concentrated among a few major currencies and primarily used for cross-border payments and financial-market settlement. Whichever outcome prevails, the rise of stablecoins could reshape not only how money moves, but also which currencies remain influential as the global financial system moves onchain.

Recap of Top Stories (July 13 - July 17)

Top Story of the Week

UK Convenes a 54-Firm Taskforce to Bring Wholesale Financial Markets Onchain
[Tokenization] [Institutional] [Capital Markets] [Europe]

• On July 13, HM Treasury and the City of London Corporation convened a 54-firm taskforce to move UK wholesale financial markets onchain, led by former FCA chair Chris Woolard. Members include BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, HSBC, UBS, Barclays, Citi, and State Street, alongside Coinbase, Circle, Ripple, DTCC, and Euroclear.
  

• Organized into nine action groups, the taskforce will spend the next year building a live, end-to-end tokenized repo transaction — a core piece of short-term funding markets — by spring 2027, before extending to tokenized collateral, funds, and a planned digital gilt. The government projects tokenization could add up to £33 billion in annual output by 2035.
  
  The initiative moves the UK from isolated pilots to coordinated market design, pairing with the FCA and Bank of England rulebooks finalized earlier this summer — positioning London to compete with the EU and Asia as tokenization scales.

Also, In Focus

Visa Launches a Stablecoin Platform for Banks and Fintechs
[Stablecoin] [Payments] [Infrastructure]

• On July 16, Visa introduced the Visa Stablecoin Platform, an enterprise offering that lets banks, fintechs, and payment providers issue and manage stablecoins and move onchain without building their own infrastructure, alongside Visa’s existing network.
  

• The platform reduces the operational friction that has slowed institutional stablecoin adoption, extending Visa’s role from card rails into stablecoin issuance and settlement. It follows Visa’s participation in the Open USD consortium two weeks earlier — the payments giant positioning itself as core stablecoin infrastructure.

Citadel Securities Invests $400 Million in Crypto.com at a $20 Billion Valuation
[Market Structure] [Institutional] [TradFi]

• On July 16, market maker Citadel Securities, founded by Ken Griffin, invested $400 million in Crypto.com at a $20 billion valuation — the Singapore-based exchange’s first institutional funding round in its decade-long history. The capital will fund expansion into tokenized securities and derivatives.
  

• It is Citadel’s second major crypto-exchange stake, after $200 million into Kraken last November, adding to a run of Wall Street firms taking positions in digital-asset infrastructure — ICE in OKX, Nasdaq in Gemini — as the two markets converge.

Ondo Finance and SBI Partner to Bring Japanese Equities Onchain
[Tokenization] [Asia] [Capital Markets]

• On July 16, Ondo Finance — the largest tokenizer of equities globally — and SBI Group, one of Japan’s biggest financial conglomerates, announced a partnership to tokenize Japanese equities onchain, with settlement and collateral handled through SBI’s newly launched JPYSC yen stablecoin.

• Ondo will issue the tokenized assets and SBI will distribute them across its ecosystem, giving investors onchain access to Japanese equities — connecting one of the world’s deepest capital markets to the global tokenized economy.

Upcoming Market Events

• July 21-22 - Blockchain Futurist, Toronto

• July 28-29 - FOMC Meeting

Things to Watch This Week (July 13 - July 17)

· Macro Uncertainty Keeps Markets on Edge

Market sentiment turned more cautious this week as rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East pushed oil prices higher and renewed inflation concerns. Investors are focused on the upcoming U.S. CPI release, Federal Reserve signals, and the start of the second-quarter earnings season. While AI-driven technology stocks continue to support risk assets, markets remain cautious amid growing macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty.

Random Musing This Week

Financial Rails: The Next Competitive Battleground in Finance Is Infrastructure, Not Services

Robinhood recently unveiled Robinhood Chain, its own blockchain network designed to support its tokenization strategy. While the announcement may appear to be simply another Layer 2 launch, its broader significance lies in Robinhood’s ambition to build its own financial rails. The next phase of competition in financial services is shifting away from creating better investment applications toward owning the underlying infrastructure through which assets are issued, transferred, settled, and managed.

1. What Are Financial Rails?

Financial rails are the underlying infrastructure that enables money and assets to move throughout the financial system. Although largely invisible to end users, these networks power virtually every financial transaction. For example, Visa and Mastercard provide the infrastructure for card payments, SWIFT facilitates international transfers, and ACH enables domestic bank transfers in the United States. In essence, financial rails are the roads that allow financial services to function.
In the blockchain era, the concept of financial rails is evolving. Rather than serving solely as a database, blockchain networks provide a programmable financial infrastructure capable of supporting asset issuance, trading, settlement, and custody within a single ecosystem.

2. Traditional Rails vs. Blockchain Rails

Traditional financial rails have served global markets reliably for decades. However, they are constrained by limited operating hours, multiple intermediaries, slower settlement processes, and fragmented national systems.
Blockchain-based rails offer a fundamentally different model. They operate 24/7, enable near-instant settlement, support programmable assets through smart contracts, and allow tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) to be issued, transferred, and settled on the same network.
As the tokenization of real-world assets continues to accelerate, existing financial infrastructure may become increasingly inefficient for handling these digital assets. This makes the development of new blockchain-based financial rails a critical enabler of the next generation of financial markets.

3. Who Is Building the Next Generation of Financial Rails?

Many of today’s leading financial and technology companies are actively investing in new financial infrastructure.
Coinbase is expanding its on-chain ecosystem through Base while Circle is building a global settlement network around USDC. Stripe has accelerated its stablecoin payment initiatives, and BlackRock has entered the tokenized asset market through blockchain-based investment products.
These developments suggest that the industry’s competitive focus is shifting beyond cryptocurrency exchanges or trading platforms. Instead, companies are competing to build the infrastructure on which tokenized assets will be created, transferred, and settled.

4. Why Robinhood Deserves Particular Attention

Robinhood’s strategy extends far beyond launching another blockchain. By combining tokenized stocks, its self-custody wallet, the acquisition of Bitstamp, and Robinhood Chain into a single ecosystem, the company is building what could become a comprehensive financial rail for real-world assets.
Rather than simply allowing users to trade tokenized securities, Robinhood aims to integrate issuance, trading, custody, and settlement within one unified platform.
This signals Robinhood’s evolution from an online brokerage into a next-generation financial infrastructure provider. As tokenization continues to reshape capital markets, the long-term winners may not be the companies that tokenize the most assets, but those that own the infrastructure through which those assets move. Robinhood’s latest initiatives provide one of the clearest examples of this emerging shift.

Recap of Top Stories (July 6 - July 10)

Top Story of the Week

Circle Wins Final OCC Approval to Operate a National Trust Bank
[Stablecoin] [Banking] [Regulation] [Institutional]

• On July 10, Circle received final approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish First National Digital Currency Bank, N.A., operating as Circle National Trust — placing the issuer of USDC, the world’s second-largest stablecoin with about $73 billion in circulation, under direct federal banking oversight.
  

• The trust bank opens with fiduciary digital-asset custody for Circle and its affiliates, with scope to extend custody to select institutional clients. The charter is also designed to enable future management of the USDC reserve under OCC supervision — operations that previously relied on third-party banks and custodians.

Also, In Focus

Swift’s Blockchain Ledger Goes Live, with 17 Global Banks Piloting Tokenized Deposits
[Banking] [Infrastructure] [Tokenization]

• On July 9, Swift announced its blockchain-based shared ledger is ready for initial use, supporting 24/7 cross-border payments with bank-issued tokenized deposits. Seventeen banks from six continents — including Citi, HSBC, UBS, BNY, Wells Fargo, DBS, and MUFG — are preparing to pilot live transactions.
  

• The ledger acts as an orchestration layer: banks move customer funds overnight and on weekends, with final settlement through existing rails and compliance standards intact — extending the interbank messaging backbone onto blockchain rails, the banking system’s answer to stablecoin networks.

Hyundai Completes South Korea’s First Major Corporate Stablecoin Treasury Pilot
[Stablecoin] [Adoption] [Asia]

• On July 9, Hyundai Card announced the completion of a stablecoin remittance proof-of-concept between Hyundai Motor’s U.S. and Mexico entities: $20,000 was converted into USDT, sent over the Avalanche blockchain, and converted back into dollars — in about seven minutes, versus three to four hours through interbank wires.
  

• The pilot moved real corporate funds with full legal, tax, and internal-control review — the first major South Korean corporate test of blockchain-based treasury settlement. A second pilot across Hyundai’s European entities begins later in July, with Visa and Circle joining.

SEC Puts Crypto Rulemaking at the Center of Its 2026 Regulatory Agenda
[Regulation] [Market Structure] [Tokenization]

• On July 7, the SEC released its 2026 Regulatory Agenda, adding three crypto rulemakings covering token offerings, broker-dealer capital and custody requirements, and market-structure amendments to allow crypto trading on regulated exchanges.

• The first proposal — dubbed “Regulation Crypto,” with registration exemptions and a safe harbor for decentralizing projects — could arrive this month, shifting oversight from enforcement to rulemaking.

Upcoming Market Events

• July 18 – GENIUS Act final-rules deadline

• July 21-22 - Blockchain Futurist, Toronto

Things to Watch This Week (July 6 - July 10)

· Cooling Economic Data Supports Risk Assets

Market sentiment remained constructive this week as softer-than-expected U.S. labor market data reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve will maintain a patient policy stance. At the same time, easing oil prices helped reduce inflation concerns, while investors looked ahead to the upcoming Fed meeting minutes and the start of the second-quarter earnings season. Overall, improving macro conditions continued to support risk assets despite ongoing sector rotation within equities.

Random Musing This Week

Anchorage Digital: The First Crypto Bank

As the digital asset industry matures, institutional investors are demanding more than just cryptocurrency exchanges. They need secure custody, compliant infrastructure, and banking services designed specifically for digital assets. This is where Anchorage Digital has established itself as one of the industry’s most important players. Founded in 2017, Anchorage became the first federally chartered crypto bank in the United States, positioning itself as a bridge between traditional finance and the crypto ecosystem.

What Does Anchorage Do?

Anchorage provides a full suite of services for institutional clients. Its core business is digital asset custody, allowing hedge funds, asset managers, and corporations to securely store cryptocurrencies. Beyond custody, Anchorage offers staking services, enabling institutions to earn rewards on proof-of-stake assets without managing validator infrastructure themselves.

The company also provides institutional trading and settlement services, simplifying the execution and settlement of large crypto transactions. In addition, Anchorage supports on-chain governance, allowing clients to participate in protocol voting while their assets remain securely custodied. Rather than focusing on a single product, Anchorage aims to become the financial infrastructure that institutions need throughout the entire digital asset lifecycle.

How Is It Different from Fireblocks and Coinbase?

Although Anchorage is often compared with Fireblocks and Coinbase, they serve different customer needs.

Fireblocks is primarily a wallet and digital asset infrastructure provider. It offers secure wallet technology and transfer solutions, making it an excellent choice for firms that want to manage their own digital asset operations. However, clients using Fireblocks are still responsible for managing many aspects of their crypto business themselves.

Coinbase, on the other hand, is best known as a cryptocurrency exchange with additional institutional services such as Coinbase Prime and Custody. It is well suited for institutions whose primary focus is trading and market access.

Anchorage takes a different approach. Instead of being centered around wallets or trading, it integrates custody, staking, trading, settlement, and governance into a single institutional platform. For clients seeking one provider to manage multiple aspects of their digital asset operations, Anchorage offers a more comprehensive solution.

Why Anchorage Matters

The crypto industry continues to produce new exchanges, wallets, and infrastructure providers every year. However, relatively few companies are building the institutional financial infrastructure required for the next phase of digital asset adoption.

As tokenization, stablecoins, and institutional participation continue to expand, demand for secure and integrated digital asset banking services is expected to grow. Anchorage is well positioned to benefit from this trend by offering institutions a platform that goes beyond custody and supports the broader financial ecosystem surrounding digital assets.

While many crypto companies focus on individual products, Anchorage’s long-term vision is to become the core financial infrastructure for institutional digital assets. That ambition makes it one of the most interesting companies to watch in the evolving crypto landscape.

Recap of Top Stories (June 29 - July 3)

Top Story of the Week

Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock and 140+ Firms Launch the Open USD Stablecoin Consortium
[Stablecoin] [Institutional] [Infrastructure] [Payments]

• On June 30, a consortium of more than 140 companies — spanning Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, American Express, BlackRock, BNY, Standard Chartered, DBS, Coinbase, and Google — unveiled Open USD (OUSD), a dollar stablecoin governed by an independent entity, Open Standard, rather than a single issuer.
  

• The design inverts the incumbent model: businesses mint and redeem OUSD with no fees or volume caps, and nearly all interest earned on the reserves flows back to partners after a small management fee, rather than to the issuer. Governance sits with a board of partner companies, more like a payment network than a single issuer.
  
  The launch is the broadest cross-industry stablecoin alliance of 2026 and reads as a direct challenge to Circle and Tether, whose economics depend on keeping reserve yield. OUSD is expected to go live later in 2026, launching first on Solana.

Also, In Focus

MiCA Enters Full Force Across the EU, Reshaping the European Crypto Market
[Regulation] [Europe] [Market Structure]

• On July 1, the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation came fully into force, ending the transitional period: any firm serving EU clients must now hold a MiCA license or wind down. ESMA had instructed unlicensed providers to help customers migrate to authorized platforms.
  

• Of roughly 3,000 pre-MiCA registered providers, only about 210–240 secured authorization — the biggest regulatory consolidation in European crypto history. Compliant euro- and dollar-pegged stablecoins stand to gain share as non-compliant tokens are delisted from EU venues.

UK FCA Publishes Final Crypto Rulebook, Cutting the Stablecoin Capital Requirement to 1%
[Regulation] [Stablecoin] [Europe]

• On June 30, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority finalized its cryptoasset rulebook, bringing exchanges, custodians, staking and stablecoin issuers into a single authorization regime for the first time. Following industry feedback, it cut the capital requirement for non-systemic stablecoin issuers from a proposed 2% to 1% of issued value.
  

• Systemic stablecoins remain under the Bank of England’s tougher regime, complementing its June framework. Firms can apply from September 30, with the regime taking effect in October 2027, positioning the UK as a competitive global hub alongside MiCA.

Taiwan Passes Its First Dedicated Virtual Asset Service Act
[Regulation] [Asia] [Stablecoin]

• On June 30, Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan passed the Virtual Asset Service Act on its third reading — the island’s first comprehensive crypto framework — moving oversight from AML registration to a full Financial Supervisory Commission licensing regime across seven service-provider categories.

Upcoming Market Events

• July 18 – GENIUS Act final-rules deadline

• July 28 – FOMC Meeting

Things to Watch This Week (June 29 - July 3)

· Geopolitical Risks Ease

Markets were supported this week as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East continued to ease. Lower crude oil prices helped reduce concerns over energy-driven inflation, strengthening expectations that central banks may have greater room to ease policy later this year. This improved macro backdrop supported investor sentiment and encouraged a rotation back into risk assets.

Random Musing This Week

Strategy Under Pressure: Will Michael Saylor Ever Sell Bitcoin?

When Michael Saylor first adopted Bitcoin as Strategy’s primary treasury asset in 2020, many viewed the move as an unconventional corporate investment. Six years later, Strategy has become the world’s largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, inspiring a wave of public companies to adopt similar treasury strategies. However, unlike newer entrants such as BitMine, Strategy built its position through significant leverage. As market conditions tighten, investors are increasingly asking whether the company’s aggressive financing model could eventually force it to sell the very asset it has spent years accumulating.

Strategy’s approach has never been simply about buying Bitcoin. Instead, the company repeatedly issued common shares, convertible debt and preferred securities to raise capital, using the proceeds to acquire additional Bitcoin. Saylor refers to this as increasing Bitcoin per Share—creating more Bitcoin exposure for each shareholder rather than maximizing short-term earnings. The strategy worked exceptionally well while Bitcoin prices and Strategy’s equity traded at a premium, allowing the company to continually raise relatively inexpensive capital.

BitMine, despite also adopting a digital asset treasury strategy, follows a markedly different model. Rather than relying heavily on debt financing, BitMine has primarily funded its Ethereum treasury through equity issuance while generating staking rewards from its ETH holdings. This results in a simpler balance sheet with limited refinancing pressure and an ongoing source of native yield. In contrast, Bitcoin itself produces no cash flow, meaning Strategy must continue relying on capital markets to finance both expansion and future obligations.

This difference has become increasingly important as financial conditions have tightened. A prolonged decline in Bitcoin prices or a reduction in Strategy’s equity premium would make raising additional capital significantly more expensive. While the company is not forced to sell Bitcoin simply because prices fall, a combination of limited financing options, preferred dividend obligations and future debt maturities could eventually create balance sheet pressure.

For now, Michael Saylor continues to insist that Strategy has no intention of selling its Bitcoin holdings. The more relevant question, however, is no longer whether he believes in Bitcoin—it is whether Strategy’s capital structure can continue supporting an aggressively leveraged accumulation strategy through an extended market downturn. If access to capital remains available, Strategy may continue adding Bitcoin. If not, selling Bitcoin could eventually become a financial necessity rather than a strategic choice.

Recap of Top Stories (June 22 - June 26)

Top Story of the Week

Chainlink Launches Project Pangea, Uniting 47+ Banks for Real-Time Stablecoin FX Settlement
[Stablecoin] [Banking] [Infrastructure] [Asia]

• On June 23, Chainlink launched Project Pangea, a consortium of 47+ European and South Korean banks — managing over $10 trillion in assets — to test real-time stablecoin settlement for FX transactions. The group includes Qivalis, a euro stablecoin consortium of 37 European banks, and UniKA, a South Korean alliance of 10+ commercial banks.
  

• The initiative targets T+0 atomic settlement — compressing the standard two-day FX cycle to near-instant — using regulated euro- and Korean-won-pegged stablecoins across a corridor handling more than $150 billion a year. Chainlink provides middleware that converts existing SWIFT and ISO 20022 instructions into on-chain payment-versus-payment swaps, letting banks adopt blockchain settlement without replacing current systems.
  
  Pangea settles directly between two fiat-pegged stablecoins, removing the usual conversion through the U.S. dollar, with live transactions targeted within 12 months — a concrete sign of major banks moving stablecoin settlement toward production.

Also, In Focus

Bank of England Publishes Final Stablecoin Framework, Scrapping Individual Holding Caps
[Regulation] [Stablecoin] [Europe]

• On June 22, the Bank of England published its final framework for systemic sterling stablecoins, scrapping its proposal to cap individual holdings at £20,000 and business holdings at £10 million. In their place it set a temporary £40 billion issuance cap per systemic stablecoin, allowing unrestricted holdings.
  

• It also eased reserve rules — up to 70% of backing assets in short-term UK government debt (from 60%) and face-value redemption within 24 hours — to make sterling stablecoins commercially viable ahead of a planned 2027 launch.

Invesco Files for a Tokenized Stablecoin-Reserve Fund Issued Directly On-Chain
[Tokenization] [Institutional] [Stablecoin]

• On June 24, Invesco — a $2.45 trillion asset manager — filed with the SEC to launch the Invesco Stablecoin Reserves Onchain Fund, a GENIUS Act-compliant government money market fund for stablecoin issuers to hold the reserves backing their tokens.
  

• What sets it apart is that fund shares are issued directly as tokens on a public blockchain via tokenization firm Superstate. The filing extends the reserve-management race — after State Street, BlackRock, and JPMorgan — into tokenized form, effective around late August.

Ripple Wins Preliminary MiCA Approval in Luxembourg, Unlocking EU Passporting
[Regulation] [Europe] [Institutional]

• On June 23, Ripple received preliminary approval for a crypto-asset service provider (CASP) license from Luxembourg’s regulator, the CSSF, under the EU’s MiCA framework — a step that would let it passport Ripple Payments across all 30 EEA countries.

• Combined with the e-money license Ripple obtained from the UK’s FCA in January, full CASP authorization would make its cross-border payments stack — over $100 billion processed across 60-plus markets — fully MiCA-compliant, subject to final conditions.

Upcoming Market Events

• July 2 – U.S. Employment Report

• July 28 – FOMC Meeting

Things to Watch This Week (June 22 - June 27)

· Middle East De-escalation

Investor sentiment improved this week following the announcement of a ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran. The easing of geopolitical tensions pushed oil prices lower, reducing concerns over energy-driven inflation and supporting risk assets. Markets viewed the decline in oil prices as a positive signal for the inflation outlook, increasing expectations that central banks may gain greater flexibility in future monetary policy decisions.

Random Musing This Week

Crypto as Financial Infrastructure

In its latest outlook report, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) argued that 2026 could mark a major turning point for the crypto industry. The report suggests that crypto is evolving beyond a speculative asset class and beginning to establish itself as a core component of financial infrastructure. SVB identified five key themes that are expected to drive this transition: increased institutional capital inflows, continued growth in crypto-related mergers and acquisitions (M&A), broader stablecoin adoption, mainstream real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, and the convergence of artificial intelligence and blockchain technology.

Among these themes, the growing involvement of major financial institutions deserves particular attention. The focus of the crypto industry is increasingly shifting away from retail speculation and toward practical financial applications. Rather than replacing traditional finance, blockchain technology is gradually being integrated into existing financial systems, improving payments, asset management, collateral management, and treasury operations.

At the center of this trend is JPMorgan. Through its Kinexys platform (formerly Onyx), the bank has been expanding blockchain-based solutions across payments, tokenized deposits, collateral management, and repo transactions. By simplifying processes that traditionally require multiple intermediaries, blockchain technology has the potential to improve settlement efficiency, reduce operational friction, and provide institutions with greater flexibility in managing liquidity. These developments demonstrate how blockchain can be used to modernize existing financial infrastructure rather than disrupt it.

Other major financial institutions are moving in a similar direction. Citi has been actively exploring tokenized deposits, private market tokenization, and blockchain-based settlement infrastructure, while several large banks, including Wells Fargo, are reportedly evaluating stablecoin-related initiatives and broader digital asset infrastructure. At the same time, tokenized treasury and money market products launched by firms such as BlackRock and Franklin Templeton have continued to gain traction, highlighting that blockchain-based financial products are increasingly moving beyond pilot programs and into real-world adoption.

Stablecoins, in particular, are expected to play a central role in this transformation. Corporates are increasingly viewing stablecoins not simply as cryptocurrencies, but as digital dollars that can operate around the clock. Their use cases are expanding across cross-border payments, B2B settlements, and treasury management functions. As regulatory frameworks continue to mature, adoption by both financial institutions and corporations is likely to accelerate further.

Ultimately, the key trend to watch is not simply the growth of the crypto industry itself, but the ongoing convergence of traditional finance and blockchain technology. Recent developments suggest that financial institutions are beginning to view blockchain not as a separate market, but as a foundational technology capable of improving the efficiency of existing financial systems. The pace at which blockchain-based infrastructure expands across payments, asset management, lending, and collateral management may become one of the most important drivers of growth for the digital asset industry in the years ahead.

Recap of Top Stories (June 15 - June 19)

Top Story of the Week

State Street Launches Money Market Fund for Stablecoin Reserves (SSCXX)
[Stablecoin] [Banking] [Institutional] [Infrastructure]

• On June 16, State Street Investment Management launched a money market fund built specifically for stablecoin issuers to hold the cash and Treasuries backing their tokens. The fund, ticker SSCXX, lets issuers park reserves in a regulated vehicle from one of the world’s largest custody banks.
  

• The launch lands on the reserve-management opportunity created by the GENIUS Act, which requires payment stablecoins to be fully backed by high-quality liquid assets. A 234-year-old institution building dedicated plumbing for stablecoin reserves signals how far digital-dollar infrastructure has moved into regulated finance.
  
  It also extends a broader Wall Street push into stablecoin infrastructure, alongside recent reserve-fund and tokenized-Treasury filings from other major asset managers.

Also, In Focus

Italy Grants One of Its First MiCA Licenses to Conio Ahead of the EU Deadline
[Regulation] [Europe] [Institutional]

• On June 17, Italian fintech Conio received authorization as a crypto-asset service provider under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), following a joint review by Consob and the Bank of Italy. The license covers custody, transfer, and placement of digital assets across the EU.
  

• Conio is backed by Poste Italiane and Banca Generali, giving it immediate distribution into traditional banking channels. The approval is a concrete example of MiCA moving from framework to practice, arriving just before the June 30 transition deadline after which unlicensed firms can no longer offer crypto services in the EU.

IMF Flags Nigeria’s Stablecoin Adoption at Scale as a Cross-Border Payment Rail
[Stablecoin] [Macro] [Adoption]

• In a June 16 analysis, the IMF reported that Nigeria received roughly $59 billion in crypto-asset inflows between mid-2023 and mid-2024, with dollar-pegged stablecoins now a meaningful cross-border payments channel. Nigeria accounts for about 60% of stablecoin inflows into Sub-Saharan Africa since 2019.
  

• The Fund framed it as evidence of real-world utility — households and small firms using stablecoins for cheaper remittances — while cautioning that widespread dollar-pegged adoption can resemble digital dollarization. The IMF urged stronger oversight rather than suppression.

Franklin Templeton Files Two ETFs That Reinvest Stock Dividends into Bitcoin
[ETF] [Institutional] [TradFi]

• On June 18, Franklin Templeton filed with the SEC for two ETFs — the US Equity Bitcoin DRIP Index ETF and the US Innovation Bitcoin DRIP Index ETF — that would hold roughly 95% U.S. equities and reinvest the dividends into bitcoin exposure.

• The funds track VettaFi indexes and build a bitcoin position gradually from corporate payouts, aimed at investors who prefer equity ETFs over buying bitcoin directly. If approved, they could trade as early as September.

Upcoming Market Events

• June 24 - Global Blockchain and Crypto Symposium

• June 24 - Berachain & Canton Network Upgrades

Things to Watch This Week (June 15 - June 19)

· Easing Inflation Concerns

Investor sentiment improved this week after President Trump announced a preliminary peace agreement with Iran. The news pushed oil prices lower, easing concerns over energy-driven inflation and reducing fears of a prolonged higher-for-longer rate environment. Markets are increasingly hopeful that moderating inflation could provide greater flexibility for future monetary policy.

Random Musing This Week

AI and Blockchain Security: Lessons from the Zcash Incident

Artificial intelligence is often portrayed as a potential threat to blockchain technology. Many investors worry that increasingly powerful AI systems could be used to discover vulnerabilities, automate attacks, or exploit weaknesses faster than ever before. However, the recent Zcash incident highlights a different possibility: AI may ultimately strengthen blockchain networks rather than undermine them.

Earlier this month, developers disclosed a critical vulnerability within Zcash that had gone undetected for years. While the flaw was patched before any known exploitation occurred, reports suggest that AI-assisted analysis played a role in helping researchers identify the issue. The incident demonstrated that AI can be used not only as an offensive tool, but also as a powerful defense mechanism.

Security remains one of the biggest obstacles to broader blockchain adoption. High-profile hacks, exploits, and protocol failures continue to damage investor confidence and reinforce concerns about the safety of digital assets. As blockchain systems become increasingly complex, relying solely on human auditors may no longer be sufficient. AI has the potential to continuously analyze code, identify hidden vulnerabilities, and assist security teams in detecting risks before they become costly incidents.

Ultimately, trust is the foundation of any financial system. If AI can help reduce security failures and improve the reliability of blockchain infrastructure, it may become one of the most important tools for driving mainstream adoption. The Zcash incident serves as an early reminder that AI’s greatest contribution to crypto may not be creating new applications, but helping secure the networks that already exist.

Recap of Top Stories (June 8 - June 12)

Top Story of the Week

Citi Launches Digital Depositary Receipts, Bringing Tokenized Private-Company Shares to Investors
[Tokenization] [Institutional] [TradFi] [RWA]

• Citigroup launched Digital Depositary Receipts, a blockchain-based product that lets institutional and wealthy investors gain exposure to private-company shares through securities issued and held by the bank. The product runs on blockchain infrastructure operated by Swiss market operator SIX, with Citi acting as both issuer and custodian.
  

• The launch adapts the traditional depositary-receipt structure for private markets, arriving as many fast-growing companies stay private longer and investor demand for pre-IPO exposure surges. The debut transaction involved Kaleido, a tokenization firm backed by Citi Ventures.
  
  Citi says it is already in discussions with some of the world’s largest private companies and plans to expand the offering over time, including to public blockchains. The move places a $2.7 trillion bank directly into the institutional tokenization stack alongside DTCC and Nasdaq, as major banks build shared tokenized-deposit networks.

Also, In Focus

Japan’s Three Largest Banks to Jointly Issue a Yen Stablecoin by March 2027
[Stablecoin] [Banking] [Asia]

• Japan’s three largest banking groups — MUFG, SMBC, and Mizuho — signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly issue a yen-denominated stablecoin, targeting live commercial transactions during fiscal 2026, which runs through March 2027.
  

• The banks will act as joint settlors under a trust structure, with a licensed trust institution as trustee, and the initiative carries Financial Services Agency support dating to a November 2025 pilot. A standardized, interoperable yen stablecoin at that scale could pull settlement volume away from dollar-pegged incumbents.

SpaceX Tokenized Stock (SPCX) Launches on Solana the Same Day as Its Nasdaq IPO
[Tokenization] [Market Structure] [RWA]

• SpaceX shares began trading on Solana the same day the company listed on Nasdaq on June 12, through a tokenized stock called SPCX issued by Backpack Securities, with each token backed one-to-one by a real share held in custody.
  

• Unlike most tokenized stocks, SPCX can be redeemed for the underlying SpaceX shares and transferred into a traditional brokerage account through ACATS and DTCC settlement rails — making a newly listed equity investable on-chain from the moment it goes public.

Tether Leads Up to $1.4 Billion Round in Robotics Firm. Stablecoins into a Machine Economy
[Institutional] [Infrastructure] [Capital Markets]

• Tether led a Series C round of up to $1.4 billion in German humanoid-robotics firm Neura Robotics, valuing the company near $7 billion, alongside Nvidia, Qualcomm, Amazon, Bosch, and the European Investment Bank.

• Tether will integrate its Wallet Development Kit directly into Neura’s systems, giving robots self-custodial wallets so they can be paid for completed work and transact autonomously — one of the largest investments into physical AI on record.

Upcoming Market Events

• June 16 - FOMC Meeting

• June 16 - IMF-WIFPR Conference

• June 24 - Global Blockchain and Crypto Symposium

Things to Watch This Week (June 8 - June 12)

• Higher-for-Longer Concerns

Markets remained focused on inflation risks this week as rising oil prices and geopolitical tensions added pressure to the outlook. Expectations for a June Fed rate cut continued to decline, reinforcing concerns that interest rates may remain higher for longer than previously anticipated.

Random Musing This Week

The Stablecoin Era: Can Anyone Challenge USDT and USDC?

Stablecoins have become one of the most important sectors in the digital asset industry. Today, Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) dominate the market, accounting for nearly 90% of total stablecoin supply. Together, they serve as the primary settlement layer for crypto trading, payments, and on-chain finance. Yet despite this dominance, new stablecoins such as USDS, USD1, USDe, PYUSD, and USDG continue to emerge. This raises an important question: if the market is already controlled by two giants, why are institutions still launching new stablecoins?

The answer is that stablecoins are no longer simply digital versions of dollars. They are increasingly becoming financial infrastructure. Issuing a stablecoin allows companies to capture value from reserve assets, payment flows, and user activity. For example, stablecoin issuers typically invest reserves in short-term U.S. Treasuries, generating substantial interest income. At the same time, payment companies such as PayPal view stablecoins as a way to strengthen customer relationships and gain greater control over payment networks. In many ways, stablecoins are evolving into the next generation of financial rails, similar to what Visa and Mastercard became for traditional payments.

However, building a stablecoin and achieving adoption are very different challenges. The stablecoin market benefits from powerful network effects. Traders use USDT because exchanges support USDT. Exchanges support USDT because traders use it. The same dynamic applies to USDC. As a result, many stablecoins have failed to gain meaningful traction despite strong backing and significant funding. Simply launching a stablecoin does not guarantee users, liquidity, or ecosystem adoption.

Nevertheless, there are exceptions. Ethena’s USDe represents one of the most successful recent examples. Unlike traditional stablecoins that primarily offer price stability, USDe introduced a synthetic dollar model capable of generating yield through derivatives-based strategies. By combining stability with income generation, Ethena created a unique value proposition that attracted users and rapidly grew into a multi-billion-dollar asset. The success of USDe demonstrates that while network effects are powerful, new entrants can still succeed if they offer something meaningfully different from existing alternatives.

This naturally leads to another question: could the dominant positions of USDT and USDC eventually be threatened? In the near term, both appear highly resilient. USDT benefits from unmatched liquidity and global adoption, while USDC has become the preferred stablecoin for many institutions due to its regulatory compliance and transparency. However, no market leader remains unchallenged forever.

Several scenarios could reshape the competitive landscape. Regulatory changes could alter the economics of stablecoin issuance. A major security breach or loss of confidence could damage trust in a leading issuer. More importantly, governments and central banks may eventually introduce their own digital dollar infrastructure, potentially competing with private stablecoins. Even broader systemic risks cannot be ignored. Most major stablecoins are backed by U.S. Treasury assets, meaning the entire ecosystem is increasingly linked to the stability of the U.S. financial system itself.

Ultimately, the future of stablecoins may not be determined by who creates the best digital dollar, but by who controls the most valuable financial network. Today, USDT and USDC dominate that network. Tomorrow, new competitors may emerge. The real battle is no longer about creating another stablecoin — it is about owning the infrastructure through which digital dollars move around the world.

Recap of Top Stories (June 1 - June 5)

Top Story of the Week

Binance Launches U.S. Stock Trading for 7,000+ Equities and Previews bStocks Tokenized Securities
[Tokenization] [TradFi] [Market Structure] [Retail Access]

• On June 1, Binance introduced trading in more than 7,000 U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs for eligible non-U.S. users, with zero commissions and fractional shares from $5, funded with USDT, USDC, BNB and other crypto. Abu Dhabi-regulated Nest Trading acts as broker-dealer, and Alpaca holds custody of the underlying shares.
  

• The launch positions the world’s largest crypto exchange as a multi-asset platform, with co-CEO Yi He framing the move around reaching the next three billion users. Binance also previewed bStocks — tokenized securities representing select U.S. stocks and ETFs, set to launch in the coming weeks subject to regulatory approval, marking a sharp acceleration of the convergence between crypto exchanges and traditional brokerage.

Also, In Focus

Coinbase Launches in India with Direct INR Rails, Spot Trading, and Perpetual Futures
[Retail Access] [Asia] [Infrastructure]

• On June 1, Coinbase formally launched operations in India, enabling direct INR deposits and withdrawals via IMPS banking rails, alongside spot and perpetual futures trading on a local INR order book. The exchange is registered with India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-IND).
  

• The move brings the largest U.S.-listed exchange into the world’s most populous country with direct fiat access, ending reliance on peer-to-peer workarounds. One forecast sees India’s crypto market approaching $14 billion by 2034.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance Proposes Digital Assets as SME Loan Collateral
[Regulation] [Asia] [RWA]

• Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance proposed amendments to its SME support law that would let small and medium enterprises pledge digital assets, virtual assets, and intellectual property as bank loan collateral. Submission to the National Assembly is planned for October 2026, with a July 2027 effective date if approved.
  

• The proposal would give digital assets a productive financial function beyond trading. SMEs make up over 98% of registered Vietnamese businesses but capture only around 19-20% of banking credit, and the measure is part of Vietnam’s broader push toward a regulated market in 2026.

Japan’s Ruling Party Pushes Yen Stablecoins for Asian Settlement and a Crypto ETF Framework
[Regulation] [Stablecoin] [Asia]

• On June 1, Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party submitted a proposal to Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama urging the government to promote yen-denominated stablecoins for settlement across Asia and to establish a legal framework for trading crypto ETFs.

• The proposal would bring crypto into Japan’s regulated investment-product regime while positioning the yen as a competitive digital settlement currency in Asia, countering the dominance of dollar-pegged stablecoins.

Upcoming Market Events

• June 10 - May CPI release

• June 16 - FOMC Meeting

• June 16 - IMF-WIFPR Conference

Things to Watch This Week (June 1 - June 5)

• Oil Prices Back in Focus

Markets remained attentive to developments in the Middle East this week, as heightened geopolitical uncertainty supported higher oil prices. While inflation has continued to moderate overall, investors are monitoring whether sustained strength in energy markets could influence the broader inflation outlook.

Random Musing This Week

How Did Hyperliquid Achieve Explosive Growth?

Over the past few years, Hyperliquid has emerged as one of the most remarkable success stories in the digital asset industry. Launched in 2023, the platform has rapidly become the leading decentralized perpetual futures exchange, processing billions of dollars in daily trading volume and accumulating nearly $10 billion in open interest. More importantly, Hyperliquid is increasingly viewed not as just another decentralized exchange (DEX), but as the first on-chain trading venue capable of competing with centralized exchanges such as Binance.

At its core, Hyperliquid specializes in perpetual futures trading. While Binance offers similar products, the two platforms operate under fundamentally different models. Binance follows the traditional centralized exchange model, requiring users to deposit assets into the exchange’s custody. Hyperliquid, by contrast, operates entirely on-chain, where transactions, liquidations, and market activities are publicly verifiable. In other words, while Binance prioritizes convenience and liquidity through centralized infrastructure, Hyperliquid aims to deliver comparable trading performance while preserving transparency and self-custody.

The question, however, is why Hyperliquid succeeded where so many other decentralized exchanges failed. The answer largely comes down to product quality. Historically, many DEXs focused heavily on decentralization but struggled to attract professional traders due to slow execution speeds, poor liquidity, and an inferior user experience. Hyperliquid took a different approach. Instead of building another application on an existing blockchain, it developed its own purpose-built infrastructure optimized for trading. By implementing a high-performance order book and offering execution speeds comparable to centralized exchanges, Hyperliquid successfully bridged the gap between decentralized finance and professional trading.

1) Hyperliquid’s Trading Volume and Fee Growth


The platform’s growth is clearly reflected in its trading activity and fee generation. As shown above, both perpetual futures volume and protocol fee revenue accelerated significantly throughout 2025. Unlike many DeFi protocols that generated temporary activity through token incentives, Hyperliquid translated growing user adoption into sustainable fee revenue. Annualized fee generation has reached levels comparable to those of established financial platforms, demonstrating that Hyperliquid is evolving into a genuine business rather than a purely speculative crypto project.

Another key differentiator is its community-driven growth strategy. Unlike many crypto projects that rely heavily on venture capital funding, Hyperliquid distributed approximately 30% of its token supply directly to users through an airdrop. As a result, ownership was concentrated among traders and community participants rather than institutional investors. This approach strengthened user alignment and helped establish a powerful network effect. As trading volume increased, liquidity improved; improved liquidity attracted more traders, which further increased activity on the platform.

Looking ahead, the most important question is whether Hyperliquid can eventually compete with, or even replace, platforms such as Binance and Robinhood. In terms of scale, Binance remains significantly larger, and Hyperliquid still faces regulatory limitations, particularly in the United States. However, the market narrative is gradually shifting. Rather than asking whether Hyperliquid can simply take market share from Binance, investors are increasingly asking whether Hyperliquid can become a new form of financial infrastructure.

This shift is already visible in the platform’s evolution. Beyond cryptocurrency perpetual futures, Hyperliquid has expanded into markets linked to traditional assets such as gold, silver, crude oil, and the S&P 500. The platform has also introduced prediction-market functionality, moving beyond its original role as a crypto trading venue. These developments suggest that Hyperliquid is attempting to build a 24/7 global financial marketplace rather than a niche crypto exchange.

Ultimately, Hyperliquid’s success has not been driven solely by decentralization. Instead, it has succeeded by delivering a product that many traders consider superior to existing alternatives. Whether it can fully replace Binance or Robinhood remains uncertain. Nevertheless, Hyperliquid is already reshaping how market participants think about exchanges, demonstrating that blockchain-based infrastructure can support large-scale financial activity. In that sense, Hyperliquid may represent not only the future of decentralized exchanges, but also the future of financial markets themselves.

Recap of Top Stories (May 18 - May 29)

Top Story of the Week

DTCC Plans to Bring Tokenized Stocks, ETFs, and Treasuries by H1 2027
[Tokenization] [Infrastructure] [Institutional] [RWA]

• The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), Wall Street’s clearinghouse, said Wednesday it plans to connect its tokenized securities platform to the Stellar (XLM) network. Tokenized assets custodied by DTCC’s Depository Trust Company could become available on Stellar during the first half of 2027.
  

• This is the first time DTC-custodied securities will live on a public blockchain. The initial scope covers Russell 1000 stocks, major ETFs, and U.S. Treasuries, with the integration supporting issuance, settlement, and full lifecycle management of digital securities.

Also, In Focus

SoFi Launches SoFiUSD — First Stablecoin Issued by a U.S. National Bank
[Stablecoin] [TradFi] [Banking] [Retail Access]

• SoFi has launched SoFiUSD, a dollar-backed stablecoin on Ethereum and Solana. Nearly 15 million SoFi members can now buy, sell, hold and convert SoFiUSD in the app, with each token redeemable 1:1 for U.S. dollars through SoFi Bank.
  

• “At SoFi, we believe we can combine the speed and versatility of the blockchain with the trust of a bank to improve how money moves around the world,” SoFi CEO Anthony Noto said. The company plans to add tokenized deposits, FDIC-insured accounts, and 24/7 cross-border transfers in the coming weeks.

Block Rolls Out USDC Stablecoin Payments to Cash App’s 60 Million Users
[Stablecoin] [TradFi] [Retail Access]

• Block’s Cash App has begun rolling out USDC stablecoin payments to about a quarter of its nearly 60 million users, with plans to reach all users by the end of the week. Cash App will support USDC as a payments rail across Solana, Ethereum, Polygon and Arbitrum.
  

• The move marks a major shift for CEO Jack Dorsey, a longtime bitcoin-only advocate. “I don’t like that we’re going to support stablecoins but our customers want to use them,” Dorsey said. The total stablecoin market reached a record $322 billion at the time of launch.

Tether and the Government of Georgia to Launch GEL₮, the Official Stablecoin of Georgia
[Stablecoin] [Regulation]

• Tether announced plans to launch GEL₮, a stablecoin representing the Georgian Lari, with the support of the Government of Georgia. This marks one of the first joint efforts to place a national currency directly onto digital asset rails.
  

• “Georgia has moved early to create serious regulatory architecture for digital assets and stablecoins, and that clarity creates the foundation for real innovation and adoption,” said Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino.

Upcoming Market Events

• June 4 - Bitcoin Seoul 2026

• June 6 - FOMC blackout period begins

• June 10 - May CPI release

Things to Watch This Week (May 18 - May 22)

• Higher-for-Longer Concerns

Markets remain focused on persistent inflation pressures and rising geopolitical tensions this week. Recent U.S. inflation data, including PPI, reinforced expectations that the Fed may keep rates higher for longer, while escalating Iran-related tensions added further concerns around energy prices and global risk sentiment.

Random Musing This Week

Circle’s ARC: From Stablecoin Issuer to Blockchain Infrastructure

Circle Internet Financial recently announced the ARC token pre-sale as it moves toward building its own blockchain network. More than just another token launch, the initiative appears to reflect Circle’s broader ambition to evolve from a USDC issuer into a blockchain financial infrastructure company.

Until now, USDC has primarily operated on external networks such as Ethereum, Solana, and Base, while Circle’s business remained largely tied to stablecoin issuance and reserve-related income. With ARC and the Ark Network, however, Circle appears to be building a USDC-centric Layer 1 blockchain aimed at reducing dependence on third-party chains while capturing value directly from network fees, payment infrastructure, and ecosystem growth. In many ways, this can be viewed as an attempt to build a dollar-based onchain financial infrastructure layer rather than simply a stablecoin product.

However, the launch also introduces a more complicated financial question: how should the market think about the relationship between Circle equity and ARC token value?

Until now, investors largely viewed Circle through the lens of a traditional public company, where future growth in USDC adoption, payments infrastructure, and blockchain usage would naturally flow into Circle’s corporate valuation. But with ARC, part of that ecosystem value may begin accruing directly to the token economy itself through staking, governance, fee distribution, and network incentives.

This could create one of the most interesting new market structures in crypto: a publicly traded company existing alongside a separately valued blockchain network token. Investors may increasingly debate whether future ecosystem value should primarily belong to Circle shareholders or ARC token holders.

If ARC succeeds, the implications could extend beyond Circle itself. Institutionally-oriented blockchain networks without tokens — such as Coinbase’s Base — may eventually face growing pressure to reconsider their own token strategies. More broadly, ARC could become an early example of how public companies may one day use blockchain-native tokens not simply for fundraising, but as economic coordination layers tied to their platforms and ecosystems.

While comparisons to traditional technology companies such as Apple or Google remain speculative for now, the broader direction is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. Crypto infrastructure, public equity markets, and token economies are beginning to overlap. The long-term question may no longer be whether tokens have value, but how that value should be distributed between companies, networks, and users.

Ultimately, ARC may represent more than just another token launch. It could become an early test case for how future digital financial ecosystems balance corporate ownership with decentralized network economics.

Recap of Top Stories (May 11 - May 15)

Market Watch

Things to Watch This Week (May 18 - May 22)

• Higher-for-Longer Concerns

  • Markets remain focused on persistent inflation pressures and rising geopolitical tensions this week. Recent U.S. inflation data, including PPI, reinforced expectations that the Fed may keep rates higher for longer, while escalating Iran-related tensions added further concerns around energy prices and global risk sentiment.

Random Musing This Week

Circle’s ARC: From Stablecoin Issuer to Blockchain Infrastructure

Circle Internet Financial recently announced the ARC token pre-sale as it moves toward building its own blockchain network. More than just another token launch, the initiative appears to reflect Circle’s broader ambition to evolve from a USDC issuer into a blockchain financial infrastructure company.

Until now, USDC has primarily operated on external networks such as Ethereum, Solana, and Base, while Circle’s business remained largely tied to stablecoin issuance and reserve-related income. With ARC and the Ark Network, however, Circle appears to be building a USDC-centric Layer 1 blockchain aimed at reducing dependence on third-party chains while capturing value directly from network fees, payment infrastructure, and ecosystem growth. In many ways, this can be viewed as an attempt to build a dollar-based onchain financial infrastructure layer rather than simply a stablecoin product.

However, the launch also introduces a more complicated financial question: how should the market think about the relationship between Circle equity and ARC token value?

Until now, investors largely viewed Circle through the lens of a traditional public company, where future growth in USDC adoption, payments infrastructure, and blockchain usage would naturally flow into Circle’s corporate valuation. But with ARC, part of that ecosystem value may begin accruing directly to the token economy itself through staking, governance, fee distribution, and network incentives.

This could create one of the most interesting new market structures in crypto: a publicly traded company existing alongside a separately valued blockchain network token. Investors may increasingly debate whether future ecosystem value should primarily belong to Circle shareholders or ARC token holders.

If ARC succeeds, the implications could extend beyond Circle itself. Institutionally-oriented blockchain networks without tokens — such as Coinbase’s Base — may eventually face growing pressure to reconsider their own token strategies. More broadly, ARC could become an early example of how public companies may one day use blockchain-native tokens not simply for fundraising, but as economic coordination layers tied to their platforms and ecosystems.

While comparisons to traditional technology companies such as Apple or Google remain speculative for now, the broader direction is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. Crypto infrastructure, public equity markets, and token economies are beginning to overlap. The long-term question may no longer be whether tokens have value, but how that value should be distributed between companies, networks, and users.

Ultimately, ARC may represent more than just another token launch. It could become an early test case for how future digital financial ecosystems balance corporate ownership with decentralized network economics.

Recap of Top Stories (May 11 - May 15)

Top Story of the Week

CLARITY Act Clears Senate Banking Committee 15-9 in Historic Bipartisan Vote
[Regulation] [Policy] [Market Structure]

• The Senate Banking Committee voted 15-9 on May 14 to advance the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act to the full Senate floor, with Democratic Senators Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) crossing over to vote yes alongside all 13 Republicans.
  

• This is the first formal committee passage of comprehensive U.S. crypto market structure legislation. After hours of partisan sparring, Chairman Tim Scott engineered a last-moment bipartisan turnaround that delivered the votes. The bill now advances to the full Senate floor, where it needs 60 votes to pass. The White House has set a July 4 presidential signing as its target. Open issues for floor reconciliation include law enforcement provisions and ethics language addressing officials profiting from crypto. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong called it the most significant U.S. crypto policy moment since the GENIUS Act, and Galaxy Research now estimates 2026 passage odds at well above 60%.

Also, In Focus

Charles Schwab Begins Spot Crypto Trading Rollout to Retail Clients
[TradFi] [Institutional] [Retail Access]

• Charles Schwab, the brokerage giant that manages around $12 trillion in client assets, began rolling out its spot cryptocurrency trading service for retail customers in the U.S. on May 13. An initial group of clients can now trade bitcoin and ether on the Schwab Crypto platform.
  

• The platform charges 75 basis points (0.75%) on the dollar value of each trade — below Fidelity Crypto’s 1% fee and well below Coinbase’s retail tier, which can reach 4%. Schwab currently oversees approximately 39 million active brokerage accounts.

Mitsui & Co. Launches Japan’s First Land-Backed Digital Security
[Tokenization] [RWA] [Asia]

• On May 12, Mitsui & Co. Digital Asset Management tokenized the leasehold interest beneath AEON Omiya, a large commercial facility in Saitama City, creating a new category of regulated real-world asset security in Asia’s second-largest economy. The underlying land is valued at approximately $55.6 million, with a $647 minimum investment.
  

• The product carries a 3.4% pre-tax annual yield over a 50-year fixed-term lease running through June 2076, issued under Japan’s Financial Instruments and Exchange Act via the ALTERNA platform on the “ibet for Fin” permissioned blockchain.

BlackRock, Janus Henderson Tokenized Funds Get Instant Redemptions With New $1 Billion Facility
[Tokenization] [Infrastructure] [Institutional]

• Grove launched a liquidity network offering up to $1 billion in daily stablecoin liquidity for instant redemptions for BlackRock’s and Janus Henderson’s tokenized Treasury funds. The facility, dubbed Basin, aims to fix a key weakness in the $15 billion tokenized Treasury market.
  

• “By reducing settlement friction and enhancing liquidity, solutions like Grove Basin represent an important step toward making tokenized funds more efficient and practical for institutional investors,” said Robbie Mitchnick, BlackRock’s global head of digital assets.

Upcoming Market Events

• May 18 - 19 Vienna Blockchain Week 2006

• May 18 - 24 Southeast Asia Blockchain Week in Bangkok

• May 21 - 22 ETHMilan

Things to Watch This Week (May 11 - May 15)

• Inflation and Fed Outlook in Focus

Markets will closely watch U.S. inflation data and Fed commentary this week for further clues on the rate outlook. While the labor market remains resilient, investors are looking for clearer signs that inflation is cooling enough to support future rate cuts. Treasury yields and broader macro sentiment are also expected to remain key drivers for risk assets this week.

Random Musing This Week

Coinbase: From Crypto Exchange to Financial Infrastructure

Coinbase’s Q1 2026 earnings showed weaker trading activity and softer-than-expected results, but the more important story was the company’s ongoing transformation beyond a traditional crypto exchange.

Historically, Coinbase’s business was heavily tied to crypto market cycles and spot trading volumes. However, the company is increasingly positioning itself as a broader digital financial infrastructure platform focused on stablecoins, payments, custody, and onchain finance.

One of the biggest drivers of this shift is USDC. Coinbase highlighted that USDC market capitalization reached nearly $80 billion in Q1 2026, while average USDC balances held within Coinbase products grew to $19 billion. The company also noted that it captured roughly 50% of total USDC economics over the past year. This suggests Coinbase is gradually moving away from relying solely on transaction fees toward generating recurring infrastructure-based revenue.

Another key part of Coinbase’s strategy is Base, its Layer 2 blockchain network. Through Base, Coinbase is building an ecosystem for onchain payments, DeFi activity, and digital commerce. Management also emphasized the rise of AI-native finance, arguing that blockchain networks and stablecoins could become the settlement layer for AI-driven economic activity in the future.

At the same time, Coinbase continues diversifying its business model. Derivatives trading volume grew 169% year-over-year, while prediction markets became one of the company’s fastest-growing products. Coinbase’s long-term vision is evolving toward an “Everything Exchange” where users can trade multiple asset classes within a unified onchain financial ecosystem.

Ultimately, Wall Street is beginning to view Coinbase less as a crypto trading app and more as a long-term financial infrastructure company. Stablecoins, custody, tokenization, and onchain settlement are becoming central to Coinbase’s future growth strategy.

Recap of Top Stories (May 4 - May 8)

Top Story of the Week

Wall Street’s Core Plumber, DTCC, Fast-Tracks Tokenized Trading
[Tokenization] [Infrastructure] [Institutional]

• The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) announced a July 2026 live pilot for tokenized securities, with a full commercial launch scheduled for October. The initiative includes over 50 major financial institutions, such as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and BlackRock.
  

• This is the moment the tokenization story stops being theoretical. July tokenized trading of Russell 1000 stocks and Treasuries means that by Q4 2026, institutional investors will be buying Apple and 90-day T-bills on blockchain rails, within a fully regulated clearing framework, at the same institution where they settle every other trade today. The October full launch is the new north star for every RWA narrative in the market.

Also, In Focus

Securitize Secures First-of-Its-Kind FINRA Approval for Atomic Settlement
[Tokenization] [Regulation] [Infrastructure]

• On the same day DTCC announced its July pilot, Securitize dropped a press release that deserves equal billing.

• The RWA tokenization platform — $4B+ AUM, BlackRock partnership, Cantor Fitzgerald SPAC in progress — received expanded FINRA broker-dealer approval via its Securitize Markets subsidiary.

Crypto Exchange Bullish to Buy Equiniti for $4.2 Billion in Capital Markets Push
[M&A] [Tokenization] [Infrastructure] [TradFi]

• Bullish said it will buy transfer agent Equiniti in a deal valued at $4.2 billion, as the cryptocurrency exchange looks to establish infrastructure to bridge blockchain technology with traditional capital markets.

• “Tokenization is a once-in-a-generation shift in how capital markets operate,” Bullish CEO Thomas Farley said, adding that the combination provides the “blue-chip issuer relationships” necessary to scale the transition.

Circle France Receives MiCA Authorization — USDC and EURC Now Fully Licensed Across the European Economic Area
[Stablecoin] [Regulation]

• Circle’s French subsidiary received authorization from France’s AMF under MiCA to offer crypto-asset custody and transfer services for USDC and EURC.

• USDC is now simultaneously: live on Meta’s creator payout platform, FINRA-clearing-compatible, MiCA-authorized across 30 European countries, and Coinbase’s UK loan collateral.

Morgan Stanley Launches E*Trade Crypto Trading at 0.5%, Undercutting Coinbase and Schwab
[TradFi] [Institutional] [Infrastructure]

• Morgan Stanley has begun direct cryptocurrency trading on its E*Trade platform, charging clients 50 basis points per transaction, undercutting Coinbase, Robinhood, and Charles Schwab; all 8.6 million E*Trade clients are set to gain access later in 2026.

• E*Trade gives Morgan Stanley a distribution channel few crypto-native exchanges can match — roughly 16,000 in-house advisors oversee about $9.3 trillion in client assets.

Upcoming Market Events

• May 11 - Clarity act mark up week

• May 12 - CPI data release

• May 15 - Powell’s last day as Fed chair

Things to Watch This Week (May 4 - May 8)

• Labor Market in Focus: Strong Jobs Data Clouds Rate Outlook

Last week’s stronger-than-expected jobs data has added renewed uncertainty to the rate outlook, highlighting the resilience of the labor market. While inflation has shown signs of easing, continued strength in employment complicates the timing and pace of potential rate cuts. Markets are now reassessing expectations, as incoming data continues to send mixed signals without a clear directional trend.

Random Musing This Week

Securitize and the Investment Implications of Native Tokenized Equities

The partnership between Securitize and Computershare signals more than incremental innovation — it shows tokenization moving into the core infrastructure of capital markets.
This suggests the shift is no longer experimental, but structural in nature.

At the center is the shift toward “native” tokenization. Instead of wrapper-based exposure, actual shares can exist onchain, fundamentally changing how ownership is structured and utilized.
This removes layers between investors and assets, making ownership more direct and flexible.

1. A Change in the Asset

Tokenized equities retain traditional rights but gain digital functionality. They can be used as collateral, integrated into liquidity systems, and embedded in strategies — evolving from passive holdings into productive assets.
Over time, this could expand the role of equities within broader financial ecosystems.

2. Value Shifts to Infrastructure

Tokenization is scaling at the infrastructure level. With Computershare’s existing market coverage, this is less about creating new assets and more about transforming existing ones.
This creates a pathway for large-scale adoption without needing entirely new markets.

As adoption grows, value is likely to concentrate in the platforms enabling issuance and distribution, shifting focus from asset selection to who controls the underlying rails.
Infrastructure positioning may therefore become a key source of long-term advantage.

3. Liquidity Becomes Connected

Liquidity is no longer tied to a single exchange or time window. It becomes more global and interconnected, shifting the edge toward those who can aggregate and route liquidity across networks.
This may gradually blur the boundaries between traditionally separate markets.

4. The Financial Stack Evolves

Brokerage, custody, and settlement may become more automated and integrated. While these roles remain, value may shift away from traditional layers toward infrastructure enabling onchain processes.
As a result, parts of the existing financial stack could face margin pressure.

5. Portfolio Construction Becomes Fluid

As assets operate within shared infrastructure, capital moves more efficiently and cross-asset strategies expand. Portfolio construction may shift toward a more flexible, connectivity-driven approach.
This could change how investors think about diversification and allocation.

This shift is not just about tokenizing equities — it reflects a broader transformation where assets become programmable, infrastructure becomes investable, and liquidity becomes network-driven.
These changes collectively point toward a more interconnected financial system.

For investors, the key is understanding where value accrues within this evolving system.

Recap of Top Stories (Apr 27 - May 1)

Interesting

• Western Union to launch USDPT stablecoin on Solana next month, with ‘Stable Card’ planned for global consumers

  • Commentary: Western Union is on track to launch its U.S. dollar stablecoin USDPT next month.

  • The company will initially use USDPT behind the scenes as an alternative to the SWIFT interbank network, aiming for real-time, around-the-clock settlement with its agents.

• Vietnam launches first regulated crypto exchange pilot in Q2 2026, backed by OKX Ventures and HashKey Capital

  • Commentary: Vietnam ranks fourth globally in crypto adoption, recording an estimated $230 billion in annual transactions each year.

  • Vietnam’s primary goal is shifting crypto trading from offshore platforms to regulated domestic exchanges for better oversight.

• Japan’s Bitbank rolls out crypto-linked credit card that pays bills in bitcoin, with 0.5% cashback in BTC, ETH, or Aster

  • Commentary: Japanese crypto exchange Bitbank has launched a crypto-linked credit card that allows users to pay their bills using assets held on its exchange.

  • Users of the crypto card can opt to have their credit card bills automatically settled in bitcoin from their Bitbank accounts.

• Meta quietly rolls out stablecoin payments four years after demise of controversial Libra project

  • Commentary: Meta has begun rolling out stablecoin payouts to select creators, allowing them to receive earnings in USDC on the Solana or Polygon blockchains.

  • Eligible users can link a crypto wallet and receive payouts in Circle’s USDC token on the Solana or Polygon blockchain networks.

• CLARITY Act text lets crypto firms offer stablecoin rewards while shielding bank yield

  • Commentary: The compromise would ban stablecoin issuers from offering yield based on just holding stablecoin reserves.

  • This restriction does not apply to incentives based on bona fide activities or bona fide transactions that are different from yield generated by interest-bearing bank deposits.

• Kukoin commits $2B to ‘Trust Project’ Focusing on Crypto Security, Transparency

  • Commentary: KuCoin has unveiled a new initiative, the “Trust Project,” with a $2 billion investment aimed at reinforcing user safety, boosting transparency, and ensuring long-term accountability in the crypto market.

  • The announcement came during TOKEN2049 Dubai, where the company outlined plans to align crypto operations more closely with regulatory frameworks and user-centric principles.

• South Korea to test blockchain deposit tokens for government spending in Q4

  • Commentary: South Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance will begin testing blockchain-based deposit tokens for government spending in the fourth quarter.

  • Token-based payments can be programmed with predefined conditions, including limits on when funds can be used and which industries can accept them.

Upcoming Market Events

• May 4 - Digital Asset Yield Summit 2026 Miami

• May 5 - Consensus 2026

• May 12 - CPI data release

Things to Watch This Week (Apr 27 - May 1)

• Inflation, Oil Shock, and Earnings in Focus

Markets remain focused on geopolitical tensions around Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, keeping oil prices volatile and inflation concerns elevated. This adds uncertainty to the rate outlook, while a busy earnings week provides further signals on cost pressures and demand. Overall, markets are entering a phase of balancing macro risks with corporate fundamentals.

Random Musing This Week

Rethinking Payments Infrastructure in a Multi-Stablecoin Market

We came across an interesting perspective from the Ripple team in a recent insights article, which raises a broader question about where payments infrastructure is heading. When viewed alongside recent market developments, this discussion appears less like a company-specific view and more like a reflection of a structural shift.

Stablecoins have clearly moved beyond experimentation and into real scale. What matters now is not just the volume, but how that activity is distributed — across multiple assets, regions, and counterparties. Institutions are no longer operating within a single-token framework. Instead, they are navigating an environment where settlement assets vary depending on regulatory constraints, liquidity conditions, and counterparty preferences.

This shift reframes the challenge. Adoption is largely underway; integration is where complexity now sits. The key question is whether existing infrastructure can support this multi-asset reality without adding operational friction. Many systems were not designed for this level of variability, which creates structural limitations as the market evolves.

At the same time, recent flows into XRP-related investment products suggest that institutional interest in the broader ecosystem is increasing. However, this has also coincided with a growing debate around the role of bridge assets, particularly as stablecoins offer a more price-stable alternative for cross-border settlement. This introduces a structural question around how these components will coexist within the same payment stack.

Timing also matters more than it seems. Early adopters have already established rails, counterparties, and liquidity channels. Late entrants are not just catching up on technology — they are stepping into a market where key relationships and flows may already be entrenched. In that sense, delay carries a clear commercial cost.

One implication is becoming increasingly clear: the market is not converging toward a single dominant stablecoin. It is evolving into a network of interoperable assets, shaped by regional and institutional needs. This places greater importance on how payment systems are architected from the outset.

Ultimately, the next phase of global payments is unlikely to be defined by picking the “right” asset. It will be determined by how well infrastructure can adapt — across assets, jurisdictions, and counterparties — without requiring constant redesign.

In a system defined by fragmentation, the advantage lies with those built for flexibility rather than those optimized for a single path.

Recap of Top Stories (Apr 20 - Apr 24)

Interesting

• Japan’s JSCC, Mizuho, and Nomura launch blockchain trial to put Japanese government bonds on-chain as digital collateral

  • Commentary: Japan Securities Clearing Corporation has launched a blockchain-based collateral trial with Mizuho, Nomura, and Digital Asset, focusing on Japanese government bonds. The initiative integrates systems via the Canton Network to enable onchain transfer and management across institutions.

  • The trial aims to evaluate real-time collateral transactions while ensuring regulatory compliance. It also forms part of a broader push to advance blockchain-based financial infrastructure amid growing global competition.

• Coinbase expands crypto-backed USDC loans to the UK, allowing users to borrow up to $5 million against Bitcoin and Ethereum via Morpho on Base

  • Commentary: Coinbase has expanded its crypto-backed lending service to the United Kingdom, allowing users to borrow up to $5 million in USDC using assets like bitcoin, ethereum, and cbETH as collateral. The loans are facilitated through Morpho on Base and settle within seconds into user accounts.

  • Interest rates are variable and adjust continuously based on market conditions, with no fixed repayment schedule. The move builds on Coinbase’s U.S. rollout and reflects growing demand for onchain lending products.

• Deutsche Börse takes $200 million stake in crypto exchange Kraken, deepening its push into regulated digital asset markets

  • Commentary: Deutsche Börse has taken a $200 million stake in Kraken’s parent company, valuing the firm at approximately $13.3 billion. The investment represents a 1.5% stake and is expected to close pending regulatory approval.

  • The partnership is designed to bridge traditional finance with digital assets and expand institutional access to crypto markets. It also builds on Deutsche Börse’s broader push into digital asset infrastructure and services.

• Kalshi plans to launch CFTC-regulated crypto perpetual futures in the US, taking on Coinbase and Robinhood for retail derivatives traders

  • Commentary: Prediction market platform Kalshi is expanding into cryptocurrency trading by offering perpetual futures contracts tied to assets like bitcoin. The move places it in direct competition with major exchanges such as Coinbase and Binance.

  • The company aims to capture market share in the growing crypto derivatives space while leveraging its position in prediction markets. The expansion comes as interest in alternative trading platforms and products continues to rise.

• Chinese crypto tycoon eyes Hong Kong capital with bitcoin asset management push

  • Commentary: Crypto entrepreneur Li Lin plans to move a trading system and team from his family office, Avenir Group, to Hong Kong-listed Bitfire Group, where he is the largest shareholder. Bitfire is acquiring the unit for $1.6 million to expand its digital asset capabilities.

  • The firm aims to launch a regulated bitcoin-denominated “Alpha BTC” strategy targeting over 10,000 BTC in investments. It plans to generate returns through derivatives trading while serving both crypto-native and institutional investors in Hong Kong.

• Crypto giant GSR launches its first ETF to give investors an easy way to bet on the big 3 tokens

  • Commentary: Crypto entrepreneur Li Lin plans to move a trading system and team from his family office, Avenir Group, to Hong Kong-listed Bitfire Group, where he is the largest shareholder. Bitfire is acquiring the unit for $1.6 million to expand its digital asset capabilities.

  • The firm aims to launch a regulated bitcoin-denominated “Alpha BTC” strategy targeting over 10,000 BTC in investments. It plans to generate returns through derivatives trading while serving both crypto-native and institutional investors in Hong Kong.

Upcoming Market Events

• April 29 - Jerome Powell's last FOMC Meeting

Things to Watch This Week (Apr 20 - Apr 24)

• Inflation, Oil Shock, and Earnings in Focus

Investors remain focused on the geopolitical backdrop, particularly U.S.-Iran tensions and ongoing uncertainty around the Strait of Hormuz, which continues to pose risks to global oil supply. Oil prices remain volatile, reigniting concerns about inflationary pressures. This adds uncertainty to the interest rate outlook as markets assess the potential for prolonged energy-driven inflation.

Random Musing This Week

When Collateral Breaks: The Hidden Risk Behind the Kelp Exploit

Kelp DAO is a liquid restaking protocol that allows users to deposit ETH, earn additional yield through EigenLayer, and receive rsETH as a tradable staking receipt. The Kelp exploit — where unbacked rsETH was minted via a compromised cross-chain bridge and used to extract real liquidity from DeFi protocols — stands as the largest DeFi hack of 2026 so far, but more importantly, it highlights how the nature of crypto exploits is evolving.

Looking at recent data, the majority of losses are no longer driven by traditional smart contract bugs alone. Instead, they are dominated by key compromises, phishing attacks, access control failures, and increasingly, complex cross-chain vulnerabilities. The attack surface in DeFi has expanded beyond isolated code errors into interconnected infrastructure.

Against this backdrop, the Kelp exploit was not an outlier — it was a continuation of this trend. At the center of the incident was a failure in cross-chain message validation. By exploiting Kelp DAO’s LayerZero-powered bridge, the attacker was able to mint unbacked rsETH without depositing any underlying ETH. Unlike many historical exploits, this did not involve draining liquidity pools directly or manipulating price oracles. Instead, it created synthetic collateral that appeared valid within the system. Once minted, the attacker deposited this unbacked rsETH into Aave and borrowed real WETH against it. By the time the protocol reacted, over $200 million in real assets had already been extracted.

The implications are structural. In a composable DeFi environment, assets like rsETH move freely across protocols and chains, often reused as collateral multiple times. This interconnectedness allows capital to flow efficiently, but it also enables risk to propagate rapidly. A single compromised asset can cascade through lending markets, liquidity pools, and derivative positions. This is exactly what happened. Within hours, lending markets froze, billions of dollars in liquidity exited, and utilization rates spiked. The event quickly transitioned from a protocol-specific exploit into a system-wide liquidity shock.

It also reinforces a growing tension in DeFi design. Shared liquidity and composability maximize efficiency, but they assume that all integrated components are reliable. As attack vectors shift toward infrastructure and cross-chain systems, that assumption becomes increasingly fragile. Ultimately, the Kelp exploit suggests that the next phase of DeFi risk is less about breaking code and more about breaking trust in the inputs.

In an ecosystem where everything is connected, verifying what goes into the system may matter more than securing what happens inside it.

Recap of Top Stories (Apr 13 - Apr 17)

Interesting

• 2026’s biggest crypto exploit: $292 million gets drained from Kelp DAO with wrapped ether stranded across 20 chains

  • Commentary: The attacker tricked LayerZero’s cross-chain messaging layer into believing a valid instruction had arrived from another network, which triggered Kelp’s bridge to release 116,500 rsETH to an attacker-controlled address.

  • With that reserve drained, holders on non-Ethereum deployments now face the question of whether their tokens have anything underneath them, which creates a feedback loop where panic redemptions on L2s pressure the unaffected Ethereum supply.

• Rakuten to allow XRP to be used as payment method by its 44 million customers

  • Commentary: Japan’s e-commerce giant Rakuten’s subsidiary Rakuten Wallet is adding XRP to its Rakuten Pay app, allowing its 44 million users to use Ripple’s cryptocurrency as a payment method with more than 5 million merchant locations across the country.

  • Tatsuya Kohrogi, Ripple’s senior ecosystem growth manager, said they will also be able to purchase XRP with Rakuten points and hold it in their Rakuten Wallet. The fact that XRP is now embedded into its loyalty and payments infrastructure is a powerful signal of where digital asset adoption is heading.

• South Korea to test blockchain deposit tokens for government spending in Q4

  • Commentary: South Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance will begin testing blockchain-based deposit tokens for government spending in the fourth quarter as part of a broader push to modernize how public funds are managed.

  • Token-based payments can be programmed with predefined conditions, including limits on when funds can be used and which industries can accept them. The system also removes intermediaries such as card networks, which the ministry says could lower transaction fees for small businesses that receive government payments.

• Goldman Sachs files for bitcoin income ETF in crypto push

  • Commentary: The proposed fund would give investors exposure to bitcoin while generating income through a premium-based strategy.

  • Asset managers are increasingly trying to package bitcoin into products that resemble dividend-paying stocks or income funds, rather than relying only on price gains. Goldman’s move signals that competition is expanding beyond spot bitcoin exposure into more complex strategies designed to generate steady returns.

• XRP Ledger adds zero-knowledge proofs targeting institutional privacy gap

  • Commentary: The move is designed to let financial institutions transact privately on the public blockchain while meeting regulatory requirements.

  • Transaction flows, treasury positions, and counterparty relationships are visible by default on public ledgers. Zero-knowledge proofs solve this by allowing one party to prove a statement is true without revealing the underlying data.

• Visa and Zodia Custody join Stripe’s new blockchain for machine payments

  • Commentary: Alongside Stripe, Visa and Zodia will participate in the Tempo blockchain by maintaining network security and verifying transactions.

  • Now the focus is on supporting the evolution of new payment flows such as machine-to-machine commerce using AI agents. Sheffield believes the crypto industry is entering a phase where decentralization is no longer the primary value proposition.

Upcoming Market Events

• April 29 - FOMC Interest Rate Decision

Things to Watch This Week (Apr 13 - Apr 17)

• Geopolitical Risk: U.S.–Iran Tensions

  Investors are closely watching the fallout from escalating U.S.-Iran tensions, particularly after the breakdown in talks and the potential blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which raises risks of oil supply disruptions. Higher oil prices could add renewed inflationary pressure following last week’s CPI data, complicating the outlook for interest rates.

Random Musing This Week

Stablecoin Regulation and Its Real Impact on Lending

Following last week’s focus on stablecoin regulation, the White House released a related analysis, which we share here. According to the report, the impact of stablecoin yield restrictions on the banking system may be significantly more limited than previously expected.

1. Rethinking the Lending Risk Narrative
The primary policy concern behind restricting stablecoin yield is that yield-bearing stablecoins could attract deposits away from traditional banks, thereby reducing lending capacity. However, recent research indicates that this transmission channel is weak in practice. When users convert bank deposits into stablecoins, the funds are typically reinvested into assets such as U.S. Treasuries. These flows often return to the banking system through financial intermediaries, meaning that total deposits remain largely stable rather than declining outright. As a result, the effect on aggregate bank lending is minimal.

2. Why the Impact is Structurally Limited

Two key structural factors significantly dampen the impact on lending:

• Reserve Composition: Only a small portion of stablecoin reserves (estimated at ~12%) is held in bank deposits that are effectively locked out of lending. The majority is invested in Treasuries, which circulate back into the financial system.

• Bank Behavior: Even when deposits increase, banks do not fully translate this into new lending. Instead, a substantial portion is absorbed into liquidity buffers, further reducing the pass-through to credit expansion.

This multi-layered dampening mechanism explains why even large portfolio shifts result in negligible changes to lending.

3. Quantitative Reality Check

Model-based estimates suggest that a full prohibition on stablecoin yield would increase bank lending by only around $2.1 billion, or approximately 0.02% of total loans.This stands in sharp contrast to earlier narratives that projected large-scale disintermediation or trillion-dollar impacts on credit supply.

4. Welfare Trade-Off: Small Gains, Larger Costs

While yield restrictions may slightly increase lending and marginally lower borrowing costs, they impose a larger cost on stablecoin holders by eliminating yield opportunities.The net effect is negative, as the loss to investors outweighs the modest gains in lending. This reframes the policy not as a stabilizing force, but as a trade-off that may reduce overall economic efficiency.

Recap of Top Stories (Apr 6 - Apr 10)

Interesting

• HSBC and Standard Chartered-led group land Hong Kong’s first stablecoin licenses

  • Commentary: The approvals by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the territory’s central bank, mark the first batch under the Stablecoins Ordinance, which took effect in August 2025.

  • In practice, this means HKD stablecoins will likely embed compliance checks into their smart contracts, restricting transfers to wallets listed in an on-chain white list. The bank-led stablecoin model also reflects the HKMA’s decision to deprioritize its central bank digital currency for retail use.

• South Korea proposes cryptocurrency law with bank-style rules for stablecoins

  • Commentary: South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party proposed a “Digital Asset Basic Act” Wednesday that would establish a legal framework for digital assets, including issuance, trading, custody and supervision.

  • It defines value-linked digital assets, including those tied to fiat currencies or real-world assets, as a category requiring issuer authorization, refund reserves and redemption obligations. The bill also said it aims to “establish a foundation for Korea to lead the global digital financial order.

• Standard Chartered is looking to take over crypto custody provider Zodia: Bloomberg

  • Commentary: Standard Chartered PLC is reportedly seeking to fully acquire Zodia Custody Ltd. to merge it with one of its digital asset divisions.

  • The ‘restructuring’ plan, which could come as soon as this month, contemplates merging Zodia’s crypto custody business into one of the investment bank’s divisions that provides similar services. Crypto custody in particular has become a competitive battleground, with firms including State Street, BNY Mellon and Morgan Stanley expanding their presence.

• Six Swiss banks join forces to build a unified digital franc

  • Commentary: consortium of six major Swiss banks joined forces with Swiss Stablecoin AG to test use cases for a Swiss franc-pegged stablecoin.

  • The group will run the stablecoin trial period through 2026, allowing banks and other institutions to test transactions in a live but controlled setting. The banks aim to test how such a token could support payments, improve settlement speed and connect blockchain-based applications with traditional money.

• Solana Foundation unveils security overhaul days after $270 million Drift exploit

  • Commentary: The Solana Foundation announced a suite of security initiatives on Monday, just five days after decentralized finance (DeFi) platform Drift Protocol suffered a $270 million exploit.

  • The vulnerability was human: The attackers spent six months building relationships with Drift contributors and compromised their devices. The attack exploited the gap between onchain correctness and offchain human trust, a gap no smart contract audit or monitoring tool is built to cover.

• Aave loses key risk manager, Chaos Labs, amid contributor exodus and disputes

  • Commentary: Chaos Labs, one of Aave’s key risk managers, is leaving the DeFi lending giant’s ecosystem. “The engagement no longer reflects how we believe risk should be managed. The loss of experienced contributors is raising operational risk, especially as Aave transitions between versions.”

Upcoming Market Events

• April 29 - FOMC Interest Rate Decision

Things to Watch This Week (Apr 6 - Apr 10)

• Inflation, Oil Shock, and Earnings in Focus

Investors are closely watching this week’s CPI report for early signs of inflation pressures driven by rising oil prices amid the Iran conflict. The war has already disrupted global energy supply and increased market volatility, making inflation data especially critical for shaping interest rate expectations.

Random Musing This Week

Clarity Act – Redefining Stablecoins

Recent developments around the Clarity Act have triggered a shift in how markets interpret stablecoins. What initially appeared as a negative regulatory shock is increasingly being reframed as a structural transition in the role of crypto within the financial system.

1. Initial Repricing
In late March, early drafts of the Clarity Act proposed restrictions on stablecoin yield, including a ban on returns from simply holding assets like USD Coin. This led to a sharp repricing, with Circle’s stock declining as investors reassessed the long-term economics of yield-bearing stablecoins. The framework points toward activity-based rewards rather than passive income, a direction that Circle has not publicly supported, given its implications for the current stablecoin model.

2. Coinbase Shift
Last week, Coinbase reportedly secured conditional U.S. regulatory approval via an OCC trust charter, signaling closer alignment with traditional finance. At the same time, its stance on the Clarity Act appears to have shifted toward a more supportive position, suggesting a potential strategic alignment with the evolving regulatory framework.

3. Timeline
The Clarity Act is now entering a critical phase. A Senate committee process is expected to progress through April, followed by a potential full Senate vote in May if momentum continues. Given the current timing, markets are in a pre-decision window where positioning is driven more by expectations than confirmed outcomes, with a possible resolution by early summer.

Recap of Top Stories (Mar 30 - Apr 3)

Interesting

• Bitcoin enters the public bond market as Moody’s gives a first-of-its-kind crypto deal a rating

  • Commentary: The New Hampshire Business Finance Authority is set to issue what appears to be the first rated bitcoin-backed bond of its kind, marking a step toward integrating crypto into traditional public finance.

  • The structure relies on bitcoin rather than cash flow from a business. Still, the structure places bitcoin into a part of the financial system where it has rarely appeared: rated debt issued through public channels.

• Schwab plans spot bitcoin, ether trading launch in first half of 2026

  • Commentary: Brokerage services giant Charles Schwab plans to roll out spot cryptocurrency trading in the first half of 2026, pushing it deeper into digital assets.

  • CEO framed the effort as a way to bring digital assets into the same account view as stocks and bonds in a push toward a more unified investment platform. The firm reported $11.9 trillion in client assets in 2025, offering a built-in base of retail and institutional investors who may prefer trading crypto within a familiar brokerage environment rather than using standalone platforms.

• Solana DeFi platform Drift confirms ‘active attack’ as more than $200 million leaves platform

  • Commentary: Solana-based decentralized finance (DeFi) platform Drift warned users about an “active attack” on its platform Wednesday, saying it had suspended withdrawals and deposits.

  • Arkham data said over $250 million had moved from Drift to an interim wallet, before moving to various other addresses. The Drift (DRIFT) token’s price fell over 20% in the hours after the exploit was first reported.

• Franklin Templeton launches crypto division with 250 Digital acquisition

  • Commentary: all Street asset management giant Franklin Templeton is launching a dedicated cryptocurrency division as it deepens its push into digital assets, anchored by a planned acquisition of crypto investment firm 250 Digital.

  • The move builds on Franklin Templeton’s existing digital asset business, which manages about $1.8 billion, and signals a shift toward offering more active crypto investment strategies alongside its current products The transaction also includes an experimental element: part of the consideration will be paid using BENJI tokens, linked to Franklin Templeton’s on-chain U.S. Government Money Fund.

• Citadel-backed EDX Markets applies for U.S. trust charter to expand institutional crypto services

  • Commentary: DX Markets, the crypto exchange backed by Citadel Securities, has applied for a national trust bank charter, marking a new step in its push to serve institutional clients.

  • The filing outlines a structure where custody and settlement sit within a regulated trust entity, separate from trading operations. By separating custody and settlement into a regulated trust, we’re building the kind of infrastructure banks and institutional investors expect as they scale into the space.

• Naoris Protocol’s quantum-resistant blockchain goes live as Bitcoin and Ethereum face ‘Q-Day’ threats

  • Commentary: The debut comes as legacy chains Bitcoin and Ethereum confront the threat of a “quantum apocalypse.” Known as Q-Day, this is the point when future quantum computers could crack the encryption securing most blockchains.

  • Because blockchain transactions such as those on Bitcoin and Ethereum are permanent, any weakness today could be exploited by future quantum computers with the necessary power. It is built from the start using post-quantum cryptography and algorithms approved by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology to protect accounts, transactions, and digital assets.

Upcoming Market Events

• April 10 – U.S. CPI

• April 29 - FOMC Interest Rate Decision