Before we get into this week’s signals, one thing worth flagging at the top.

Karl from Proof of Talk pitched 51 as official research partner for June 2-3. My instinct was to decline. But I met this team for the first time 4 years ago at in Paris, just before they launched. And they've built it into one of the top digital asset conferences of the year:

2,500 attendees from banking, regulation, and institutional capital. 95% C-suite. Zero pay-to-speak.

So we said yes.

We’re producing two reports as the official research partners: 1) Money Movement 2.0: State of Stablecoins and 2) The Agent Economy 2026, second editions after last year’s became one of our most-read reports of 2025.

👉 3-5 partner slots open for companies that belong in the conversation.

The report goes to every attendee via email and print and hits our 100K+ institutional audience in the week of the event, and lives on our socials for months.

If you run marketing or BD at a stablecoin issuer, custody platform, or B2B fintech, reply to this email. 15 minutes, I’ll tell you if it’s the right fit.

Now to this week’s signals 👇

I’ve tracked every SEC rule change this year. None of them prepared me for this one:

* Anthropic tried to disown tokenized versions of its own stock last week. It couldn’t pull them off Solana.

The SEC is about to make that the default for every blue chip on a US exchange.

CLARITY, PARITY Act, and American Reserve Modernization Act (ARMA) are all moving through Congress this month. Trump just signed an EO ordering federal regulators to identify barriers to fintech and crypto. The door isn’t opening anymore. It’s open.

Here’s what else moved this week:

* VanEck and Grayscale file Binance ETF

* Qivalis hits Europe’s 37 banks

* Basel walks back its 2022 crypto rules

* Ripple Prime + EDX go live

* Standard Chartered acquired Zodia

And 15+ more signals. Let’s jump in 👇🌆

Top Boardroom Reads

* Digital Asset Playbook (BCG)

* 8 of 9 recessions called, now he’s calling bitcoin, with Cam Harvey, Economist (51)

* Consultation Paper on the Prudential Treatment of Cryptoassets on Permissionless Blockchains (MAS)

* How AI is rewiring global trade (Allianz)

* Quantum’s bold promise: What business leaders need to know (Mckinsey)

* Stablecoins in Africa (DCI)

* GenAI in central banking (SUERF)

Top Signals This Week

SEC will let DeFi trade stocks

On May 18, Bloomberg reported that the SEC is preparing to release its long-signaled Innovation Exemption for tokenized securities. The framework allows digital tokens linked to public-company shares, including tokens issued by third parties without the underlying company’s consent, to trade on decentralized platforms and automated market makers under lighter-touch registration. [NEWS]

Why it matters: Issuer consent just died. The 1933 Securities Act gave public companies veto power over where their stock trades. The Innovation Exemption removes it. That rule lasted 93 years.

Here’s how it works in practice. Backed Finance wraps AAPL, NVDA, or TSLA, sells SPL-token versions on Solana, and Apple has no recourse. The token settles against real shares Backed holds in a regulated brokerage account. Shareholder rights route through Broadridge’s ProxyVote platform. Superstate and Ondo already pass through votes and dividends.

Be smart: Anthropic figured this out last week. It publicly disowned tokenized versions of its own stock. The tokens kept trading. Every blue chip on a US exchange will face the same problem.

Wall Street pushed back: traditional exchange representatives, including the World Federation of Exchanges, warned the framework creates a regulatory shortcut for crypto platforms, forcing the SEC to delay its plans.

🚨 The Friday newsletter only scratches the surface. A lot more is going on that we’ll tell you in our PRO briefings.

VanEck and Grayscale filed for Binance ETF

On 15 May 2026, VanEck filed Amendment No. 5 to its Form S-1 for the VanEck BNB ETF (Nasdaq under ticker VBNB). The same day, Grayscale filed Amendment No. 2 to its competing BNB ETF registration, slated to list as GBNB. VanEck disclosed a 0.39% management fee; Grayscale has not yet published one.[NEWS]

Why it matters: Altcoin ETFs used to mean fighting the SEC over fund architecture. Now you just swap the ticker. Bitcoin and Ether ETFs already cleared the legal framework. BNB inherits it. One detail makes this bigger. The SEC dropped the Rule 19b-4 requirement for every individual crypto ETP. Generic listing standards now apply across the category. That bottleneck is gone. Notice what the issuers are doing in response. They’re not arguing anymore. VanEck compromised early on staking yield to preserve speed-to-market. Grayscale followed. The race stopped being about winning the regulatory argument. It became about being first to file the next altcoin.

Qivalis hits Europe’s 37 banks

On May 20, Qivalis announced a 25-bank expansion that takes the consortium from 12 founding members to 37. Spain led the new wave with five additions: ABANCA, Banco Sabadell, Bankinter, Cecabank and Kutxabank. France, Sweden, Greece, the Netherlands, Finland and Ireland each contributed two new institutions. Italy added BPER and Intesa Sanpaolo to founding member UniCredit. Iceland, Luxembourg, Poland and Austria entered the consortium for the first time via Landsbankinn, Banque et Caisse d’Épargne de l’État, Bank Pekao S.A. and Erste Group respectively.

Why it matters: Europe’s biggest euro stablecoin is American. Circle’s EURC controls roughly half the market at ~$438M. Société Générale’s EURCV sits at ~$123M. That’s the entire institutional euro stablecoin space, ~$560M combined. Both numbers are rounding errors against the $323B total stablecoin market. Spain is now the leading retail market for EURC in Europe. Think about what that means. Spanish savers are choosing a Boston-based issuer over their own banks for digital euros.

That’s what dragged 25 new banks into Qivalis in one announcement. They’re not building this because they want to. They’re building it because they’re losing.

Basel walks back its 2022 crypto rules

On May 20, BIS published a press release confirming progress on the expedited targeted review of SCO60, its prudential standard for banks’ cryptoasset exposures. The standard came into force on 1 January 2026 after being deferred from 2025 under industry pressure. Its centerpiece, a 1,250% risk weight on Group 2b cryptoassets (which captures virtually every stablecoin issued on a permissionless chain, including USDC and USDT), functions as a near-total ban on bank balance sheet exposure. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: Basel set the 1,250% risk weight in December 2022. Bitcoin was the frame back then. Every dollar of crypto on a bank’s balance sheet required a dollar of CET1 capital. The rule did exactly what it was designed to do: keep banks out. The world doesn’t look like December 2022 anymore. Three of the four largest US banks have on-chain dollar products live. Stablecoins crossed $323B. Tokenized money market funds keep growing. The rule designed to slow banks down is now blocking them from a market they want to enter. Banks don’t lobby Basel to walk back their own rules unless they’re ready to deploy capital. This is what that looks like.

🚨 Want more intelligence and understand what this means for your institution? Subscribe to PRO below:

EDX just became Ripple Prime’s liquidity spine

On May 19, Ripple Prime, the rebranded Hidden Road (acquired for $1.25B), has plugged into EDX Markets’ US spot venue and EDXM International’s Singapore perpetual futures exchange. Clients can now route spot and perps through EDX while financing, clearing, and net-settling across the rest of their book through Ripple Prime. Backed by Citadel Securities, Virtu, Fidelity Digital Assets, Charles Schwab, Sequoia, HRT, and Miami International Holdings, EDX Markets ran roughly $200M in average daily spot volume by December 2025 and applied for an OCC national trust bank charter in April. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: Crypto’s prime brokerage market is splitting in two: conflicted and non-conflicted and Ripple is the second one. Coinbase Prime is the obvious incumbent: $236B quarterly trading volume, $300B in assets under custody, 80%+ of US bitcoin and ether ETF custody. But Coinbase Prime is vertically integrated, clients route flow through Coinbase the exchange. EDX applied for an OCC trust bank charter in April. That looked like a move to give institutional clients an alternative venue. This week's deal completes the picture. Ripple Prime becomes the credit layer. Clients face EDX, CME, Hyperliquid, and OTC desks under one collateral pool. No conflict, because the credit provider doesn't run the exchange.

The bet: institutions will pay for separation of powers.

Standard Chartered acquired Zodia

On 18 May 2026, Standard Chartered confirmed that minority Zodia shareholders had accepted its non-binding offer to consolidate the custodian’s regulated activities into the bank itself. The Financing and Securities Services (FSS) division, which already operates Standard Chartered’s internal digital asset custody platform, will absorb Zodia’s licensed custody book.

Why it matters: The joint venture model just died. We're past pilots and experiments. Asset managers need real custody at scale, and banks want to own the rails themselves. Standard Chartered absorbing Zodia into FSS isn’t an org chart change. It bundles custody with the things only a bank can offer: collateral mobility, capital introductions, FX, and intraday financing against tokenized positions. A standalone custodian can’t compete with that stack.

Be smart: Expect Fireblocks, BitGo, and Anchorage to face the same compression. Either get acquired or get out-bundled.

Other Signals

Infrastructure and Markets

* Coinbase Derivatives is launching perpetual-style futures contracts tracking the top 100 Nasdaq firms and three thematic equity indexes: AI, China, and US national security. Link

* On-chain perpetuals exchange Ostium partnered with Nasdaq to integrate the exchange operator’s equities data into its trading venue. Link

Regulation and Policy

* Rep. Nick Begich introduced the American Reserve Modernization Act to create a permanent, legally codified U.S. strategic Bitcoin reserve. Link

* The White House has cleared major legal hurdles to operationalize the U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. Link

* The FCA and Bank of England launched a joint consultation to gather industry feedback on regulating tokenized wholesale financial markets in the UK. Link

Banking and Payments

* Boerse Stuttgart’s Seturion partnered with Societe Generale and flatexDEGIRO to build a pan-European blockchain securities settlement system. Link

* Kraken’s parent company, Payward, secured preliminary approval from Dubai’s VARA for a broker-dealer, investment, and management license. Link

* Zero Hash secured an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license from the Dutch central bank, becoming the first firm under MiCA to hold full EMI status. Link

* The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) granted GalaxyOne Prime NY a BitLicense and Money Transmission License. Link

Funds, Deals and others

* SpaceX officially filed its S-1 with the SEC for an anticipated June Nasdaq listing, targeting a $1.75T valuation and an $80B raise. Link

* SpaceX disclosed it holds $1.45B worth of Bitcoin on its balance sheet. Link

* Tether acquired SoftBank’s equity stake in Twenty One Capital (XXI). Link

* Securitize announced record Q1 2026 revenue of $19.5M, a 39% YoY. Link

* Bitmine disclosed that as of the prior afternoon it held 5,278,462 ETH at $2,191 per token, 202 BTC, $685M cash, a $200M stake in Beast Industries, and $83M in Eightco Holdings (NASDAQ: ORBS). Link

That’s all for now, folks.

PRO Readers: Read our alpha insights below!

– Marc & Team

🚨Coming Monday: BCG’s flagship report on the future of digital assets in banking. 68 pages, and probably the most important report on digital assets in banking this year. 51 got early access. Free download lands May 18. Reserve your copy below.

Hey, it’s Marc & the 51 team,

There is a lot happening in the United States. The CLARITY Act cleared the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday, 15-9.

But the real signal wasn’t the vote. It was the joint statement from six bank trade associations (ABA, BPI, Consumer Bankers, the Forum, ICBA, and NBA) saying they support the bill and just want the stablecoin yield rules tightened. The banking lobby isn’t fighting crypto regulation anymore. They’re negotiating the terms. Plus:

* Kevin Warsh is confirmed as the Fed Chair. He’s pro crypto.

* The CFTC is federalizing prediction markets through litigation. On May 12, it filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in KalshiEx LLC v. Matthew T. Schuler, et al. (No. 26-3196). If the Sixth Circuit follows the Third, state gambling regulators lose authority over sports event contracts. [RELEASE]

These are our highlights this week:

* Moody’s just rated AAA a tokenized fund

* DTCC just rewired $25T of collateral

* BlackRock files to squeeze stablecoin yield

* Circle isn’t a stablecoin company anymore

* Schwab opens crypto to 39M accounts at 75bps

* Strategy ends ‘never sell’

And 15+ more signals. Let’s jump in 👇🌆

🚀 51 Insights and Proof of Talk are co-publishing the institutional digital assets report of 2026, launching at the Louvre, June 2 to 3.

Top Boardroom Reads

* Why “DeFi is dead” and what replaces it with Sidney Powell, CEO of Maple Finance (51)

* Collateral Infrastructure for Tokenized Capital Markets (DTCC)

* The impact of stablecoins on the international monetary and financial system (BIS)

* Digital Assets: Stablecoins in Regulated Finance (UOB)

* Stablecoins and the future of money: separating functions from instruments (ECB)

* State of Stablecoin & Crypto Payments 2026 (WalletConnect)

🚨 COMING MONDAY

BCG: “The Future of Digital Assets” - The most important report on digital assets in banking this year. We got early access.

Key insights:

* Tokenized real-world assets could hit $88T (16% of global investable assets) by 2035

* Stablecoins could plateau around $9T (15% of M2) absent monetary regime change

* The 7-page CEO summary covers the headlines. The full report covers Board, CRO, CTO, and ExCo views.

Free download. In partnership with BCG.

Top Signals This Week

Moody’s just rated an ERC-20

Moody’s gave a AAA-mf rating to an ERC-20 token. That’s the same grade it gives Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan’s money market funds.

The token is FILQ, a USD liquidity fund from Fidelity International, issued through Sygnum Bank’s Desygnate tokenization platform. It holds short-dated government securities, mirrors Fidelity’s Irish-domiciled $7B LVNAV money market fund, and starts with roughly $10M in on-chain AUM. It settles via smart contracts with 24/7 stablecoin-funded subscriptions. No CUSIPs, no transfer agents, no end-of-day NAV strikes. Restricted to non-US institutional investors. [Explore FILQ]

Why it matters:Moody’s is saying the blockchain wrapper doesn’t degrade sovereign debt quality. That’s the whole game. Capital allocators whose investment policies blocked “blockchain-native assets” can now point to a AAA-mf rating from the same agency that rates their existing Treasury MMFs. The institutional firewall just fell. And it sets the benchmark every other tokenized fund will be measured against.

🚨 The Friday newsletter only scratches the surface. A lot more is going on that we’ll tell you in our PRO briefings.

BlackRock files to squeeze stablecoin yield

The GENIUS Act prohibits stablecoin issuers from paying interest to holders. BlackRock just filed two products designed to capture exactly that yield.

On 8 May 2026, BlackRock filed two post-effective amendments with the SEC.

* Filing 1: BRSRV (BlackRock Daily Reinvestment Stablecoin Reserve Vehicle), a new fund holding cash, sub-93-day Treasuries, and overnight Treasury repos. Shares issued as “OnChain Shares“ through a permissioned system across multiple public blockchains. Securitize Transfer Agent LLC1 keeps the official ownership records. Off-chain identity systems link wallet addresses to verified investors. $3M minimum. The filing does not yet name the chains.

* Filing 2: An on-chain share class for the existing $7B BlackRock Select Treasury Based Liquidity Fund. BNY Mellon Investment Servicing acts as transfer agent, recording shareholders on Ethereum using the ERC-20 token standard2. Off-chain KYC links wallets to investor records. This is the first time a public ETH share class has been bolted onto an existing BlackRock money-market product.

Both build on BUIDL, BlackRock’s first tokenized MMF launched in March 2024 with Securitize.

Why it matters: If stablecoin issuers can’t share yield with holders, the yield stays in the reserve pool. By law, that reserve pool has to sit in short-term Treasuries, repos, or 2a-7 money market funds. BRSRV is a 2a-7-aligned fund packaged for on-chain settlement — designed for institutional investors who want to move out of non-yield-bearing stablecoins into a regulated fund that pays daily yield. Context: Circle’s Reserve Fund (USDXX) manages ~$66B, with ~90% managed by BlackRock. BlackRock already runs the money. Now it’s offering the product that keeps the yield too.

DTCC just rewired $25T of collateral

On May 12, DTCC confirmed that its Collateral AppChain, first introduced at last year’s Great Collateral Experiment, is on track for production in Q4 2026. The platform is built as shared infrastructure: collateral providers, receivers, managers, triparty agents and custodians all work from one ledger rather than reconciling across systems that today run in silos. [RELEASE]

On May 13, 2026, they also released white paper with Finadium and modeled what happens when a single institution moves 25% of its book onto the platform: $1.9B in capital freed by year three, plus another $225M from capital relocation. [Whitepaper]

Be smart: DTCC is solving the two biggest bottlenecks in collateral management: the weekday-only settlement window and triparty silos. BNY, JPMorgan, Euroclear, and Clearstream each run separate triparty platforms today. The AppChain doesn’t replace them, it gives them a shared layer to settle and reconcile on. This is the plumbing upgrade global finance has needed, and DTCC is building it.

Why it matters: Right now, if a bank wants to move collateral from one triparty agent to another, say, from BNY to JPMorgan, it’s slow, expensive, and often manual. Each agent runs its own system, its own collateral pool, its own rules. Nothing talks to anything else. DTCC just said it’s fixing that.

Circle isn’t a stablecoin company anymore

Circle Internet Group (NYSE: CRCL) released Q1 2026 results before the bell on May 11, 2026. [Quarterly Report]

* Total revenue and reserve income hit $694M, up 20% YoY. Adjusted EBITDA rose 24% to $151M.

* But net income dropped 15% to $55M as operating expenses surged 76% (heavy post-IPO stock comp).

Circle also disclosed an ARC token presale (stablecoin-native L1) of 740M tokens at $0.30 each. The buyer consortium spans VC (a16z crypto, Haun, General Catalyst, IDG), TradFi (Apollo, BlackRock, Janus Henderson, Marshall Wace, SBI, Standard Chartered Ventures), and exchanges (ICE, Bullish). [ARC Whitepaper]

Circle also introduced the Agent Stack, Circle CLI, Agent Wallets, Agent Marketplace, and Nanopayments built on Circle Gateway, designed for machine-to-machine payments down to $0.000001.

Why it matters: Circle’s net income fell 15% even as revenue grew 20%. The squeeze is structural. Distribution, transaction, and other costs hit $407 million in Q1, up 17% YoY. Most of that is the Coinbase revenue share: Coinbase takes 100% of reserve income on USDC held on its platform and 50% of off-platform reserve income, per the 2023 amended agreement. As USDC balances on Coinbase have grown, Circle’s economics have compressed. Confirmed by Coinbase CFO Alesia Haas and CLO Paul Grewal during the Q1 2026 earnings call, the USDC distribution agreement between Coinbase and Circle automatically renews every three years. So, Circle is leaning towards Arc. If USDC lives natively on Circle’s own chain, with USDC as gas, Circle keeps the sequencer fees, the float, and the network economics. The ARC consortium is a who’s-who of distribution partners buying tokens before mainnet. Circle is turning itself from a stablecoin issuer into an infrastructure company.

🚨 Want more intelligence and understand what this means for your institution? Subscribe to PRO below:

Schwab opens crypto to 39M accounts at 75bps

On 13 May 2026, Charles Schwab announced the phased rollout of Schwab Crypto, opening spot bitcoin and ether trading to eligible US retail clients. Custody sits at Charles Schwab Premier Bank, SSB, with Paxos providing sub-custody and trade execution. Clients open a separate Schwab Crypto account linked to their existing brokerage account, with BTC and ETH viewable alongside traditional holdings on Schwab.com, Schwab Mobile, and thinkorswim. The pricing, 75bps on dollar/ trade, sits below Fidelity (1% on ETPs) but 50% above Morgan Stanley’s E*Trade pilot, which launched at 50bps on 6 May 2026 with BTC, ETH, and SOL. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: Schwab’s “lowest in the industry” claim was outdated the day it launched. The 75bps fee benchmarks against Coinbase retail (tiered 0.5%+ depending on payment method) and Fidelity (1% on most crypto routes). Robinhood remains effectively free via spread-based PFOF. Morgan Stanley turned on the E*Trade spot crypto pilot at 50bps on 6 May 2026, one week before Schwab’s announcement. E*Trade has 8.6M accounts. [Morgan Stanley’s CEO note]

Strategy ends ‘never sell’

On the Q1 2026 earnings call (May 5) and a follow-up CNBC interview on May 8, Phong Le formalized what the market had begun to suspect: Saylor’s “never sell” doctrine is now governed by a math test. Le named two conditions. [NEWS]

* Strategy will sell BTC when doing so is more accretive to Bitcoin-per-share than issuing equity to fund the company’s preferred-stock dividend obligations, specifically the Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred (STRC), which carries an 11.5% coupon.

* Strategy will sell to harvest tax positions, either realizing deferred gains or capturing losses.

Le said the sell calculation activates when MSTR trades below book value or when mNAV drops below 1.22x.

Why it matters: Strategy has raised $8.5B through Stretch in 10 months ($2.07B in Q1, another $3.51B between April 1 and May 3) and faces roughly $1.5B in annual cash dividend obligations across its preferred stack. Saylor had earlier floated selling Bitcoin to cover dividends, which sent MSTR down ~4% intraday. The Bitcoin pile is the asset; the preferred dividends are the liability. Le is preparing the market for the moment the dividend stack can’t be paid by issuing more common equity.

Other Signals

Infrastructure and Markets

* Franklin Templeton and Kraken parent Payward announced a strategic partnership to bring tokenized equities and yield products to blockchain networks. Link

* Animoca Brands and Nuva Labs launched NUVA, an Ethereum-based marketplace designed to connect $19B of tokenized real-world assets to decentralized finance. Link

* DTCC announced it will use Chainlink’s infrastructure and data standards for its upcoming blockchain-based Collateral AppChain. Link

* Broadridge expanded its core tokenization engine to support equities, funds, alternative assets, and money market instruments on a single platform. Link

* CME Group plans to launch cash-settled, Nasdaq-backed crypto index futures on June 8, pending regulatory review. Link

Regulation and Policy

* The Bank of England confirmed it is treating stablecoins as a ‘new form of money’ on par with e-money and tokenized deposits. Link

* Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Finance announced that a regulated domestic crypto asset market could launch as early as Q3 2026. Link

* Bhutan’s Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC) launched an accelerated licensing and banking framework for crypto firms already regulated in major global hubs. Link

Banking and Payments

* Anchorage Digital and major Mexican conglomerate Grupo Salinas partnered to process cross-border payments using federally regulated stablecoins. Link

* Privy integrated its embedded wallet infrastructure with Stripe Terminal and the Tap to Pay SDK to enable in-person stablecoin payments. Link

* Global forex and CFD broker Pepperstone has deployed Fireblocks’ digital asset infrastructure to manage custody, compliance, and DeFi execution. Link

* Paybis secured both a MiCA crypto-asset service provider license and a PSD2 payment institution license from Latvia’s central bank. Link

Funds, Deals and others

* JPMorgan filed its own competing tokenized money market fund (JLTXX) for stablecoin reserves. LINK

* Japanese telecom giant KDDI is acquiring a 14.9% stake in Nasdaq-listed crypto exchange Coincheck Group for $65M. Link

* 21Shares launched the first U.S. spot Hyperliquid ETF (ticker THYP) on Nasdaq, offering exposure to the HYPE token. Link

* Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic raised $120M in a Series D funding round at a $670M valuation. Link

* MARA sold 20,880 Bitcoin for approximately $1.5B in Q1 to repurchase convertible notes and fund infrastructure expansion. Link

* Arkham published an on-chain map of Tron wallets tied to Iran’s central bank following their OFAC designation. Link

That’s all for now, folks.

PRO Readers: Read our alpha insights below!

– Marc & Team

Tuning in from Consensus Miami 2026 this week. The signal was clear: institutions aren’t waiting for the Clarity Act. My key takeaways:

* Institutional participation was through the roof (35%, nearly double last year). I’ve never experienced a crypto conference that felt so complete, both with crypto OGs and big institutions present. And for the first time, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan weren’t just speaking, they were sponsoring.

* DTCC’s Frank La Salla casually announced that the entity clearing $20T/day in U.S. securities will ship a tokenized securities platform by October, with BlackRock, Goldman, JP Morgan, Citi, Anchorage, Circle, and Ondo already in.

* White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt announced a target date of July 4 to pass comprehensive federal digital asset legislation at Consensus Miami.

We also hosted our own event on May 4 with Proof of Talk with Swift, JP Morgan, KPMG, DTCC, ICE, Google and others attending. Subscribe to our event calendar to join future events.

These are our highlights this week:

* DTCC brings capital markets on-chain

* CLARITY Act takes a step further

* Blockchain just bypassed global payment rails

* Securitize brings atomic settlement to equities

* AI just got a bank account

* Morgan Stanley starts crypto price war with spot trading

* Western Union’s stablecoin goes live

* SIX Group unifies crypto and capital markets

And 15+ more signals. Let’s jump in 👇🌆

🚀 51 Insights and Proof of Talk are co-publishing the institutional digital assets report of 2026, launching at the Louvre, June 2 to 3.

Top Boardroom Reads

* The impact of stablecoins on the international monetary and financial system (BIS)

* Digital Money: A Perspective on Stablecoins, Tokenised Deposits and CBDCs (Deutsche Bank)

* PACTs: Protecting Your Bitcoin From a Quantum Sunset (Paradigm)

* Tokenization of Money Market Funds (JPMorgan)

* The 3 phases of stablecoin adoption (and why enterprise is just beginning) (BVNK)

* Cracks in Private Credit (Goldman Sachs)

* Finance Is Entering Its Autonomous Era (Anchorage)

Top Signals This Week

DTCC brings capital markets on-chain

On May 4, 2026, the DTCC publicly advanced DTC’s native tokenization service and announced its commercial launch in October. More than 50 firms are already in the working group that helped DTCC build this platform, including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Citi, Anchorage Digital, Circle, Ondo Finance, and Payward (Kraken’s parent). [RELEASE]

Why it matters: We recently dissected the importance of shareholders and voting for tokenised stocks and their impact on wrappers and native issuers. Platforms like Ondo Global Markets (voting rights using Broadridge’s Proxyvote) and Kraken’s xStocks built real traction, offering tokenized stock exposure. But these are structured as collateralized loans or derivatives, holders get price performance, not legal ownership. Whereas Superstate offers natively issued tokenised stocks with voting rights in partnership with Broadridge. DTCC makes this very simple. DTCC’s tokens will include full UCC Article 8 entitlements, voting rights, native dividends, and SEC protections. This chooses between a synthetic derivative with counterparty risk and a legally identical DTC-issued digital twin easy for institutions.

🚨 The Friday newsletter only scratches the surface. A lot more is going on that we’ll tell you in our PRO briefings.

CLARITY Act takes a step further

Senators Tillis and Alsobrooks dropped the Section 404 compromise for the CLARITY Act. It strictly bans platforms like Coinbase from paying passive yield simply for holding stablecoins. But there’s a massive loophole: platforms can pay rewards if you actually use the network, like staking, providing liquidity, or voting, and they can scale those payouts based on your total balance. [NEWS]

Why it matters: Europe’s MiCA bans stablecoin yield absolutely, no activity exemptions, no loopholes. The U.S. preserved economic incentives. And, the US gained another edge over MiCA with the CLARITY Act becoming the dollar hegemony. This legislation creates three distinct lanes for the digital dollar. We have the offshore standard (Tether’s $187B USDT), the U.S. incumbent (Circle/Coinbase’s $75.6B USDC), and now, the compliant challenger. Tether’s launch of USAT (Genius Act compliant stablecoin) now feels like a better move to fight for U.S. institutional capital. This also works with China, offering yield on e-CNY.

Blockchain just bypassed global payment rails

On May 6, 2026, Ripple redeemed Ondo Short-Term U.S. Government Treasuries (OUSG) on the XRP Ledger. Instead of waiting days for legacy settlement, Mastercard’s Multi-Token Network (MTN) translated the on-chain action into a compliant fiat instruction. J.P. Morgan’s Kinexys then instantly debited Ondo’s blockchain account and routed U.S. dollars directly to a Singapore bank. The on-chain leg cleared in under five seconds. By utilizing this hybrid approach, the consortium bypassed the “stablecoin sandwich” model, and its 0.1%-1.5% friction fees, proving public blockchains can trigger regulated, real-time fiat settlement globally. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: This is a pure example of how trapped capital can be freed with blockchain. This transaction unlocks the “intraday repo.” Institutions can now borrow and repay funds on the exact same day using tokenized securities as collateral. Moreover, Mastercard faces an FCA antitrust probe over its traditional wallet rails. By building the MTN orchestration layer, it is preemptively disrupting its own legacy model before public blockchains render it obsolete. Meanwhile, SWIFT is scrambling to launch a defensive permissioned EVM chain this year. This pilot proves global institutions don’t need to wait for SWIFT; they can route around it right now.

Securitize brings atomic settlement to equities

On May 4, Securitize ($4B AUM) received FINRA CMA approval to operate as a regular broker-dealer capable of custodying tokenized securities, executing atomic swaps (T+0), and underwriting onchain IPOs. To operationalize this immediately, Securitize partnered with Jump Trading and Jupiter to launch regulated trading for tokenized equities directly on the Solana blockchain. Simultaneously, Securitize is merging with Cantor Equity Partners II in a $1.25B SPAC deal, slated to trade as $SECZ. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: Securitize just collapsed the roles of prime broker, clearinghouse, and transfer agent into a single smart contract. But it comes with a massive catch. Securitize bypassed traditional exchange fragmentation by tapping Jump Trading’s Automated Market Maker and Jupiter (which handles 90% of Solana’s $2T lifetime volume). They mathematically enforced US Regulation NMS within a permissionless blockchain, solving the liquidity drought that previously killed security tokens.

🚨 Want more intelligence and understand what this means for your institution? Subscribe to PRO below:

AI just got a bank account

On May 5, 2026, Anchorage Digital and Google Cloud launched Agentic Banking, an institutional infrastructure granting AI agents regulated access to fiat and digital asset rails. Google provides the cognitive engine via Gemini and MPC key management; Anchorage, holding an OCC federal charter, acts as the execution layer. They introduced a “Know Your Agent” (KYA) standard to authenticate software identities and enforce real-time spending limits. Furthermore, Anchorage integrated with M0 to let firms spin up custom stablecoins to fuel these workflows. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: The machine-to-machine (M2M) economy operates on thousands of micro-transactions per hour. Legacy rails simply cannot support this velocity. Stripe’s 2.9% + $0.30 base fee, compounded by cross-border surcharges, pushes transaction costs above 4%. Anchorage circumvents the legacy processing bottleneck entirely, settling directly on high-throughput blockchain rails and stablecoins.

Morgan Stanley starts crypto price war

Morgan Stanley quietly launched a spot crypto trading pilot on E-Trade, BTC, ETH, SOL, at 50 bps, powered by ZeroHash custody infrastructure secured in September 2025. Full rollout targets all 8.6M E-Trade customers by year-end. [NEWS]

Why it matters: Morgan Stanley at 50 bps undercuts Coinbase's 60 bps entry tier, Schwab's 75 bps, and Robinhood's upper spread of 95 bps. Bloomberg's Eric Balchunas called it: "This mirrors the pre-ETF fee compression playbook, where managers slashed expense ratios to zero to capture share”. Execution is becoming a commodity. And, the fee war in crypto trading has just started.

Western Union’s stablecoin goes live

Western Union launched USDPT, a federally regulated, U.S. dollar-denominated payment stablecoin issued by Anchorage Digital on the Solana blockchain. The stablecoin is currently live for internal treasury settlement and partner liquidity, enabling 24/7 on-chain settlement and eliminating the need for idle pre-funded accounts. A consumer-facing spend layer called ‘Stable by Western Union’ will launch in June 2026 across Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and the Philippines. They have also introduced the Digital Asset Network (DAN). [RELEASE]

Why it matters: Western Union does not just want to kill its SWIFT bill, but also building an agentic network. The Digital Asset Network (DAN) connects the payment system to 600,000 cash-out points, making WU the cash-out layer for the entire stablecoin economy. Every stablecoin transaction that ends in physical local currency at a WU agent will not only build a network but also bring fee revenue.

SIX Group unifies crypto and capital markets

FINMA approved Switzerland’s SIX Group to merge its blockchain entity, SIX Digital Exchange (SDX), into its traditional CSD, SIX SIS AG, and simultaneously authorized crypto custody within that unified entity. SIX calls it “one plug to two worlds.” Separately, SIX struck a deal with Chainlink in April 2026 to pipe €2T in Swiss and Spanish equities data across 75+ blockchain networks via DataLink. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: For years, institutions ran two separate stacks: prime brokerage for equities, crypto-native custodians for digital assets, zero overlap. SIX just eliminated that duality. Also, there is cross-margining. When crypto and equities sit inside the same CSD, institutions can post tokenized Treasuries or Bitcoin as real-time collateral against traditional derivative positions. SIX's unified CSD creates the same opportunity across the TradFi-DeFi divide.

Other Signals

Infrastructure and Markets

* Kraken launched CFTC-regulated crypto spot margin trading for U.S. retail users. This is the first product rollout utilizing licenses from Kraken’s newly acquired derivatives exchange, Bitnomial. Link

* Solana Foundation and Google Cloud launched Pay.sh, a gateway service allowing AI agents to autonomously pay for APIs per request using stablecoins. Link

* FalconX partnered with CFTC-regulated exchange Kalshi to offer institutional clients prime brokerage and block trading access to prediction markets. Link

* Securitize, Jump Trading Group, and Jupiter have launched a fully on-chain, regulated secondary market for tokenized US equities. Link

* Mastercard partners with Yellow Card for scaling stablecoin payments in the EEMEA region. Link

* The NYSE filed a proposal to allow tokenized versions of stocks and ETFs to trade on the exchange under DTCC’s tokenization pilot program. Link

Regulation and Policy

* Crypto custodian Taurus has been granted a MiFID II investment license by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). Link

* Taiwan lawmaker, Dr Ko Ju-Chun, proposed using part of the country’s $602B foreign exchange reserves to hold Bitcoin as a national reserve asset. He also asked Taiwan’s central bank to prepare a report within a month on stablecoins and digital asset reserves. Link

Banking and Payments

* Anchorage Digital announced a seed investment into the newly launched State Street Federal Stablecoin Reserves Money Market Fund. Link

* CME Group announced plans to launch Bitcoin volatility futures on June 1, 2026, pending regulatory review. Link

* Stablecoin payments startup Rain has become a Mastercard Principal Member to expand its global card offerings. Link

* Shinhan Card, one of the largest South Korean credit card companies, will pilot stablecoin payments on Solana. Link

Funds, Deals and others

* Core Scientific has agreed to acquire Oklahoma-based bitcoin miner Polaris DS LLC in a $421M transaction. Link

* Kraken’s parent company, Payward, announced the acquisition of Hong Kong-based Reap Technologies for up to $600M in a cash-and-stock deal. Link

* 21Shares launched the first U.S. exchange-traded fund tracking Canton Coin (ticker: TCAN) on the Nasdaq exchange. Link

* Coinbase selected Centrifuge as its preferred tokenization infrastructure, making it the default issuance layer for assets across its ecosystem and the Base network. It also made a strategic equity investment in Centrifuge. Link

* Strategy executives announced the company will likely sell portions of its Bitcoin holdings to fund dividend payments for its $8.5B STRC preferred stock. Link

* Andreessen Horowitz’s digital asset arm raised $2.2B for its fifth dedicated crypto venture fund. Link

* Crypto exchange Bullish has agreed to acquire global transfer agent Equiniti for $4.2B, assuming $1.85B in debt and issuing $2.35B in stock. Link

* Bitwise will take over investment management of the $267M Superstate Crypto Carry Fund (USCC), renaming it the Bitwise Crypto Carry Fund. Link

* SBI Holdings is in talks to buy a stake in crypto exchange Bitbank and make it part of the company. The deal is still under review, with details on timing and structure not yet finalized. Link

That’s all for now, folks.

PRO Readers: Read our alpha insights below!

– Marc & Team

I’ve been to several Bitcoin conferences. This time in Las Vegas, a sitting SEC Chair showed up. So did the Vice President. Here’s what you need to know:

* Paul Atkins became the first SEC Chair ever to address a Bitcoin conference. He unveiled ACT (Advance, Clarify, Transform) and published a token taxonomy that puts four of five categories (digital commodities, collectibles, tools, stablecoins) outside the securities perimeter.

* Vice President JD Vance told the audience: “Crypto and digital assets, particularly Bitcoin, are part of the mainstream economy and are here to stay.”

* Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino unveiled the “Resilience Stack”: Holepunch, the Keet messaging app, the WDK self-custody toolkit, and the QVAC local-AI development platform, alongside the open-source Mining Development Kit (MDK).

Corporate treasuries, sovereign allocators, and the people who used to send associates are now sending CFOs. This is the biggest signal of the week.

These are our highlights this week:

* Morgan Stanley targets stablecoin issuers’ $320B reserve pool

* Western Union to launch a stablecoin to kill its SWIFT bill

* Broadridge’s tokenized stock landgrab

* Meta shipped what Libra was supposed to be

* Vanguard’s Index Engine bought $500M of BitMine

* Bridge made Phantom and Metamask issue Visa card

And 15+ more signals. Let’s jump in 👇🌆

🚨 51 is hosting a private event for institutional decision makers in Miami on May 4, ahead of Consensus. If you want to be in the room, sign up here.

Top Boardroom Reads

* The $700T blueprint, with Robert Leshner, Co-Founder & CEO of Superstate (51)

* Joint Letter: Call for a DLT Pilot Regime Quick-Fix (EDFA)

* Tokenization of Money Market Fund (JPMorgan)

* 9 charts on what stablecoins are becoming (a16z)

* Beyond concentration: Where non-USD stablecoins can scale (Standard Chartered)

* The Financial Grid (Fireblocks)

* From automation to tokenization: ETF trends to watch (JPMorgan)

🚨 The Friday newsletter only scratches the surface. A lot more is going on that we’ll tell you in our PRO briefings.

Top Signals This Week

Morgan Stanley targets Stablecoin issuers’ $320B reserve pool

On April 23, 2026, Morgan Stanley launched the Stablecoin Reserves Portfolio (MSNXX). It’s a money market fund holding cash and U.S. Treasuries (under 93 days), charging a 0.15% fee with a $10M minimum. It’s built strictly for tier-one stablecoin issuers to comply with the 2025 GENIUS Act’s strict 1:1 reserve mandate. [RELEASE]

Concurrently, Morgan Stanley rolled out a spot Bitcoin ETP, MSBT, at a cut-throat 0.14% fee and launched “DAP Class“ tokenized treasury shares that mirror off-chain ledgers onto the blockchain.

Why it matters: Stablecoin reserves are the new prime brokerage. The market is $320B and growing. Tether alone holds $141B in U.S. Treasury exposure, which makes it the 17th-largest holder of U.S. government debt on the planet. Circle parks the bulk of USDC’s reserves in its own SEC-registered government MMF. The economics are simple. Every dollar of payment stablecoin must be matched 1:1 by a high-quality liquid asset in a regulated vehicle. The yield on that asset accrues entirely to the issuer. Holders get nothing under the GENIUS framework.

That means competition between stablecoin issuers cannot happen on price. It can only happen on distribution, compliance, trust, and utility. Tether and Circle have a decade-long head start on all four. Morgan Stanley plans to custody the reserves of those who don’t.

🚀 Build credibility. Drive pipeline. Win in digital assets. We produce institutional-grade research that positions you as the authority in your category, then distribute it to 100K+ decision-makers who act on what we publish.[let's talk →].

Western Union to launch a stablecoin to kill SWIFT bill

During its Q1 2026 earnings call on April 24, McGranahan formally outlined Western Union’s three-layer digital asset strategy.

* USDPT, a GENIUS Act compliant stablecoin issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, will launch in May 2026 on Solana in select countries with key agent partners. The goal is to replace Western Union’s existing SWIFT-dependent settlement infrastructure, utilized for agent network funding.

* The Digital Asset Network (DAN) goes live this week with its first partner. DAN lets crypto wallet users, Phantom, Solflare, and any future integration, convert digital dollars into local fiat at any Western Union agent or retail location.

* The USD Stable Card, built with Rain and Visa, launches later in 2026 across dozens of markets.

Why it matters: Western Union is launching a stablecoin to kill its own SWIFT bill. McGranahan was explicit during the Q&A: USDPT is not consumer-facing. It is internal infrastructure, a SWIFT replacement for the cross-border settlement Western Union uses to fund its agents in 200+ countries. Western Union pays SWIFT-network correspondent banking fees on every funding leg today. The SWIFT-based correspondent banking model requires massive pre-funded accounts across every corridor, traps working capital in 2–5 day settlement cycles, and bleeds the company through FX remeasurement losses. Replacing that with an on-chain USDPT transfer collapses cost and time-to-settle. The stablecoin’s entire purpose is to take a cost line off Western Union’s P&L. That is a different game from competing for stablecoin reserves like Morgan Stanley just launched.

Broadridge’s tokenized stock landgrab

On April 28, 2026, Ondo Finance integrated Broadridge’s new Web3-enabled ProxyVote platform across its tokenized stock and ETF catalog. Token holders now log in with a crypto wallet, receive prospectuses and issuer communications, and submit proxy votes that flow back into Broadridge’s traditional aggregation pipeline. Ondo Global Markets attributes votes from token holders to specific underlying securities. Broadridge bundles those preferences alongside conventional brokerage votes, provided Ondo Global Markets consents. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: TradFi is consuming the value layer. The crypto narrative was disintermediation, but, in reality, it is absorbing the new market structure with blockchain as an infrastructure. Decentralized protocols can’t magically replicate the multi-jurisdictional legal framework needed to interface with 10,000 public companies. They have to rent it. By extending its ProxyVote platform to Web3, Broadridge established a dominant foothold over the governance layer. The fees and margins for corporate plumbing will stay with the legacy gatekeepers. And, they are upgrading its backend through partnerships and acquisitions.

Meta shipped what Libra was supposed to be

On 29 April 2026, Meta began routing creator payouts in USDC to a select group of creators in two pilot markets, Colombia and the Philippines. Eligible creators receive an in-app notification, link a compatible self-custody or exchange wallet, and from then on receive Reels bonuses, ad-share earnings, and subscription revenue in stablecoins on Solana or Polygon. Meta does not handle local-currency conversion. That step belongs to the wallet (Bitso in Colombia, GCash and Coins.ph in the Philippines). Polygon Labs CEO Marc Boiron told Fortune the program will expand to 160+ countries by year-end. [NEWS]

How it works: Wallets are linked through Facebook. Settlement runs on Solana and Polygon. Stripe handles the tax reporting.

Why it matters:In 2019, Meta wanted to BE the stablecoin. Libra was issuer, association, governance, the full stack. Congress killed it. In 2026, Stripe owns the rails, Circle owns the dollar, Solana and Polygon own the chains. Meta just owns the users. Three billion of them. Issuance is regulated, capital-intensive, and politically radioactive. Distribution is just product. Meta got every commercial benefit of stablecoin distribution with zero issuer liability. Bridge is now the back-end for MetaMask, the issuance layer for Visa’s stablecoin card program, the rails behind Phantom’s debit card, and the payouts engine for Meta. Stripe’s stablecoin accounts are live in 101 countries. That is not a payments company. That is the AWS of money.

🚨 Want more intelligence and understand what this means for your institution? Subscribe to PRO below:

Vanguard’s Index Engine bought $500M of BitMine

Vanguard Capital Management filed a Schedule 13G on April 29, 2026 disclosing a 5.13% beneficial ownership stake in BitMine Immersion Technologies (NYSE: BMNR), the largest Ethereum treasury company on the planet. The filing covers 23,340,410 shares with sole dispositive power, valued at roughly $480 to $500 million at recent prices. The position makes Vanguard one of BMNR’s top three institutional holders. [SEC Filing]

Why it matters: Vanguard’s reversal on third-party crypto ETFs went live December 2025. giving its 50M+ brokerage clients access to spot Bitcoin, Ether, Solana and XRP ETFs. The firm continues to refuse to launch its own. Internal mandates that block spot crypto ETFs do not block crypto-treasury equities. Pension plans, insurance general accounts, sovereign wealth funds, family offices with strict IPS language can all buy BMNR, MSTR, Metaplanet, Twenty One. The DAT structure converts blockchain-native risk into a CUSIP, a ticker, a 10-K, and a proxy ballot. That packaging is regulatorily neutral in a way ETFs are not.

Bridge made Phantom and Metamask issue a Visa card

On 29 April 2026, Stripe published a developer post detailing the full integration of Bridge stablecoin card programs with Stripe Issuing and Stripe Connect. To do so, Bridge has partnered with Visa. The technical convergence eliminates the need for developers to stitch together separate banking-as-a-service, custody, KYC, and stablecoin-to-fiat conversion vendors. One API now does all of it. [RELEASE]

Zooming in: The cards are Visa-branded prepaid debit cards issued by Lead Bank, the Kansas City fintech sponsor that already settles Visa stablecoin transactions on the Solana blockchain. Stripe handles fraud controls, dispute management, real-time authorization, and the global Visa network plumbing. Bridge handles wallet connectivity, just-in-time stablecoin-to-USD conversion, and onchain settlement.

Why it matters: The crypto card stack just collapsed from five vendors to one reputed vendor. Stripe has rolled out on-off ramp, custody, sponsor bank, card network and compliance to one product. Interestingly, Lead Bank, a $4B Kansas City community bank, has become the default sponsor for crypto-native card programs.

Other Signals

Infrastructure and Markets

* Visa adds Polygon, Canton, Base, Arc and Tempo to its global stablecoin settlement program. Link

* AWS Marketplace went live with the Chainlink Data Standard, making Data Feeds, Data Streams, and Proof of Reserve available to enterprise developers, with reference architectures routing reserve data through Amazon API Gateway, Lambda, and DynamoDB. Link

* Coinbase Asset Management announced the Coinbase Stablecoin Credit Strategy (CUSHY), targeting institutional yield from onchain lending and private credit. Link

Regulation and Policy

* Senator Cynthia Lummis vowed a Senate markup of the CLARITY Act in May at Bitcoin 2026, warning that missing this window pushes comprehensive crypto legislation to 2030. The House already passed the bill 294-134, the Senate Agriculture Committee has cleared its version, and the White House has publicly backed it. Link

* Israel approved BILS, the first regulated shekel-pegged stablecoin, after a two-year supervised pilot on Solana. Link

* Hong Kong’s HKMA warned that fake “HKDAP” and “HSBC” tokens are circulating despite no licensed stablecoins being issued yet. Link

* The CFTC sued Wisconsin in federal court to block state action against Kalshi, Polymarket, and Coinbase, asserting “exclusive jurisdiction” over event contracts on registered exchanges. Link

* The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) approved rules allowing authorized funds to maintain primary investor records on public DLT networks. Link

* On April 28, the CFTC, joined by the DOJ Civil Division, filed suit in the Western District of Wisconsin, asking the court to declare that state gambling statutes do not apply to event contracts listed on CFTC-registered Designated Contract Markets and to permanently enjoin the state from enforcing them. Link

* Gemini’s Olympus unit secured a Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO) license from the CFTC to clear trades natively. Link

Banking and Payments

* Paystand launched USDb at Bitcoin 2026, the first Bitcoin-aligned stablecoin built for B2B finance. Link

* Bitbank and Epos Card launched Japan’s first crypto-linked credit card on April 27, allowing Visa bill payments to be settled directly from BTC held on Bitbank. Link

Funds, Deals and others

* MARA entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Long Ridge Energy & Power from FTAI Infrastructure for $1.5B. Link

* Tether Investments announced a proposal to merge publicly-listed Twenty-One Capital (XXI) with global financial services firm Strike and Bitcoin miner Elektron Energy. Link

* Securitize and Computershare have partnered to allow U.S.-listed clients to issue tokenized equity securities alongside traditionally registered shares. Link

* MoonPay buys Sodot, a Isreali key management infrastructure company, for $100M. Link

That’s all for now, folks.

PRO Readers: Read our alpha insights below!

– Marc & Team

Nothing prepares you for a month where the Fed buys its own debt, the US military is running a Bitcoin node, and the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent calls crypto "very important payment rails” for the country.

The Senate Banking Committee was supposed to mark up crypto legislation this month, but the date was delayed until May.

“If we don’t get the Clarity Act passed by May, digital asset legislation will not pass for the foreseeable future.”

— United States Senator Bernie Moreno

On top of that, we saw one of the biggest blow-ups in DeFi. We’ve watched a lot of them, but this one’s different.

These are our highlights this week:

* Why Treasury’s record buyback matters to USDT

* Congress just rewrote Fed access rules

* The $196M hole Aave didn’t code

* Singapore just flanked PAXG with a bank

* DTCC front-runs Crypto to own tokenized Wall Street

* Japan’s banks ditch Euroclear for Canton JGB repo

And 15+ more signals. Let’s jump in 👇

Exclusive for 51 Readers:

👉 Register for Consensus Miami, May 5-7, 2026, and get in the room where the people moving that money actually meet. Use this for up to $200 off:

🎟️ 20% Discount Code: MARC🔗 Auto-applied discount link: https://go.coindesk.com/3NLCAAd

Top Boardroom Reads

* How the U.S. Weaponized the Dollar (And Stablecoins), with Eddie Fishman, New York Times Bestseller (51)

* 2026 Institutional Investor Survey on Digital Asset Investment Trends (Nomura)

* How tokenised assets transform liquidity management (Deutsche Bank)

* CLARITY Act Update: Final Push Ahead (Galaxy)

* Tokenized collateral goes global (ValueExchange)

* Adopting AI Agents in Banking (Creatio)

The Friday newsletter only scratches the surface. A lot more is going on that we’ll tell you in our PRO briefings.

Top Signals This Week

Why Treasury’s record buyback matters to USDT

On April 16, 2026, the U.S. Treasury executed a record $15 billion debt buyback, matching the largest single-day operation in the program’s history. The operation targeted off-the-run nominal coupon securities maturing between May 2026 and April 2028, with settlement on April 17. The Treasury funded the repurchase through new bill issuance, keeping overall debt stock largely unchanged, but shifting the duration profile toward the short end of the curve. [NEWS]

Why it matters: Tether’s $141.6B in Treasury exposure as of Q4 2025 makes it the 18th-largest holder of U.S. government debt on the planet. The company printed more than $10 billion in net profit in 2025 almost entirely on T-bill yield. A buyback that absorbs off-the-run coupons and recycles them into bill issuance is, mechanically, a subsidy to Tether’s business model: it deepens the market for the exact instrument USDT requires as collateral and keeps front-end yields structurally attractive. Whether the Treasury intends this or not, the effect is symmetric with supporting the peg.

Be smart: Recent BIS research found stablecoin inflows reduce three-month T-bill yields by 2–2.5 bps within 10 days; outflows widen them by 6–8 bps. The buyback is now part of that same feedback loop, on the supply side.

🚀 Build credibility. Drive pipeline. Win in digital assets. We produce institutional-grade research that positions you as the authority in your category, then distribute it to 100K+ decision-makers who act on what we publish.[let's talk →].

Congress just rewrote Fed access rules

On April 21, Reps. Kim and Liccardo introduced the PACE Act to establish a federal registration regime for non-bank payment firms, overseen by the OCC. Qualifying firms must hold a state bank or credit union charter, or 40 or more active state money transmitter licenses. Registered firms gain direct access to Fedwire, FedNow, and FedACH, rails historically walled off to chartered banks. [RELEASE] [PDF]

Why it matters: Getting a federal crypto license is nearly impossible for newcomers, and that’s by design. To qualify, a company needs money-transmission licenses in at least 40 states. Only a handful of giant, established companies have bothered to collect that many, think PayPal, Circle, Coinbase, and Western Union. They spent years and millions of dollars building up those licenses. Kraken already got approved through a different route (the Federal Reserve), so this rule doesn’t even affect them. Everyone else, any startup or smaller company trying to enter the market, is simply locked out. They haven’t had the time or money to get 40 state licenses yet.

The $196M hole Aave didn’t code

Nobody hacked Aave last weekend. $196M walked out the door anyway. The attacker forged a message on a bridge next door, minted $292M of fake rsETH, and posted it to Aave as collateral. That’s the problem. [ANNOUNCEMENT]

Why it matters: DeFi lending is not a product. It’s an unpriced insurance contract on every asset listed. Aave’s defense is that its contracts worked. That is true. It is also beside the point. A depositor who supplies WETH to Aave is not just lending to Aave. They are lending into every cross-chain bridge that underpins every collateral asset Aave accepts. LayerZero broke. Kelp’s bridge released unbacked tokens. Aave’s oracle priced those tokens as real. The loss landed on WETH suppliers. The smart contract did its job. The insurance contract was never written, and not a single audit scope covered such incidents.

PRO Analysis:

Singapore just flanked PAXG with a bank

On April 21, 2026, OCBC ($526B in total assets), its asset-management arm Lion Global Investors, and MAS-regulated digital-asset exchange DigiFT launched GOLDX, a security token that provides on-chain exposure to the LionGlobal Singapore Physical Gold Fund ($525.9M in AUM). Tokens are issued natively on Ethereum and Solana. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: The tokenized commodities are a $6.1B market, 97% controlled by Paxos Gold (PAXG) and Tether Gold (XAUT). Both are crypto-native issuers with vault partnerships but no institutional deposit relationships, no MAS license, no fund-structured wrapper. OCBC’s entry is the first time a G-SIB has issued a physically-backed tokenized gold product on public chains, and it is wrapped as a regulated collective investment scheme, not a bare commodity token. Asset managers who were blocked from holding PAXG on regulatory or mandate grounds now have a bank-issued alternative that clears the compliance hurdle in one move. The $6B tokenized-gold segment just acquired an institutional tier.

Be smart: MAS runs a wholesale CBDC pilot on the Singapore dollar. And now OCBC has issued the first physically-backed bank-grade tokenized gold fund. Four moves, including commodities, gold, credit, and CBDC, all within one regulator’s jurisdiction.

* DigiFT obtained CMS + RMO licenses in December 2023.

* Standard Chartered-backed Libeara launched the MG 999 synthetic gold fund.

* Tokenized commodities and credit, under Project Guardian with 40+ financial institutions.

🚨 Want more intelligence and understand what this means for your institution? Subscribe to PRO below:

DTCC front-runs Crypto to own tokenized Wall Street

On April 13, DTCC published its public-facing roadmap. The pilot launches in H2 2026.

Be smart: DTCC has been quietly assembling the pieces for two years. It started with a December 2025 SEC no-action letter granting DTC a three-year exemption from Reg SCI, Section 19(b) rule-filing requirements, and key clearing standards under Rules 17Ad-22 and 17Ad-25. That cleared the regulatory path. [RELEASE]

In March 2026, the House Financial Services Committee held its hearing on tokenized securities, and DTCC Deputy General Counsel Christian Sabella filed written testimony the same day.

Why it matters: The testimony’s most important word was not “tokenization,”it was “interoperability.” Sabella made a specific argument: tokenization efforts built in “isolated or proprietary environments risk fragmenting liquidity and increasing cost.” DTCC is warning against a world where every bank, exchange, and fintech builds its own tokenization silo. The alternative DTCC is proposing is itself an open, protocol-agnostic infrastructure layer where tokenized securities inherit the legal protections, netting benefits, and settlement guarantees that exist today and hence acts as the connective tissue between every tokenization effort on Wall Street.

PRO Analysis:

Japan’s banks ditch Euroclear for Canton JGB repo

On 20 April 2026, Japan Exchange Group announced that JSCC, Mizuho Financial Group, Nomura Holdings, and Digital Asset Holdings had begun a proof-of-concept to use JGBs as digital collateral on the Canton Network. The trial runs through late September 2026 and is one of three initiatives the Japanese Financial Services Agency (JFSA) formally selected in February 2026 for its Payment Innovation Project, the FSA’s successor to the FinTech PoC Hub. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: Unlike the US (Fed, BNY, JPM) or Europe (Euroclear, Clearstream), Japan has no domestic tri-party repo venue. JGB holders who want to finance their bonds must either use bilateral gensaki with manual margin workflows or ship their JGBs to Euroclear’s Collateral Highway and finance offshore. The Canton pilot is the first serious attempt to build that plumbing natively, and it skips the 15-year build by using an L1 that is already live with DTCC and Euroclear. If JSCC goes from PoC to production, Japanese banks suddenly recapture collateral velocity that currently leaks to London.

Other Signals

Infrastructure and Markets

* Coinbase introduced the app store for agents, Agentic.Market. Link

* Kalshi is launching crypto perpetual futures on April 27. The CFTC-regulated prediction market, most recently valued at $22B, brings non-expiring crypto contracts to US retail for the first time. Link

* Polymarket announced plans to launch perpetual futures with up to 10x leverage on BTC, gold, Nvidia, and other assets. Link

* Core Scientific priced $3.3B in senior secured notes due 2031 at a 7.75% coupon. Proceeds fund data centre expansion across Georgia, Texas, North Carolina, and Oklahoma as the miner pivots deeper into AI hosting. Link

* $350M in crypto shorts liquidated in 24 hours as Bitcoin rallied from $74K to $78K. A classic short squeeze, triggered as US-Iran tensions cooled and traders moved back into risk assets. Link

DeFi and Blockchain

* North Korea’s Lazarus Group deployed “Mach-O Man,” a new macOS malware campaign targeting crypto and fintech executives. Link

* Tether froze $344M in USDT across two Tron addresses in coordination with OFAC and US law enforcement. Link

* Tether minted $1B USDT on Ethereum. Link

Regulation and Policy

* Japan’s Cabinet approved reclassifying 105 cryptoassets, including BTC and ETH, as financial instruments under the FIEA. Same legal status as stocks and bonds, insider trading rules now apply, and a 20% flat capital gains tax is on the table. Link

* The Swiss Federal Council published its final Capital Adequacy Ordinance (CAO) on April 22, 2026. The ordinance specifies the regulatory capital treatment for select, undisclosed assets for banks headquartered in Switzerland. Link

* Belarus legalized crypto banks handling 26 cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and Toncoin. Licenses cover 11 services: deposits, loans, staking, transfers, token issuance, and exchange. Link

* US Admiral Samuel Paparo confirmed INDOPACOM is running a live Bitcoin node for operational security tests. First time a US military combatant command has publicly acknowledged direct participation in the Bitcoin network. Link

* A White House official publicly condemned the banking sector’s lobbying against a compromise on yield-bearing stablecoins within the proposed CLARITY Act. Link

Banking and Payments

* Coinbase listed tGBP, the first UK-regulated pound-pegged stablecoin, on its global platform. Issued by BCP Technologies under the FCA’s sandbox framework, giving British users on-chain GBP without FX conversion costs. Link

* Singapore Gulf Bank (SGB), a licensed digital bank in Bahrain, has launched a stablecoin minting and redemption service for corporate and high-net-worth clients. Link

Funds, Deals and others

* Payward (Kraken) has agreed to acquire the U.S.-based digital asset derivatives platform Bitnomial. The transaction is valued at up to $550M in a combination of cash and stock. Link

* Michael Saylor’s Strategy has bought another $2.54B in Bitcoin. Link

Our CEO Notes this week

If you're building infrastructure, allocating capital, or pricing the shift to always-on markets, this is the briefing your competitors already read on Monday.

That’s all for now, folks.

PRO Readers: Read our alpha insights below!

– Marc & Team

I’ve watched banks lobby Washington for 100 years to keep their Fed access exclusive. This week, Deutsche Börse skipped the lobby and bought a seat.

Deutsche Börse paid $200M for a 1.5% stake in Kraken, hours before Kraken confirmed it filed for a US IPO. The real story wasn’t the valuation discount. It’s what Kraken’s Kansas City Fed account gives Deutsche Börse: a pipe into Fedwire that makes correspondent banks optional.

Meanwhile, Lummis says CLARITY dies if it doesn't pass now:

“This is our last chance to pass the Clarity Act until at least 2030. We can’t afford to surrender America’s financial future.”

— Senator Cynthia Lummis on X

Here’s what we’re covering:

* Deutsche Börse front-runs Kraken IPO with $200M stake

* Goldman Sachs files first-ever Bitcoin ETF

* Charles Schwab launches spot crypto trading for 39 million accounts

* UBS leads Swiss Banks into live CHF Stablecoin pilot

* Visa is building to replace Visa

* HSBC takes Stablecoin stack public on Canton blockchain

* Ripple lands Kyobo to tokenize Korean Sovereign Bond

* ECB undercuts US Stablecoin model with tokenization terms

And 15+ more signals. Let’s jump in 👇

Exclusive for 51 Readers:

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Top Boardroom Reads

* The Role of Digital Money in Capital Markets (GFMA)

* SoK: Blockchain Agent-to-Agent Payments (Research Paper)

* Detangling Tokenization of RWAs (Franklin Templeton)

* Stablecoin Issuance Market: Four Business Models Reshaping the Market (Tiger Research)

* Institutional Infrastructure for Global Settlement and Tokenized Assets (Allium)

* 2026 Insurance Value Creators Report (BCG)

* Tokenization of Financial Assets (IOSCO)

The Friday newsletter only scratches the surface. A lot more is going on that we’ll tell you in our PRO briefings.

Top Signals This Week

Deutsche Börse front-runs Kraken IPO with $200M stake

On April 14, 2026, Deutsche Börse announced it acquired a 1.5% fully diluted stake in Kraken (Payward Inc.), for $200M in a secondary share transaction. The deal implies a $13.3B valuation, down from the $20B Kraken printed in its November 2025 $800M raise. It closes before June. [RELEASE]

Hours later, Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi confirmed at Semafor’s World Economy Summit that Kraken has confidentially filed for a US IPO. [NEWS]

Why it matters: Through Kraken, Deutsche Börse bought a pipe directly into the U.S. central bank. Kraken’s “limited purpose” account can’t earn interest, can’t touch the discount window or FedNow, but it can settle on Fedwire. That’s the only access institutional wholesale fiat flows actually need. Correspondent banks exist solely to provide this. Kraken just made them optional, and banks are lobbying against it. The Bank Policy Institute called the Kansas City Fed’s decision a “front-run” of the Fed Board’s public comment process. Also, Deutsche Börse stepped in between Kraken’s November raise and IPO filing and captured a 1.5% secondary position.

🚀 Build credibility. Drive pipeline. Win in digital assets. We produce institutional-grade research that positions you as the authority in your category, then distribute it to 100K+ decision-makers who act on what we publish.[let's talk →].

Goldman Sachs files first-ever Bitcoin ETF

On April 14, Goldman Sachs filed with the SEC for the Goldman Sachs Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, a covered-call strategy that buys shares of existing spot Bitcoin ETFs (BlackRock’s IBIT, Fidelity’s FBTC) and systematically sells call options against them to generate income. The earliest possible launch is late June, assuming no SEC objections. Management fee has not been disclosed. BlackRock’s competing product, the iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF (BITA), is further along and expected to launch within weeks. [NEWS]

Why it matters: Goldman filing its first Bitcoin ETF product is the signal, not the product itself. The covered-call wrapper turns Bitcoin volatility into yield, which makes BTC palatable to the exact investors who would never buy spot: retirees, endowments, conservative allocators, and the wealth management channels Goldman dominates. Fortune called it “boomer candy” and the label fits. The 40-100% overlay range gives Goldman unusual flexibility to toggle between aggressive and defensive positioning depending on vol regime. This is Wall Street domesticating Bitcoin into a familiar income product. The competitive race is now Goldman vs. BlackRock on who captures yield-hungry capital first.

Charles Schwab launches spot crypto trading for 39 million accounts

On April 16, Charles Schwab announced Schwab Crypto, a direct spot trading product for Bitcoin and Ethereum rolling out “in the coming weeks.” The product runs through Paxos, which handles both sub-custody and trade execution. Schwab is pricing trades at 75 basis points per transaction, undercutting Fidelity Crypto (100 bps) while sitting above Robinhood’s tightest spreads. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: Schwab manages $12 trillion in client assets across 39 million accounts. That makes it the largest traditional brokerage to offer direct spot crypto trading. When $12T in AUM gets a “buy Bitcoin” button in the same interface where clients hold their index funds, the distribution math changes. Schwab isn’t competing with Coinbase. It’s competing with the reason most traditional investors never bought crypto in the first place: friction.

UBS leads Swiss Banks into live CHF Stablecoin pilot

On April 8, UBS, PostFinance, Sygnum, Raiffeisen, Zürcher Kantonalbank, and BCV launched a joint CHF stablecoin sandbox. The CHF (Swiss Franc Stablecoin) sandbox is a controlled live environment. The six banks with technical infrastructure from Swiss Stablecoin AG, will test real payment flows with real counterparties under transaction caps and a restricted participant pool. The sandbox runs through 2026 and remains open to additional banks and corporations. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank, with $5.7T in invested assets, brings credibility to this sandbox. It has spent three years building tokenization infrastructure through UBS Tokenize, UBS Digital Cash (adopted by Ant International) and its Money Market Investment Fund (uMINT). Additionally, it joined a major Bank for International Settlements (BIS) initiative, Project Agora and is currently an active partner of MAS Singapore’s Project Guardian. Even in the blockchain space, it has achieved multiple milestones. A CHF stablecoin plugs directly into that stack. It gives UBS clients a settlement token for tokenized assets, FX, and intraday liquidity, without routing through a US-issued stablecoin.

Also: On April 9, ClearBank Europe secured CASP status from the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets, becoming the first Dutch credit institution to complete MiCAR notification. [RELEASE]

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Visa is building to replace Visa

On April 14, 2026, Visa, Stripe, and Standard Chartered–backed Zodia Custody went live as the first external validators on Tempo, a payments-first Layer 1 co-founded by Stripe and venture firm Paradigm. Tempo raised $500M at a $5B valuation in late 2025, ran a public testnet starting December 9, 2025, and went to mainnet in March 2026. Reportedly, Visa configured and managed the validator entirely in-house after six months of joint engineering work with Tempo’s team. [NEWS]

Why it matters: The usual story with incumbents is they watch disruption coming and freeze, because the new thing looks too small and too unprofitable to matter. Tempo fits that description perfectly. Near-zero liquidity on day one. A testnet that opened in December. Valued at $5B against a stablecoin market that’s already $318.6B. Visa signed up anyway. The math is simple. If Tempo works, Visa is inside the validator set with governance influence and a direct view of flow. If Tempo fails, Visa spent a few engineers and a press release. Against a $700B revenue franchise, that’s the cheapest insurance policy anyone has ever written.

HSBC takes Stablecoin stack public on Canton blockchain

HSBC tested its Tokenised Deposit Service (TDS) on the Canton Network, a public Layer 1 blockchain designed to connect institutional permissioned ledgers with privacy guarantees. The pilot simulated three core functions: issuance of tokenised deposits, peer-to-peer transfer between wallets, and atomic settlement against other digital assets. This was the first time HSBC deployed its TDS on a public blockchain environment. [NEWS]

On 10 April 2026, the HKMA granted HSBC a license FRS02 under Hong Kong’s Stablecoins Ordinance, alongside Anchorpoint Financial (a Standard Chartered / Animoca Brands / HKT joint venture). Only 2 out of 36 applicants cleared the bar.

Scale: TDS now processes five currencies (HKD, USD, SGD, EUR, GBP) and is expanding to the US and UAE in H1 2026.

Why it matters: Before April 10, HSBC’s tokenized deposits were corporate-only instruments: programmable bank money for treasury management, cross-border settlement, and interbank transfers. Powerful, but narrow. The FRS02 stablecoin license blows the aperture wide open. HSBC will embed an HKD stablecoin directly into PayMe, reaching 7M retail users. Every token will be fully backed by liquid assets held in segregated accounts.

What’s next: HSBC plans to launch an HKD-denominated stablecoin in H2 2026, integrated directly into PayMe (7M+ users) and the HSBC HK mobile banking app.

Ripple lands Kyobo to tokenize Korean Sovereign Bond

On April 15, 2026, Ripple signed a strategic partnership with Kyobo Life Insurance, one of South Korea’s largest insurers, to enable tokenized Korean government bond settlement. It is Ripple’s first collaboration with a major insurance institution in Korea. Transactions will run through Ripple Custody, the firm’s institutional digital asset platform. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: Insurers are the patient capital of Asia’s bond markets. When a top-three Korean life insurer agrees to settle sovereign debt on Ripple’s custody stack, it is a procurement decision. Kyobo manages long-duration assets measured in tens of trillions of won, and Korean Treasury bonds are the anchor of that book. This is also one of Ripple’s biggest steps into the institutional blockchain space.

ECB undercuts US Stablecoin model with tokenization terms

The ECB doesn't endorse technology often. This week it endorsed tokenization, with one condition: central bank money sits at the bottom of every settlement stack. Privately issued stablecoins don't qualify. Tokenized bank deposits don't qualify. The euro has to be euro all the way down. The Bulletin covered tokenized bonds, tokenized money market funds, and euro-denominated stablecoins under MiCA, noting early evidence that tokenized bonds already show lower borrowing costs and tighter bid-ask spreads than their traditional counterparts. [Bulletin]

Why it matters: Europe just told the US model it's not welcome. In the US, tokenized deposits and private stablecoins are carrying the tokenization load. The ECB is saying: not here. The preferred rail is a wholesale digital euro or a DLT platform sitting on top of Eurosystem plumbing. Anything else is a second-class settlement asset in the world's second-largest capital market. Read together with MiCA, the message to USD stablecoin issuers is clearer than any regulation they’ve seen yet. You can operate in Europe. You just can’t win there.

ECB Macroprudential Bulletin 33, April 2026

* Euro stablecoins and their potential effect on sovereign bond markets

* Tokenised money market funds: new technology, familiar risks?

* Towards an efficient and integrated digital capital market in Europe: the role of tokenisation and the Eurosystem’s policy response

* Tokenised bonds: assessing efficiency and liquidity in a nascent market

Other Signals

Infrastructure and Markets

* Chainlink puts €2T of Swiss and Spanish equities data on-chain. SIX, the operator of the Swiss and Spanish exchanges, partnered with Chainlink to pipe its equities data directly onto blockchain networks. Link

* Ether.fi launches crypto card on OP Mainnet, driving record $680M single-day TVL increase. Link

* Tether invests in $134M round for Stablecoin Development Corp, a public stablecoin-infra vehicle. Link

* Galaxy launches GalaxyOne for Business, integrated treasury platform for US entities. Link

DeFi and Blockchain

* BNB Chain burns 1.57M BNB (~$1.02B) in the 35th quarterly auto-burn. Link

* Legal & General Asset Management tokenizes £50B liquidity funds on Calastone’s network. Link

* Ondo Finance files with the SEC for the tokenised S&P 500 tracking fund on Ethereum. Link

* Keyrock issues tokenized corporate bond on Ethereum via Sygnum and Obligate. Link

* Tron announces plan to upgrade network with post-quantum cryptography. Link

Regulation and Policy

* SEC Division of Trading and Markets issued staff guidance providing a five-year no-action relief for certain self-custody crypto apps and DeFi interfaces from registering as broker-dealers. Link

* UK FCA opens consultation on comprehensive crypto asset regime for 2027 rollout. Link

* JPMorgan reports US CLARITY Act nearing final agreement. Link

* White House study finds weak case for stablecoin yield ban. Link

Banking and Payments

* Societe Generale-FORGE to integrate MiCA-compliant Euro stablecoin EURCV into MetaMask. Link

* AllUnity launches MiCAR-compliant EURAU euro stablecoin on Stellar. Link

* Rakuten integrates XRP into its payment network for 44M users in Japan. Link

* Quantoz launches licensed Polish Złoty and British Pound stablecoins under MiCA. Link

* PayPal integrates Brazil’s Pix instant payment system for small business checkout. Link

* X product lead hints at crypto integration for upcoming “X Money” payments service. Link

Exchange, ETP and Market Structure

* Bitwise launches spot Avalanche ETP (BAVA) with in-house staking for AVAX rewards. The ETP provides spot exposure to Avalanche (AVAX) and stakes the underlying assets through its in-house division to generate yield. Link

* Goldman Sachs files with SEC for Bitcoin Premium Income ETF. Competes directly with BlackRock on yield-generating crypto products. Link

* 21Shares files amended S-1 for spot Hyperliquid ETF (THYP) on Nasdaq. Link

* OKX launches regulated perpetual futures “X-Perps” in the EEA.

Leverages its Malta MiFID license to capture EU derivatives share pre-MiCA. Link

Our CEO Notes this week

If you're building infrastructure, allocating capital, or pricing the shift to always-on markets, this is the briefing your competitors already read on Monday.

That’s all for now, folks.

PRO Readers: Read our alpha insights below!

– Marc & Team

A sanctioned country just made Bitcoin a toll booth for 20% of the world’s oil.

Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz. About a fifth of global oil moves through it every day. After the 40-day war with the US and Israel ended in ceasefire on April 8, Iran started charging $1 per barrel in Bitcoin. Pay or you don’t pass. [NEWS]

Why Bitcoin? Iran can’t use dollars. Can’t use SWIFT. Can’t touch any payment rail the US controls. Bitcoin is the one network no country can freeze.

The math: roughly $20M a day in tolls. That’s 280 BTC daily, about 60% of all new Bitcoin mined. Bitcoin jumped from ~$68K to ~$72K on the news. But the price move is the least interesting part. A nation-state just made Bitcoin a prerequisite for accessing critical infrastructure. That’s new.

It was that kind of week.

Here’s what we’re covering:

* The US just cracked open $7.7T in retirement savings to Bitcoin [Link]

* Visa connected all agentic payment protocols to one rail [Link]

* Morgan Stanley launched a spot BTC ETF that undercuts BlackRock by 44% [Link]

* Three federal agencies published stablecoin rules in 48 hours [Link]

* CME Group goes 24/7 for all crypto derivatives starting May 29 [Link]

And 20+ more signals. Let’s jump in 👇

Exclusive for 51 Readers:

👉 Register for Consensus Miami May 5-7, 2026, and get in the room where the people moving that money actually meet. Use this for up to $200 off:

🎟️ 20% Discount Code: MARC🔗 Auto-applied discount link: https://go.coindesk.com/3NLCAAd

Top Boardroom Reads

* The scalability trade-off is dead, with Bryan Pellegrino, CEO of LayerZero (51)

* US Equities Tokenization: An Overview (Jane Street)

* Effects of Stablecoin Yield Prohibition on Bank Lending (White House)

* Prediction Markets: Addressing the Five Biggest Questions (Bitwise)

* One Hundred Years in the U.S. Stock Markets (Research paper)

* Digital Assets & Tokenized Finance Impact Report 2026 (FII Institute)

The Friday newsletter only scratches the surface. A lot more is going on that we’ll tell you in our PRO briefings.

Top Signals This Week

🚀 Build credibility. Drive pipeline. Win in digital assets. We produce institutional-grade research that positions you as the authority in your category, then distribute it to 100K+ decision-makers who act on what we publish.[let's talk →].

Visa connects all agentic payment protocols

On April 8, Visa announced Intelligent Commerce Connect, a single integration layer that lets merchants and AI agent builders accept payments from any of the competing agentic payment protocols. AWS, Aldar, Highnote, Mesh, and Payabli are already piloting it. [RELEASE]

Here’s the problem Visa is solving: AI agents are starting to buy things. They book flights, purchase software, reorder supplies. But every payment system speaks a different language. Right now, four major protocols are fighting to become the standard for how AI agents pay for things: Visa’s own TAP, Stripe’s MPP, OpenAI’s ACP, and Google’s UCP. Instead of trying to win that war, Visa said: we’ll support all of them.

Why it matters: Visa just did to agentic commerce what it did to e-commerce twenty years ago. It didn’t build the stores. It built the checkout counter that every store had to use. Visa’s bet is that it doesn’t need to win the protocol layer. It just needs to be the settlement layer underneath all of them. Most people will read this as an AI story. We think it’s a stablecoin adoption story wearing AI clothes.

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Morgan Stanley launches spot BTC ETF

On April 8, Morgan Stanley launched its own spot Bitcoin ETF, ticker MSBT, and it did $34 million in first-day trading volume. Bloomberg’s Eric Balchunas called it a top 1% ETF launch and projects $5B in assets within a year. [RELEASE]

Zooming in: The fee is 0.14%. That’s the lowest in the market. BlackRock’s IBIT charges 0.25%. Grayscale’s mini trust charges 0.15%.

Why it matters: Morgan Stanley was already in the Bitcoin ETF business since August 2024, but as a distributor. Now they’re a manufacturer. The fee revenue stays in-house. They control the pricing, the positioning, the narrative. They have 16,000 financial advisors managing $9.3T in client assets. It won’t matter whose ETF is better. Morgan Stanley has an edge in selling.

Be smart: In January 2026, they filed S-1s for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana ETFs. In February, they applied for an OCC National Trust Bank Charter, Morgan Stanley Digital Trust, to handle crypto custody, trading, swaps, and staking in-house. Later this year, they’re launching retail crypto trading on E*TRADE for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. Put it all together: a full-stack crypto wealth management platform inside a traditional bank. ETF products, proprietary custody, direct trading, staking yields, all under one roof. The Bitcoin ETF is the front door.

Get Morgan Stanley’s full digital asset playbook in the 51 Terminal 👇

U.S. just gave Stablecoins a banking rulebook

Last week we covered the Treasury’s 87-page GENIUS Act rule. This week, two more agencies piled on. Three federal agencies published stablecoin rules in 48 hours. That’s never happened in digital assets.

On Wednesday, FinCEN and OFAC proposed a rule spelling out exactly how stablecoin issuers must build anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance programs under the GENIUS Act. The rule formally classifies stablecoin issuers as “financial institutions” under the Bank Secrecy Act, the same bucket as banks and money transmitters. Treasury Secretary Bessent framed it as balancing protection with innovation. [NEWS]

What’s in it: Issuers must build and maintain full AML programs, file suspicious activity reports, and run sanctions compliance operations that meet OFAC standards. There’s even a provision barring anyone with a criminal background from heading a stablecoin issuer’s compliance program.

And Bessent publicly called on the Senate Banking Committee to mark up the CLARITY Act. Senate returns April 13. Markup is targeted for late April.

Why it matters: This is net bullish for the stablecoin ecosystem, even though it adds compliance costs. These rules remove the biggest barrier to institutional adoption: regulation. Banks, asset managers, and payment processors wouldn’t touch stablecoins at scale without clarity on the rules. Now they have it. The issuers who were already running serious compliance operations (Circle, Paxos) just got their moat widened. This also signals the passage of the Clarity Act very soon.

CME Group goes 24/7

On April 8, CME Group announced that starting May 29, all crypto futures and options will trade around the clock, seven days a week. [NEWS]

This is the world’s largest derivatives exchange. $1.4 quadrillion in notional value traded each year. Until now, crypto futures on CME followed traditional market hours with weekend gaps. That created an arbitrage window where offshore venues like Binance and Bybit captured weekend flow.

Why it matters: CME just removed the last timing advantage offshore venues had. Institutional traders can now hedge positions, manage risk, and adjust exposure without waiting for Monday morning. This compresses the gap between crypto-native infrastructure and traditional market plumbing. Expect volume to shift from offshore perps into regulated CME contracts, especially from hedge funds and macro desks that need clearing guarantees their compliance teams can sign off on.

Bitcoin in your 401(k)

The Department of Labor published a proposed rule that would let 401(k) plans include Bitcoin as an investment option. [Filing]

Quick distinction, because most headlines got this wrong. Trump’s executive order last August didn’t open 401(k)s to crypto. It told the DOL to start a rulemaking process.

Why it matters: 401(k) plans hold $7.7 trillion and cover roughly 90 million Americans. Unlike spot ETF flows, which are discretionary, 401(k) contributions are automatic, recurring, and dollar-cost-averaged through payroll. Average holding period is decades. If even 1% flows into Bitcoin, that's $77 billion. More than all spot Bitcoin ETF inflows in their first year combined. Comment period closes June 1. Final rule expected Q4 2026. First plans could offer Bitcoin ETFs by early 2027.

Other Signals

Infrastructure and Markets

* Broadridge’s DLT repo platform processed $8 trillion in March 2026. That’s 392% growth year over year. Repo is the plumbing of capital markets, $4T+ traded daily. Broadridge just proved DLT works at that scale. [RELEASE]

* Circle launched cirBTC. A wrapped Bitcoin product designed to challenge WBTC. Circle is betting its institutional reputation that the market wants a trust-minimized, audited alternative. [NEWS]

* Securitize hired Brett Redfearn as President. He ran the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets. [NEWS]

* Pyth Network data marketplace launches with Fidelity and Euronext. On-chain price feeds backed by TradFi institutions. [NEWS]

* Tether testing investor appetite at $500B valuation. If they raise at that number, Tether would be one of the 20 most valuable private companies on earth. [NEWS]

Regulation and Policy

* SEC safe harbor proposal sent to the White House for interagency review. $75M cap, 4-year exemption for token projects. If finalized, this gives crypto startups a legal path to launch without immediate securities registration. [Filing]

* CFTC sued multiple states over prediction market jurisdiction. This ties directly to the Hougan quote at the top. Prediction markets are becoming a real asset class, and the turf war between federal and state regulators just went public. [NEWS]

* Hester Peirce publicly apologized for the SEC’s past regulatory approach. A sitting SEC Commissioner said the agency got it wrong. That doesn’t happen often. [NEWS]

* Todd Blanche named interim Attorney General. The DOJ’s approach to crypto enforcement is shifting. [NEWS]

* EU considering centralizing all crypto supervision under ESMA. One regulator for all 27 member states. If adopted, this would be the most significant structural change to MiCA since it was enacted. [NEWS]

Banking and Payments

* Schwab confirmed spot Bitcoin and Ether trading launching H1 2026. 35 million brokerage clients about to get direct access. [NEWS]

* Standard Chartered exploring full takeover of Zodia Custody. A top-20 global bank potentially going all-in on digital asset custody. [NEWS]

* Paysafe and MoonPay partnered for crypto payments. Paysafe processes $167B annually. [NEWS]

* Swiss banks launched a CHF stablecoin sandbox. Seven banks including UBS. A consortium approach to national stablecoin issuance. [NEWS]

* Circle’s CPN Managed Payments went live. [RELEASE]

* Coinbase’s OCC trust charter received conditional approval. The largest US crypto exchange is becoming a nationally chartered trust bank. [NEWS]

Digital Assets and DeFi

* Ethereum Foundation completed its 70,000 ETH staking target. $93M staked. The Foundation is eating its own cooking. [NEWS]

* Ant Group / Anvita building AI agents on crypto payment rails. [NEWS]

* IMF warned that tokenization could amplify financial stability risks. Worth reading for the counterargument. [Report]

* Bitcoin quantum-resistant wallet prototype announced. [NEWS]

* Solana launched STRIDE framework after the $285M Drift hack. [NEWS]

* US Treasury launched cybersecurity threat-sharing for crypto firms. [NEWS]

* Morgan Stanley plans a private credit fund. [Link]

Our CEO Notes this week

If you're building infrastructure, allocating capital, or pricing the shift to always-on markets, this is the briefing your competitors already read on Monday.

That’s all for now, folks.

PRO Readers: Read our alpha insights below!

– Marc & Team

I don't think Washington has ever shipped this much crypto policy in a single week. Each one would normally be the headline.

* The US Labor Department proposed allowing Bitcoin in 401(k) plans, opening digital assets to $7.7 trillion in American retirement savings.

* US Congress advanced a payment stablecoin framework, pushing dollar-backed digital currencies closer to formal regulatory recognition.

* The Treasury published its first rule under the GENIUS Act. Under $10B, you stay with your state. Over it, you move to the OCC.

Other highlights we’re watching this week:

* U.S. Treasury publishes first GENIUS Act regulation

* Arizona opens $7.43B of pension money to crypto

* Franklin Templeton settles an acquisition in its own token

* Citadel-backed EDX Markets applies for US trust bank charter

* Moody’s rates first Bitcoin-backed $100M bond

and much more. Let’s jump in 👇

Top Boardroom Reads

* Stablecoins: What Strategic Choices for Europe (Banque de France)

* Making the Case for Tokenized Collateral (Nasdaq & The ValueExchange)

* Beyond Dollarization: The Rise of Local Currency Stablecoins (Visa & Dune Analytics)

* Tokenized Intraday Repo: Balance Sheet Optimization (Finadium & Broadridge)

* Global Economic Outlook 2026‑27: The Fog of War (Allianz Research)

* Stablecoin Payments at Scale (Artemis)

The Friday newsletter only scratches the surface. A lot more is going on that we’ll tell you in our PRO briefings.

Top Signals This Week

The $500B stablecoin rulebook

The U.S. Department of the Treasury on April 1 published its first regulation under the GENIUS Act, an 87-page proposed rule defining when state stablecoin regimes qualify as equivalent to the federal framework. Issuers under $10 billion can stay under state supervision if their state passes; above that line, they move to the OCC, which published its own 376-page rulemaking in February. The GENIUS Act takes effect by January 2027 at the latest. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: Three regulatory layers are now closing that gap at once: the GENIUS Act banned issuer-to-holder payments, the OCC added a rebuttable presumption targeting affiliate pass-throughs, and last week’s Senate CLARITY Act deal extends the ban to anything “economically equivalent to interest”. Every platform that built its stablecoin business around yield takes a hit: Circle fell 20% on the and Coinbase dropped 11% on the news. The banks got exactly what they lobbied for: the passive yield ban is now written into three concurrent rulemakings. Stablecoin issuance is heading toward $500 billion this year. How the Treasury draws the line between qualifying state regimes and federal oversight in the next 60 days shapes who gets to issue into that market.

🚀 Build credibility. Drive pipeline. Win in digital assets. We produce institutional-grade research that positions you as the authority in your category, then distribute it to 100,000+ decision-makers who act on what we publish.[let's talk →].

Arizona plugs pensions into the bitcoin reserve

Arizona’s SB1042 cleared the House Rules Committee, authorizing public retirement systems to allocate up to 10% of their portfolios into virtual currency, including through exchange-traded products or, notably, the federal Strategic Bitcoin Reserve for storage. The Arizona State Retirement System manages ~$50B and the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System holds ~$24.3B, putting the combined maximum crypto exposure at $7.43B from a single state. The bill passed the Senate on partisan lines and now sits on the House consent calendar. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: SB1042 is significant not because of the 10% ceiling but because it treats digital assets as an investable asset class for public pension systems. That is a category shift. New Hampshire’s HB 302 created a Bitcoin-only mandate; Texas’s SB 21 validated a full custody chain by routing $5M through BlackRock’s IBIT; SB1042 goes further by referencing the federal Strategic Bitcoin Reserve for storage, a state bill plugging directly into federal custody infrastructure. Every 2026 crypto regulation debate is about permission. Three states are already past it, building the operational plumbing for government-held digital assets before the BITCOIN Act reaches a vote.

Read our full CEO Notes👇

🚨 Want more intelligence and understand what this means for your institution? Subscribe to PRO below:

Franklin paid in its own token

Franklin Templeton acquired 250 Digital, a CoinFund spinoff with all of CoinFund’s liquid crypto strategies, to create a new unit called Franklin Crypto. The interesting part is the payment: Franklin used it’s BENJI tokens, the on-chain shares of its own U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX), yielding 3.58%, as deal currency. The deal closes Q2 2026, one week after Franklin partnered with Ondo Finance to tokenize five ETFs for 24/7 crypto wallet trading. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: This the first time a top-20 global asset manager has used a tokenized fund share to pay for a corporate acquisition.

Let’s unpack that: There are two ways to get blockchain infrastructure. You buy it, or you build it. Stripe paid $1.1 billion for Bridge. Mastercard paid $1.8 billion for BVNK. Franklin built its own. Benji runs on 10 public blockchains; it feeds into Canton Network’s collateral markets where HSBC, BNP Paribas, and Citadel Securities operate; it powers off-exchange collateral at Binance and enables stablecoin-to-MMF trading with Ripple and DBS. And now it works as deal currency. Crypto M&A hit $37 billion in 2025, but look at what every other major deal has in common: an incumbent paying billions for someone else’s plumbing. Franklin is the only one using its own. Issuance, settlement, collateral, distribution, corporate treasury, all on rails it built. Everyone else is still assembling.

Read our full CEO Notes👇

👉Subscribe to PRO for our our daily, institutional-grade analysis

Citadel wants a bank charter

EDX Markets applies for a national trust bank charter to provide institutional-only digital asset custody, settlement, and asset management under federal banking supervision. The exchange, backed by Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Charles Schwab filed with the OCC on March 25 to charter EDX Trust, National Association as a de novo national trust bank in Chicago, requesting full fiduciary powers to serve institutional clients exclusively through electronic APIs. The proposed entity would provide fiduciary custody of digital assets and stablecoins, riskless principal trading, and end-of-day net settlement, all separated from EDX’s existing order-matching platform; no branches, no retail services, no proprietary trading, no deposit-taking. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: Think about who’s behind EDX. Citadel Securities processes over a third of all US retail equity trades. Fidelity runs one of the largest custody operations on Earth. Charles Schwab clears for millions of brokerage accounts. These aren’t crypto tourists. These are the firms that built equity market structure. And they’re telling the OCC: we want to bring that same architecture to digital assets. Separate the custody from the trading. Put a federal trust bank in the middle. Run it the way stocks already work. The OCC is listening. The OCC has conditionally approved five digital asset firms since December, received at least 18 charter applications in 2025, and finalized an April 1 rule expanding what trust banks are allowed to do; Coinbase, which filed its own application in October, was not among those approved. Meanwhile, the Bank Policy Institute, which represents 40 of the biggest US lenders (JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, the usual names), is considering a lawsuit to block the entire charter wave. Citadel and Fidelity want the charter. JPMorgan’s lobby group wants to kill it. The custody war isn’t between crypto and banks anymore. It’s between banks.

Moody’s just priced bitcoin as collateral

Moody’s rates a $100 million bond backed entirely by Bitcoin, the first time a major credit agency has scored a bond where the only thing standing behind it is BTC. The bond is issued through New Hampshire’s state finance authority, but repayment comes solely from Bitcoin collateral, not taxpayer money. CleanSpark, a publicly traded Bitcoin miner, puts up $160 million in BTC (1.6x the bond’s value) held by BitGo; if Bitcoin’s price drops far enough, the whole thing gets liquidated automatically to pay investors back. Moody’s gave it a Ba2, two notches below investment grade, but rated it using the same framework it applies to traditional loan obligations. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: A major credit agency just published a working methodology for rating Bitcoin as bond collateral. Ba2 is speculative grade; the methodology is the real product. S&P got there first with Ledn’s BBB- Bitcoin-backed ABS in February, but that deal hit a 27% BTC drawdown and lost a quarter of its collateral to forced liquidation almost immediately. New Hampshire built toward this in steps: HB 302 authorized Bitcoin in the state treasury in May 2025, the BFA approved the bond in November, Moody’s rated it in March. Ba2 locks out pension funds, insurance general accounts, and most muni buyers, but Fitch has no comparable framework, and every conduit issuer in the country now has a template sitting on Moody’s website.

Other Signals

* The US Labor Dept proposes Bitcoin in 401(k) plans. Link

* Square enables Bitcoin payments for millions of merchants. Link

* Senate Banking Committee to mark up the CLARITY Act in April. Link

* S&P Dow Jones indices announce first tokenized index for onchain markets. Link

* SoFi announces 24/7 banking hub that blends traditional cash with crypto. Link

* Fed Vice Chair Barr calls for strong stablecoin oversight. Link

* US Congress advances payment stablecoin framework. Link

* StraitsX 40x stablecoin volume growth in SE Asia. Link

* CoinShares begins trading on Nasdaq via SPAC. Link

* HKMA Project Ensemble for wholesale CBDC. Link

Our CEO Notes this week

If you're building infrastructure, allocating capital, or pricing the shift to always-on markets, this is the briefing your competitors already read on Monday.

That’s all for now, folks.

PRO Readers: Read our alpha insights below!

– Marc & Team

Tuning in from DAS New York this week (which was much more institutional than last year). A few things that caught my eye:

* A bipartisan Senate deal on stablecoin yields finally broke months of gridlock on the Clarity Act (banks won).

* Both NYSE and Nasdaq announced tokenization partners this week, but they have very different ideas about what comes next.

Our other highlights this week:

* Franklin Templeton puts five ETFs on the blockchain

* Coinbase and Better bringing crypto collateral to mortgage market

* MoonPay launches open wallet standard for AI agents

and much more. Let’s jump in 👇

🎙️ This week we spoke with Mike Belshe — the man who co-wrote HTTP/2 and just IPO’d a crypto bank. 👇

Top Boardroom Reads

* Making the Case for Tokenized Collateral (Nasdaq & The ValueExchange)

* Stablecoins and the Future of Payments: Evidence from Financial Markets (IMF)

* A Cross‑Border Guide to the New Era of Stablecoin Regulation (Gibson Dunn)

* Tokenized Deposits: The Future of Money (RWA.io)

* The UAE Blockchain Ecosystem 2026 (Blockchain Centre Abu Dhabi & Binance)

* Stablecoin Payments: The Truth Behind the Numbers (BCG)

The Friday newsletter only scratches the surface. A lot more is going on that we’ll tell you in our PRO briefings.

Top Signals This Week

Franklin Templeton puts five ETFs on the blockchain

Franklin Templeton partners with Ondo Finance to tokenize five ETFs spanning U.S. equities, high-yield bonds, and gold. Ondo will purchase shares of the underlying ETFs and issue tokens that give holders rights to the return stream, not direct ownership of fund shares. The products trade 24/7 through crypto wallets, no brokerage account required, launching first across Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Latin America. U.S. availability depends on further regulatory clarity around on-chain distribution of registered funds. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: A top-ten global asset manager just outsourced tokenized distribution to a crypto-native platform. That's a first.

The structure tells you what they’re really doing. Ondo holds ETF shares in custody and issues a wrapper token. Counterparty risk sits with Ondo, not Franklin Templeton. In countries where directly tokenizing foreign fund shares is a regulatory headache, this is how you get around it. That is likely the point: in markets where direct tokenization of foreign fund shares faces heavy regulatory barriers, this wrapper is an interim access mechanism, especially as regulatory clarity continues to evolve in the U.S.

Be smart: The total on-chain tokenized stock market just crossed $1 billion; Ondo Global Markets alone holds over $700 million of that, commanding 60% market share.

Punchline: This deal is about reaching wallet-native investors across emerging markets who were never brokerage clients, and the local brokers, correspondent banks, and fund distributors who charged for that access are the ones getting disintermediated.

🚀 Build credibility. Drive pipeline. Win in digital assets. We produce institutional-grade research that positions you as the authority in your category, then distribute it to 100,000+ decision-makers who act on what we publish.[let's talk →].

Senate reaches stablecoin yield deal, unblocks crypto bill

Senators Tillis (R) and Alsobrooks (D) cut a deal on stablecoin yield after months of nothing happening. Here's what they agreed to: no passive yield on stablecoin balances. Nothing "economically equivalent to interest." But rewards tied to actual activity, transactions, loyalty, platform use, those stay legal. The SEC, CFTC, and Treasury get twelve months to figure out where to draw the line.

Also, the White House completed its review of a Labor Department rule that could formally permit digital assets inside the $10 trillion 401(k) market, a signal that the administration’s crypto-friendly posture is moving on multiple fronts simultaneously. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: The American Bankers Association argued that unregulated stablecoin yield could siphon $6.6 trillion in deposits, and the framework signals how much weight the banking lobby still carries across a $316 billion stablecoin market. Circle fell 20% in a single session, wiping $5.6 billion in market cap; Coinbase dropped 11%, with stablecoin revenue representing roughly 20% of its quarterly income. The passive yield ban would be the price crypto platforms pay for the rest of the bill to move forward. The Senate Banking Committee markup is targeted for late April, but Senator Bernie Moreno has warned: if the Clarity Act does not reach the Senate floor by May, crypto legislation risks going dark until after the midterm cycle.

Read our past coverage on Clarity Act and stablecoin bills👇

🚨 Want more intelligence and understand what this means for your institution? Subscribe to PRO below:

Nasdaq and NYSE bring crypto in-house, on different terms

Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange both moved to bring crypto infrastructure inside their core platforms this week. They picked different partners because they have different theories about what’s happening. Nasdaq integrated Talos‘s digital asset tools into Calypso, its risk and collateral system used by banks, hedge funds, and asset managers globally, targeting an estimated $35 billion in excess collateral stuck in non-interest-bearing accounts because crypto and traditional systems don’t talk to each other. NYSE named Securitize as the transfer agent for its planned Digital Trading Platform, a 24/7 venue for tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs with same-day settlement and stablecoin funding, targeting a late 2026 launch pending SEC and FINRA approval. [Nasdaq Release] [NYSE Release]

Why this matters: Nasdaq is retrofitting with Talos. Take what exists, add crypto to it. NYSE is building from scratch. NYSE is building something new from scratch with Securitize, a venue where actual shares, not derivatives or price trackers, get issued on-chain with full legal rights, settlement finality, and shareholder protections attached, as outlined in its Digital Trading Platform announcement. Both are betting that digital and traditional assets end up inside the same system. They just disagree about whether you upgrade the old one or start over. That disagreement is going to define market structure for the next ten years.tal and traditional assets converge inside the same system.

Read our past CEO notes on Nasdaq and NYSE, to understand where we are headed👇

👉Subscribe to PRO for our our daily, institutional-grade analysis

Fannie Mae will accept crypto-backed mortgages for the first time

Coinbase and Better just launched a product that lets homebuyers pledge BTC or USDC as collateral on a Fannie Mae-conforming mortgage without selling their crypto, triggering a capital gains event, or facing margin calls. Rates run 0.5 to 1.5 percentage points above a standard 30-year; if Bitcoin drops, mortgage terms do not change and no additional collateral is required. The only liquidation trigger is a 60-day payment delinquency, identical to a conventional mortgage. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: Pledge assets, borrow against them, never trigger a taxable event. Private bankers have done this forever. What's new is who gets access. Fannie Mae conforming standards backstop 25% of all U.S. single-family mortgage debt. This just opened to anyone with qualifying crypto. It didn't happen by accident. The SEC ruled stablecoins aren't securities in April 2025. FHFA told Fannie and Freddie to accept crypto reserves in June. JPMorgan opened BTC and ETH as loan collateral in October. CFTC approved crypto for cleared derivatives margin in December. Each step made the next one possible.

Punchline: When Fannie changes its underwriting standards, the entire industry follows. This isn’t some Miami fintech experimenting with crypto mortgages for the ultra-wealthy. This is the U.S. government’s mortgage infrastructure saying: crypto is real collateral.

MoonPay launches open wallet standard for AI agents

Three payment protocols for AI agents shipped in the past month month. Coinbase’s x402. Google’s Agent Payments Protocol. Stripe/Tempo’s Machine Payments Protocol.

All three assume agents have a wallet. None of them define how that wallet should work.

MoonPay built the missing piece and open-sourced it. The Open Wallet Standard lets AI agents hold value, sign transactions, and pay across eight blockchain families without exposing a private key. PayPal, OKX, Ripple, Circle, and the Ethereum, Solana, and TON foundations all contributed. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: Why this matters: Right now every team building AI agents solves the same wallet problem from scratch. Everyone rolls their own key management, their own signing logic, their own security model. None of it talks to anything else.

Punchline: MoonPay doesn’t charge for the standard. They don’t need to. If Open Wallet becomes the default, every agent that funds a wallet or bridges chains hits MoonPay’s on-ramp. They gave away the pipes to own the meter.

Read our past Coverage on AI agent payments👇

News Flash

* Basel Committee publishes first data on global banks’ crypto exposures. Link

* FSB flags crypto risks, outlines 2026 regulatory priorities. Link

* Tether hires a Big Four firm for the first full USDT reserves audit. Link

* BlackRock CEO Fink backs tokenization, cites ~$150B digital asset exposure. Link

* Invesco takes over Superstate’s $900M tokenized Treasury fund. Link

* Coinbase brings exchange data on-chain via Chainlink DataLink. Link

* Backed sunsets bTokens, shifts focus to xStocks tokenized equities. Link

* Ethereum rethinks the scaling roadmap amid AI and quantum pressures. Link

* Bitmine launches MAVAN, a US-based Ethereum validator network. Link

Our CEO Notes this week

If you're building infrastructure, allocating capital, or pricing the shift to always-on markets, this is the briefing your competitors already read on Monday.

That’s all for now, folks.

PRO Readers: Read our alpha insights below!

– Marc & Team

The SEC did something this week that people will look back on.

* They issued a 68-page joint interpretation on token classifications together with the CFTC, for the first time in 183 years of combined existence.

* Chairman Atkins proposed a principles-based framework, replacing stock-market checklists with broad standards like disclosure and investor protection.

* Director Moloney declared the end of the Howey Test for crypto, the 80-year-old standard used to classify tokens as securities, proposing a tailored registration path for digital assets instead.

Folks, let’s be real: If you've spent any time in crypto regulation, you know that these moves are a breakthrough.

Here are the highlights this week:

* SEC approves Nasdaq’s plan to trade tokenized securities.

* HSBC and Standard Chartered received Hong Kong’s first stablecoin licenses

* Mastercard agreed to acquire BVNK for 1.8 billion

* Figure launched private credit infrastructure on-chain with Apollo and Pantera

* ICE (NYSE’s parent) launched a private credit intelligence platform with Apollo as anchor partner.

* Morgan Stanley filed an amended S-1 for a spot Bitcoin ETF on NYSE Arca.

* Flow Traders launched a 24/7 OTC desk for tokenized assets, including Franklin Templeton’s BENJI and Tether Gold.

and much more. Let’s jump in 👇

🎙️ Bonus: We also spoke with SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce about crypto’s new rules, and she had some surprising things to say. “I apologize”, listen to the full conversation 👇

Top Boardroom Reads

* “I apologize”, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce on Crypto’s New Rules (51 Insights)

* Building the Path Towards Digital Asset Securities Operability (Clearstream / DTCC / Euroclear)

* Making the Case for Tokenized Collateral (Nasdaq & The ValueExchange)

* Tokenomics and Blockchain Fragmentation (BIS)

* State of tokenized Gold (Animoca brands)

* Paving the Way for a Future‑Ready, Integrated Financial Ecosystem(ECB)

The Friday newsletter only scratches the surface. A lot more is going on that we’ll tell you in our PRO briefings.

Top Signals This Week

SEC and CFTC jointly define what a security is, and what it isn’t

The SEC and CFTC issued a joint 68-page interpretive release (legal guidance) on March 17, setting out a five-part token taxonomy: digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, stablecoins, and digital securities. The release treats protocol staking, mining, and airdrops as non-securities activities when they do not involve a separate investment contract. The same day, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins previewed “Regulation Crypto Assets,” a forthcoming safe harbor (temporary exemption) proposal offering early-stage token projects up to four years and $5M in capital formation without full SEC registration. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: The Howey test now has an expiration date: the SEC formally recognizes that investment contracts can terminate, and a token does not remain a security forever once the network reaches maturity, clearing the path for DeFi protocols and VC funds that previously had no clean exit to secondary distribution. The infrastructure response is already visible: Mastercard is acquiring BVNK, and Standard Chartered and DBS are securing stablecoin licenses in Hong Kong. Every compliance team that blocked institutional exposure to crypto on securities grounds now has to update the memo.

Read our full CEO notes on this topic👇

🚀 Build credibility. Drive pipeline. Win in digital assets. We produce institutional-grade research that positions you as the authority in your category, then distribute it to 100,000+ decision-makers who act on what we publish.[let's talk →].

SEC approves Nasdaq’s plan to trade tokenized securities

The SEC on March 18 approved Nasdaq‘s rule change to let market participants settle trades in Russell 1000 stocks and ETFs tracking the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 as blockchain-based tokens, with settlement running through the DTC‘s tokenization pilot that received no-action relief (regulatory comfort letter) on December 11, 2025. Tokenized shares trade on the same order book as traditional shares, with the same ticker and CUSIP. Holders keep the same voting rights, dividends, and execution priority. First token-settled trades are not expected until Q3 2026 at the earliest. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: For years, the problem with crypto tokens was that once they got classified as securities, there was no way out. The Howey test was a roach motel. You checked in, you never left. The SEC just changed that. They formally said investment contracts can terminate. A token doesn’t stay a security forever once the network matures. That sounds technical but the consequences are huge. Every DeFi protocol and every VC fund that couldn’t figure out how to get to secondary distribution now has a path. You can already see the reaction. Mastercard is buying BVNK. Standard Chartered and DBS are locking down stablecoin licenses in Hong Kong. The institutions aren’t waiting to see how this plays out. They’re moving now.

Read our full CEO notes on Nasdaq and NYSE, to understand where we are headed👇

🚨 Want more intelligence and understand what this means for your institution? Subscribe to PRO below:

HSBC and Standard Chartered to receive Hong Kong's first stablecoin licenses

HSBC and a joint venture between Standard Chartered, Animoca Brands, and Hong Kong Telecommunications are expected to receive Hong Kong’s first stablecoin issuer licenses as early as March 24. The licenses fall under Hong Kong’s Stablecoin Ordinance, which took effect in August 2025 and requires all fiat-referenced stablecoin issuers to obtain HKMA approval, 1:1 high-quality liquid asset (HQLA) reserves, and T+1 par redemption (redeemable at face value within one business day). The HKMA is prioritizing institutions already authorized to issue physical banknotes. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: Beijing killed onshore RWA tokenization in February. Hong Kong then did something interesting: it gave the first stablecoin licenses to the banks that already print Hong Kong’s physical banknotes. That’s not a coincidence. It tells you exactly how seriously they’re treating this. When the same institution is trusted to print paper money AND issue digital money, stablecoins stop being a fintech category and become monetary infrastructure. Now add one detail: the HKD is pegged to the dollar. Which means HSBC and Standard Chartered are effectively issuing a dollar that runs on Chinese distribution rails. The people who still think of stablecoins as a crypto thing are going to have a bad year.

👉Subscribe to PRO for our our institutional-grade analysis that drops on Monday

Mastercard pays $1.8B for BVNK

Mastercard agreed to acquire BVNK, a UK-based stablecoin infrastructure company processing $30B in annualized volume across 130+ countries, for up to $1.8B. $300M is contingent on performance milestones. The deal is 2.4x BVNK‘s $750M Series B valuation from December 2024. Coinbase entered exclusivity at roughly $2B in late 2025 and walked. Over the past 18 months, Mastercard had been steadily building its stablecoin presence partnering with MoonPay, SoFi, Fiserv, and Chainlink, and launching an 85-company Crypto Partner Program in March 2026. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: In just over a year:

* Stripe paid $1.1B for Bridge in February 2025.

* MoonPay paid $100M+ for Iron a month later.

* Mastercard just paid $1.8B for BVNK in March 2026. Every transaction prices stablecoin infrastructure higher than the last.

Whoever controls the fiat-to-stablecoin conversion layer at enterprise scale owns the toll booth on a corridor where stablecoin transfers on public blockchains hit $27.6 trillion in 2024, more than Visa and Mastercard‘s combined annual card volume. Instead of card networks competing with stablecoins, they are acquiring their way onto the new rails before they get disintermediated. Simple.

Read our full CEO notes on this topic👇

PayPal expands PYUSD to 70 markets

PayPal made its dollar-backed stablecoin, PYUSD, available across 70 markets spanning Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America, adding 68 countries in a single release after operating exclusively in the U.S. and U.K. since the token’s August 2023 launch. The first wave skews toward remittance-heavy corridors. Users earn 4% annually in the U.S. on holdings and can convert to local currency on withdrawal. PYUSD is issued by Paxos Trust Company, a federally chartered trust company regulated by the OCC, making it the largest dollar stablecoin from a U.S. federally supervised issuer to go global. Its market cap has grown from under $500M in early 2025 to roughly $4.1B. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: Most stablecoin issuers have the token but not the distribution. PayPal has both: 439M active accounts, 35M merchants, and now 70 countries switched on in one go. Cross-border fees still average 6.49% worldwide. PayPal made it free to send dollars to any PayPal wallet, with local-currency conversion at the other end. Western Union is still piloting stablecoin settlement in select corridors. MoneyGram is experimenting. The PYUSDx framework, launched in February 2026 with MoonPay and M0, goes one step further: it lets any app issue its own branded stablecoin on top of PYUSD reserves, turning PayPal from a payment company into a stablecoin infrastructure provider.

Stripe is building network for AI agents

On March 18, 2026, Stripe and Tempo co-released the Machine Payments Protocol (MPP), an open specification that lets AI agents request, authorize, and settle payments in milliseconds without human approval at checkout. Tempo’s simultaneously launched mainnet, backed by $500 million from Paradigm and Thrive Capital at a $5 billion valuation, settles the stablecoin leg with sub-second finality at 100,000-plus TPS. MPP accepts both stablecoins and fiat through a single integration, with Visa, Mastercard, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Shopify all listed as design partners on the specification. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: Most agent payment protocols pick a lane: Coinbase’s x402 is crypto-native, Mastercard’s Agent Pay is card-native. Stripe is the only company right now that checks all the boxes: crypto rail, fiat rail, merchant base, AI protocol (both payment rails and commerce), Web3 interface (Privy), AI billing (Metronome), trust bank charter (Bridge) and blockchain (Tempo). It’s Stripe’s bid to become the default financial infrastructure for the agent economy, the same way it became the default for human e-commerce. This will compound if Stripe goes public in 2026.

Read our past CEO notes on Stripe👇

News Flash

* US Senator Lummis signals compromise on crypto market structure bill. Link

* Coinbase tokenizes its Bitcoin Yield Fund on Base with Apex Group. Link

* S&P licenses S&P 500 to Trade[XYZ] for perpetual contracts on Hyperliquid. Link

* Anchorage launches institutional collateral management on its Atlas network. Link

* Vietnam to license domestic crypto exchanges and block offshore platforms. Link

* Sygnum’s off-exchange custody surpasses $1B in assets. Link

* LayerZero and Centrifuge partner for omnichain RWA distribution. Link

* Ironlight raises $21M Series A for tokenized securities infra.Link

Our CEO Notes this week

If you're building infrastructure, allocating capital, or pricing the shift to always-on markets, this is the briefing your competitors already read on Monday.

That’s all for now, folks.

PRO Readers: Read our alpha insights below!

– Marc & Team

NYSE picked OKX. Nasdaq picked Kraken. America's two largest stock exchanges are now both building tokenized equities through crypto-native settlement partners, and neither picked a bank.

Also this week, the SEC and CFTC signed a historic MOU to coordinate on digital asset oversight, with Chairman Atkins pushing for a unified framework including joint product reviews.

Here are our highlights this week:

* Nasdaq to build tokenized equities with Kraken

* ECB launches tokenization roadmap

* DATs’ shopping spree: BitMine bought 60,976 ETH (~$120M), while Strategy added 17,994 BTC ($1.3B).

* The CLARITY Act is still stuck over stablecoin yield, but Senators are crafting a compromise tying rewards to transaction activity. Polymarket odds of passage sit at 69%.

* Aon (one of the world’s largest insurance brokers) completed the first stablecoin insurance premium payment.

* ~50% of US spot Solana ETF assets are now held by institutional investors.

* USDT and USDC control 84% of a $312 billion stablecoin market. This week the ECB said: enough. Pontes launches Q3 2026, and it’s designed to make sure Europe’s tokenized markets settle in euros, not dollars.

and much more. Let’s jump in 👇

Top Boardroom Reads

* Securitize: A Deep Dive into Tokenized Products (Securitize)

* The Stablecoin Yield Debate (Congressional Research Service)

* Stablecoin Shocks (IMF)

* DLT Tokenisation in Financial Services (Central Bank of Ireland)

* The Next Era of Payments (KPMG)

The Friday newsletter only scratches the surface. A lot more is going on that we’ll tell you in our PRO briefings.

Top Signals This Week

Nasdaq to build tokenized equities

Payward, Kraken’s parent company, has partnered with Nasdaq to build an equities gateway connecting regulated tokenized equity markets with permissionless blockchain networks. The gateway is powered by Kraken’s xStocks framework, which has surpassed $25 billion in total transaction volume, including $4 billion settled on-chain since launching less than a year ago. Payward will serve as the primary settlement layer for Nasdaq’s upcoming equity token design, which preserves issuer control, regulatory compliance, and shareholder rights, targeting H1 2027 launch. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: NYSE chose OKX. Nasdaq chose Kraken. The two largest U.S. exchange operators are now both building tokenized equities through crypto-native settlement partners, NYSE targeting H2 2026 via OKX’s120 million users, Nasdaq targeting H1 2027 via xStocks’ $25 billion in live volume. Both follow the SEC’s January 2026 staff statement classifying tokenized equities the same as regular securities under federal law. The synthetic equity products already circulating on permissionless chains now need to be upgraded.

Read our full CEO notes on this topic👇

🚀 Build credibility. Drive pipeline. Win in digital assets. We produce institutional-grade research that positions you as the authority in your category, then distribute it to 100,000+ decision-makers who act on what we publish.[let's talk →].

ECB launches roadmap to build euro-anchored tokenized markets

The European Central Bank published the Appia roadmap on March 11, a dual-track initiative to build Europe’s tokenized wholesale financial markets entirely around central bank euro settlement. Track one, Pontes, is a DLT-based settlement layer connecting blockchain platforms to Eurosystem’s TARGET Services, launching Q3 2026. Track two, Appia, is the long-term ecosystem framework targeting a full blueprint by 2028. Starting March 30, the ECB will also accept DLT-issued securities as eligible collateral for central bank refinancing, first for the eurozone. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: The vast majority of stablecoin activity in Europe is USD-denominated. The ECB is building sovereign tokenized rails before dollar settlement becomes Europe’s default, and Pontes launching in Q3 2026 gives it a two-year head start as Europe’s only central bank settlement layer before the digital euro retail pilot begins H2 2027. The sequencing makes sense: MiCA set the regulatory frame, 12 European banks formed Qivalis, seeking EMI authorization from the Dutch Central Bank, to launch a euro stablecoin by H2 2026. Now Pontes gives them settlement rails. USDT and USDC control 84% of a $312 billion stablecoin market. This is the ECB’s counterbalance.

Listen to our podcast with Sveinn Valfells, to understand the European market 👇

🚨 Want more intelligence and understand what this means for your institution? Subscribe to PRO below:

Citi issues first digitally native structured note on Euroclear’s D-FMI platform

Citi has issued its first digitally native structured note on Euroclear’s D-FMI DLT platform, the first structured note and the first wealth management product issued on the platform. The note settles on T+0, carries a standard ISIN, and is immediately accessible to the wider market through Euroclear’s existing network of OTC desks, exchanges, and MTFs. Citigroup Global Markets Funding Luxembourg is the issuer, with Citi acting as issuing and paying agent. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: Euroclear’s D-FMI settles cross-border transactions across 50 markets and 2,000+ participants, a structured note issued here gets a standard ISIN on day one and plugs into the same OTC, exchange, and MTF rails institutional investors already use. The World Bank, AIIB, Emirates NBD, Doha Bank, İşbank, and Akbank have pushed total D-FMI issuance past EUR 1.2 billion. What the ECB’s Pontes is building as public infrastructure for central bank euro settlement, Euroclear D-FMI already operates as private infrastructure for commercial bank money. The standalone tokenization platforms built on separate chains are still disconnected from secondary market infrastructure. Euroclear just showed the path those assets eventually need to take.

👉Subscribe to PRO for our our institutional-grade analysis that drops on Monday

Florida passes first state-level stablecoin payment bill

The Florida legislature has passed SB 1568, creating a pilot program that allows state fees, licensing, registration, applications, renewals, to be paid using approved stablecoins. The House approved the bill 108–3 on March 11, sending it to Governor DeSantis for signature. Only GENIUS Act-compliant issuers with reserves above $1 billion qualify. If signed, Florida becomes the first state in the nation to accept stablecoin as payment for government fees. [BILL]

Why this matters: The GENIUS Act created the federal framework. Florida is the first state to build on top of it. The bill references GENIUS Act definitions directly, it doesn’t create a parallel regime, it plugs into the federal one. That’s the template other states will copy. The $1 billion reserve threshold locks out smaller issuers and funnels state payment flow through Circle and Tether. In practice, two companies just got a government distribution channel no competitor can access and no other state offers. The bill also authorizes the Department to conduct examinations and investigations of permitted issuers, Florida isn’t just accepting stablecoins, it’s building stablecoin regulatory infrastructure. Federal framework, federal rulemaking, state adoption, a full regulatory stack materializing in under 12 months.

Revolut secures full UK banking license

Revolut received full UK banking authorization from the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority on March 11, exiting the mobilization phase that had capped its total deposits at £50,000 since July 2024. The license allows Revolut Bank UK Ltd to offer lending, deposit accounts with FSCS protection up to £120,000, and full retail and business banking to its 13 million UK customers. Revolut, valued at $75 billion, holds 70 million customers across 40+ markets. One week earlier, it filed for a U.S. national bank charter with the OCC and FDIC.[RELEASE]

Why this matters: Revolut now holds banking licenses in the EU, the UK, and has filed for a U.S. national charter, lending in one, deposits in another, direct Fedwire and ACH access pending in the third. The FCA selected Revolut for its stablecoin regulatory sandbox in February, one of four firms chosen from 20 applicants. Banking license plus stablecoin issuance plus crypto trading is the full stack from one entity. The U.S. filing landed on an OCC pipeline that conditionally approved Circle, Ripple, Paxos, Fidelity, and BitGo for national trust charters in December.

Be smart: Revolut is the first to seek a full-service charter, not just a trust or custody wrapper. Morgan Stanley is building into crypto from the bank side. Revolut is building into banking from the crypto side. Same stack, opposite direction.

News Flash

* Mastercard launches Program to connect crypto payments with global banking. Link

* HSBC, Standard Chartered to Get Stablecoin Licenses in Hong Kong. Link

* ECB unveils tokenized finance roadmap for EU autonomy. Link

* SEC and CFTC sign MOU on digital asset regulation. Link

* Ripple launches $750M buyback at $50B valuation. Link

* US Senators negotiate stablecoin yield compromise for crypto bill. Link

* Luxembourg's Wealth Fund (FSIL) has allocated 1% of its portfolio to Bitcoin. Link

* SEC outlines approach to fund tokenization and crypto custody. Link

* Ethereum Foundation tests DVT-lite with 72,000 ETH. Link

* SEC Chairman pushes for unified SEC-CFTC crypto framework. Link

* Bitmine reports $10.3B in crypto holdings including 4.5M ETH. Link

* IMF flags global economic risks from Middle East conflict. Link

Our CEO Notes this week

If you're building infrastructure, allocating capital, or pricing the shift to always-on markets, this is the briefing your competitors already read on Monday.

That’s all for now, folks.

PRO Readers: Read our alpha insights below!

– Marc & Team

The SEC submitted a proposal outlining how securities laws apply to crypto. This means: SEC won’t wait for Congress. And Washington is betting on private stablecoins and regulated crypto. [SEC] More on that below.

Here are our highlights this week:

* ICE (NYSE’s parent) invested in OKX at a $25 billion valuation, with plans to let OKX users trade tokenized NYSE-listed stocks on-chain by H2 2026. [RELEASE]

* We sat down with the man responsible for this. Watch our interview here.

* Morgan Stanley (AUM: $7T) applied for a crypto broker-dealer license, moving to offer direct BTC, ETH, and SOL trading to its E-Trade users through ZeroHash. [FILLING]

* Kraken became the first digital asset bank to receive a Federal Reserve master account. This is historic. [RELEASE]

* Five US regional banks (Huntington, First Horizon, M&T, KeyCorp, and Old National) are building “Cari,” a shared tokenized deposit network targeting launch by Q4 2026. [RELEASE]

* Stripe is not buying PayPal. PayPal officially denied being in sale talks, and its stock dropped after the denial, reversing the initial 7% pop.

* Mastercard processes 160 billion transactions a year. Now it’s letting AI agents spend that money for you. [RELEASE]

Let’s jump in 👇

Top Boardroom Reads

* Podcast with Michael Howell, the Godfather of liquidity (51)

* Podcast with Michael Blaugrund, Head of Strategic Initiatives at ICE (51)

* Stablecoins in Payments: What the Raw Transaction Numbers Miss (McKinsey)

* Global FX Outlook — March 2026 (Convera)

* Monetary Sovereignty in the Age of Stablecoins (Oliver Wyman)

* Building the Path Towards Digital Asset Securities Interoperability (DTCC / Clearstream / Euroclear / BCG)

* 2026: The Invisible Revolution (VeradiVerdict / Pantera Capital)

* Targeted Report on Stablecoins and Unhosted Wallets (FATF)

* Ten Global Insights for Leaders (Citi)

The Friday newsletter only scratches the surface. A lot more is going on that we’ll tell you in our PRO briefings.

Top Signals This Week

ICE (NYSE’s parent) invests in OKX at a $25B valuation

Intercontinental Exchange, NYSE's parent company, has taken a minority stake in OKX, valuing the crypto exchange at $25 billion. ICE invested roughly $200 million, secured a board seat, and licensed OKX's spot crypto prices to launch U.S.-regulated futures contracts. In return, OKX's 120 million users gain access to ICE's futures markets and NYSE tokenized equities, pending regulatory approval. OKB surged over 35% on the news. [RELEASE]Why this matters: This is ICE's third major crypto infrastructure move in four months — it's buying infrastructure, piece by piece. Polymarket gave it a data layer it can license into derivatives pricing. The BNY and Citi partnership locked in clearing and settlement. OKX adds distribution: 120 million crypto users who will get access to NYSE tokenized equities by H2 2026. The business model is straightforward, licensing OKX's spot crypto prices to launch regulated U.S. futures, the same data-licensing playbook ICE has run for 20 years. It now controls the exchange, the clearing houses, the data pipes, the prediction layer, and the crypto user base.

Listen to our podcast with Michael Blaugrund, VP at ICE👇

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Kraken receive Federal reserve master account

Kraken Financial, Kraken’s Wyoming-chartered bank, has become the first digital asset company in U.S. history to receive a Federal Reserve master account, granted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City on March 4, 2026, after a 5.5-year regulatory process. The account is a limited-purpose Tier 3 structure: Kraken must hold 100% reserves, earns no interest on deposits, and has no access to the Fed’s emergency lending window. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: With this approval, Kraken settles directly on the Fed’s balance sheet in real time, no intermediaries, no holds, full U.S. government-backed finality. That closes the last major gap between crypto and traditional finance settlement. BNY Mellon and State Street‘s institutional pitch was built on exclusive Fed rail access, that exclusivity just ended. Timing matters too: this lands right before Kraken’s IPO, and a Fed master account is one of the most powerful things you can put in an S-1.

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Morgan Stanley applies for a crypto broker-dealer license

Morgan Stanley has applied for a crypto broker-dealer license with the SEC, moving to offer direct BTC, ETH, and SOL trading to its E-Trade users through ZeroHash as the backend settlement layer. This follows the bank’s earlier OCC filing to create Morgan Stanley Digital Trust, a federally chartered national trust bank focused on crypto custody. [FILLING]

Why this matters: Over the past six months,Morgan Stanley has filed for Bitcoin and Solana ETFs, hired its first Head of Digital Asset Strategy, applied for a crypto trust charter throughMorgan Stanley Digital Trust for custody, and updated its Investment Committee guidance to recommend 2-4% crypto allocations to its 16,000 financial advisors. The broker-dealer license connects it all: custody via the trust charter, trading viaE-Trade andZeroHash, product access via the ETFs, and distribution through the advisory network. These two filings alone, a trust charter for custody and a broker-dealer license for spot trading, gives Morgan Stanley the full client stack in crypto, with E-Trade’s retail base as the distribution engine.

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US regional banks launch “Cari” tokenized deposit network

Five U.S. regional banks, Huntington Bancshares, First Horizon, M&T Bank, KeyCorp, and Old National Bancorp have formed a consortium to build Cari Network, a permissioned blockchain platform for tokenized deposits. Led by former U.S. Comptroller of the Currency Gene Ludwig, the network targets an MVP in March, a pilot in Q3, and full customer rollout in Q4 2026. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: BlackRock, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan all ran private and permissioned blockchain experiments first, then graduated to public chains like Ethereum and Solana for live products, with BlackRock’s BUIDL fund and Franklin Templeton’s BENJI being the clearest examples. The regional banks building Cari on a permissioned network today may be on the same trajectory. With the GENIUS Act regulatory clarity may be exactly what pushes regional banks to eventually move from permissioned networks to public blockchains.

Santander and Mastercard complete Europe’s first AI agent payment

On March 2, Banco Santander and Mastercard completed Europe’s first live payment executed entirely by an AI agent inside a regulated bank, on real rails, with real money. The AI agent acted within rules set in advance by the user — a spending limit, approved merchant types, and a time window — completing the purchase without any human involvement at checkout. DBS in Singapore and Commonwealth Bank of Australia have run similar pilots under both Visa and Mastercard. [RELEASE] Why this matters: AI agents are becoming a new buyer class, and the $5 trillion checkout is being rebuilt around them. Card rails settling in 3–5 days can’t support machine-speed transactions, making stablecoins the natural settlement layer and Mastercard is already there, enabling stablecoin spending at 150M+ merchant locations via Circle, MetaMask, and OKX. The real stakes sit in the standards battle: Stripe and OpenAI back one protocol, while Google, Visa, Shopify, and Walmart back a rival open standard — and whoever wins controls how $3T–$5T in annual agent-driven commerce gets routed, discovered, and settled.

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News Flash

* BBVA Joins Banking Consortium to Issue European Stablecoin. Link

* Bitcoin ETFs inflows for first time in a month. Link

* Rumours HK entity behind the crypto dump. Link

* Hong Kong proceeds with stablecoin plans despite Beijing’s reservations. Link

* Approval grant to launch first UAE dirham-backed stablecoin DDSC. Link

* Chainlink to participate in the Bank of England’s Synchronisation Lab. Link

* China to ban RWA tokenisation. Link

* Bithumb puts South Korea regulators on alert. Link

Our CEO Notes this week

CEO Notes for PRO readers covers why the Kraken Fed master account changes the custodian pecking order for every allocator running an RFP right now, and what the ICE-OKX deal signals about which public chain wins the tokenized equities race. If you're making infrastructure or allocation decisions in the next 6 months, this is the briefing your competitors are already reading.

That’s all for now, folks.

PRO Readers: Read our alpha insights below!

– Marc & Team

The US stablecoin regulation is maturing. The OCC just proposed new rules to put guardrails around stablecoins (digital money tied to the U.S. dollar), following the GENIUS Act that passed last year. The rules cover everything from who can issue them to how they must be backed and managed. [RELEASE]

👉 Join the 51 live session with SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce on March 6, 3pm EST. Spots are limited!

Other things we watched this week…

* Digital asset treasury companies bought the dip: BitMine bought 51,162 ETH (~$100M), while Strategy added 592 BTC ($39.8M), and American Bitcoin (Eric Trump’s company) added 392 BTC ($25M).

* Adoption: Meta is reportedly exploring stablecoin integration for its 3B+ users. BNP Paribas (largest bank in Europe) launches a tokenized MMF on Ethereum.

* Circle reported strong Q4 results, with revenue up 77% year over year and USDC circulation reaching $75.3B, a 72% increase. On the news, its stock jumped over 20%, indicating that institutions are bullish, even as the broader crypto markets remain fearful.

* The UK has been slow on stablecoin innovation, but the FCA is taking its first steps — it selected four firms, Monee Finance, ReStabilise, Revolut, and VVTX, to pilot stablecoin development in its Regulatory Sandbox.

Our 2026 Outlook is live. Inside you’ll find: A clearer read on what moved markets in 2025, where the market is headed and our highest conviction calls for 2026.

Our highlights this week:

* Stripe weighs PayPal acquisition

* Meta is exploring stablecoin payments integration

* Circle posts strong Q4 revenue growth

* BNP Paribas launches a tokenised MMF on Ethereum

* Ethereum team outlines 2026 roadmap

Let’s jump in 👇

🚀 A lot more is going on that we’ll tell you in our PRO briefings.

If you're an institutional professional making decisions in this space, you're flying blind without PRO. 35k+ executives read us every single week.And they don't just skim headlines — they use our intelligence to make actual decisions.

Top Boardroom Reads

* 2025 Outlook: The End of Crypto Ambiguity (51 Insights)

* Stablecoins in payments: What the raw transaction numbers miss (McKinsey )​

* McKinsey’s State of Organizations (McKinsey)​

* Stablecoin Utility Report 2026 (BVNK)

* Building Permissionless Neobanks (Pantera Capital)​

* Stablecoin Compliance and the GENIUS Act (Oliver Wyman)

* ESMA: AI adoption in securities markets (ESMA)

* Tokenized Gold & RWAs (Research paper)

Top Signals This Week

Stripe weighs PayPal acquisition

Stripe is reportedly weighing an acquisition of PayPal or some of its key assets, in talks that remain preliminary and may never result in a deal. The leak landed just as Stripe’s own valuation jumped to about $159B in a secondary sale. PayPal, by contrast, lost roughly a third of its value in 2025, currently being valued around $43B. Operationally, PayPal has been missing earnings expectations and losing market share to Apple Pay and Google Pay. According to the reports, possibilities range from a full takeover of PayPal Holdings to a more surgical deal for assets such as Braintree, its merchant acquiring and gateway unit, or Venmo, its consumer P2P wallet. [NEWS]

Why this matters: Stripe already dominates online payment processing for businesses, while PayPal brings more than 430M active accounts and availability in over 200 markets worldwide, along with PYUSD, its own dollar-backed stablecoin that has grown to a $4.1B market cap, making it already the 6th largest stablecoin globally. Folding that consumer network and native stablecoin into Stripe’s stack, and pairing it with Tempo, a payments-focused L1 blockchain incubated by Stripe, and Bridge (Stripe’s stablecoin platform that recently secured a conditional OCC national trust charter) would dramatically accelerate Stripe’s push into consumer finance and stablecoin payments. This positions Stripe to become a dominant stablecoin issuer and puts it on more equal footing with today’s leaders, Circle and Tether.

🔒 PRO Insight:

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Meta exploring stablecoin payments integration

Meta is reportedly testing stablecoin payments integration into WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook, instead of launching its own token like Libra/Diem. It is planning to plug into existing stablecoins under the new U.S. GENIUS Act framework. Stripe is widely seen as the frontrunner for infrastructure, a natural fit given that CEO Patrick Collison already sits on Meta’s board. [NEWS]

What they are saying: Meta spokesman Andy Stone in a post on X. “This is about enabling people and businesses to make payments on our platforms using their preferred method”. (embed tweet on substack)

Why this matters: Social platforms are quietly becoming the next payments infrastructure. Elon Musk has been talking about integrating payments into X (Twitter), and Telegram has already integrated in‑app crypto payments. But Meta is a different scale entirely. With over 3B users across its apps individually, and already testing business payments in markets like Brazil and India via WhatsApp, Meta has both the distribution and the on‑ramp. If it integrates stablecoins at scale, it can move billions in payment volume off legacy card networks that charge 2–3% fees to near zero — and bring billions of people onto blockchain rails without them ever knowing it.

Circle posts strong Q4 revenue growth

Circle reported strong Q4 2025 numbers: USDC circulation rose 72% year‑on‑year to $75.3B, with quarterly on‑chain volume up 247% to $11.9T. Full‑year revenue and reserve income grew 64% to $2.7B. Circle generated $582M of cash‑style operating profit for the full year, but still reported a $70M accounting loss because it had to book $424M of stock‑based pay linked to its IPO. Meanwhile, EURC circulation grew 284% year‑on‑year to €310M, making it the leading euro‑denominated pledged stablecoin. [REPORT]

Key trends: USDC’s market share grew about 3% to ~25% while Tether fell 6% to ~62%, and USDC now accounts for roughly 47% of stablecoin transaction volume, signaling higher real usage than USDT. Other revenue grew 625% to $110M (from a near‑zero base), with management projected $150–170M for FY2026.

Why this matters: USDC’s market share is growing while Tether is losing ground, and Circle’s business is diversifying beyond being a pure interest-rate proxy. With Arc mainnet on track for 2026 — backed by strong testnet usage of 166M+ transactions — Circle is positioning USDC as the native payment layer for AI agent transactions. Circle’s early-mover advantage in agentic payments could be the most underappreciated part of this story.

🔒 PRO Insight:

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BNP Paribas launches a tokenized MMF on Ethereum

On February 19, 2026, BNP Paribas Asset Management issued a tokenized share class of an existing French-domiciled MMF on Ethereum. This made it the first major European bank to launch a regulated MMF on a public blockchain. The entire fund lifecycle; issuance, custody, dealing, and settlement is controlled in-house. No major competitor has demonstrated this level of vertical integration on a public chain. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: BNP Paribas timed this carefully. MiCA is now fully in place across the EU, with its Title V securities rules launching in mid-2026. This is when banks need the infrastructure to shift from pilots to large-scale production. BNP Paribas Asset Management, Securities Services, and CIB’s AssetFoundry are designed to meet the complete needs of European institutions. This setup allows them to plug in and scale quickly to compete with US $10.84B tokenized funds globally.

Ethereum team outlines 2026 roadmap

On February 18, 2026, the Ethereum Foundation published its 2026 protocol priorities: three big themes — Scale (increase transaction throughput), UX (make wallets behave like normal bank apps), and Harden the L1 (security and censorship resistance as Ethereum carries more real assets), with two major upgrades, Glamsterdam and Hegotá, planned across the year. Vitalik also published a quantum resistance roadmap this week. Noting that Quantum computers’ risk of breaking cryptography aren’t here yet — but Ethereum is engineering for that future now, while the window is still open. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: Over the past year, activity has moved away from Ethereum, with speed and low fees driving the shift. Retail users in particular moved to Solana, Base, and BNB Chain. But with the roadmap now focused on making L1 itself faster and cheaper, both retail and institutional activity have a reason to migrate back. For institutions, Ethereum still commands the deepest liquidity in crypto —$164B stablecoins,$55B TVL, and the broadest custody infrastructure.

Listen to our podcast with Joseph Lubin👇

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News Flash

* MetaMask and Mastercard launch crypto cards in the United States. Link

* ETHZilla rebranded to Forum in strategic evolution toward RWA tokenization. Link

* IMF endorses US crypto regulatory framework in 2026 Article IV. Link

* Progmat migrates $2B+ of its tokenized securities to Avalanche. Link

* Japan’s SBI launches ¥10B ($64.5M) tokenized bond on ibet for retail investors. Link

* Bitwise acquires Chorus One in a $2.2B staking expansion. Link

* World Bank’s IFC invests $40M in Zetrix AI to expand blockchain infrastructure. Link

* Crypto exchange HashKey launches RWA issuance for institutions. Link

* BitGo secured a pivotal role to issue FYUSD stablecoin. Link

* Tether assists the US DOJ in seizing $61M USDT linked to fraud. Link

That’s all for now, folks.

This quarter we've been deep in competitive intelligence for two top-10 asset managers. If your team needs similar support, please contact me at marc@fiftyone.xyz.

– Marc & Team

More feedback? Reply to this email.

Here's where we are:

* BTC is holding around $67K with the broader market steady near ~$2.3T. Polymarket odds for BTC reaching up $75K in February sit at 15%.

* Institutions kept averaging into the drawdown: BitMine bought 45,759 ETH ($90M), while Strategy added 2,486 BTC ($168M).

* Now, DeFi had an interesting week. Strong announcements (BlackRock x Uniswap, Apollo x Morpho), but the sector hasn’t seen a meaningful bid outside of MORPHO itself, which is up ~37% on the week. So we're looking at positive catalysts, but the market isn't rewarding the sector broadly yet. Keep that in mind.

* Onchain infrastructure keeps growing regardless of price action. This is what I always tell people to watch. Hyperliquid is doing ~$5B in daily perp volume with ~$5B in open interest. More than Coinbase’s. Prediction markets are holding strong too: Polymarket and Kalshi combined for over $2.4B in weekly volume, with monthly notional staying above $13B even outside election cycles.

So the setup right now? Regulatory clarity advancing, protocols shipping, price sideways. That’s where we are.

Our highlights this week:

* Stripe-owned Bridge secured conditional OCC [RELEASE]

* BVNK secures MiCA Licence in Malta [RELEASE]

* SEC’s new rule is bullish for stablecoins

* Apollo bets on on-chain lending via Morpho

* Citi completes a tokenization PoC on Solana

* Kraken Plugs Into Wall Street’s Chat Network

Let’s jump in 👇

🚀 A lot more is going on that we’ll tell you in our PRO briefings.

If you're an institutional professional making decisions in this space, you're flying blind without PRO. 35k+ executives read us every single week.And they don't just skim headlines — they use our intelligence to make actual decisions.

Top Boardroom Reads

* Crypto Asset Custody Basics for Retail Investors (U.S. SEC)

* Everything is Market (Jesse Walden)

* How treasury innovation drives better business outcomes (Adyen and BCG)

* Stablecoins vs. Tokenized Deposits: The Narrow Banking Debate Revisited (FRB of NY)

* Tokenised Money: Use Cases, Interoperability and Regulation (CCAF)

* Stablecoin Utility Report 2026 (BVNK)

* Stablecoins: The Bridge Between Traditional Finance and Digital Assets (KPMG)

Top Signals This Week

Regulatory progress

SEC staff dropped the net-capital haircut on payment stablecoins from 100% to just 2%, bringing them in line with money-market funds. That’s a big deal for broker-dealers — it removes a major barrier to actually holding stablecoins on their books. Commissioner Peirce called the old 100% charge “unnecessarily punitive.” [Peirce statement]

On top of that, the White House has set a March 1 deadline to break the stablecoin-yield impasse that’s stalling the CLARITY Act. A third closed-door session between banks and crypto reps went down Thursday — the White House signaled limited rewards will stay in the next draft, and banks are working on compromise language, but still no handshake. [CoinDesk coverage]

Bridge wins OCC approval for a national trust bank

On February 12, 2026, Stripe-owned stablecoin platform Bridge received conditional approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency(OCC) to establish a federally chartered national trust bank. If the charter is finalized, Bridge will be able to custody digital assets, issue stablecoins, and manage their reserves under direct federal oversight across all 50 United States. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: Stripe is the dominant global payments infrastructure provider processing $1.4 trillion in 2024 (roughly 1.3% of global GDP), embedded in over a million live businesses worldwide. It is now building Tempo, a purpose-built blockchain designed specifically for payments, and if Bridge secures full OCC approval, Stripe will have the federal license to issue its own stablecoin positioning it as a credible challenger to USDT ($184B market cap) and USDC ($73B market cap), backed not by a crypto-native startup but by the company already moving more money annually than most nations’ GDP.

🔒 PRO Insight:

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Citi completes a tokenization PoC on Solana

On February 13, 2026, Citigroup completed a proof of concept (PoC) tokenizing a bill of exchange on the Solana blockchain through its Trade and Working Capital Solutions division, working with PwC and the Solana Foundation. The pilot simulated the full lifecycle of the instrument using synthetic data: issuance, financing, distribution, and settlement. By converting the bill into a digital token, the bank embedded payment amounts, counterparties, and maturity dates directly into the asset’s code. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: Tokenization unlocks two structural shifts: fractionalization turns illiquid trade finance instruments into tradable tokens, opening a projected $24 trillion secondary market and letting banks optimize RWAs by offloading portions to non-bank investors; and atomic settlement on Solana kills the T+2 window entirely, eliminating counterparty risk and enabling just-in-time funding where cash moves at transaction completion, not days later.

🔒 PRO Insight:

Apollo bets on on-chain lending via Morpho

On February 13, the Morpho Association announced a cooperation agreement with Apollo. The deal: Apollo may acquire up to 90 million MORPHO tokens — 9% of total supply over a 48-month window. This isn’t Apollo‘s first collaboration with Morpho. The firm already has exposure through ACRED. On Morpho, investors can already deposit ACRED as collateral and borrow USDC. The cooperation agreement formalizes what was already an indirect relationship and escalates it from user to governance stakeholder. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: Morpho coined the phrase: “fintech in the front, DeFi in the back”. This model already powers $1B+ in Coinbase and Crypto.com loans. Bitwise launched an institutional-grade USDC yield vault on Morpho. Apollo joined as a governance stakeholder when lending yields fell below 10% for the first time in three years, and 57% of sponsor-backed deals in Q3 2025 priced below a 500 bps spread. Meanwhile, the sACRED levered strategy on Morpho has delivered up to ~16% versus ACRED’s standard 8–9%. This suggests Apollo might be exploring ways to leverage Morpho for better yield.

Punchline: For years we were debating whether institutions would ever touch DeFi. In 2026, it’s clear that the convergence is coming. This was the first big step.

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Kraken plugs into Wall Street’s chat network

On Feb 17, Kraken announced it has integrated its OTC trading desk with ICE Chat. This messaging platform serves 120,000 institutional users, including banks, brokers, hedge funds, and trading desks. They use it for real-time negotiations and execution across equities, fixed income, commodities, and derivatives. Kraken is the first cryptocurrency platform to connect with ICE Chat. Now, institutional traders can communicate directly with Kraken’s OTC desk through ICE Chat to trade crypto. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: By meeting institutions where they already work — inside ICE Chat’s compliance-ready infrastructure — Kraken removes the workflow friction that has long slowed institutional crypto adoption. This reinforces the growing trend of blockchains and DeFi becoming the backend of traditional finance, as seen with recent moves by BlackRock and Apollo. In this case, rather than building a crypto trading arm leveraging its NYSE systems, ICE is taking a lighter approach by simply opening its communication infrastructure to Kraken.

BVNK secures MiCA licence in Malta

On February 16, 2026, BVNK secured a MiCA CASP (Crypto Asset Service Provider) licence from Malta’s MFSA (Malta Financial Services Authority), positioning BVNK as one of the only European platforms combining MiCA-regulated crypto-asset services, an EMI licence for euro payments, and direct SEPA access in a single stack. Granting it rights to offer regulated digital asset services across all 30 EEA member states under a single, unified regulatory framework. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: With euro stablecoins and tokenized RWAs collectively projected to become a multi-trillion-euro market by decade-end and European institutions from SocGen (Société Générale – FORGE) to Clearstream already moving bonds and settlement on-chain. BVNK‘s unique single-stack offering of MiCA-licensed crypto services, euro payments, and direct SEPA access makes it critical plumbing for the institutions building in stablecoins and tokenized RWAs and stocks.

Listen to our podcast with BVNK👇

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News Flash

* Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala doubles Bitcoin ETF stake to $630M. Link

* Harvard buys $86.8M in Ethereum ETF, trims Bitcoin position by 21%. Link

* World Liberty Financial partners with Apex Group to pilot USD1 Stablecoin. Link

* OpenAI launches a benchmarking system to secure crypto tokens. Link

* Billionaire Peter Thiel fully exits Ethereum Treasury firm ETHZilla. Link

* TON Foundation partners with Banxa to enable stablecoin payments. Link

* Animoca brands secures Dubai crypto license for institutional services. Link

* Ethereum protocol priorities for 2026. Link

* Polymarket markets are now natively integrated with Substack. Link

That’s all for now, folks.

This quarter we've been deep in competitive intelligence for two top-10 asset managers. If your team needs similar support, please contact me at marc@fiftyone.xyz.

– Marc & Team

More feedback? Reply to this email.

After last week’s brutal sell-off that pushed BTC toward the low around $60k (2024 level), the market has finally staged a calm. Institutions are back in business buying the dip;

* BitMine bought 40,613 ETH ($79M) while Strategy added 1,142 BTC ($90M).

* Binance’s Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) added about 8,770 BTC ($600M).

* Goldman Sachs’ recent SEC filing showed about $2.36B in crypto exposure through ETFs, including Bitcoin ($1.1B), Ethereum ($1B), XRP and Solana (we assume that most of it is trading on clients’ books)

Regulatory momentum: The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) formed the Innovation Advisory Committee (IAC) — a 35-member panel including crypto CEOs and industry leaders tasked with shaping U.S. rules around blockchain and AI in financial markets. [RELEASE]

Meanwhile, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins told the Senate Banking Committee that while the agency can introduce temporary crypto rules, durable policy must come from Congress through legislation such as the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act.

“We need a firm grounding in statute so we can’t have any backsliding in the future.” — Paul Atkins, SEC Chairman

This push toward structured rulemaking comes as institutional adoption continues to deepen.

BlackRock BUIDL is now tradable on UniswapX and made a strategic purchase of UNI tokens. [RELEASE]

“This collaboration with Uniswap Labs alongside Securitize is a notable step in the convergence of tokenized assets with decentralized finance. The integration of BUIDL into UniswapX marks a major leap forward in the interoperability of tokenized USD yield funds with stablecoins,”

— Robert Mitchnick, Global Head of Digital Assets at BlackRock.

That’s what we can tell you here. A lot more is going on that we’ll tell you in our upcoming PRO briefing.

Our highlights this week:

* LayerZero announced a Zero blockchain

* State of the crypto market analysis

* BlackRock BUIDL is tradable on UniswapX

* Robinhood Chain public testnet is now live

* Franklin Templeton and Binance collaboration

Let’s jump in 👇

Top Boardroom Reads

* Ethereum, AI, and the end of trust, with Joseph Lubin, co-founder of Ethereum (51)

* Vitalik Buterin’s vision for Ethereum x AI (V. Buterin)

* Payments’ state of play 2026 (PWC)

* Disrupting the Cost Structure of Lending (Stani)

* Banking M&A’s Modernization Moment (Bain)

* Stablecoins vs. Tokenized Deposits (FRB of NY)

* Something Big Is Happening (Matt Shumer)

Top Signals This Week

LayerZero announced Zero blockchain

On February 10, 2026, LayerZero launched Zero, a Layer 1 blockchain with backing from Citadel Securities, the DTCC, the New York Stock Exchange, Google Cloud, ARK Invest, and Tether. It will launch in fall 2026. Citadel Securities (processes one-third of U.S. retail equity orders) and ARK Invest (with Cathie Wood joining the advisory board) bought ZRO tokens directly. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: For the first time, major Wall Street infrastructure players like Citadel Securities, DTCC, ICE, and Google Cloud are directly backing a new public Layer 1 blockchain, signaling that traditional financial markets are seriously shifting toward on-chain settlement and need to maintain interoperability across fragmented blockchain ecosystems through zero blockchain. Citadel’s decision to acquire $ZRO tokens rather than equity represents direct economic alignment with network success.

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State of the crypto market

In January-February 2026, three major macro shocks occurred at the same time.

* The U.S. Treasury removed $200B from bank reserves.

* The Bank of Japan increased rates to 0.75%, and unwound over $500B in carry trades.

* The AI disruption from Anthropic’s autonomous agents led to a crypto sell-off.

This pushed Bitcoin’s price down 45% from $126K to below $62K, erasing $800B in market value. [CEO NOTES]

Why this matters: Roughly 20–35% of Bitcoin ETF inflows came from hedge funds running cash-and-carry basis trades, not long-term allocators. These flows do not provide price support because they are fully hedged. The same institutions showing up as ETF buyers also appear as CME futures shorts. Net exposure: zero. Net price support: zero. This capital doesn’t “hold through volatility”. ETF redemptions rise, futures shorts are covered, and spot selling accelerates. What looks like a sentiment-driven drawdown is, in reality, a forced unwind. For allocators, this breaks the ETF signal. Inflows no longer equal conviction. Outflows no longer signal panic, but simply yield math. A dovish Fed, falling rates, or easing financial conditions can now increase selling pressure, not relieve it, by further collapsing the basis. Until the basis trade is fully flushed, Bitcoin is not trading on adoption or macro narratives.

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BlackRock BUIDL is tradable on UniswapX

On February 11, 2026, Uniswap announced that BlackRock $2.4B BUIDL fund (tokenized U.S. Treasuries) is tradable on UniswapX. Facilitated by Securitize, the integration allows whitelisted institutional investors to swap BUIDL shares for USDC 24/7 with near-instant settlement. Simultaneously, BlackRock also purchased an undisclosed amount of UNI governance tokens, causing the asset to surge as much as 40% in a single day. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: While BlackRock has explored private ledgers, like JPMorgan’s Onyx, their move to public infrastructure highlights that private blockchains may not be effective for liquidity. Public DeFi platforms like Uniswap ($3B liquidity and $700M daily transaction volume) are cheaper, faster, and more liquid than what they could create on their own. By launching BUIDL on Ethereum and integrating with UniswapX, BlackRock is acknowledging that public blockchains are the best settlement layer. This move also validates Uniswap’s decision to prioritise compliance, and we can expect to see more DeFi protocols build compliance into their systems.

Punchline: For years we were debating whether institutions would ever touch DeFi. In 2026, it’s clear that the convergence is coming. This was the first big step.

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Robinhood Chain public testnet is now live

On February 11, 2026, Robinhood officially launched the public testnet for Robinhood Chain, its proprietary Ethereum Layer 2 built on the Arbitrum Orbit tech stack. Designed as a “financial-grade” ecosystem, the network allows developers to test tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), including simulated stocks like Tesla and Amazon, and integrates directly with the Robinhood Wallet. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: Coinbase’s Base has championed a general-purpose ecosystem for memes, NFTs, and identity, but this model is increasingly viewed by the Ethereum community(including Vitalik) as redundant to the mainnet. Robinhood effectively sidesteps this critique by focusing on the RWA niche, adopting the same application-specific logic that made Hyperliquid a giant in the perpetuals sector. As this thesis proves, we can expect to see a wave of more specific Layer 2s focused on distinct niches.

Franklin Templeton and Binance collaboration

On February 11, 2026, Franklin Templeton and Binance launched an industry-first “Institutional Off-Exchange Collateral Program”. This initiative allows institutional traders to use Franklin Templeton’s tokenized money market fund shares issued via Franklin Templeton’s Benji Technology Platform as collateral for trading on Binance, without ever moving the assets onto the exchange (that’s the key!). Instead, the tokens remain held in regulated custody via Ceffu (Binance’s institutional partner), while their value is mirrored on the trading platform to margin positions. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: With this program, institutions have no reason to hold non-yield-bearing stablecoins as margin. Why hold USDT at 0% yield when you can hold Benji (FOBXX) at ~4.5% yield and still have the exact same trading power on Binance? Historically, exchanges like Binance made massive profits not just from trading fees, but from holding user deposits and earning interest on them. With “Off-Exchange Settlement,” the assets sit with the custodian, not Binance. Binance becomes a pure matching engine business.

🙌 Work with us: We build bespoke research + thought leadership that arms your sales team with institutional-grade content that pre-sells your solution before your BD team even gets on the call.

The companies doing this are closing enterprise deals 5X faster because they’re following up on research that prospects already forwarded to their Board. Learn more.

News Flash

* BBVA Joins Banking Consortium to Issue European Stablecoin. Link

* Bitcoin ETFs inflows for first time in a month. Link

* Rumours HK entity behind the crypto dump. Link

* Hong Kong proceeds with stablecoin plans despite Beijing’s reservations. Link

* Approval grant to launch first UAE dirham-backed stablecoin DDSC. Link

* Chainlink to participate in the Bank of England’s Synchronisation Lab. Link

* China to ban RWA tokenisation. Link

* Bithumb puts South Korea regulators on alert. Link

That’s all for now, folks.

PRO Readers: Read our alpha insights below!

– Marc & Team

Hey, it’s Marc & the 51 team.

What a week, folks – and only in crypto. We have a packed newsletter for you today to untangle everything that happened.

In case you missed it: Bitcoin crashed 30% in 7 days below $60K (is not already back at $70K) amid a brutal market-wide crash that wiped over $1T in value and lead $5B+ in liquidations.

Strategy and Bitmine are sitting on billions in unrealized losses, choosing not to sell and instead continuing to buy more, with Strategy adding 855 BTC this week. BlackRock's IBIT posted record-setting redemptions.

And the FUD machine is running full speed:

* Epstein files just revealed he tried to steer Bitcoin's early development, funded Bitcoin Core devs through MIT, invested $3M in Coinbase in 2014, and Blockstream's CEO is facing calls to resign over island visit emails.

* Traders are hunting for a hidden blowup. Pantera's Franklin Bi says the seller looks like a large Asia-based player with limited crypto-native counterparties.

* Mining capitulation is accelerating. Hash rate economics are breaking down at these prices.

That’s what we can tell you here. A lot more is going on that we’ll tell you in our upcoming PRO briefing.

Now what? One thing to remember: the people building have never been more serious. Even if the people trading have never been more scared.

On top of that, we have major highlights this week:

* Xi Jinping pushing Yuan to global reserve

* Hong Kong crypto institutional capture

* Tether $100M Investment in Anchorage

* Fidelity FIDD stablecoin launch

* Vitalik Buterin said that Ethereum L2 don’t scale

* Polymarket hit with a nationwide class action

Let’s jump in 👇

Top Boardroom Reads

* State of prediction markets (Pantera)

* State of Fintech 2025 Report (CB Insights)

* 2026 Stablecoin Momentum Report (Zerohash)

* European Banks Are Embracing Stablecoins (S&P Global)

* Interoperability Standards for Digital Assets (MIT)

* From the Unbanked to the Unbrokered (Coinbase)

Top Signals This Week

Xi Jinping pushing Yuan to global reserve

On February 1, 2026, President Xi Jinping made internationalizing the yuan a top national priority. He issued a directive in the Communist Party journal Qiushi to create a “powerful currency” for global reserve status. This move, described as monetary reform, is in line with the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) starting a multi-year effort to accumulate large amounts of gold. The bank officially holds over 2,300 tons of gold, but some estimates put the actual amount much higher. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: This directly challenges the US dollar’s reserve status and boosts de-dollarization through BRICS trade. This strategy indicates a shift toward a hard-asset-backed currency system. The discussion highlights the need to review investments in gold, Bitcoin, or hard assets as geopolitical changes aim to avoid the US dollar’s debt-based valuation.

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Hong Kong crypto institutional capture

Hong Kong has shifted from “New Money” speculation to “Old Money” stability. Officials enforced strict bank-grade rules, pushing out major retail exchanges like OKX and Bybit. In their place, traditional giants like HSBC and state-linked Chinese firms are creating a regulated settlement layer. Through “Project Ensemble,” the city is now testing tokenizing real-world assets like bonds and shipping bills.

Why this matters: Hong Kong has deliberately moved crypto away from retail speculation and towards institutional infrastructure. Now, only large state-linked funds dominate Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, creating trusted channels for future investment from mainland China. The main goal is tokenization: if banks and funds transfer trillions of dollars in assets to this platform, Hong Kong will become Asia’s key settlement hub, but for now, liquidity remains limited.

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Tether $100M investment in Anchorage

On February 5, 2026, Tether invested $100 million in Anchorage Digital, the federally chartered U.S. crypto bank and the issuer of its new compliant USA₮ stablecoin. The move tightens an already close partnership and gives Tether equity in the regulated infrastructure it now relies on for institutional growth in US. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: For years, U.S. institutions preferred USDC over USDT due to Tether’s offshore and opaque nature. Now, with USA₮ being fully federally regulated and this $100M investment in its U.S. chartered issuer, Tether gains the regulatory trust that institutions require. It maintains its massive liquidity advantage while shedding its old baggage, putting it in a favorable position for the next wave of serious institutional demand.

DAT death spirals as markets crash

As Bitcoin drops below $65K, the biggest DATs face billions in unrealized PnL. The industry now splits into two paths: firms turning treasuries into financial franchises and those in liquidity and valuation death spirals. Some large DATs keep buying—Strategy added 855 BTC this week. Smaller DATs struggle, making 2026 a key year for consolidation. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: In 2026, DATs will consolidate. The largest and best-capitalized ones, like Strategy and Bitmine, will survive. DATs that actively manage assets for yield, such as Bitmine with $374M in annual staking rewards, will also thrive. Smaller treasuries that can’t raise capital or generate yield will have to sell, either by merging or closing.

Read our full analysis below:

Fidelity FIDD stablecoin launch

On February 4, 2026, Fidelity Investments officially launched its USD-pegged stablecoin, the Fidelity Digital Dollar (FIDD), issued by Fidelity Digital Assets on the Ethereum blockchain. Backed 1:1 by cash, cash equivalents, and short-term U.S. Treasuries, FIDD complies with the recent GENIUS Act framework. The token went live for both retail and institutional clients via Fidelity’s platforms, with an initial market cap exceeding $59M. [RELEASE]

Why this matters: Fidelity leveraged the most underestimated advantage in financing existing customer relationships by skipping the distribution model that forces Circle, Tether to work with exchanges, giving Fidelity 100% margin retention, while maintaining the regulatory legitimacy Tether lacks through its OCC-supervised national trust bank charter and direct access to 50M retail accounts plus $17.5 trillion in institutional assets.

Shift in Ethereum L2 strategy

On February 3, 2026, Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, made a post that sparked a lot of discussion. He said that most current L2s stopped short and therefore don’t function as true scalability extensions of Ethereum, even though L2 technology itself remains essential and here to stay. Buterin now suggests we see Layer 2s as specialized chains. Each has its own unique features, like privacy and app-specific tools. [POST]

“L1 itself is scaling, fees are very low, and gas limits are projected to increase greatly in 2026. Original vision of L2s and their role in Ethereum no longer makes sense, and we need a new path.”

— Vitalik, Co-founder of Ethereum. [POST]

Why this matters: With L1 scaling improvements, not every institutional L2 has to use the same general-purpose model. Major general-purpose L2s like Coinbase’s Base, OKX’s X Layer, and Kraken’s Ink need to rethink their strategies, while institutions will focus on specialized L2s for regulatory compliance, performance or privacy. Example: Hyperliquid. It cuts costs, speeds up innovation, and better meets customer needs while securely linking to Ethereum.

🙌 Work with us: We build bespoke research + thought leadership that arms your sales team with institutional-grade content that pre-sells your solution before your BD team even gets on the call.

The companies doing this are closing enterprise deals 5X faster because they’re following up on research that prospects already forwarded to their Board. Learn more.

News Flash

* Polymarket hit with a nationwide class action lawsuit in the SDNY. Link

* Gemini to exit U.K., EU and Australia, and focus on U.S. Link

* Tether launches open-source MiningOS to challenge Bitcoin mining giants. Link

* Hong Kong to start granting stablecoin issuer licenses in March 2026. Link

* Wall Street giant CME Group is exploring issuing its own ‘CME Coin’. Link

* ARK Invest goes on $19M buying spree as crypto stocks nurse losses. Link

* Ripple Prime adds support for Hyperliquid for institutional access. Link

* U.S. crypto policy shows hints of progress with bipartisan regulatory. Link

That’s all for now, folks.

PRO Readers: Read our alpha insights below!

– Marc & Team

💎 Investor Insights (Alpha)

Hey, it’s Marc & the 51 team.

While Blackrock took a quiet $100M stake in Canton, BitGo IPO’d at $2B and Tether launched its US stablecoin USAT, the biggest shift in crypto this week came from Capitol Hill:

“Advancing this bill brings us closer to a U.S. regulatory framework that protects consumers while allowing American innovation and businesses to thrive.”

— John Boozman, U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Chairman

* The Senate Agriculture Committee advanced the first-ever crypto market structure bill, voting to give the CFTC authority over digital asset spot markets, but a full Senate vote is still pending. [RELEASE]

* On Jan 28, SEC released a statement saying stocks and other securities don’t avoid U.S. securities laws just because they’re issued or wrapped as tokens. It also drew a clear line between issuer-issued tokens and third-party “synthetic” versions, signaling tighter scrutiny of tokenized markets. [RELEASE]

* The SEC and CFTC formally launched “Project Crypto,” committing to work together on clear regulations. [RELEASE]

Meanwhile, Standard Chartered has issued a warning: stablecoins represent a "real threat" to bank deposits.

Our highlights this week:

* BitGo’s $2.1B custody IPO

* Fidelity announced the launch of the FIDD Stablecoin

* Tether launches “USAT” stablecoin

* BlackRock’s $100M Canton position

* Coinbase rolls out prediction market

* SEC taxonomy for tokenized securities

Let’s jump in 👇

Top Boardroom Reads

* 2026 Trends Shaping Investment Products (BlackRock)

* Charting Crypto Q1 2026 (Coinbase, Glassnode)

* BIG IDEAS 2026 (Ark Invest)

* Navigating Crypto in 2026 (Pantera)

* Market Know-How 1Q 2026 (Goldman Sachs)

* Onchain finance: Future and institutional adoption. (Dfns, BCG)

* PwC Global Crypto Regulation Report 2026 (PwC)

* Digital Wallets in Enterprise Payments (Circle)

* The Rise of CMLNs: Crypto Crime Report 2026 (Chainalysis)

* Stocks Becoming Policy, Bitcoin Becoming Money (Jack Mallers)

Top Signals This Week

BitGo $2.1B public IPO

On Jan 22, BitGo Holdings (NYSE: BTGO) successfully priced its initial public offering of 11.8M Class A shares at $18.00 per share, beating the marketed range of $15-$17 according to reports and closed its first day of trading at $18.68 per share, just above its IPO price. The offering raised approximately $212.8M , with only 6.7% of the IPO’s shares being sold by existing stockholders. Goldman Sachs and Citigroup as lead underwriters.

Why it matters: BitGo’s IPO serves as the definitive litmus test for institutional crypto appetite in 2026, marking the first time a federally chartered digital asset bank has hit the public markets to bridge the gap between "wild west" volatility and fiduciary-grade stability. Also proving that the market is ready to value the "boring" but essential plumbing infrastructure of institutional custody.

Read our full analysis below:

Fidelity Investments announced the launch of the FIDD Stablecoin

On January 28, 2026, Fidelity Investments formally announced the launch of its native stablecoin, the Fidelity Digital Dollar (FIDD), marking the entry of the first major U.S. asset manager into the regulated issuance space. [RELEASE] [See analysis]

* Rails: Issuance is vertically integrated through Fidelity’s National Trust Bank.

* Scope: Targets active settlement infrastructure and institutional on-chain cash.

* Goal: Replacing regulatory arbitrage (shadow banking) with federally compliant liquidity under the GENIUS Act.

Why it matters: Unlike crypto-native issuers, Fidelity already sits inside millions of retail accounts, retirement plans, and institutional portfolios, letting it move money on-chain without relying on banks or third parties. That means faster settlement, new yield products, and tighter integration between traditional investing and digital assets, all while keeping economics in-house. Plus, it brings its $6.8T powerhouse to vertically integrate reserves and custody under the federal GENIUS Act.

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Tether launches “USAT”

On January 27, 2026, Tether officially launched USA₮ (USAT), a new dollar-backed stablecoin explicitly designed for the U.S. market. Unlike its global counterpart USDT, this token is issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, the first federally chartered digital asset bank. The token operates on Tether's Hadron platform and is backed by 1:1 reserves in U.S. currency, demand deposits, or short-term Treasuries, exactly as mandated by the GENIUS Act (enacted July 18, 2025). [RELEASE]

Why this matters: Regional banks are in trouble. Community institutions like Huntington Bancshares, M&T Bank, and Truist Financial rely on deposit bases to fund lending. Their Net Interest Margin (NIM), the spread between deposit costs and loan rates, is how they fund the credit that powers Main Street. When a corporation moves $1M from a bank account to USA₮, it is permanent. The bank loses the ability to lend that $1M as a mortgage or business loan. To attract deposits back, the bank must raise savings rates, which increases funding costs, which compresses lending. Plus, it also threatens the value proposition of Circle.

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BlackRock’s $100M Canton position

BlackRock acquired a 2.2% passive stake in Tharimmune, Inc. (765,829 shares via Schedule 13G filing), the publicly traded Super Validator operator on the Canton Network. This stake translates to indirect ownership of approximately 75–120 million Canton Coins (valued at ~$100M). Concurrently, the DTCC received SEC approval (No-Action Letter) to tokenize U.S. Treasury securities on Canton, with production launch expected H1 2026 and broader rollout H2 2026. [FILING] [NEWS]

Why it matters: Canton is the privacy-enabled settlement layer chosen by DTCC, Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, Citadel Securities, and Euroclear, institutions processing $9T in monthly transaction volume and $100T in custodied assets. The DTCC co-chairs the Canton Foundation alongside Euroclear, effectively controlling governance over tokenized finance infrastructure. BlackRock's entry into the cap table of Canton's only public exposure vehicle signals institutional confidence in the migration path for Treasury securities and, eventually, all DTC-eligible assets.

Coinbase Rolls Out Prediction Market to U.S. Customers

On January 29, 2026, Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) officially launched its prediction market platform to users across all 50 U.S. states. The rollout, built in partnership with the CFTC-regulated exchange Kalshi, allows verified U.S. customers to trade "event contracts" directly within the main Coinbase app using USD or USDC. [RELEASE]

In December, they acquired The Clearing Company. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: The overlooked catalyst is a new U.S. law taking effect in 2026 that makes traditional sports betting far less tax-efficient, especially for frequent bettors, while prediction markets sit under a different regulatory regime and avoid this penalty.

Read the full analysis below👇

SEC taxonomy for tokenized securities

On January 28, 2026, the SEC’s Divisions of Corporation Finance, Investment Management, and Trading and Markets issued joint guidance clarifying the application of federal securities laws to tokenized assets. The statement categorizes the market into two distinct frameworks:

* issuer-sponsored tokenization (direct issuance) and

* third-party sponsored models (custodial entitlements or synthetic exposure).

The staff reaffirmed that the use of distributed ledger technology (DLT) to record ownership does not change the fundamental legal status or registration requirements of a security. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: This guidance establishes a clear regulatory preference for “issuer-led” models, where DLT is integrated into the master securityholder file, over third-party synthetic products. By classifying many third-party “linked” tokens as security-based swaps, the SEC is effectively restricting retail access to these instruments. This provides a compliant roadmap for institutional infrastructure providers, like DTCC and regulated transfer agents, while creating significant legal hurdles for DeFi platforms offering synthetic price exposure.

🙌 Work with us: We arm financial institutions and digital asset leaders with bespoke research, thought leadership to shape the most important conversations, scale trust, and win business.

News Flash

* Avalanche gets first US ETF as VanEck debuts AVAX fund. Link

* WisdomTree expands tokenisation ecosystem to Solana. Link

* Ripple launches ‘Ripple Treasury’. Link

* Revolut scraps US merger plans in favour of push for standalone licence. Link

* Binance and OKX will introduce tokenised U.S. stock products. Link

* The Central Bank of Iran has acquired US dollar stablecoins worth $0.5B. Link

* Robinhood to enable 24/7 trading and “self-custody” with tokenized stocks. Link

* Mesh hits unicorn status, raising $75M. Link

* Republic Europe announces the launch of a new Kraken SPV. Link

That’s all for now, folks.

PRO Readers: Read our alpha insights below!

– Marc & Team

💎 Investor Insights (Alpha)

Hey, it’s Marc.

Davos is usually where the establishment pats itself on the back. This year, they looked over their shoulder.

Suddenly, crypto isn’t a “scam” , but national defense. And the bankers who spent a decade mocking it? They are panic-buying the infrastructure. Jamie Dimon (and others) are realizing that if they don’t upgrade to the “new physics of money”, they won’t just lose market share, they’ll be displaced.

“We can now move infinite data at the speed of the internet at zero cost... the physics of money becomes the physics of the internet”, says, Jeremy Allaire, CEO Circle.

Sergio Ermotti, UBS CEO, declared blockchain “the future of traditional banking”, while UBS is launching Bitcoin and Ethereum trading.

Meanwhile, President Trump reasserted his stance on crypto:

“I’m also working to ensure America remains the crypto capital of the world... China wanted that market too... We have to make it so that China doesn’t get the hold of it.” — Donald Trump, President of USA

Davos just confirmed it: Fighting the future is no longer just bad business. It’s "un-American." Money is being rewired.

Our highlights this week:

* NYSE develops 24/7 tokenized securities trading

* UBS to launch Bitcoin and Ethereum trading

* WEF crypto sentiment is bullish

* Bermuda becomes the first on-chain nation

* FanDuel enters prediction markets

Let’s jump in 👇

Top Boardroom Reads

* How stablecoins can expand financial access to the most underserved and unbanked (WEF)

* Why Polygon chose payments, with Marc Boiron, CEO of Polygon Labs (51)

* The Stablecoin toolkit (Wharton)

* Quantum Threat (Citi)

* How stablecoins are transforming cross-border payments (Deutsche Bank)

* Cathie Wood’s 2026 Outlook (Ark Invest)

* Year in Review 2025 (Binance)

* Systemic Risk in DeFi: A Network-Based Fragility Analysis of TVL Dynamics (Study)

* The four-year cycle is dead. What will drive crypto in 2026? (Wintermute)

Top Signals This Week

NYSE announces 24/7 tokenized securities trading

On January 19, 2026, ICE filed with the SEC to launch a fully electronic, 24/7 on-chain tokenised exchange for U.S.-listed equities and ETFs. The platform combines the NYSE’s high-performance Pillar matching engine with blockchain-based settlement to enable atomic delivery-versus-payment. This is the same centralised limit order book (CLOB)1 used by institutional High-Frequency Trading (HFT) firms (like Citadel Securities and Jump Trading). [RELEASE]

Why it matters: Consider a European investor who wants to buy technology stocks. Currently, they might trade on a local exchange that closes at 5:00 PM CET or wait for the US open. In the new regime, they can trade Apple or Nvidia on the NYSE at any hour. This creates a massive competitive moat against regional exchanges like the London Stock Exchange (LSE) or the Tokyo Stock Exchange (JPX) that still operate on limited hours. Why hold a dormant asset when you can hold an active one? The NYSE effectively becomes the “World Stock Exchange”.

Read our full analysis below:

UBS enters Bitcoin & Ethereum

UBS ($6.9T AUM) is launching Bitcoin and Ethereum trading for private clients, with CEO Sergio Ermotti declaring blockchain “the future of traditional banking.” This pivot isn’t random; it immediately follows the January 1st activation of new Basel III standards, which dramatically lowered the capital requirements for banks holding digital assets.

Why it matters: With half the world’s billionaires on its roster, even a conservative 1% allocation from UBS clients creates $60 billion in buying pressure. This signals that the world’s most conservative capital—wealth that survived two world wars—is now comfortable moving on-chain, effectively de-risking the asset class for every other wealth manager on the planet.

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WEF 2026 top crypto narratives

Davos 2026 confirmed what insiders already knew: The financial system is restructuring in real time. Here are the top narratives that we observed:

* Stablecoins are now globally accepted: High optimism regarding utility and adoption; Friction regarding regulatory limits on yield and competition with traditional banks.

* Tokenisation of RWAs: Strong consensus on the inevitability of tokenization for efficiency; Divergence on whether the settlement layer should be private stablecoins (US view) or CBDCs (European view).

* The convergence of AI and crypto: The “Machine Economy” is viewed as a primary driver for future crypto volume.

* Regulation and political will: The political backdrop of 2026 is defined by the “Genius Act,” a bill establishing a US federal framework for digital assets.

* The future of banking and finance: Banks are now acknowledging the threat of the rise of fintechs. Consensus that “hybrid” models, where banks integrate crypto rails for settlement, are the immediate future, rather than a total replacement of banks.

The prevailing sentiment is that the technology (tokenisation and stablecoins) has won the argument on utility.

The remaining battles are political: who controls the rails (sovereign vs. private), who captures the value (banks vs. tech firms), and which nations set the rules (US vs. Europe/China).

👉Subscribe to PRO to receive the full analysis on key statements from Trump, Fink, Dimon, Ermotti, Allaire, Armstrong, Musk and what it means for investors

Bermuda goes on-chain

On January 19, 2026, the Government of Bermuda formally partnered with Circle and Coinbase to transition to a “fully on-chain national economy.” [RELEASE]

* Rails: The government selected Base (an Ethereum Layer-2) as its national settlement layer and USDC as its medium of exchange, rejecting the CBDC model.

* Scope: The migration covers government tax collection, welfare disbursements, and retail merchant systems.

* Goal: To eliminate the “island tax” of correspondent banking and reduce the cost of capital for its $780B insurance market.

Why it matters: Bermuda hosts 75% of global Insurance-Linked Securities (ILS). These are catastrophe bonds, capital set aside to cover hurricanes, earthquakes, or cyber events. The money is locked up for one to three years by design. If a pension fund commits $5M, that capital is inaccessible until maturity. That structure broke in 2023. As interest rates rose, investors lost patience with long lockups. The reinsurance market faced a $60B capital gap almost overnight. Traditional funding simply pulled back. Now, tokenization turns locked, long-dated insurance capital into something flexible: smaller entry sizes, real liquidity, and faster payouts. It brings new capital back into reinsurance without changing the underlying risk.

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Fanduel enters prediction markets

FanDuel, the American gambling company with 12M users, has launched “FanDuel Predicts” nationwide. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: The overlooked catalyst is a new U.S. law taking effect in 2026 that makes traditional sports betting far less tax-efficient, especially for frequent bettors, while prediction markets sit under a different regulatory regime and avoid this penalty.

* The Loophole: Trades on these platforms are classified as Section 12562 contracts.

* The Impact: Losses are fully deductible, and gains receive the favorable 60/40 tax treatment (60% long-term / 40% short-term capital gains).

* The Consequence: We are witnessing a mass migration of “whale” capital from traditional sportsbooks to regulated exchanges to avoid the OBBBA cap.

More below.

🙌 Work with us: We arm financial institutions and digital asset leaders with bespoke research, thought leadership to shape the most important conversations, scale trust, and win business.

News Flash

* Coinbase established independent advisory board on Quantum computing. Link

* HK to issue stablecoin licenses in Q1. Link

* Strategy buys $2.1b BTC, largest buy in 1+ year. Link

* Central Bank of Iran has acquired US dollar stablecoins worth $0.5B. Link

* Trump hopes to sign the crypto bill ‘very soon’. Link

* Ondo launches tokenised stocks on SOL. Link

* BitGo raises $213m in IPO, $2b+ valuation. Link

* US M2 supply hits $22.3T. Link

That’s all for now, folks.

PRO Readers: Read our alpha insights below!

– Marc & Team

💎 Investor Insights (Alpha)

Hey, it’s Marc.

Big week for crypto regulation: The industry just shot itself in the foot.

“We’d rather have no bill than a bad bill.”

— Brian Armstrong, CEO and Co-founder of Coinbase

Twenty-four hours before Congress was set to vote on the most comprehensive crypto bill in U.S. history, Coinbase pulled its support. His stance: the CLARITY Act would ban stablecoin yield, narrow tokenized asset pathways, and expand surveillance in DeFi. Plus: Coinbase would lose around $1.4B in annual revenue. Now, the Senate Banking Committee has postponed the markup meeting, which was scheduled on January 15, 2206 - and billions of dollars in investment, and years of bipartisan work could evaporate. Policy chaos.

Our highlights this week:

* CLARITY Act collapse reveals deep fractures in U.S. crypto coalition

* Polygon pivots to payments with $250M acquisition

* BNY Mellon launched tokenised deposits

* Bitmine invests $200M in MrBeast

* Swift proves tokenised bonds work on existing rails

Let’s jump in 👇

Top Boardroom Reads

* Crypto consumer adoption in 2025, Deutsche Bank

* Why Polygon chose payments, with Marc Boiron, CEO of Polygon Labs (51)

* Why Bitcoin’s biggest risk isn’t regulation, with Garrick Hileman (51)

* Myth vs. Fact: The CLARITY Act (US Senate Committee)

* Beyond Stablecoins: The Rise of the Internet Financial System (Circle)

* Do We Have Enough Power? (Galaxy Digital)

* Cryptocurrency’s Transition to a Sovereign Financial Infrastructure 2025-2030 (Study)

* Global M&A Outlook 2026 (JPMorgan)

* VanEck Q1 2026 Outlook: Risk On (VanEck)

* How Stablecoins Can Improve Payments and Global Finance (IMF)

Top Signals This Week

The CLARITY Act collapse

What happened: The U.S. Senate Banking Committee's CLARITY Act, designed as a comprehensive crypto regulatory framework, collapsed on January 14, 2026, when Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong withdrew support less than 24 hours before the markup. The bill's "Market structure draft," released January 12, included three provisions that triggered industry revolt: a ban on stablecoin yield payments (worth ~$1.4B in annual Coinbase revenue), mandatory SEC clearing for tokenised equities, and extended Bank Secrecy Act compliance to open-source developers. Chairman Tim Scott cancelled the vote.

Why it matters: The legislative failure exposes a growing divide between crypto operators and venture capital interests. While firms like a16z supported the bill to achieve asset liquidity and commodity status for tokens, Coinbase prioritised protecting its high-margin stablecoin business. Furthermore, it also highlights the ABA’s successful lobbying to protect traditional deposit bases, despite a more pro-crypto Senate leadership.

So what? China weaponised yield on January 1st. The People’s Bank of China announced that commercial banks can pay interest on e-CNY wallets, transforming the digital yuan into a direct “yield-bearing” competitor to the USD in international stablecoin settlemet.

What's next: The legislative window is closing fast. Senate insiders expect revised drafts in February, but passage before the November 2026 midterms is increasingly unlikely, pushing comprehensive federal crypto regulation into 2027 at the earliest.

Read more below.👇

Polygon pivots to payments with $250M acquisition

Polygon Labs announced on January 13, 2026, that it will acquire Coinme and Sequence in deals totaling over $250M, positioning itself as a regulated U.S. payments provider. [RELEASE]

The deal bundles to form the “Open Money Stack”:

* Coinme’s licensed fiat on-/off-ramps and retail touchpoints (48 state Money Transmitter Licenses)

* Sequence’s wallet abstraction and cross-chain orchestration

* AggLayer liquidity (a ZK-powered settlement engine)

So what? Polygon is undergoing a radical “narrowing.” By moving away from being a general-purpose “World Computer” and focusing on being the “Global Payments Layer,” they are positioning themselves to capture a good share of the $300B+ stablecoin market.

More below.

BNY Mellon launched tokenised deposit

What happened: BNY launched tokenised deposits on the Canton Network, a privacy-enabled interoperability protocol designed by Digital Asset. Clients (Citadel Securities, Intercontinental Exchange, Circle) can now move commercial bank money across blockchains 24/7 with atomic settlement and zero counterparty risk. A $100M deposit becomes $100M in tokens. Transfers are instant. Redemption is instant. No T+2 settlement window. No trapped capital over weekends. [RELEASE]

So what? Citi projects tokenized deposits could handle $100–140T in annual transaction flow by 2030. Stablecoins, the public alternative, are projected at $95–200T in velocity, but that's misleading. A dollar in a stablecoin circulates faster than a dollar in a tokenized deposit because it's used for retail payments and DeFi. But for the $2.5 quadrillion derivatives market, for margin optimization, for collateral management, where trillions of dollars sit idle every weekend, tokenized deposits win on utility.

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Bitmine invests $200M in MrBeast

What happened: Bitmine Immersion Technologies, the largest corporate holder of ether (valued at $13.6B), is investing $200M in Beast Industries, the company behind YouTube creator MrBeast. The deal closes by January 19 and gives Bitmine equity in a platform commanding 450M+ YouTube subscribers. Beast Industries plans to launch a decentralized finance–enabled financial services platform, building on earlier trademark filings for "MrBeast Financial." [RELEASE]

Why it matters: By targeting Gen Z and Gen Alpha, demographics increasingly resistant to legacy banking, the initiative seeks to normalise blockchain-based financial products through creator-led trust. For Bitmine, which holds 3.36% of the circulating Ether supply, the move creates a direct pipeline to onboard millions of new users into the Ethereum ecosystem, effectively turning its reserves into productive consumer capital.

Our view: With DATs losing momentum, this looks like a bottom-up approach by Bitmine to manufacture organic utility for its $13.6B Ether position, pivoting from a reliance on institutional catalysts to a strategy of aggressive retail onboarding through creator-led trust.

Swift proves tokenised bonds work on existing rails

What happened: Swift, in collaboration with partners including BNP Paribas, Société Générale – FORGE, and Intesa Sanpaolo, has completed a series of trials for orchestrating tokenised bond transactions and cross-border payments. The initiative demonstrated seamless delivery-versus-payment (DvP) settlement and lifecycle management across multiple blockchains and traditional systems. Consequently, Swift is now integrating a blockchain-based shared ledger into its infrastructure to enable real-time, 24/7 global transaction execution. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: Crypto startups bet on replacing SWIFT's network. SWIFT just proved it can layer blockchain settlement UNDER the existing network. Every bank already trusts SWIFT. Nobody needs to migrate. The 200+ billion daily messages keep flowing through SWIFT - just with better back-end plumbing.

🙌 Work with us: We arm financial institutions and digital asset leaders with bespoke research, thought leadership to shape the most important conversations, scale trust, and win business.

News Flash

* Dubai moves to ban privacy coins. Link

* Wells Fargo allows BTC as collateral for loans. Link

* Venezuela used USDT to bypass sanctions. Link

* Ripple secures FCA authorisation in the UK. Link

* BitPanda eyes Frankfurt IPO in 1H26. Link

* StanChart plans crypto prime brokerage. Link

* Interactive Brokers adds 24/7 USDC funding. Link

* Anchorage enables off-chain collateral for lending. Link

* Visa Direct will use BVNK’s infrastructure. Link

* DFSA shifts crypto token oversight to firms. Link

* 80% of Venezuela’s oil revenue is collected in stablecoins. Link

That’s all for now, folks.

PRO Readers: Read our alpha insights below!

– Marc & Team

💎 Investor Insights (Alpha)

Hey, it’s Marc.

2026 didn’t wait. Last week, we shared our top 12 narratives for 2026.

Seven days later, the market started confirming them.

On January 5, Bank of America opened the door for 15,000 advisors to recommend Bitcoin ETFs. Forty-eight hours later, Morgan Stanley crossed a bigger line: filing to launch its own Bitcoin and Solana ETFs. You’re right: Not distribution, but issuance.

Coincidence? No. It’s regulation finally doing its job. These are the regulatory drivers that will shape 2026:

* Genius Act: Federal framework for payment stablecoins in the U.S..

* MiCA: The transition period ends July 1, 2026. From that point on, no license means no business in the EU.

* OCC expansion: The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) became the primary regulator for non-bank stablecoin issuers in the U.S.

* CARF: Effective January 1, 2026, forcing global crypto platforms into full tax reporting mode.

* CLARITY Act: poised for a Senate vote next week, finally resolving the SEC vs CFTC tug-of-war and giving clear market structure rules.

🚨 Don’t miss our New Year offer: 20% off PRO subscriptions, ends January 14.

Our highlights this week:

* United States seized 3% of Bitcoin

* Morgan Stanley files for crypto ETFs

* Real-estate enters prediction markets

* A deeper look at XXI after it became public

Let’s jump in 👇

Top Boardroom Reads

* Our top 10 signals of 2025 (51)

* Report: 2026 Digital Asset Outlook: Dawn of the Institutional Era (Grayscale)

* Report: 2026 look ahead (Fidelity)

* Report: Crypto infrastructure for banks (BitGo)

* Report: Crypto payments 2025 (Orochi)

* Why the application layer is crypto’s next $10T opportunity, with Richard Galvin, CIO of DACM (51)

* Stone Ridge 2025 Investor Letter (Stone Ridge)

* Prediction Markets: An Important Financial Primitive (U.S. District Court)

* SoK: Privacy-Preserving Transactions in Blockchains (Study)

Top Signals This Week

United States seized 3% of Bitcoin

U.S. military operations in early January 2026 detained Nicolás Maduro on narco-terrorism and corruption charges. This creates a clear legal path: by labeling the regime a criminal enterprise under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), it allows the Treasury to seize all illicit proceeds, including cryptocurrency holdings. [NEWS]

The estimated seizure of Bitcoin is 600,000 BTC (~$55–67B) along with 303B barrels of crude oil.

Why it matters: The U.S. now controls approximately 4–5% of total Bitcoin supply when combining existing holdings (~200,000 BTC from prior seizures) with the Venezuelan acquisition.

Zoom out: This concentration of the world’s most powerful entity into digital assets triggers a geopolitical game theory problem: rival nations cannot afford to leave the U.S. as the sole hegemon of the crypto ecosystem. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs immediately condemned the seizure as a violation of international law. Russia (holding >50K BTC) views it as an escalation of “hybrid warfare.” Both nations hold cryptocurrency from their own seizures (China: ~190,000 BTC from PlusToken).

Our take: In March 2025, Trump signed an executive order establishing the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. The policy is explicit: seized Bitcoin “shall not be sold and shall be maintained.”U.S.-controlled seizure of Venezuela’s Bitcoin isn’t a sell-off risk. It’s the ultimate supply shock.

Read more below.👇

Morgan Stanley files for crypto ETFs

Morgan Stanley ($1.5T in wealth management assets) just became the first major U.S. bank to issue its own crypto ETFs, Bitcoin and Solana, not just distribute it. By moving to capture issuance fees, custody economics, and staking yields directly, the bank has signaled that the era of agency is over; the era of vertical integration has begun. [SEC filing]

Be smart: The SEC’s 2025 “Generic Listing Standards” changed everything. Approval timelines for new crypto ETFs were slashed from 270 days to just 75 days. And regualtion in the US is no longer a hurdle.

Our take: While others banks focus on tokenization, custody or stablecoins, Morgan stanley went for the highest margin product. BlackRock’s IBIT with $69B AUM makes $138-172M in annual recurring revenue from a single product. Morgan Stanley wants that 0.20-0.25% management fee on EVERY dollar of AUM.

More below.

Real-estate enters prediction markets

Polymarket, the largest decentralized prediction market, partnered with Parcl Labs to bring real-time, settlement-grade real estate contracts to crypto. Instead of tinkering with old systems, they rebuilt the data layer entirely. And in doing so, they’ve unlocked the world’s largest asset class, real estate, as a liquid, tradeable market. [RELEASE]

So what? Parcl updates daily and includes cash sales, new construction, and listing changes, unlike Case-Shiller, which lags 60+ days and excludes 60% of market activity in places like Boston and Miami.

Read more below.

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Twenty One Capital is a monetary stack play

On December 9, 2025, Twenty One Capital began trading on the NYSE under the ticker “XXI” as the third largest Bitcoin holder (~$4B). [RELEASE]

Be smart: Everyone sees Twenty One Capital as another MicroStrategy clone. The market saw it too: XXI dropped 25% on its NYSE debut to $11, trading at 0.80x NAV. But, the catch is its investors: Tether, Cantor Fitzgerald, and SoftBank.

Zoom in: Howard Lutnick was confirmed as U.S. Commerce Secretary on February 18, 2025, after divesting his Cantor positions. But his family still controls Cantor Fitzgerald, which controls XXI's structure. As Commerce Secretary, Lutnick oversees semiconductor export controls and GPU/ASIC supply chains, directly impacting both AI datacenter builds (Stargate) and Bitcoin mining equipment availability. This creates a potential competitive moat for U.S.-aligned firms like XXI/Cantor/SoftBank. Whether intentional or not, XXI now has implicit policy protection that no other Bitcoin treasury enjoys.

Our take: while investors fixate on the Bitcoin treasury playbook, they're missing what Tether, Cantor Fitzgerald, and SoftBank actually built: a closed-loop monetary infrastructure disguised as a public company.

🙌 Work with us: We arm financial institutions and digital asset leaders with bespoke research, thought leadership to shape the most important conversations, scale trust, and win business.

News Flash

* BoA started advising crypto ETPs to clients. Link

* J.P. Morgan will bring USD JPM Coin (JPMD) to Canton. Link

* MSTR will remain in MSCI indexes. Link

* Vitalik shares Ethereum roadmap. Link

* Maduro Polymarket win triggers bill to bar government officials from insider trading. Link

* Polymarket partners with Dow Jones, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal. Link

* Nike quietly sold its digital products subsidiary RTFKT in December 2025. Link

* Tether launched Scudo, a new unit of account for Tether Gold (XAU₮). Link

That’s all for now, folks.

PRO Readers: Read our alpha insights below!

– Marc & Team

💎 Investor Insights (Alpha)

Hey, it’s Marc.

Happy Holidays! Below are the sharpest signals we’ve seen hiding beneath the year-end noise. Here are my top 12 narratives I am interested in going into 2026:

* RWA’s & 24/7 settlements

* Stablecoin TradFi implementation and rails

* Onchain cross-border payments

* Tokenized treasuries & deposits (vs stablecoins)

* Public vs. corporate chains

* DeFi x TradFi (yield products)

* Privacy

* Quantum resistance

* Prediction markets

* Perp DEXes

* Autonomous finance

* Crypto-as-a-service infra plays

What are you looking at?

🎁 Year-end discount: Secure our limited 20% year-end discount on PRO subscriptions! Ending January 1st.

My prediction is that RWAs are going to have their comeback in 2026, starting with equities. Don’t forget: we’re still SO early.

Our highlights this week:

* Coinbase doubles down on prediction markets

* J.P. Morgan to launch crypto trading for institutional clients

* Stripe’s 1.5% tax on the old world

* Klarna integrates USDC funding

Let’s jump in 👇

🚨 We have a series of killer podcasts coming up & just opened new sponsorship slots. Grab your spot here!

Top Boardroom Reads

* 2026 Investment Outlook (BlackRock)

* Why the application layer is crypto’s next $10T opportunity, with Richard Galvin, CIO of DACM (Fiftyone)

* Understanding Stablecoins (IMF)

* 2026 Digital Asset Outlook: Dawn of the Institutional Era (Grayscale)

* 2026 crypto market outlook (Fidelity)

* OUTLOOK 2026 Promise and Pressure (JPMorgan)

* The Year Ahead: 10 Crypto Predictions for 2026 (Bitwise)

* Plan for 2026: Predictions from Our Portfolio Managers (VanEck)

* 2026 Crypto Market Outlook (Coinbase)

* 26 Crypto, Bitcoin, DeFi, and AI Predictions for 2026 (Galaxy Research)

* How Crypto will rewire finance in 2026 (SVB)

* The Man Who Can’t Be Moved (Saanya Ojha)

* Silent Sirens, Flashing For Us All (Jack Clark, Anthropic Co-Founder)

News Flash

* Aave, the biggest DeFi lending protocol, is entering governance war. Link

* Pro-crypto Michael Selig sworn in as new CFTC Chair. Link

* Amplify debuts stablecoin and tokenisation ETFs on NYSE Arca. Link

* Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, considers launching crypto-backed loans. Link

* Solstice and Cor Prime completed the first institutional stablecoin funding trade using public blockchains. Link

Top Signals This Week

Coinbase doubles down as prediction markets go mainstream

Coinbase announced its tenth acquisition this year - The Clearing Company, a prediction markets startup. The deal closes in January 2026. This follows Coinbase’s launch of its own prediction platform, positioning it as a direct competitor to Robinhood, Interactive Brokers, and CME-FanDuel. [RELEASE]

After the U.S. election, multiple use-cases expanded beyond politics:

* Financial macro outcomes (S&P500, oil, CPI, GDP)

* Policy outcomes

* Sports + entertainment

* Broader “trade on headlines” consumer behavior

Why it matters: Prediction markets reached $44B in trading volume in 2025, with Polymarket and Kalshi accounting for $21.5B and $17.1B, respectively. Prediction markets are transitioning from niche speculative tools into a primary financial infrastructure, bridging the gap between digital assets and traditional derivatives. The sector’s projected growth to $1T by 2030 is fueled by tokenization, which allows these contracts to be used as DeFi collateral.

Be smart: The IRS has yet to guide whether gains should be classified as capital assets, gambling winnings, or Section 1256 contracts.

Fun fact: AI bots are already making millions per month on Polymarket by exploiting market inefficiencies.

Our view: Prediction markets are becoming a new consumer financial rail. The institutional and crypto-native ecosystem convergence benefits from high-frequency retail engagement. However, the distinction between "investment" and "gambling" will ultimately determine long-term liquidity and institutional adoption of these markets.

JPMorgan to launch crypto trading for institutional clients

JPMorgan is weighing spot and derivatives crypto trading for institutional clients. This is driven by regulatory change: OCC issued Interpretive Letter 1188, confirming national banks can act as “riskless principal” intermediaries, buying from one counterparty and selling to another without holding inventory risk. [NEWS]

In the last 60 days alone, the bank:

* Launched the JPMD deposit token on the Base (Ethereum L2) public blockchain.

* Arranged the first U.S. commercial paper issuance (for Galaxy Digital) on the Solana blockchain, settled in USDC.

* Launched its first tokenised money-market fund, MONY, on Ethereum.

Why it matters: J.P. Morgan doesn't need to "win" crypto-native users. By acting as an intermediary, they allow institutional allocators to trade crypto within their existing compliance and reporting frameworks. If a hedge fund can trade BTC through its JPM Prime account, the incentive to use a crypto-native exchange vanishes.

Stripe’s 1.5% tax on the old world

Stripe has launched Tempo, its payment blockchain on public testnet. It is also charging a 1.5% transaction fee for businesses accepting payments in stablecoins. While that looks pricier than pure-play crypto processors, it’s a masterclass in vertical integration. [SEE FULL ANALYSIS]

Why it matters: This isn't a fee for a blockchain transfer; it's a fee for payment acceptance. Stripe is providing the "last mile" of commerce: fraud protection, 101-country compliance, and instant conversion to USD for merchant bank accounts. For a business, 1.5% is significantly cheaper than the 3%+ often charged for cross-border credit card transactions.

Our view: Traditional card networks solved for authorization speed (the “swipe”), but they never solved for settlement speed (the “cash”). Merchants typically wait 3-5 days for international funds. Tempo collapses this timeline to near-instant settlement, eliminating the need for corporate treasuries to hold idle “buffer cash” across global subsidiaries.

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Klarna swaps banks for blockchains

Klarna is bypassing traditional bank loans to fund its business using USDC. Through a partnership with Coinbase, the "Buy Now, Pay Later" giant is tapping into a $78B pool of digital dollar liquidity to settle its institutional debts faster and cheaper than ever before.[RELEASE]

How it works: Klarna needs massive amounts of short-term cash to pay merchants while they wait for customers to pay them back. Usually, they get this from consumer deposits or bank loans. Now, they’re getting it by issuing "Commercial Paper" (short-term debt) directly in USDC on public blockchains.

Why it matters: Enabled by the regulatory framework of the 2025 GENIUS Act, the partnership allows Klarna to tap into a $78B USDC market, bypassing traditional banking intermediation for faster, 24/7 settlement. It creates a dual-layer strategy: using institutional USDC for operational funding while preparing "KlarnaUSD", their own stablecoin, for consumer-facing payments in 2026.

🙌 Work with us: We arm financial institutions and digital asset leaders with bespoke research, thought leadership to shape the most important conversations, scale trust, and win business.

That’s all for now, folks.

PRO Readers: Read our alpha insights below!

– Marc & Team

💎 Investor Insights (Alpha)

Hey, it’s Marc.

“Public blockchains are more transparent than any legacy financial system ever built... crypto could become the most powerful financial surveillance architecture ever invented.”

— Paul Atkins at SEC crypto task force roundtable

The real action this weeks are infrastructure updates: Coinbase, DTCC, SoFi, JP Morgan. The winners? Ethereum, Canton, and Solana.

On top of that, the OCC has approved five national trust bank charters for digital asset entities. Now, these entities will be reviewed under the same standards used for traditional banks.

Our highlights this week:

* JPMorgan launches its first tokenized MMF “MONY” on Ethereum

* Coinbase launches tokenization and stablecoin as-a-service

* SoFi becomes the first national bank to issue a public stablecoin

* DTCC picks Canton to tokenize U.S. Treasuries

* OCC grants federal bank charters to Circle, Ripple, and Fidelity

* Visa launches 24/7 USDC settlement for U.S. institutions

Let’s jump in 👇

PS: We have a series of killer podcasts coming up & just opened new sponsorship slots. Grab your spot here!

Top Boardroom Reads

* Why altcoins will be bigger than Bitcoin, with Yat Siu, Co-founder of Animoca Brands (51)

* Banks in the Age of Stablecoins (Fed)

* 17 things we’re excited about for crypto in 2026 (a16z)

* Stablecoins, Financial Stability, And Treasuries (S&P Global)

* Crypto Report Card: Scoring 2025’s Predictions (Pantera)

* The End Of Interchange (AVC)

Top Signals This Week

JPMorgan’s $100M “MONY” Move on Ethereum

JPMorgan just launched MONY, a $100M tokenized money-market fund live on the Ethereum mainnet. Powered by their Kinexys Digital Assets platform (formerly Onyx), the fund is seeded with JPM’s own capital and marks their most aggressive step into public DeFi rails to date. [NEWS] [ANALYSIS]

Why it matters: While BlackRock’s BUIDL fund ($1.8B) and Franklin Templeton’s BENJI led the way, JPM’s entry signals that the largest bank in the U.S. now views Ethereum as a legitimate settlement layer. But the real “innovation” isn’t the fund itself, it’s the funding mechanism. Investors can subscribe and redeem using USDC. By integrating Circle’s stablecoin into the plumbing of a major MMF, JPM is admitting that private bank coins can’t compete with the liquidity and reach of public stablecoins.

Our view: By treating public blockchains as settlement rails, JPM is commoditizing the infrastructure while maintaining the customer interface.

The First Nationally Chartered Stablecoin: SoFiUSD

SoFi Bank, N.A. (an OCC-regulated, FDIC-insured institution) officially launched SoFiUSD, a fully reserved stablecoin on the public Ethereum blockchain. Unlike JPMorgan’s “JPM Coin” which exists on a private ledger, SoFiUSD is permissionless, meaning it can interact with the broader DeFi ecosystem while maintaining “bank-grade” oversight. [NEWS]

Why it matters: By issuing a stablecoin from a national charter, SoFi eliminates the two biggest hurdles for institutional adoption: counterparty risk and regulatory ambiguity. Because SoFi holds its reserves directly at the Fed, it has zero liquidity or credit risk, something even USDC (Circle) and USDT (Tether) cannot claim as non-banks. This creates a “Triple-A” equivalent stablecoin that can move 24/7 with instant finality.

Our view: SoFi isn’t just launching a product; they are offering “Stablecoin-as-a-Service.” Through its technology arm, Galileo, SoFi can now…. (continue below)

Coinbase is no longer a crypto exchange

On December 17, 2025, Coinbase rolled out a coordinated set of upgrades aimed at becoming a full-spectrum financial platform, aka the “everything exchange”:

* Trading of major stocks & ETFs, 24/5. zero fees. Thousans more coming.

* Perpetual futures for stocks (outside of US). Massive for global liquidity. Coming early 2026.

* Prediction markets: together with Kalshi, Coinbase is turning the world’s events – elections, Fed rates, sports – into tradeable assets.

* Tokenization as-a-service

* Stablecoins as-a-service

…marking a clear move to bring traditional assets and payments onto a single, regulated digital stack. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: By using the Base blockchain as the settlement layer and USDC as the medium of exchange, they are bypassing legacy clearinghouses. This allows for cross-collateralization: you can now theoretically use your Nvidia stock to instantly hedge an election outcome or a sports contract.

Be smart: For a decade, Coinbase was a "leveraged bet" on crypto volatility; when trading slowed, revenue vanished. The “Everything Exchange” strategy breaks that dependency.

Our view: The most slept-on part of this? Stablecoin-as-a-Service. Coinbase is now (continue below)…

Crypto just became the banking system

The U.S. banking regulator OCC (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency) approved five crypto-focused firms to operate as national trust banks, pending final conditions. Two are brand new banks (Ripple and Circle), and four: BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos are upgrading from state to federal oversight. [RELEASE]

The OCC’s actions are the executive implementation of the GENIUS Act, passed by the 119th Congress on July 18, 2025.

So what? This puts major digital-asset players under the same federal framework as traditional trust banks. The regulator is signalling that crypto custody and settlement can sit inside the mainstream banking system, not outside it. This opens an $85T institutional custody market without traditional banks’ permission.

Canton won the $100T settlement race

DTCC announced that it will begin tokenising U.S. Treasury securities that are already held at DTC, its core custody arm. This will happen on the Canton Network, with a live production MVP targeted for the first half of 2026. [RELEASE]

So what? DTCC is the core utility of U.S. capital markets. Its subsidiaries process securities transactions valued at approximately $3.7 quadrillion annually and maintain custody of assets valued at $99T. By choosing Canton, a permissioned, privacy-preserving network designed for regulated institutions, DTCC is also signalling how it thinks tokenisation should happen: inside existing rules, with known participants, and without exposing sensitive trading activity to the public.

🚨 We just opened new sponsorship slots for our newsletters & podcast. Want to reach 35k+ digital asset leaders? Contact us here.

🙌 Work with us: We arm financial institutions and digital asset leaders with bespoke research, thought leadership to shape the most important conversations, scale trust, and win business.

Visa launches 24/7 USDC settlement for U.S. institutions

Visa has officially launched USDC settlement for U.S. financial institutions, moving its stablecoin program from a global pilot into the core of the American payment system. U.S. issuers and acquirers, starting with Cross River Bank and Lead Bank, can now settle their obligations using Circle’s USDC on the Solana blockchain. Additionally, Visa is a design partner for Arc, Circle’s new Layer 1 blockchain, where it plans to operate a validator node and further scale its onchain settlement. [RELEASE]

So what? The traditional banking system operates on a “business day” schedule, leaving a 48-hour liquidity gap every weekend. By using USDC, Visa enables seven-day settlement, letting banks move money and manage liquidity without waiting for Fed systems to reopen. With Visa’s stablecoin volumes already running at a $3.5T annualized pace, this is a live upgrade to the plumbing of global commerce.

News Flash

* Trump administration says "we are closer than ever to passing the landmark crypto market structure legislation." Link

* Visa launched a Stablecoin Advisory Practice for bank clients. Link

* Interactive Brokers allows stablecoin funding. Link

* Tether considers tokenising stock at $500b value. Link

* Bitcoin hoar ding company Strategy remains in the Nasdaq 100. Link

* SEC has concluded its investigation into the Aave Protocol. Link

* Exodus, MoonPay to launch US dollar stablecoin in early 2026. Link

* Strategy buys $980m BTC, BitMine buys $321m ETH. Link

That’s all for now, folks.

PRO Readers: Read our alpha insights below!

– Marc & Team

💎 Investor Insights (Alpha)

Hey, it’s Marc.

“Under my leadership, SEC is prioritizing innovation and embracing new technologies to enable this on-chain future.”

- That’s the Chair of the SEC, Paul Atkins, folks.

Context: While crypto world is gathering at Abu Dhabi Finance Week, Bitcoin MENA and Solana Breakpoint, one of the most significant regulatory shifts happened yesterday:

DTCC, the backbone of U.S. capital markets, just received a green light from the SEC that could eventually migrate $100 trillion of assets on-chain.

Meanwhile: The Fed has cut the interest rate on bank reserves to 3.65% and is actively expanding its balance sheet with short-term Treasuries.

In plain English? The Fed is putting more money into the banking system. Historically, this is the single strongest macro tailwind for crypto.

Here is what matters this week:

* DTCC receives tokenization green light from SEC

* CFTC lets banks use BTC, ETH, and USDC as collateral

* State Street brings money markets to Solana

* SEC is rewriting the capital markets with a new Sandbox

* JPMorgan enables on-chain commercial paper using USDC

We’ll unpack all of these highlights below 👇

PS: We have a series of killer podcasts coming up & just opened new sponsorship slots. Grab your spot here!

Top Boardroom Reads

* The $400T tokenization migration, with Carlos Domingo, CEO Securitize (51)

* Tokenized Collateral, Stablecoins, and 24/7 Trading and Clearing Infrastructure for Regulated Derivatives Markets (SEC)

* The Internet’s Blueprint for Ethereum: A Trillion-Dollar Public Goods Valuation Framework (EMRC)

* Everyone’s wrong about quantum computing (a16z)

* I do not regret spending 8 years of my life in crypto (Nic Carter)

* The Anatomy of a Crypto Neobank (Messari)

Top Signals This Week

The $100 trillion green light

What happened: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a “No-Action Letter” to the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), authorising its subsidiary to launch a service for tokenizing real-world assets. Expected in the second half of 2026. [Release] [Letter] [Platform]

Why it matters: The DTCC isn’t just another player; it is the operating system of American capital, custodying over $100 trillion in assets and processing quadrillions in annual transactions. DTCC confirmed to Bloomberg their “ultimate aspiration” is to add the entire depository.

Our view: This is one of the most important signals of the year. While the DTCC will utilize a private AppChain built on Hyperledger Besu (an Ethereum-compatible client) for privacy and compliance, their explicit goal is interoperability across the TradFi and DeFi ecosystems. This reinforces the thesis that the future financial rail is EVM-compatible, cementing Ethereum’s standard as the settlement layer for the global economy.

CFTC lets banks use BTC, ETH, and USDC as collateral

CFTC has permitted Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDC (high-quality liquid assets) to serve as margin collateral for Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs; = regulated financial intermediaries) under a pilot program. The regulator has effectively removed the rule Staff Advisory 20-34 that forced digital asset holders to sell their tokens for cash before they could hedge.

Bitnomial is the first exchange to receive approval for this model. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: The U.S. banking system still works on weekday hours, but crypto trades nonstop. The CFTC pilot narrows that gap by letting firms use stablecoins as margin, opening the door to real 24/7 collateral movement in regulated markets. Bitnomial shows how this works: collateral stays inside the clearing system and can be sold instantly, which reduces risk and speeds everything up. But it also exposes a new problem. If Bitcoin crashes on a Saturday, banks still cannot move dollars to cover losses.

Be smart: The SEC and CFTC are reviewing “Blueprint Tokenised Collateral” proposals that use tokenised T-bills and 24/7 stablecoins to fix the weekend gap.

Our view: By allowing BTC/ETH/USDC as collateral, U.S. FCMs (Futures Commission Merchants) now offer the same capital efficiency as offshore venues. This removes the extra costs and delays that previously forced people to use risky foreign platforms.

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State Street brings money markets to Solana

State Street Investment Management and Galaxy Digital are building a new investment product called SWEEP (State Street Galaxy Onchain Liquidity Sweep Fund). Ondo Finance will be puting $200M into SWEEP through its existing OUSG fund. It will launch on the Solana blockchain in early 2026. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: State Street ($5.12T AUM) is one of the largest custodian banks in the world. Moving from private pilots to a public blockchain like Solana signals that top-tier institutions are finally comfortable with the security and compliance of public networks. The capital size is modest, but the shift from sandbox pilots to production-grade infrastructure marks a turning point for institutional onchain adoption.

Our view: This is a clear win for both Ondo Finance and Solana. Ondo is taking the smart path by partnering with major players instead of trying to beat them, becoming the place where their products reach users. It also sets up an important test: how well State Street’s older systems can connect to Solana’s fast, modern network.

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SEC is rewriting capital markets

After a delay due to the government shutdown, SEC Chair Paul Atkins confirmed the “Innovation Exemption” launches in January 2026. This directive, part of “Project Crypto“, allows digital asset firms to launch on-chain products under a temporary “sandbox” without immediate registration.[Update]

“ICOs transcend all four topics. Three of those areas are on the CFTC side, so we’ll let them worry about that, and we’ll focus on tokenized securities.”

– Paul Atkins, SEC Chair

Why it matters: The strategic implication here is binary: digital assets are graduating from a speculative asset class to the operating system of capital markets. By establishing a clear taxonomy (distinguishing “Tokenized Securities” from “Network Tokens” and “Digital Commodities”), Atkins is unlocking the $16 trillion opportunity in Real World Assets (RWA). Today, tokenised RWAs sit at a meagre $36B. The Innovation Exemption is the regulatory unlock required to move bonds, real estate, and private equity on-chain at scale.

JPMorgan enables on-chain commercial paper using USDC

JPMorgan arranged a U.S. commercial paper issuance for Galaxy Digital on the Solana public blockchain, with Coinbase and Franklin Templeton buying the paper and proceeds paid in USDC. [RELEASE]

How it works: J.P. Morgan created the on-chain USCP token (valued at $50M) and handled delivery-versus-payment settlement; Galaxy was the issuer and structurer; Coinbase provided custody and on/off ramps; Franklin Templeton participated as a buyer.

Why it matters: It turns a proof-of-concept into an actual playbook: a global bank arranging the deal, institutional investors buying it, a public chain running the settlement, and a dollar stablecoin moving the money. By collapsing issuance, custody, and settlement into a single on-chain flow, it shows how core capital markets plumbing can be rebuilt for speed and simplicity.

News Flash

* Fed quietly restarts money printer with T-bill QE. Link

* Stripe charges 1.5% for stablecoin transfers after Tempo launch. Link

* XXI goes public via Cantor’s SPAC deal. Link

* Tether launches privacy-first health platform. Link

* SEC ends Biden-era investigation into Ondo Finance. Link

* BMW used JPMorgan’s blockchain for automated FX transfers. Link

* OCC clears banks to facilitate crypto trades. Link

* YouTube launches stablecoin payouts through PayPal for U.S. creators. Link

* HashKey launches Hong Kong IPO seeking up to $214.7M. Link

* Tether gains Abu Dhabi’s approval to expand USDT. Link

* EU plans 2027 reforms centralizing market and crypto oversight under ESMA. Link

That’s all for now, folks. PRO: read our alpha insights below!

Take care

– Marc & Team

💎 Investor Insights (Alpha)

Hey, it’s Marc.

For a decade, the “safe” career move for wealth managers was to mock Bitcoin. As of this week, that stance is officially a liability.

Two massive dominos – managing a combined $13 trillion – just fell.

First, Bank of America, starting Jan 5, 2026, are actively prescribing Bitcoin to their wealth management clients. Second, Vanguard, the final boss of anti-crypto sentiment, just unlocked the gates for 50 million investors. On the wake of the news, BTC bounced above $92K, total crypto market capitalization rose to $3.06T.

Here is what matters this week:

* Bank of America greenlights a 1-4% crypto allocation for 15,000+ advisors.

* Vanguard reverses its ban, allowing trading of BTC, ETH, SOL, and XRP ETFs.

* The Fed laid out new national rules for stablecoin issuers

* Citadel petitions the SEC to regulate DeFi like the NYSE.

* Sony is building its stablecoin

We’ll unpack all of these highlights below 👇

Top Boardroom Reads

* Understanding Stablecoins (IMF)

* The crypto playbook for 2026, with Matt Hougan, CIO of Bitwise (51)

* Larry Fink and Rob Goldstein on how tokenisation could transform finance (The Economist)

* Asset Tokenization 101 (Deutsche Bank)

* FUND TOKENISATION (Irish Funds)

* The Future of Digital Assets (Citadel)

* Elon Musk: A Different Conversation (Nikhil Kamath)

Top Signals This Week

Vanguard and Bank of America embrace Bitcoin

What happened: Bank of America has authorized its 15,000+ advisors to actively recommend a 1–4% portfolio allocation to crypto, effective January 5, 2026. This guidance applies across Merrill, Private Bank, and Merrill Edge, utilizing specific ETFs from BlackRock (IBIT), Fidelity (FBTC), Bitwise (BITB), and Grayscale (BTC). Simultaneously, Vanguard ($11T AUM) reversed its long-standing ban, opening access to Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and Solana ETFs for its 50 million clients. [NEWS]

Why it matters: The banking sector is moving to capture the flow rather than fight it. With BoA managing $2.1T in wealth management assets, even a conservative 1% allocation implies ~$20B in potential inflows—roughly 1.2% of Bitcoin’s total market cap from a single entity.

Be smart: Strategically, this is about leverage and fees. Vanguard’s pivot was likely forced by seeing BlackRock’s IBIT ETF amass $70B in assets and become a top revenue generator. Wall Street wants Bitcoin exposure to be a rent-seeking product they control, not a bearer asset you own.

Our view: The “reputational risk” of touching crypto is dead; By guiding clients into 1-4% allocations, banks are effectively ensuring that the next leg of adoption flows strictly through their fee-generating pipes.

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Citadel wants DeFi under the rulebook

What happened: Citadel Securities, one of the world’s largest hedge funds, officially petitioned the SEC to classify DeFi platforms trading tokenized U.S. stocks as exchanges or broker-dealers. Their argument is binary: if a protocol, wallet, or app facilitates the trade of a security, it bears the same liability as the NYSE, regardless of whether it uses code or clerks. [LETTER]

While some argue that Citadel is just trying to protect its monopoly, Mike Cagney, co-founder of Figure said,

“Tokenizing DTCC securities won’t work… Trust doesn’t work in DeFi. The real way to bring public equities to blockchain is to issue them on the blockchain.”

Why it matters: Citadel compares current DeFi equity markets to a dangerous “shadow market” lacking insurance or recourse. By demanding strict registration, they aim to disqualify permissionless protocols from the tokenized equity market, ensuring that future liquidity flows remain centralized.

Our view: Citadel isn’t trying to stop tokenization; they are trying to own the order flow. If the SEC adopts this stance, the “Real World Asset” (RWA) sector faces a hard bifurcation: tokenized stocks will flourish, but they will trade inside a compliant walled garden run by TradFi market makers, not on Uniswap.

🙌 Work with us: We arm financial institutions and digital asset leaders with bespoke research, thought leadership to shape the most important conversations, scale trust, and win business.

The Fed is preparing new national rules for stablecoin issuers

What happened: On December 2, 2025, Federal Reserve Vice Chair Michelle Bowman signaled a major regulatory pivot: the Fed is actively drafting a framework to allow traditional banks to handle stablecoins and digital assets. In her testimony, she admitted that the current regulatory regime handicaps banks against “shadow” competitors – tech giants like Apple and crypto-native firms – who are capturing lending and payments market share without facing bank-level scrutiny.

Why it matters: This is an explicit admission that the center of financial gravity has shifted outside the banking system.

Our view: The Fed isn’t banning stablecoins; they are domesticating them. By inviting community and regional banks into the digital money game, the Fed is effectively trying to recapture the payments rail from tech players.

Sony launches a stablecoin

What happened: Sony Bank is launching a USD stablecoin in the U.S., tapping crypto infrastructure firm Bastion to handle the regulatory and technical stack. This follows the launch of their Ethereum Layer-2, Soneium, and proprietary wallets. The objective is clear: unify payments across PlayStation, Sony Music, and Sony Pictures on a proprietary rail. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: This is a direct attack on interchange fees. Sony generates over $85B in annual revenue, with ~30% coming from the U.S. market. Currently, Visa and Mastercard extract a ~2-3% tax on every digital subscription and game download. By routing payments through its own stablecoin on Soneium, Sony is attempting to reclaim hundreds of millions in EBITDA.

Our view: While the market has largely dismissed Sony’s blockchain (Soneium) as a commercial failure due to lack of organic traction, that assessment misses the long-term strategy. Sony isn’t building for crypto natives; they are building a closed-loop economy for their 116 million active users.

News Flash

* Ten major European banks are launching a euro stablecoin by 2026. Link

* Russia is likely to loosen crypto rules. Link

* Fusaka upgrade is live on the Ethereum mainnet. Link

* Kraken acquires Backed Finance. Link

* SoFi is raising $1.5B to strengthen its balance sheet and fund new products. Link

* China’s Huaxia Bank issued $637M in bonds fully paid in digital yuan. Link

💎 Investor Insights (Alpha)

Hey, it’s Marc.

Bitcoin has erased its 2025 gains and the macro ghosts have returned: the Fed is hesitant on cuts and thin liquidity is amplifying every sell order into a cascade.

But if you look at the plumbing, a completely different story is emerging.

While the market flushes out leverage and panics over Strategy’s potential index eviction, Wall Street is quietly laying the rails for the next phase.

Here is what matters while the dust settles:

* Strategy is at risk of losing $2B

* Tether’s S&P downgrade

* JP Morgan securitizes securitization

* Nasdaq’s 40x Bitcoin unlock

We’ll unpack all of these highlights below 👇

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Top Boardroom Reads

* Crypto hoarders dump tokens as shares tumble (Financial Times)

* Bitcoin and the Quantum Problem – Part II: The Quantum Supremacy (Nic Carter)

* Stablecoin Stability Assessment: Tether (USDT) (S&P Global)

* When can a quantum computer destroy bitcoin? (Anastasia)

* Part 1: My Life Is a Lie (Michael W. Green)

Top Signals This Week

Strategy is at risk of losing $2B

What happened: MSCI released a proposal to purge “Digital Asset Treasury” (DAT) firms from its global indexes. JPMorgan estimates this rule change, potentially effective January 2026, would trigger between $2.8B and $8.8B in forced selling of MicroStrategy (MSTR) as passive funds mechanically dump the stock. See Saylor’s response.

Why it matters: This effectively “un-institutionalizes” Saylor’s strategy. MSTR joined the MSCI World Index in May 2024, granting it access to the massive river of passive global capital. MSCI is now attempting to dam that river. This creates a structural crisis for the entire DAT sector.

Our take: While Saylor argues MSTR is an operating company, MSCI sees a disguised ETF with unquantifiable risk. If this rule passes, the premium MSTR trades at relative to its Bitcoin NAV faces an immediate, mechanical repricing shock.

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Tether’s S&P downgrade

S&P Global Ratings downgraded Tether from “Constrained” to “Weak” on November 26, 2025. This is a clear warning about the strength of the collateral backing the most important liquidity token in crypto. [Assessment]

So what? Tether has inadvertently graduated from a crypto-native utility to a “shadow central bank.” With a $112B portfolio of U.S. Treasuries and Reverse Repos, it is no longer just a passive holder; it is a structural pillar of the short-term sovereign debt market. Unlike traditional banks, Tether pays 0% interest to USDT holders while harvesting yields on government paper. This generates ~$13B in pure annual profit, while effectively holding the U.S. Treasury market hostage to its own stability.

Our view: With $13B in annual free cash flow and 0% cost of capital, Tether runs the world’s most profitable carry trade. This creates a “Too Big to Regulate” paradox: Washington cannot aggressively sanction Tether without risking a liquidity shock to the short end of the Treasury curve.

Be smart: Investors shouldn’t worry about imminent insolvency. Tether is arguably more solvent than many regional banks. The real worry is regulatory friction. As Tether behaves more like a nation-state than a company, it invites nation-state level scrutiny.

🙌 Work with us: We arm financial institutions and digital asset leaders with bespoke research, thought leadership to shape the most important conversations, scale trust, and win business.

JPMorgan securitizes the securitization

JPMorgan Chase issued structured notes linked to the performance of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT). This is explicitly engineered around the 2024–2028 Bitcoin halving cycle, combining an early‑call coupon profile in 2026 with leveraged upside and limited downside protection into 2028. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: IBIT alone holds on the order of 700k+ BTC, more than 3.5% of eventual BTC supply; JPM is now wrapping that liquidity into yield-bearing products for the massive wealth management complex. By putting Bitcoin exposure on the same “shelf” as S&P 500 autocallables, JPM effectively transforms a volatile commodity into a programmable financial instrument for private banking clients who prioritize capital preservation over raw alpha.

Our view: The “Dimon Paradox” is officially over: while Jamie Dimon publicly dismisses crypto, his trading desk is aggressively packaging it into products that mechanically dampen volatility, turning Bitcoin from a speculative bet into liquid institutional collateral.

Nasdaq’s 40x Bitcoin unlock

Nasdaq filed a proposal with the SEC to increase position limits for BlackRock’s IBIT ETF options from 25,000 to 1 million contracts. This 40x increase aligns Bitcoin’s regulatory treatment with the most liquid ETFs in the world, such as the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets and China Large-Cap funds. [NEWS]

Why it matters: This creates massive room for institutional exposure. Until now, strict limits acted as a “speed limit” for smart money; the 25,000 contract cap prevented large volatility funds and macro desks from hedging or speculating at scale.

News Flash

* Texas becomes first state to buy Bitcoin. Link

* Kraken launches a 1%-cashback crypto debit card in Europe. Link

* Kevin Hassett emerges as Fed frontrunner. Link

* Polymarket secures CFTC approval to operate fully as an exchange. Link

* Klarna launched its first stablecoin, KlarnaUSD. Link

* Nasdaq plans real tokenized stock trading by 2026, opposing derivative-style alternatives. Link

* Singapore completed its first live interbank settlement trial using wholesale CBDC. Link

💎 Investor Insights (Alpha)

Hey, it’s Marc.

Investors are trying to make sense of one of the sharpest, most confusing selloffs of the year. Here are the top 6 narratives right now:

* Vitalik Buterin and Ray Dalio warning about crypto’s lack of quantum resistance

* The rise of privacy coins such as Zcash, a feature Bitcoin can’t deliver (Jan Van Eck talked about this on CNBC this week).

* a major market maker may have taken balance-sheet damage, thinning liquidity when the market needed it most.

* a surge in BTC loan liquidations forced mechanical selling across the board.

* Cathy Wood, a popular macro investor, reducing her BTC price forecast due to stablecoins “crowing out” the original Bitcoin use case (via CNBC)

* And some traders simply blame the extended U.S. government shutdown, which temporarily slowed USD flows into risk assets.

Here’s what is clear: the market is extremely oversold, and we’ve seen this movie before. In every major crypto cycle, 2017, 2021, even back to 2016. We’ve had brutal 30–70% resets in the middle of strong structural trends. And this time, nothing fundamentally broke. Markets simply repriced risk faster than anyone expected.

While traders panic, the future is being built in plain sight.

Our highlights this week:

* Kraken raised $800M at a $20B valuation and confidentially filed for an IPO

* Aave launched the first mainstream-ready DeFi app

* Circle introduced xReserve, solving fragmentation of USDC across chains.

* Coinbase revives ICOs in the US

* Franklin Templeton expanded to Canton

We’ll unpack all of these highlights below 👇

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Top Signals This Week

Crypto’s quantum threat

Vitalik Buterin’s, Ethereum’s co-founder, warning at DevConnect was simple: Ethereum needs quantum-resistant cryptography within ~4 years. Not because the chain will fail, but because users won’t migrate in time. In the same news cycle, Ray Dalio went on CNBC saying quantum is one of the core reasons Bitcoin won’t become a global reserve asset. [NEWS]

Zoom in: Ethereum is making quantum-safe cryptography a core priority in “The Splurge” phase. It also proposed a system that makes all rollups feel like one unified network. Solana is actively working on quantum resistance too.

And Bitcoin? It’s still debating how, and whether, to do a migration at all. There’s a proof of concept somewhere, but consensus is miles away.

Our take: The global crypto market cap sits at $2.93T, and every dollar of it relies on cryptography that quantum computers could eventually break. If a fault-tolerant quantum machine emerges faster than expected, exposed public keys, old address formats, and archived transaction data become easy targets. A hard fork would be the only realistic path to safety for most networks. And forks are messy. In short: the technical migration is straightforward. The economic and political migration is not.

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Kraken raises $800M and wants to go public

Kraken just raised $800M at a $20B valuation and confidentially filed to go public. Citadel, DRW and Jane Street led the round, helping Kraken to become a full-stack platform across spot trading, derivatives, equities, tokenised assets, staking, and payments. [RELEASE] [ANALYSIS]

The IPO is the headline. But the real story is why these investors showed up.

Our take? Kraken is about to become the first major U.S. crypto exchange to go public since Coinbase. But here’s what they don’t tell you: This is all preparation for a future where most of financial activity happens on-chain. Kraken has spent the last three years preparing for this, turning itself into a full-stack liquidity platform: spot, derivatives, U.S. stocks and ETFs, custody, staking, OTC, payments (Krak), tokenization, and even its own L2. Because next trillion-dollar companies won’t be “exchanges”. They’ll be liquidity networks that plug millions of users into open, on-chain financial rails.

🙌 Work with us: We arm financial institutions and digital asset leaders with bespoke research, thought leadership to shape the most important conversations, scale trust, and win business.

The Netscape moment of DeFi

Aave ($30.92B TVL) just shipped the first mass consumer finance app that successfully hides the blockchain. No seed phrases. No gas fees. Just a normal app offering up to 9% yield (18x the national savings average) to users. [RELEASE]

So what? This proves that complex financial engineering can be wrapped in consumer-grade UX. It opens the floodgates for a new wave of apps where the “bank” is just code in the background. We’ll likely see a host of protocols moving up the stack to own the customer relationship. If Aave succeeds here, every major DeFi protocol (Uniswap, MakerDAO, Compound) will launch a consumer app within 12 months to defend their liquidity.

Circle’s xReserve makes USDC interoperable

Circle launched xReserve, unifying its $70B+ USDC liquidity into one portable, chain-agnostic standard. Any blockchain can now mint its own native USDC-backed token that’s fully interchangeable with real USDC – no more wrapped, synthetic, or bridged variants. Transfers work through a Circle-run “burn-and-mint” attestation system instead of external bridges. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: xReserve solves the biggest structural issue in stablecoins: fragmentation. Bridged versions like “USDC.e” aren’t fungible at the protocol level, forcing users to swap through liquidity pools, paying slippage and fees while LPs spread capital across multiple copies of the same asset. xReserve collapses that entirely, one pool, one asset, everywhere.

Our take: It also signals a deeper shift: Circle is moving from issuer to infrastructure. By controlling the interoperability layer, Circle commoditizes third-party bridges (LayerZero, Axelar) and positions USDC as the transport standard for on-chain settlement.

Coinbase: ICO’s 2.0

Coinbase launched an end-to-end token sales platform for global retail users (including the United States). With that, it is redesigning how tokens are distributed, priced, and launched. [BLOG]

So what? In 2017-18 ICO boom, projects raised more than $5.6B but operated with almost no rules, no disclosures, and no safeguards. Result: more than 80% of ICO tokens collapsed within 90 days. The SEC’s crackdown effectively shut down public token sales in the U.S. by arguing that most ICOs were unregistered securities. Now, the SEC is officially introducing a new framework on how tokens fit within existing securities laws. And, Coinbase is trying to fix the primary market while fighting over the secondary one with a more transparent, fair, and compliant launch process that can finally bring token fundraising back onshore.

Franklin moves $798M to Canton

Franklin Templeton just expanded its Benji Technology Platform onto the Canton Network. The firm manages $1.69T and will move $798M of AUM onto Canton immediately. [NEWS]

So what? This is a bet on privacy-led tokenisation. Institutional desks can’t expose positions or collateral flows on public chains. Canton solves that through Daml-based smart contracts and Private Contract Stores, giving each participant strict control over who sees what. It’s the first architecture that meets banks’ confidentiality requirements while still enabling cross-institution settlement.

News Flash

* HSBC will offer tokenised deposits to US and UAE clients. Link

* Mastercard partners with Polygon. Link

* Vitalik introduced Kohaku, a privacy-focused tool on Ethereum. Link

* Rain acquired Uptop. Link

* FDIC considers guidance over tokenised deposit insurance. Link

* BNY launches stablecoin reserves fund. Link

* Singapore to trial tokenised bills, bring in stablecoin laws. Link

* A new US bill would allow Bitcoin tax payments and build a national reserve. Link

Top Boardroom Reads

* 2025 ONCHAIN REVENUE REPORT (1kx)

* Crypto Trends Report 2025 (Variant.fund)

* Thematic Review on FSB Global Regulatory Framework for Crypto-asset Activities (FSB)

* 2026 is the year of pragmatic privacy in crypto: Canton, Zcash and more (Cointelegraph)

* The next-generation monetary and financial system (BIS)

👉Check out our Crypto Treasury Alpha newsletter here.

💎 Investor Insights (Alpha)

Introducing… 💎 Investor Insights (PRO): our new bottom-of-newsletter section loaded with alpha:

* Each week we break down the biggest news in crypto.

* Now, for PRO readers, we answer the only question that matters: How can you act on that and front-run the market?

You’ll get trade ideas, allocation plays & actionable alpha.

👉 Upgrade to PRO to unlock this week’s Investor Insights.

Let’s get into it…

This week, at the Cantor’s Crypto & AI/Energy Infrastructure conference in Miami, something rare happened: Cantor managed to pull crypto OGs, the biggest TradFi institutions, and the AI/infra crowd into one room. Wall Street isn’t “watching crypto” anymore. They’re all in.

Then, my signal of the week: JP Morgan collaborates with DBS Bank to move regulated bank money across public blockchain rails. Yes, public chains. That’s a huge deal. This is one of the biggest wins ever for public blockchains. More below.

Our highlights this week:

* Czech National Bank (CNB) became the FIRST national bank to add Bitcoin to its balance sheet.

* Coinbase introduces Token Launches, letting retail buy digital tokens before listing.

* Cash App unlocks stablecoins for 58M users

* SEC will introduce token taxonomy

* Tether unveils its global vision

We’ll unpack all of these highlights below 👇

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Top Signals This Week

Coinbase just relaunched the ICO era, with a twist

What happened: Coinbase just introduced Token Launches, a compliant U.S. launchpad that lets retail investors buy new tokens beforet hey list on the exchange. One sale per month, $100–$100k tickets, paid in USDC, no fees. Allocations depend on behavior: early dumpers get punished, holders get priority. [RELEASE]

Our take: Coinbase just opened the door for a compliant U.S. version of on-chain capital formation. It doesn’t fix everything, but it’s a step toward solving one of crypto’s dirtiest secrets: most token launches have been pump-and-dump schemes. No product, no traction, just insiders cashing out while retail gets dumped on. If this works, it sets a new precedent: Access for real users, not just VC exit liquidity.

👉Trade Coinbase on Robinhood

JP Morgan x DBS: The $1.5 Trillion On-Chain Bridge

DBS and J.P. Morgan’s Kinexys are building a cross-bank framework to let tokenised deposits move seamlessly between their blockchain systems: DBS Token Services and Kinexys Digital Payments. They are doing it across permissioned and public chains (Base, Ethereum L2) at the same time. [RELEASE]

So what? The banks are wiring their deposit-token networks together, creating cross-issuer, cross-chain fungibility:

* JPM deposit tokens (JPMD) issued on Base

* DBS deposit tokens on DBS Token Services

* Real-time, 24/7 settlement between clients, no SWIFT, no correspondent banks

* Redeemable as real bank money on either side

This is regulated bank money moving across public blockchain rails. Unlike stablecoins, tokenised deposits can earn interest and integrate directly with core banking systems, making them a more practical form of on-chain cash for corporates and institutional treasuries.

Our take: Banks are choosing open infrastructure. This is one of the biggest wins ever for public blockchains, and for Ethereum’s legitimacy.

🙌 Work with us: We arm financial institutions and digital asset leaders with bespoke research, thought leadership to shape the most important conversations, scale trust, and win business.

Tether isn’t what you think it is

At Cantor’s Crypto & AI/Energy Infrastructure conference in Miami this week, Tether’s CEO, Paolo Ardoino, painted a picture of a company evolving far beyond its stablecoin origins. Tether is building what might become the most important digital infrastructure company of the decade:

* Finance: USDT, USAT (Genius Act-compliant), XAUT (gold-backed), Rumble

* Communication: Keet (fully peer-to-peer messaging, no central servers)

* Energy: Tether kiosks — 500 live in Africa, 100k planned, powering up to 150M people; Tether is also the world’s biggest Bitcoin miner.

* Intelligence: QVAX — a peer-to-peer AI runtime that runs LLMs locally

So what? Ardoino’s vision presented Tether as a force for global stability and a champion of the U.S. dollar’s hegemony. By embedding the dollar in the financial fabric of emerging markets, he argued, Tether is creating an “eradication-proof” network that will benefit the U.S. economy for the foreseeable future. More below 👇

Inside “Project Crypto”: SEC will introduce token taxonomy

The U.S. SEC is officially introducing a new framework on how tokens fit within existing securities laws. This was one of the first initiatives under “Project Crypto.” The program brings together teams from the SEC’s divisions of trading, investment management, and enforcement to build a unified framework for token classification, custody, and disclosure standards. [RELEASE]

So what? This is the moment the broader digital asset industry has been waiting for. Similar to the GENIUS Act, this can accelerate U.S. crypto innovation with clarity about digital commodities and collectibles.

👉 Upgrade to PRO to receive our deep dive on this

Cash App unlocks stablecoins

Jack Dorsey's Cash App is adding stablecoins for 58M users. This will enable users to get a blockchain wallet address, send & receive stablecoins, and 4M merchants can accept Bitcoin (even without holding BTC). [RELEASE]

So what? Stablecoins solve what Bitcoin can’t for everyday commerce with instant settlement, no price volatility, no tax friction on small purchases, and work globally without banks. Even hardcore maximalists like Dorsey can’t argue with the economics. Stablecoins are becoming the default backend for global consumer finance.

Franklin Templeton joins Canton Network

Franklin Templeton just expanded its Benji Technology Platform, the blockchain stack that powers its tokenised mutual funds, onto the Canton Network. This will move FT’s $798M AUM to Canton immediately. [NEWS]

So what? Privacy is the primary enabler. The commitment to the Canton Network confirms institutional alignment on architectural guarantees regarding privacy and authorisation rules. Canton’s use of the Daml protocol and Private Contract Stores addresses this requirement by maintaining the necessary institutional confidentiality for cross-market activities. This is a huge win for Canton.

News Flash

* Citi expands tokenized payments to euros, enabling 24/7 global liquidity. Link

* Pantera-backed Solana Company is tokenizing its shares onchain. Link

* BlackRock’s BUIDL Fund Expands to BNB Chain. Link

* MoonPay launches Enterprise Stablecoin Services, integrating M0. Link

* Tether, KraneShares, and Bitfinex unite to tokenize capital markets. Link

* UK’s FCA moves from tokenisation blueprint to real fund implementation.

* Visa pilots stablecoin payouts to speed up global payments for creators. Link

* SoFi becomes first US bank to enable direct Solana purchases. Link

* Coinbase ends acquisition talks with BVNK.

* Ripple raised 500M at a $40B valuation, backed by Citadel and Fortress. Link

Top Boardroom Reads

* Down 13%, smarter than ever (51)

* Galaxy brain resistance (Vitalik Buterin)

* Stablecoins and the future of finance (IMF)

* The Fintech Effect 2025 (Plaid)

* The Digital Revolution: Transforming Financial Market Infrastructure (BNY)

* The Next Wave of Stablecoin Economics Belongs to DeFi (Simon)

👉Check out our Crypto Treasury Alpha newsletter here.

💎 Investor Insights (Alpha)

* JP Morgan x DBS: Many investors increase exposure to Ethereum (ETH) as deposit-token volumes eventually route through L2s. They add a smaller position to Optimism (OP) as Base scaling demand rises. For equity exposure, Coinbase (COIN) is the purest beneficiary of Base’s institutional volume. While Base’s revenue is currently a minor contributor compared to Coinbase’s core trading business, its growth potential could be a significant driver for the company. Soon, Coinbase will also launch its Base infrastructure token. Keep an eye on that. 👉 Trade on Robinhood

* Franklin Templeton → Canton: FT moving $798M onto Canton confirms that privacy-first chains are well positioned to capture institutional demand. Canton has raised $135M from the biggest names in finance (Goldman, DRW, Citadel, etc.). 400 institutions are already on board. And the Canton token went live this week. 👉 Trade it on Gate or Coinbase.

* Cash App adding stablecoins for 58M users is one of the largest consumer-side onramp expansion to date. Consumer payments are a volume game and rails that settle fast and cheap win. Many investors keep an eye on BLOCK (XYZ), the company behind Cash App. 👉 Trade on Robinhood

* Tether is becoming a global infrastructure company in energy, AI, and communications, while remaining the largest distributor of U.S. dollars outside the U.S. This supports long-term Bitcoin mining demand and EM fintech rails. Many investors add to Bitcoin miner equities Marathon (MARA), CleanSpark (CLSK), and Cipher Mining (CIFR). 👉 Trade on Robinhood

That’s all for now, folks.

Take care

– Marc & Team

This week, I had the chance to speak with Raoul Pal on the big debasement trade, rising debt, Bitcoin vs Gold and the best macro play for the next 5 years.

Then, the signal of the week:

Mastercard: $2B for Zerohash. Coinbase: $2B for BVNK. Kraken: $1.5B for NinjaTrader. Ripple: Palisade. Securitize: $1.25B SPAC.

The pattern is unmistakable: crypto and payment giants are writing billion-dollar checks to own the infrastructure layer of digital money. The boring stuff: authorization layers, settlement rails, custody pipes. The backend that connects dollars to digital assets. In Q3 alone, 95 companies closed crypto M&A deals worth $10B+. This isn’t M&A. It’s a land grab for the pipes. And whoever controls the pipes, controls the flow. Who’s next?

This week’s highlights:

* Google integrates Polymarket data into Search and Finance

* Mastercard acquires Zerohash for $2B.

* Coinbase to buy BVNK for $2B.

* Securitize’s is going public with $1.25B SPAC

* Visa adds support for 4 stablecoins

* Franklin Templeton launches Hong Kong’s first tokenized money market fund

We’ll unpack all of these highlights below 👇

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Top Boardroom Reads

* Q3 2025 Crypto M&A and Financing Report (Architect & Partners)

* Raoul Pal’s 2026 Playbook: Dollar, Debt, and Crypto’s Big Debasement Trade (51)

* How Stablecoins Are Eating Payments, with Chris Harmse, Co-founder & CBO of BVNK (Fiftyone)

* DeFi 101 (Standard Chartered)

* DeFi - A Strategic Opportunity for the UK (UK Cryptoasset Business Council)

* Stablecoin Payments from the Ground Up (Artemis)

Top Signals This Week

Mastercard’s $2B play to own digital money’s backend

Mastercard is reportedly in late-stage talks to acquire Zerohash for between $1.5B and $2B, a company that raised $104M from Interactive Brokers, Morgan Stanley, and Apollo at a $1B valuation in September and just became one of the first firms authorised under Europe’s new MiCAR framework. This would be one of Mastercard’s largest investments ever in the crypto space.[NEWS]

Our take: This is about owning the infrastructure layer between traditional money and digital money. Mastercard’s entire business model rests on controlling the “authorization” and “settlement” layers of global payments. In today’s system, those steps are intentionally separate: authorization happens instantly, but settlement drags on for days, allowing Mastercard to sit in the middle and monetize the flow. Stablecoins collapse that gap. The move would let Mastercard internalize the new on-chain settlement layer, preserving its role as the trusted, compliant intermediary.

🙌 Work with us: We arm financial institutions and digital asset leaders with bespoke research, thought leadership to shape the most important conversations, scale trust, and win business.

Coinbase to buy BVNK for $2B

Coinbase is reportedly in late-stage talks to acquire BVNK for around $2B. Backed by Visa, Citi and Tiger Global, BVNK has processed $20B+ in transactions and is valued at $750M, available across 180+ countries. [NEWS]

Why it matters: The distribution war just got real. Stablecoin economics are splitting into two games: issuers (Tether, Circle) capture yield on reserves, while distributors (Coinbase, Stripe) capture transaction flow. Coinbase already keeps the lion’s share of Circle’s USDC yield, now it’s buying the payment rails to control both ends. As BVNK’s Chris Harmse told us: “Issuance will end up like money market funds—low-margin wrappers. The value is in distribution.”

So what? Coinbase’s Q3 numbers make one thing clear: it is no longer a retail trading story. Institutional investors now drive 4x more volume than consumers ($236B vs. $59B). Revenue from these clients jumped 144% YoY to $135M, while stablecoins quietly became a profit engine, contributing $246M (20% of total revenue). With $747M coming from subscriptions and services, Coinbase is building a steadier, enterprise-grade business.

Visa’s new card: It’s called a stablecoin

Visa has just gone all-in on stablecoins, adding support for four tokens (USDC, PYUSD, USDG, EURC) across four different blockchains, all of which are convertible into 25 fiat currencies. [NEWS]

So what? Stablecoin card spend has quadrupled year-over-year, with Visa now facilitating more than $2.5B in annualised blockchain settlements. Visa users have purchased more than 100B of crypto and stablecoin assets and spent more than 35B of these assets using their Visa credentials. As money gets faster, smarter, and more software-driven, Visa is aiming to make sure every new transaction, whether it’s a tap, token, or transfer, still runs through its network.

Securitize’s is going public with $1.25B SPAC

BlackRock-backed fintech Securitize is going public via a $1.25 billion SPAC merger with a Cantor Fitzgerald–affiliated vehicle, making it the first major tokenisation infrastructure company to go public. The deal, unanimously approved by both boards, is expected to close in the first half of 2026, pending regulatory approvals. [NEWS]

The backdrop: Founded in 2017, Securitize operates the pipes of tokenisation: issuance, trading, and servicing of digital securities and is one of the few SEC-registered firms in the space (broker-dealer, transfer agent, and ATS). The company has already tokenised over $4B in assets, including BlackRock’s $3B BUIDL fund.

“We’ve been profitable for two years and forecast around $69 million in revenue and will be profitable in 2025. Our credibility increases immediately once we’re publicly traded.”

— Carlos Domingo, CEO at Securitize

So what? Traditional investment banks are repositioning to capture the tokenisation wave, with SPACs serving as fast-track vehicles for high-trust fintech plays. Securitise is betting on $10T tokenisation market, suggesting a coming capital rotation from yield-bearing stablecoins to on-chain treasury markets, where Securitize’s rails are already embedded.

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Hong Kong builds liquidity bridge for U.S. treasuries

Franklin Templeton just launched Hong Kong’s first tokenised money-market fund. The fund, backed by U.S. Treasuries, is the first live project under the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s new “Fintech 2030” strategy. This is happening with regulatory support and in partnership with banking titans like HSBC. [NEWS]

By the numbers: Tokenized U.S. Treasuries grew 5x between January 2024 and April 2025, hitting $7.4 billion by mid-2025. That’s still tiny, just 0.03% of the $26 trillion Treasury market. But Standard Chartered forecasts $30 trillion by 2034. BlackRock’s BUIDL fund alone controls $2.8B and grew 4x in 2025. Franklin Templeton’s $844M BENJI platform is second. Six players control almost all of tokenized Treasuries. The infrastructure is concentrating fast.

So what? It signals Hong Kong’s bid to make U.S. dollar–backed digital assets a core part of its capital market infrastructure, effectively bridging Western assets with Asian liquidity under regulatory oversight.

News Flash

* Ripple raised $500M with $40B valuation. Link

* Tether made a profit of $10B in 2025. Link

* Polygon & Anq are developing a sovereign-backed digital token in India, ARC. Link

* Canada plans stablecoin laws requiring reserves and risk controls. Link

* Gemini enters prediction markets. Link

* Animoca Brands plans NASDAQ listing through reverse merger. Link

* Visa adds tokenised digital wallet support to fleet cards. Link

* Fireblocks acquired authentication startup Dynamic. Link

That’s all for now, folks.

Take care

– Marc & Team

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* Check out our Crypto Treasury Alpha newsletter here.

When JPMorgan tokenizes private equity, Circle launches a blockchain with 100+ Wall Street partners, and Mastercard drops $2 billion on a crypto infrastructure deal, the signal is clear: We’re in a race to own the rails of the next financial system.

Some are building them (JPM, BlackRock, Stripe, IBM, Circle), others are buying them. 2025 has quietly become the year of crypto M&A:

* Stripe → Privy

* Coinbase → Echo, Deribit

* Mastercard → ZeroHash

* Robinhood → Bitstamp

* Ripple → Hidden Road

* Circle → Hashnote

* Kraken → NinjaTrader

* MoonPay → Iron

It’s infrastructure, not tokens, stupid.

Also this week:

* Zelle ($1T+ in transfers, 2,100 banks), integrates stablecoins [more]

* First yen-pegged stablecoin went live

* Western Union plans to launch USDPT stablecoin on Solana.

We’ll unpack all of these highlights below 👇

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Top Boardroom Reads

* Progressing fund tokenisation (FCA)

* Crypto-assets and decentralised finance (ESRB)

* MicroStrategy gets B-rating from S&P (51)

* Why Privacy Is Becoming the World’s Most Valuable Currency (Maja Vujinovic)

* 2024 BIS survey on central bank digital currencies and crypto (BIS)

* Stablecoins – Implications for EM (Standard Chartered)

* Ethereum’s Endgame: Why Credible Neutrality Beats Speed, with William Mougayar (51)

* The Stablecoin Balancing Act (IMF)

🙌 Work with us: We create pioneering thought leadership that helps digital asset and technology companies lead the conversation, earn trust and win business.

Top Signals This Week

J.P. Morgan makes private equity history on-chain

JPMorgan just made private equity history: tokenizing a private fund on its blockchain, Kinexys, giving private wealth clients direct digital ownership of fund shares. [NEWS]

The goal? To digitize one of finance’s most illiquid markets and make alternative assets trade like stocks, enabling real-time settlement, programmable compliance, and 24/7 liquidity.

Why it matters: Kinexys, JPM’s in-house blockchain, has already processed $1.5T in transactions and $2B+ daily volume. Unlike Goldman and BNY’s tokenized money market funds, JPM is tackling the hardest problem: tokenizing what never moves.

Our take: Private markets are a $23T asset class expected to hit $25T by 2030, and JPM now controls the first end-to-end infrastructure to move it on-chain. By 2026, Kinexys aims to support private credit, real estate, and infrastructure funds, effectively becoming the Stripe of private markets. The world’s largest bank just built the rails for the next $15T in alternative assets.

Zelle, Western Union upgrade infra with blockchain

Two of the world’s biggest money movers: Zelle ($1T+ in transfers, 2,100 banks) and Western Union (500K+ outlets, 200+ countries), are going stablecoin. Western Union plans to use stablecoins for cross-border payments and its own treasury operations, aiming to cut fees and reduce settlement times. Zelle, backed by major U.S. banks, will use stablecoins to enable international transfers and is even considering launching its own. [RELEASE]

So what? For years, PayPal, Wise, Tether and others dominated cross-border payments while banks watched from the sidelines. Now Zelle’s owners are building their own stablecoin rails and keeping those transaction fees in-house. Distribution is their moat: 100 MILLION (!) verified bank users will now get stablecoin rails without ever leaving their banking app (Zelle has over 74.8M active users, while Western Union serves over 150M customers worldwide, operating in 200+ countries).

Circle’s Arc: Wall Street’s New Blockchain?

Circle launches its blockchain Arc with 100+ institutional partners, including Visa, BlackRock , ICE , Goldman Sachs, HSBC , State Street , AWS, Deutsche Bank , Coinbase , Kraken, Anthropic , and 90+ others. [RELEASE]

The challenge: Big players want neutral rails. Centralized blockchains only work with massive distribution and industry coalitions (if ever). Because BlackRock won’t tokenize $10T on a chain run by one vendor. They’ll need credibly neutral rails.

Our take: The financial stack is being rebuilt. Quietly. Globally. But this time, the prize isn’t the token. It’s who controls the new pipes, that makes the money. Stripe, JPM, Citi, Blackrock, SWIFT – all of them, and soon more, want to build the rails. And with Arc, Circle just made its boldest move yet to do the same.

Japan’s first Stablecoin

The world’s first yen-pegged stablecoin just went live. With 10-year JGB yields at just 1.65%, JPYC’s thin-margin seigniorage model faces heightened stability risk, making yen-backed stablecoins structurally weaker than dollar-backed ones. [NEWS]

So what? USD-pegged stablecoins command over 99% of the global market, which crossed $300B in total capitalisation as of October 2025. JPYC’s stablecoin offers a “De-dollarisation Lite” path, creating a sovereign, regulated digital alternative to the USD for Asian trade settlement.

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Mastercard to acquire Zerohash for $2B

Mastercard is acquiring Zerohash, a crypto infrastructure company, for up to $2B. This mirrors Stripe’s $1.1B acquisition of Bridge in February. Zerohash enables Fiat-to-crypto conversions, stablecoin trading, API-level crypto integration and offers tokenisation infrastructure. [NEWS] [ANALYSIS]

The best part: Zerohash raised $104M at a $1B valuation in September 2025. Mastercard just offered to double that within a month. And they know why: the race is on. Stripe, PayPal, Visa, WorldPay and pretty much all major banks are all building on stablecoin rails.

So what? Mastercard is positioning itself at the center of the stablecoin economy. By acquiring Zerohash, it gains direct control over the infrastructure that connects traditional payment networks with digital assets: fiat conversion, custody, and tokenization. It’s a strategic move to future-proof its core business as payments shift from cards to blockchain rails.

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News Flash

* IBM launches Digital Asset Haven, infra for financial institutions & enterprises. Link

* Securitize to become a public company at $1.25B valuation. Link

* The European Central Bank plans to launch the digital euro by 2029.

* Ant Group applied to register crypto trademarks. Link

* Apollo partners with Coinbase to unlock stablecoin lending business. Link

* Canada advances stablecoin framework. Link

* Citi and Coinbase partner to streamline global digital asset payments. Link

* Visa added support for 4 new stablecoins across 4 chains. Link

That’s all for now, folks.

Take care

– Marc & Team

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J.P. Morgan just did what no major bank had dared: it will now lend against Bitcoin and Ethereum. That single decision pulls crypto into the global credit system. This is a small step for JPM, but a big step for crypto, particularly Ethereum (more below).

In the same week, Aave launched Horizon, letting institutions borrow stablecoins against tokenized Treasuries and funds on-chain.

Read that together: banks are accepting crypto as collateral while DeFi starts accepting bank-grade collateral.

The signal is clear: rails are converging. And again, everything except Bitcoin will be priced as infrastructure. The alpha isn’t any longer “up only”. It’s who owns issuance, distribution, collateral flows, and the spread as these rails sync.

Also this week:

* Coinbase goes full-stack with $357M Echo acquisition

* Trump pardons CZ, the Binance founder

* Polymarket confirms U.S. return & token airdrop

We’ll unpack all of these highlights below 👇

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Top Boardroom Reads

* Enterprise-grade private, permissioned L2s on Ethereum (zksync)

* State of crypto 2025 (a16z)

* Gold’s reign, Bitcoin’s rise. (Deutsche Bank)

* FGNexus Alpha Brief October (FGNX & 51)

🙌 Work with us: We create pioneering thought leadership that helps digital asset and technology companies lead the conversation, earn trust and win business.

Top Signals This Week

J.P. Morgan Makes Bitcoin and Ethereum Bankable Collateral

JPM will let institutional clients pledge Bitcoin and Ethereum as loan collateral by year-end. Assets sit with third-party custodians (think Fidelity/BNY). It extends JPM’s existing acceptance of crypto ETFs as collateral into native tokens. [NEWS]

The goal? To bring crypto into traditional credit workflows.

So what? This makes BTC and ETH officially “bankable.” It places digital assets beside gold and Treasuries as recognized collateral. For Ethereum especially, this is validation of its role as financial infrastructure, a yield-bearing, settlement-ready asset inside the world’s biggest bank. This move formally integrates crypto into core banking workflows: balance sheet lending, repo, and margin facilities.

Aave’s launches DeFi’s first institutional credit market

Aave Labs unveiled Horizon, a permissioned on-chain lending market for institutions to borrow stablecoins against tokenized real-world assets (RWAs). Horizon launches with a consortium of top-tier partners: Circle, Superstate, Centrifuge, Chainlink, Ethena, OpenEden, Ripple, Securitize, VanEck, WisdomTree, KAIO, and Ant Digital Technologies. [RELEASE]

So what? Horizon is the missing bridge between tokenization and credit markets. RWAs are no longer passive, illiquid assets, they now serve as programmable collateral that can generate liquidity in real time. For investors, it means two things: new yield opportunities from institutional borrowers and DeFi’s transformation into a full-fledged wholesale funding market. This is the first DeFi-native credit desk built for Wall Street scale.

Coinbase goes full-stack

Coinbase acquired Echo for $375M , a fast-growing onchain capital formation platform enabling public and private token sales. Echo’s product Sonar allows compliant, self-hosted token launches with full onchain transparency. Since inception, Echo has facilitated 300+ deals, raising over $200M directly from communities. [RELEASE]

The big picture: This builds on Coinbase’s acquisition of Liquifi earlier this year, giving it end-to-end coverage of tokenized markets: creation (Liquifi), issuance (Echo), and trading (Base), all integrated with custody, compliance, and stablecoin rails.

So what? Coinbase now owns the full capital stack of crypto finance. It’s no longer just an exchange, it’s becoming the infrastructure provider for compliant tokenized fundraising. As soon as U.S. regulation will allow public token sales, Coinbase will be the default platform for issuers and investors alike. Think of it as building the NASDAQ, NYSE, and AngelList of the onchain era.

Polymarket token incoming

Polymarket’s CMO confirmed a POLY token and airdrop are coming, but only after the platform completes its CFTC-approved reentry into the U.S. market. The company is currently testing an invite-only U.S. app with event contracts tied to macro, politics, and culture. [NEWS]

So what? Backed by ICE’s $2B investment, Polymarket is evolving into the institutional layer for event-driven data, turning sentiment, probabilities, and information into tradeable assets. For investors, it’s an emerging market for alpha, a new data class that bridges prediction, liquidity, and macro hedging.

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News Flash

* Sony Bank has filed for a crypto banking charter to issue stablecoins. Link

* Stripe-backed Tempo blockchain raises $500 million Series A at a $5 billion valuation. Link

* Coinbase, Ripple & Gemini listed as donors for Trump’s $300 M White House ballroom. Link

* Hyperliquid Strategies Inc. files S-1 to raise $1 B and buy HYPE tokens. Link

* Revolut secures MiCA license, preps for EU crypto launch. Link

* Aave launches V4: liquidity hubs + spokes for capital efficiency. Link

* Google announces 13,000× quantum speed breakthrough. Link

* Fed Governor Waller: “Crypto is woven into the financial system.” Link

* Ripple-backed Evernorth files SPAC to create public XRP treasury. Link

That’s all for now, folks.

Take care

– Marc & Team

PS: Upgrade to Pro for our daily CEO Notes & market signals.

* Check out our AI newsletter, AI Operator, here.

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When gold outperforms Bitcoin, BlackRock starts building on-chain infrastructure, and JP Morgan invests $1.5T in U.S. infrastructure, something is cooking (we’ll unpack all of this below and in our CEO Notes).

“We need to be tokenising all assets, especially assets that have multiple levels of intermediaries.” — Larry Fink, BlackRock CEO

“Bitcoin is likely to become a reserve asset for central banks. Alongside gold, by around 2030.” – Deutsche Bank

The signal is clear: Smart money is moving from fiat dependence to real and digital (hard) assets. I highly recommend Maja Vujinovic ‘s read on this: Powell, JPMorgan, and the Quiet Pivot.

Oh, and before I forget: This week, crypto markets also experienced their largest-ever liquidation event, with over $19–20B in leveraged positions wiped out. And, DeFi held firm while centralised exchanges stumbled. [Read full story]

Also this week:

* Ant Group’s builds on Ethereum

* Citi to launch crypto custody in 2026

We’ll unpack all of these highlights below.

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Top Boardroom Reads

* Stablecoins beyond payments (Visa)

* Powell, JPMorgan, and the Quiet Pivot (Maja Vujinovic)

* Real World Assets: The Practitioner’s Guide (Rebank)

* Ethereum’s Endgame: Why Credible Neutrality Beats Speed, with William Mougayar (51)

* The Compelling Case for Crypto (Franklin Templeton)

* Stablecoins (KPMG)

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Top Signals This Week

Crypto's biggest liquidation ever

$19-20B in total liquidations occurred within 24 hours, affecting over 1.6M traders, triggered by President Donald Trump’s announcement of escalated tariffs against China. Here’s the breakdown.

* Long positions liquidated: $16.7-16.8B

* Traders affected: 1.6M+

* Single-hour liquidations: $7B (within one hour of Trump’s announcement)

* Open interest destroyed: $65B wiped out

Let’s do the math: Open interest in perpetual DEXs fell 50% ($25.7B → $13.7B) but recovered to $17B within days, with Hyperliquid leading the rebound.

So what? The event exposed how geopolitical shocks can trigger systemic fragility in 24/7 crypto markets, but it also showed how far DeFi has come. While Binance froze trading and mispriced stablecoins, decentralized protocols like Hyperliquid, Aave, Ethena, and Solana handled record liquidations, redemptions, and transactions without breaking.

That’s the real headline: in crypto’s biggest stress test to date, permissionless infrastructure outperformed the world’s largest regulated exchanges.

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BlackRock will tokenise everything

On Tuesday, the CEO of the world’s largest asset manager—$13.46 trillion in AUM—told Wall Street that BlackRock is building proprietary tokenisation technology to rebuild capital markets on-chain. [NEWS]

The goal? To onboard the next generation of investors.

“If we can tokenize an ETF, we can bring investors who start with crypto into traditional long-term products. Over the next decade, we’ll move away from traditional assets by repotting them in a digital form and keeping investors inside that ecosystem.” – Larry Fink

So what? BlackRock initially relied on specialised partners like Securitize for BUIDL’s issuance. Now it’s internalising the stack. The move signals BlackRock intends to weave tokenisation, issuance, and compliance directly into Aladdin, its flagship risk management and trading platform serving $13.4T in AUM. The shift from “owning assets” to owning the infrastructure of ownership has begun.

Ant Group builds on Ethereum

Ant Group, the owner of Alipay (1.4B users, $20T annual volume), launched Jovay Network, a high-performance Ethereum Layer 2 solution. [NEWS]

The goal? To turn the world’s largest fintech app into a global blockchain infrastructure provider.

What’s happening: Jovay is a high-performance Ethereum L2 targeting 100,000 TPS using a hybrid ZK + TEE design. It connects directly to AntChain, Ant’s private blockchain, which already manages $8.4B in tokenised energy assets — 15 million power devices including wind turbines and solar panels.

So what? Ant Group processes 1.5× Visa’s global volume and 15× PayPal’s. If even 1% of Alipay’s flows touch Jovay, it instantly becomes the largest on-chain payments network in history.

JP Morgan’s $1.5T bet

JPMorgan Chase just launched one of the largest private initiatives in U.S. history, a $1.5T, 10-year Security and Resiliency Initiative (SRI) to strengthen America’s economic backbone across defence, energy, and frontier technologies. [RELEASE]

So what? Most of the $1.5T plan fuels lending, underwriting, and advisory work for clients across critical sectors. But the real strategic edge lies in the $10B the bank will invest directly, buying stakes in cutting-edge manufacturing and frontier technologies. By tying its core business to national security priorities, JPMorgan isn’t just chasing profit; it’s locking in long-term relevance, influence, and political leverage in the next phase of U.S. industrial policy.

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Citi’s crypto custody

Citi just confirmed it’s launching crypto custody in 2026. They’ve been quietly building it for 2–3 years, writing code, lining up partners, getting regulatory clearance. They also invested in a stablecoin payment company, BVNK. [NEWS]

So what? Wall Street banks (State Street, JP Morgan, BNY Mellon and now Blackrock) are not just adopting stablecoins but have started building/ owning the infrastructure. The move comes after the SEC scrapped the SAB 121 rule in January, which previously forced banks to treat customer crypto as a liability, making custody economically unfeasible. Simply put, traditional banks are positioning themselves to fully capitalise on one of the biggest transformations in finance since electronic trading.

News Flash

* Stripe adds stablecoin payments for recurring subscriptions using USDC. Link

* New York launches city office for digital assets. Link

* Bhutan moves its national ID system from Polygon to Ethereum. Link

* CME launches CFTC-approved options trading for Solana and XRP. Link

* Morgan Stanley opens crypto fund access to all wealth clients. Link

* Cantor Fitzgerald considers acquiring Securitize in a SPAC deal. Link

* S&P Ratings brings real-time stablecoin risk data on-chain via Chainlink. Link

* US lawmaker moves to make Trump’s crypto 401(k) order law. Link

* French ODDO BHF launches Euro-backed stablecoin EUROD. Link

That’s all for now, folks.

Take care

– Marc & Team

PS: Upgrade to Pro for our daily CEO Notes & market signals.

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Today, major news broke that G7 banks are about to launch a stablecoin. They’re coming for Tether and Circle. More on that below.

Another story that caught my eye: Luxembourg’s sovereign wealth fund allocated 1% of its portfolio ($9M) to a BTC ETF. That’s first state-level Bitcoin investment in the Eurozone. But did you know that Norways and Switzerland’s Central Bank already hold 100s of millions in Strategy shares for indirect Bitcoin exposure? Wild.

The most conservative financial institutions on the planet are buying Bitcoin exposure through corporate proxies.

Let’s do the math: There are nearly 100 sovereign wealth funds globally, managing over $14 trillion.

If just 10% of global sovereign wealth funds allocate 1% to Bitcoin? That’s $140 billion in new demand.

For context: Bitcoin ETFs have pulled in $163B total since launch in January 2024.

Then: Coinbase and Mastercard are apparently in a bidding war for BVNK, a stablecoin startup backed by Visa and Citi (think of it as Bridge).

We just had them on the show:

“Crypto and traditional finance have been living in separate worlds, but they’ll fully merge. In the future, everything will be on-chain in some form, and the distinction will disappear.”

— Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev

This is a timely quote for another BIG story this week:

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) invested $2B in Polymarket, a crypto prediction market. Yes, ICE, the $80B parent of NYSE. Probably one of the biggest moments in DeFi history.

Also this week:

* Softbank & Binance onboard half of Japan’s population to crypto

* BNY Mellon pilots tokenized deposits

* Galaxy has launched GalaxyOne, a unified wealth platform.

* Kraken expands its U.S. equities platform 24/5

We’ll unpack all of these highlights below.

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Top Boardroom Reads

👉Subscribe to our Crypto Treasury Alpha newsletter here.

* G20 Roadmap for Cross-border Payments (FSB)

* Digital Asset Outlook (State Street)

* The Ethereum Foundation’s Commitment to Privacy (Ethereum Foundation)

* The $135B Treasury Wave (Fiftyone)

* Stablecoin growth - policy challenges and approaches (BIS)

* How Stablecoins Are Eating Payments, with Chris Harmse (Fiftyone)

* The First RWA Unicorn IPO (Fiftyone)

🙌 Work with us: We create pioneering thought leadership that helps digital asset and technology companies lead the conversation, earn trust and win business.

Top Signals This Week

G7 banks launch a stablecoin

What happened: Ten of the world’s largest banks — including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Citi, UBS, and Deutsche Bank — are teaming up to launch a G7-backed stablecoin network that will issue bank-backed stablecoins pegged to the USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, CAD, and CHF. [ANNOUNCEMENT]

The message is clear: banks are taking stablecoins back. For the first time, the G7’s largest institutions are building shared rails for digital currencies that settle instantly across a unified blockchain framework.

So what? It’s the strongest challenge yet to Tether and Circle’s $245B duopoly. For years, banks dismissed stablecoins as risky. Now, they’re racing to reclaim the rails they once owned. The Genius Act made it legal for regulated firms to issue their own stablecoins, shifting money creation from banks to corporates and fintechs like Stripe, PayPal, and Circle, which now move trillions on-chain. Stablecoins processed $27.6 trillion in transactions in 2024, officially exceeding Visa’s and Mastercard’s annual payment volume. That’s transaction flow banks used to own.

Full analysis for PRO readers👇

PayPay brings 70M users into crypto

SoftBank-owned PayPay, Japan’s largest cashless payment app, just bought a 40% stake in Binance Japan, instantly onboarding 70 million users — half the country’s population — into crypto [NEWS].

Why it matters: PayPay controls 67% of Japan’s QR code payments and handles one in every five cashless transactions. Now, users can buy crypto with PayPay Money, withdraw proceeds into their wallets, and access Binance Japan without ever leaving the app. It’s also the biggest distribution play Binance has ever pulled off — direct access to 60% of Japan’s adults through a single integration.

Wall Street’s $2B DeFi move

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the global leader in exchange operations and owner of the venerable New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), has completed a strategic investment of up to $2B in Polymarket, a decentralised prediction market platform. [ANNOUNCEMENT]

This is probably one of the biggest moments in DeFi history.

The message is clear: This deal is about data, distribution, and tokenisation. ICE will push Polymarket data to thousands of institutional investors globally.

So what? ICE is the plumbing of global finance. 13 exchanges, 6 clearing houses, $25T+ in annual trading volume. The immediate benefit? Exclusive data distribution. Global rights to sell Polymarket’s event-driven data to institutions. Immediate revenue stream. Hedge funds will pay for real-time probability signals on Fed decisions, elections, economic indicators. Bloomberg sells terminal data. ICE just bought prediction market data.

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Galaxy’s new super app

Galaxy has launched GalaxyOne, a unified wealth platform combining high-yield FDIC-insured cash accounts, crypto and equity trading, and institutional-grade investment products to help individuals manage and grow their portfolios seamlessly. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: Most retail investors still juggle siloed apps, stocks & ETFs, trading, crypto wallets, while professional platforms run on seamless, risk-aware infrastructure. A neobank app combining cash, crypto, and equities directly challenges Robinhood and traditional, fragmented finance apps.

BNY Mellon is exploring tokenised deposit

The world’s largest custodian with $55.8T in AUM, BNY Mellon, is actively exploring the use of tokenised deposits for enabling institutional client payments over distributed ledger technology (DLT) rails. [NEWS]

The message is clear: Existing payment rails are expensive, and institutions will switch to blockchain infrastructure if it saves cost and time for them.

Why it matters: BNY Mellon’s Treasury Services unit processes roughly $2.5T in payments each day, making the shift to instant, 24/7 settlement capabilities a systemic necessity. The move signals accelerating institutional blockchain adoption with major cost-efficiency gains up to 30%.

Kraken isn’t building a crypto exchange

Kraken expands its U.S. equities platform with stock transfers, lending, and 24/5 trading, a move that blurs the line between crypto and Wall Street. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: Legacy brokers sleep on weekends and settle trades in days. Kraken runs 24/5 and settles in seconds. The company’s now gunning for Robinhood’s retail base, Coinbase’s institutional users, and Wall Street’s liquidity, all while setting up for a potential $15B IPO in 2026.

News Flash

* Citi invests in BVNK, deepening US banks’ stablecoin adoption. Link

* Tokenised gold surpasses $3B as investors seek protection from weakening fiat.

* MetaMask launches in-wallet perpetuals trading through Hyperliquid. Link

* S&P has launched the Digital Markets 50 Index. Link

* Grayscale launches first U.S. crypto ETFs with Ethereum and Solana staking. Link

* Samsung Wallet integrates Coinbase in the US and Canada. Link

* Morgan Stanley now guides $2T advisors on crypto portfolio allocations. Link

* Walmart’s OnePay will offer Bitcoin and Ether trading, custody. Link

* CME to launch 24/7 crypto futures and options trading. Link

* BBVA enables 24/7 crypto trading via SGX FX integration. Link

That’s all for now, folks.

Take care

– Marc & Team

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Token2049, the world’s biggest crypto event, just wrapped in Singapore and this year felt different: stablecoin rails, tokenized treasuries, and prediction markets.

Meanwhile, SWIFT just picked Ethereum to build a blockchain with 30+ global banks. The same network that moves $150T a year is admitting crypto rails are the future.

Stripe just launched stablecoin-as-a-service. Every fintech, exchange, and enterprise can now mint its own stablecoin in a few lines of code. We’re heading toward a world where every major institution issues money. And nobody yet knows what the endgame looks like.

Also this week:

* Cloudflare that controls 20% of the internet launched Internet Money

* Visa Direct will start to prefund payouts with stablecoins

We’ll unpack all of these highlights below.

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Top Boardroom Reads

👉Subscribe to our Crypto Treasury Alpha newsletter here.

* Inside Pantera’s $500M Solana Treasury Play, with Cosmo Jiang (51)

* The stablecoin duopoly is ending (Nic Carter)

* Stablecoins 2030 - Web3 to Wall Street (Citi)

* Crypto treasury in a world of wallets (Ubyx)

* The State of Wealth in 2025 (Fintech Prime Time)

* Fintech 101: The Tokenisation of Real World Financial Assets (Fintech Blueprint)

* Why crypto targets massive markets (Bitwise Asset Management)

🙌 Work with us: We create pioneering thought leadership that helps digital asset and technology companies lead the conversation, earn trust and win business.

Top Signals This Week

SWIFT’s picks Ethereum

SWIFT announced on Sept 29 it will launch a blockchain-based ledger with ConsenSys and 30+ major banks - JPMorgan, HSBC, Citi, BNP Paribas, Deutsche, Santander, Wells Fargo, BNY Mellon, and more. The system will enable real-time, 24/7 cross-border settlements using tokenised deposits and smart contracts. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: SWIFT moves $150T annually through 11,500 institutions. But settlements take 5 days with multiple intermediaries, hidden fees, and manual AML checks. Meanwhile, stablecoins scaled from $20B (2020) to $300B today, processing trillions annually. Banks are losing material cross-border payment share. SWIFT’s move is defensive but necessary.

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Stripe launches stablecoin-as-a-service

What happened: Stripe announced three new products that let any business launch, hold, and use stablecoins with just a few lines of code: [RELEASE]

* Open Issuance: Launch and manage your own stablecoin with reserves from BlackRock, Fidelity, and Superstate.

* Stablecoin Financial Accounts: Hold, convert, spend, and send stablecoins directly from a Stripe account in the US.

* On/Off-Ramp Infrastructure: Move between fiat and stablecoins with local APIs and stablecoin Visa cards in 15+ countries.

Why it matters: For a decade, Circle (USDC) and Tether (USDT) have controlled 85%+ of the $245B stablecoin market. Every challenger — from Terra to Binance’s BUSD, failed to dent that dominance. Stripe just changed the economics. Businesses, DeFi protocols, wallets, and even fintechs can now mint their own “house stablecoins,” capture yield, and own user float instead of passing profits to Circle/Tether. This could fragment the market and accelerate the decline of the old duopoly.

Our take: This isn’t just Stripe going after payments, it’s Stripe offering stablecoin infrastructure as a service. If neobanks, exchanges, and apps adopt Stripe’s rails, the next $200B in stablecoin growth won’t be captured by USDC or USDT but by thousands of custom issuers. Think of it as the Shopify moment for stablecoins: Stripe handles the messy compliance and plumbing; platforms keep the margin. For treasurers, that means yield opportunities. For marketers, it opens the door to brand-owned money. For Circle and Tether, it’s an existential challenge: the float is up for grabs.

Visa Direct will prefund payouts with stablecoins

What happened: At SIBOS, Visa announced a pilot for stablecoin prefunding on Visa Direct. Instead of parking fiat in advance, businesses can pre-fund Visa accounts with USDC or EURC. Visa treats those balances as “money in the bank,” unlocking faster global payouts and reducing working-capital drag. [Release]

So what? By allowing businesses to pre-fund accounts with stablecoins, Visa transforms frozen capital into liquid assets that can be moved in minutes, not days. Visa treating USDC and EURC as “money in the bank” for prefunding signals mainstream trust in stablecoins and enables near-instant cross-border payouts. But this also raises threats for regional banks to lose liquidity and fee-based income from correspondent banking services.

Our take: The real signal isn’t the pilot itself, but Visa treating USDC/EURC like deposits, effectively blurring the line between bank balances and blockchain balances.

Cloudflare launched Internet Money

Cloudflare announced NET Dollar, a US dollar–backed stablecoin designed to power instant, programmable payments for the agentic web. It is positioning its global network as a payments rail for machine-to-machine microtransactions, pay-per-use APIs, and fractional payouts. [RELEASE]

So what? With Cloudflare handling ~20% of all internet traffic, its entry into stablecoins is viewed as a potential turning point in the future of online payments. However, it needs open standards and interoperability (like Google’s Agent Payments Protocol/ Coinbase’s x402), otherwise the ecosystem risks siloing and fragmentation if every cloud/cloud-edge provider issues its own token.

Must watch: Execution. If developer and AI platforms adopt Cloudflare’s token for agent-driven payments and if creators see tangible value in new microtransaction models, it could become core web infrastructure.

Chainlink’s and UBS’ $100T tokenisation bridge

Chainlink and UBS just demonstrated how to manage tokenised funds for workflows like subscriptions and redemptions, directly from existing systems using SWIFT ISO 20022 messages via Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE). Banks access blockchains through the same SWIFT infrastructure they’ve used for decades, no new key management or system upgrades required. [RELEASE]

So what? For years, the biggest barrier to institutional adoption of tokenised assets has been the massive operational headache of integrating them. This collaboration provides the “plug-and-play” solution, giving institutions blockchain’s speed, efficiency, and programmability without operational disruption.

News Flash

* Coinbase partners with Samsung to bring Coinbase One to 75M US Samsung Galaxy users. Link

* Stripe partnered with OpenAI for agentic payments. Link

* FG Nexus partners with Securitize to trade shares on Ethereum. Link

* Franklin Templeton’s Solana ETF is listed on DTCC as SOEZ. Link

* AlloyX launches tokenised money market fund RYT on Polygon blockchain. Link

* CME Group to offer 24/7 cryptocurrency futures and options trading. Link

* Animoca to offer tokenised equity on Solana for broader investor access. Link

* Telegram to let users trade tokenised U.S. stocks and ETFs in-app. Link

* Government shutdown delays SEC reviews of pending crypto ETF approvals. Link

* Tixbase becomes the ticketing partner for 2025 Copa América de Béisbol. Link

* Avalanche Treasury merges with $MLAC in $675M deal to expand. Link

That’s all for now, folks.

Take care

– Marc & Team

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“There is room for both gold and Bitcoin to coexist on central bank balance sheets by 2030.” — Deutsche Bank, in a new report released this week.

Did you know that Norwegian and Swiss National Bank already have $700M+ of Bitcoin exposure by owning Strategy stocks?

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Then: Citi came out with a new report and estimated the stablecoin market size to grow up to $4T by 2030. [Full report]

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Then: Hyperliquid just minted its own dollar. USDH went live this week with ~$2.2M in first-day trading, giving the exchange a native currency to power its markets. The timing is sharp: only a week earlier, Circle launched USDC on Hyperliquid with new cross-chain rails spanning 14+ blockchains. The stage is set for a showdown between “platform-native” and “network-native” money. [Read more]

Whereas, Tether seeks $20B raise at $500B valuation, rivaling OpenAI, among world’s most valuable private companies.

Also this week:

* House GOP pushes 401(k) access to crypto

* Vanguard, the $10T asset manager, to launch crypto ETFs

* CFTC moves to allow tokenised collateral in derivatives

* HSBC expands tokenised deposits to cross-border corporate settlements

* Morgan Stanley nears launch of crypto trading via E-Trade. Link

We’ll unpack all of these highlights below.

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Top Boardroom Reads

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* A conversation with VP of Technology at Solana Foundation (51)

* $20B DAT Surge (51)

* Bitcoin vs. Gold: The Future of Central Bank Reserves by 2030 (Deutsche Bank)

* Stablecoins 2030: Web3 to Wall Street (Citi)

* How Bitcoin can Shape the Future of Wealth Management (Bitcoin Suisse)

* OpenAI + NVIDIA: $100B Bet on 10GW AI Infrastructure (51)

* Central bank money as a catalyst for fungibility: the case of stablecoins (ECB)

* Vitalik on L2s (Vitalik Buterin)

* Stablecoin for treasuries (BVNK)

* HYPE’s Damocles Sword (Maelstrom)

* Nasdaq TradeTalks: New Tech Is Driving Market Structure Evolution (DTCC)

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Top Signals This Week

Vanguard goes crypto

Vanguard, the $10T asset manager, is about to roll out crypto ETF access across its platform, reaching 1 in 6 U.S. households. For years, Vanguard swore off Bitcoin ETFs, calling them “too volatile.”. In 2024, Vanguard’s head of ETFs, Janel Jackson, called Bitcoin “immature” and “without inherent value”. [NEWS]

Why it matters: Even a 1% allocation from its client base = $100B in flows, bigger than entire crypto ETF categories today. Once access goes live, crypto ETFs move from the edges of retail investing into retirement accounts, long-term portfolios, and passive allocations.

Our take: Vanguard’s CEO Salim Ramji literally built BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF before joining Vanguard. BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF IBIT is the most successful ETF in the company’s history: $80B in assets since its launch in Jan 05, 2024. He knows exactly what he’s walking away from. The timing isn’t coincidence: The SEC just introduced generic listing standards. Expect 100s of ETFs over the coming 8-12 months and an institutional inflow we’ve never seen before.

401(k)s open to crypto

On Sept 22, House Republicans pressed SEC Chair Paul Atkins to fast-track rules letting 401(k)s invest in Bitcoin, Ethereum, private equity, and VC. This builds on Trump’s Aug 7 executive order directing regulators to clear the path. [NEWS]

Our take: $9T sits in U.S. 401(k)s. Even a 1% allocation to crypto = ~$90B of new demand. For context, all U.S. spot BTC ETFs combined have ~$140B AUM today. This isn’t about retail traders, it’s about creating the largest long-term, dollar-cost-averaging inflow Bitcoin has ever seen.

CFTC greenlights Stablecoins for derivatives

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has launched a formal initiative to allow tokenised collateral, including stablecoins, into U.S. derivatives markets. The plan: let traders use tokenised assets like stablecoins and money market funds (MMFs) as margin in derivatives markets. [RELEASE]

Our take: This is the strongest signal yet that U.S. regulators will allow tokenised Money Market Funds (MMFs) and stablecoins as eligible collateral in the $600T global derivatives market (notional value). Collateral = the foundation of derivatives. Shifting from cash and Treasuries to tokenised instruments unlocks 24/7 liquidity, faster settlement, and lower capital costs.

Hyperliquid’s stablecoin

Hyperliquid just launched its own stablecoin, USDH, with ~$2.2M in early trading volume against USDC. Native Markets, which beat Paxos, Frax, and Agora in a validator vote, is rolling out USDH as a fiat-backed token issued on HyperEVM and bridged across the Hyperliquid stack. Reserves sit in cash and short-dated Treasuries, with transparency via oracles and a feedback loop funneling earnings into HYPE buybacks. [NEWS]

Our take: Stablecoin competition is no longer just Circle vs. Tether. Exchanges, L2s, and now trading platforms like Hyperliquid are pushing “house dollars” to own their settlement rails. USDH is an attempt to localise stablecoin utility, yield, and governance within the Hyperliquid ecosystem instead of letting profits flow out to external issuers like Circle (USDC).

HSBC pushed the tokenised deposit service (TDS) in Asia

HSBC just expanded its tokenised deposit service (TDS) to cross-border corridors (Hong Kong ⇄ Singapore) and is eyeing scale into the UK/EU. It has completed its first live USD transfer between Hong Kong and Singapore for Ant International and is pitching 24/7 instant settlement as a new baseline for corporate treasury operations.

So what? Stablecoins may have led the early race with speed and reach, but banks are striking back with their strongest asset: regulated deposits. By tokenising them, traditional financial institutions are creating digital money that delivers blockchain’s instant, programmable features with the safety, trust, and regulatory clarity only banks can offer. [ANNOUNCEMENT]

$100B Bet on 10GW AI Infrastructure

OpenAI and Nvidia signed a letter of intent: Nvidia may invest up to $100B in OpenAI to fund AI data centres using millions of Nvidia chips. [RELEASE] [See full story]

So what: It is Nvidia pre-paying one of its largest customers to ensure demand. It validates that compute scarcity = strategy, as Nvidia is investing $100B just to guarantee demand and erecting a formidable moat against rivals like AMD, Intel, and Google’s in-house silicon.

News Flash

* Strive acquires Smeler Scientific. Link

* Circle is exploring mechanisms to make USDC transactions reversible. Link

* Anthony Scaramucci backs AVAX treasury aiming to raise $550M. Link

* Morgan Stanley nears launch of crypto trading via E-Trade. Link

* Swarm to offer nine tokenised stocks on the Plasma blockchain mainnet. Link

* Forward Industries to tokenise stock, expanding Solana treasury and DeFi use. Link

* World Liberty Financial to launch debit card and trading app soon. Link

* Kraken and Legion launch the Yield Basis BTC protocol with merit-based sale. Link

* Plasma launched a neobank, Plasma One. Link

* Bank of Canada urges federal stablecoin rules to modernise payments, remittances. Link

* UAE signs global crypto tax deal, launches consultation to shape rules. Link

* China and South Korea launch CN and KRW stablecoins globally. Link

* PayPal invests in Stable blockchain to expand PYUSD usage globally. Link

* GSR proposes Digital Asset Treasury ETF. Link

* Grayscale crypto index fund approved for ETF. Link

That’s all for now, folks.

Take care

– Marc & Team

PS: Upgrade to Pro for our daily CEO Notes & market signals.

* Check out our AI newsletter, AI Operator, here.

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The SEC approved “generic listing standards” that cut crypto ETF approvals from 240+ days to just 75. What this means: instead of only Bitcoin and Ethen reum ETFs, we could see 100+ new ETFs (Solana, XRP, DOGE, you name it) in the next 12 months. [More]

On top of that, the Fed cut rates to 4.0–4.25% and signaled two more this year to support jobs:

“Federal Reserve doesn't feel the need to move quickly on interest rate cuts.”

— Jerome Powell, Chair of the Federal Reserve of the United States

And if that weren’t enough, Google just launched the first open standard for AI agents to move money, including stablecoins. Pair this with PayPal rolling out crypto-native peer-to-peer payments and you see where payments are headed: programmable, instant, and borderless.

Also this week:

* MoneyGram, the world's largest on-off-ramp integrates stablecoins.

* PayPal launches peer-to-peer crypto payments

* Google launches open payment standard for agents, incl. crypto

* Coinbase to launch Base token [deep dive]

* Metamask launched mUSD stablecoin.

* Ethereum Foundation forms an AI team.

* Circle launches native USDC on HyperEVM. And much more…

We’ll unpack all of these highlights below.

👉 We launched a new newsletter on digital asset treasuries. Subscribe below!

Top Boardroom Reads

* Stablecoins in focus: navigating the new digital financial landscape (EY)

* The $1.6B Solana Treasury Bet, with Kyle Samani, Co-Founder of Multicoin Capital (51)

* Weekly Digital Asset Treasury Update (51)

* DAT Value Creation (Pantera Capital)

* Digital Asset Alpha Letter August (FG Nexus)

* Wall Street need a blockchain, that blockchain is Ethereum (Securitize)

* BIS survey on central bank digital currencies and crypto (BIS)

* How America weaponized crypto (51)

* Circle vs. Hyperliquid (51)

* Tempo, Libra, and the Illusion of Neutrality (Maja Vujinovic)

🙌 Work with us: We create pioneering thought leadership that helps digital asset and technology companies lead the conversation, earn trust and win business.

Top Signals This Week

Google: Agents are now moving stablecoins

Google announced the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), the first open standard for AI agents making payments (incl. cards, real-time bank rails and stablecoins). The spec and reference code are live on GitHub, and the effort already includes 60+ payments, cards and web3 partners (Mastercard, AmEx, PayPal, Coinbase, Adyen and more). [Announcement] [Analysis]

Why it matters: This is first enterprise-grade standard for AI agents to transact with stablecoins and crypto. AP2 includes x402, Coinbase ’s extension for agent-to-agent stablecoin payments. That means AI agents can now send stablecoins across wallets natively on blockchain rails.

Go deeper: The protocol solves three core problems that break traditional payments when a bot buys for you: authorization (did the user actually pre-authorize this agent for this task?), authenticity (does the cart reflect the user’s intent?) and accountability (who owns liability if something goes wrong?).

So what? This is Google saying: "Agent commerce with digital money is happening. Here's the standard." The future of payments won’t look like Stripe or Visa. It’ll look like agents moving stablecoins on open protocols.

SEC opens crypto ETF floodgates

The SEC approved Generic Listing Standards for crypto ETFs. Instead of 240-day, case-by-case filings, any token with a regulated futures market and six months of price history now qualifies for a spot ETF, with a standardized 75-day approval window.

* Bitcoin took 11 years to get one ETF.

* Now, expect 100+ ETFs in the next 12 months (Solana, XRP, DOGE, and more).

* Grayscale’s multi-crypto ETF with BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL, and ADA was approved alongside.

Why it matters: This marks the systemic shift. ETFs give pensions and institutions the cleanest on-ramp, with BTC and ETH ETF assets already tripling to $175B in a year. 59% of institutions now plan 5%+ crypto allocation. With rates falling and approvals now standardized, altcoin ETFs like Solana and XRP are inevitable, accelerating adoption and locking digital assets into Wall Street’s core product shelf.

MoneyGram integrates stablecoins

MoneyGram, the world's largest on-off-ramp, launched a next-gen mobile app in Colombia that delivers inbound remittances as instant, USD-backed stablecoin balances (USDC), powered by Stellar and Crossmint. It is letting recipients hold, spend, or cash out dollars instead of local pesos, disrupting $860B remittances market. MoneyGram is the largest cash on/off ramp with nearly 500,000 retail locations across 170+ countries. [RELEASE] [Analysis]

So what? With the peso down 40% in 4 years and $11.8B flowing in remittances, Colombians need dollar stability. If MoneyGram wins just 5% share, that’s $592M in USD wallets, shifting the battle from moving money to owning the customer’s balance.

Why it matters: Remittances are a $860B market ripe for disruption, with blockchain slashing fees from ~10% to near zero. MoneyGram’s stablecoin app in Colombia is just the start, the real race is who scales dollar wallets across global corridors first.

Circle vs. Hyperliquid

Days after Hyperliquid voted to launch USDH, a native stablecoin designed to funnel yield back into the protocol, Circle dropped its counterpunch: native USDC on Hyperliquid, complete with CCTP V2 for seamless cross-chain transfers across 14+ blockchains. [RELEASE] [Full Analysis]

So what? Circle’s play is classic defence: drop native USDC + CCTP right after the USDH vote to remind Hyperliquid that USDC’s moat isn’t just liquidity, it’s trust and institutional rails. But this is bigger than Circle vs. USDH. Hyperliquid has become the test case for the “protocol state” — platforms using governance and market power to force issuers to share yield and align with the ecosystem. The fight is simple:

* USDH → share the yield, keep value in the protocol

* USDC → stay safe, stay liquid, stay global

Coinbase to launch Base token

After years of denying it, Coinbase confirmed it is exploring a token for its Ethereum L2, Base. No design or timeline yet, but it’s now public strategy. [Tweet] [Full Analysis]

Why it matters: With 13M daily txns, 865K active addresses, $5B TVL, and $1.28B in daily DEX volume, Base already outpaces Arbitrum and Optimism on activity. A token launch would instantly create a top-tier L2 asset and Coinbase’s $84B market cap adds a “Coinbase premium” that could push valuation to the $8B–$10B range.

So what: Coinbase isn’t launching a token just to pump Base. They’re rewriting the growth story: from an exchange business to a platform + ecosystem giant.

PayPal launches peer-to-peer crypto payments

PayPal is launching PayPal Links, one-time, personalized payment links that let a sender drop a private, single-use payment into any conversation (text, DM, email); the feature debuts in the U.S. today, with the UK, Italy and more rolling out later this month. [RELEASE] [Analysis]

Why it matters: Unlike Zelle®, Apple Pay or Venmo, these links work everywhere. No app switching, no friction. Right now, PayPal Links are just a smoother UX over PayPal’s existing payment rails.

The real disruption: With crypto (coming soon), money can leave PayPal’s walled garden and move 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 crypto wallet. Money will move on blockchain rails, instantly, globally, at cents-per-transaction, bypassing banks.

So what? PayPal is collapsing discovery → payment → settlement into a single shareable artifact, which (1) reduces merchant and checkout friction in conversational channels, (2) increases instant on-platform balances (creating float and product expansion opportunities), and (3) normalises crypto/stablecoin as a native settlement option inside mainstream P2P flows.

News Flash

* AI agents can use Circle wallets to unlock and pay for APIs. Link

* SEC greenlights Grayscale crypto index fund conversion to ETF. Link

* The Ethereum Foundation just announced the creation of its first AI-focused group, the dAI Team. Link

* Amex now gives travellers digital passport stamps as NFTs. Link

* SBI and global banks test real-time cross-border tokenised settlements. Link

* UBS and Swiss banks trial tokenised deposits on the Ethereum blockchain. Link

* London Stock Exchange launches blockchain platform for tokenized private funds. Link

* Apollo tokenizes credit strategy as Grove invests $50M in ACRDX. Link

* MetaMask's mUSD stablecoin went live. Link

* Bitwise files with the SEC to launch a spot Avalanche ETF. Link

* Santander’s Openbank now lets German retail clients trade crypto. Link

* Forward Industries launches $4B share sale to expand Solana treasury. Link

* DBS, Franklin Templeton, and Ripple launch tokenized money market fund. Link

That’s all for now, folks.

Take care

– Marc & Team

🚀 Work with us: We create pioneering thought leadership that helps digital asset and technology companies lead the conversation, earn trust and win business.

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This week felt like a turning point. Nasdaq tokenizing stocks, Tether entering the US, Fidelity moving Treasuries onchain, Franklin Templeton plugging into Binance, and then, this:

“Crypto’s time has come. Most crypto tokens are not securities, and we will draw the lines clearly. We must ensure that entrepreneurs can raise capital on-chain without endless legal uncertainty.” — SEC chair Paul Atkins

Wow. On top of that, we’ve all been glued to the Hyperliquid showdown and why Circle is about to lose 10% of its yearly revenue.

We’ll unpack all of these highlights below.

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Top Boardroom Reads

* Stablecoin and the Future of Finance (IMF). How stablecoins reshape payments and challenge monetary control.

* The New Entertainment Economy (51). How blockchain is rewriting music & media economics.

* Blockchains as emerging economies (Fidelity). A framework to value chains as digital nations.

* The stablecoin moment (State Street). GENIUS Act and its global market fallout.

* 1 Million Bitcoin (Fiftyone). A snapshot digital asset treasuries.

* Tempo, Libra, and the Illusion of Neutrality (Maja Vujinovic). Why both corporate and open chains will win.

🙌 Work with us: We create pioneering thought leadership that helps digital asset and technology companies lead the conversation, earn trust and win business.

Top Signals This Week

Tether goes U.S.

What happened: Tether is launching USAT, its first U.S.-compliant stablecoin in December. Anchorage Digital will issue, Cantor Fitzgerald will custody, and Bo Hines (ex-White House digital asset advisor) will run Tether U.S.

Why it matters:

* Direct shot at Circle: Tether already prints $13B in yearly profits vs. Circle’s $156M. With USAT, Tether now invades Circle’s regulatory home turf.

* Boost for ETH & Tron: 78% of USDT supply lives on these chains — expect more flow as USAT scales.

* Dollar dominance: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said it best: “We’re going to keep the U.S. the dominant reserve currency in the world — and we’re going to use stablecoins to do that.”

So what? This is about who controls the rails of the dollar in the digital era. USDT has a $180B market cap today. I expect 100s of billions to be flowing into USAT over the next years. And Tether just went from offshore giant to U.S. player with Washington ties, Wall Street custody, and a clear regulatory framework.

NASDAQ tokenizes stocks starting 2026

Nasdaq has filed with the SEC to tokenize every stock on its exchange starting 2026.

If approved, every listed share will trade in two forms:

* traditional digital (today’s rails)

* tokenized blockchain version (new rails)

Same order book. Same rights. Same execution priority.

Dive deeper: Nasdaq won’t run its own chain. Instead, it’s tapping DTCC’s AppChain, built on Hyperledger Besu (Ethereum-compatible), with a working group that includes Citi, Mastercard, Visa, Santander, Consensys, and Accenture.

Why it matters: Tokenized assets are $28B today. Ripple + BCG project $18.9T by 2033. Until now, “tokenized stocks” were mostly wrappers and derivatives with no shareholder rights (Robinhood, Kraken). This would be different: issuer-recognized, regulator-approved, real equities onchain. And once stocks settle on blockchain, the rest of Wall Street will follow. This could be a once-in-a-generation overhaul of capital markets.

Circle about to lose 10% of its yearly revenue

What happened: Hyperliquid, a DEX with $700M TVL and more daily protocol revenue than Ethereum and Solana, wants its own native stablecoin: USDH. We’re witnessing one of the biggest showdowns in crypto right now. [NEWS]

Why it matters: Hyperliquid has $5.5B in stablecoins sitting on it today. Most of that is USDC, on which Circle quietly collects the interest. At current rates that’s ~$200M a year (almost 10% of its revenue). Zero flows back to Hyperliquid. With a native USDH, that value could be captured by the Hyperliquid ecosystem instead. [ANALYSIS]

Now Paxos, Ethena, Agora, Sky (MakerDAO), Frax, Native Markets and others are all competing with proposals ranging from BlackRock-backed reserves to PayPal integrations to fully decentralized issuance. The final vote will happen on September 14.

The twist: Whoever issues USDH must share the yield back to the ecosystem, pay validators, fund the assistance pool, and buy back HYPE. That revenue could grow to $1B+ a year as stablecoin balances scale.

Bottom line: Winning USDH doesn’t guarantee revenue, but it grants brand legitimacy, the seal of being Hyperliquid’s “native” stablecoin. Even if no proposal hits escape velocity, the network wins.

Fidelity joins tokenization race

What happened: Fidelity just launched its $204M Fidelity Digital Interest Token (FDIT) ($16.4T AUA) on Ethereum, a tokenized Treasury MMF, making it the second mega-asset manager (after BlackRock’s $2.2B BUIDL fund) to move assets onchain. Ondo Finance is the anchor investor, with 99% of FDIT’s assets tied to its OUSG fund. [ANNOUNCEMENT]

So what? This instantly makes Fidelity one of the largest players in the $7B tokenized Treasuries market and a direct challenger to BlackRock’s BUIDL. With $12T AUM, the potential pipeline is enormous.

Devil’s advocate: FDIT already has 99% exposure to Ondo’s OUSG. If Ondo’s inflows stall or reverse, Fidelity’s on-chain MMF looks illiquid.

Dive deeper: FDIT is ERC20-native, recording ownership, transfers, and settlement directly onchain. JPMorgan, Fidelity, and BlackRock are already using tokenized MMFs as collateral, proving real efficiency gains in settlement, margining, and capital flows.

Big picture: Tokenisation is moving from pilots into production. BlackRock, Kraken, R3, Solana are pushing tokenised stocks, MMFs, bonds, real estate, and more.

Bonus: Fidelity released a report where it compared tokenization to American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), concluding it as the blockchain equivalent of moving an offshore asset to be recognized for investment and trading in a local market.

Franklin Templeton partners with Binance

Franklin Templeton ($1.6T AUM) partners with Binance (300M users) to build "tokenized financial products" that merge: [ANNOUNCEMENT]

* Franklin’s compliant tokenization (BENJI platform + tokenized funds)

* Binance’s global trading infrastructure + investor reach

This dwarfs any pervious partnerships.

* BlackRock x Coinbase? US only.

* JPMorganChase x Coinbase? 80M users, US only.

* Franklin x Binance? 300M users + global markets + retail & institutions.

Tokenized funds won’t sit in a silo; they’ll trade at scale. And 300M Binance users = instant distribution.

Stepping back: Franklin Templeton was the first incumbent to launch tokenised money market funds in 2021 with FOBXX, now live on eight blockchains, and this year launched the first fully tokenised UCITS SICAV fund in Luxembourg.

So what? The line between TradFi and DeFi is blurring faster than most investors realize.

News Flash

* BBVA brings crypto custody on-chain with Ripple. Link

* SEC’s plan to let companies raise capital directly on-chain under clear rules. Link

* SEC delays BlackRock’s Ethereum staking ETF, plus XRP and Solana funds. Link

* DTCC released institutional-grade upgrades on its collateral appchain. Link

* Ant Digital tokenises $8.4B in China’s renewable energy assets. Link

* Solowin Holdings (NASDAQ: $SWIN ) acquires AlloyX, a stablecoin infrastructure provider, for $350M. Link

* Kraken acquires Breakout, an evaluation-based proprietary trading firm. Link

* Tetra Digital Group to launch Canada’s first regulated stablecoin in 2026. Link

* R3 hits $17B in tokenised assets, launches Labs on Solana. Link

* Trump Media plans five America First ETFs, pending SEC approval. Link

* Grayscale files for BCH, LTC and HBAR ETFs. Link

* Hong Kong to launch wholesale CBDC and tokenised interbank deposits. Link

* Oracle jumped 40%+ and added nearly $250B of market value (currently $922B) in a single session. Read the full AI story

That’s all for now, folks.

Take care

– Marc & Team

🚀 Work with us: We create pioneering thought leadership that helps digital asset and technology companies lead the conversation, earn trust and win business.

* Check out our AI newsletter, AI Operator, here.

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The big story this week: Stripe is launching its own “blockchain for payments.” Circle has Arc. Google has GCUL. Who's operating the nodes? How decentralized is this? How do the validator economics look like?

Here’s the truth: these aren’t blockchains. They’re databases with extra cryptography and political and legal overhead.

Meanwhile, the real progress is happening in open protocols: Ondo moving stocks on Ethereum, Galaxy putting its equity on Solana, and Aave turning RWAs into collateral.

Interesting fact: For the first time, public companies now hold over 1M Bitcoin, nearly 5% of the supply. In just five years, corporate treasuries have amassed $110B in Bitcoin, echoing gold’s role as a reserve asset.

👉 Crypto Treasury Alpha: We launched another newsletter covering institutional moves and digital asset treasury vehicles. Subscribe below 👇

Also, our highlights this week:

* Stripe and Paradigm launch Tempo, its L1 for payments

* Fireblocks launches the Network for Payments

* Ondo lists 100+ tokenised U.S. stocks and ETFs on Ethereum

* Galaxy puts Nasdaq stock directly onchain

* Aave turns RWAs into DeFi collateral

And much more.

Top Boardroom Reads

* Why Digital Asset Adoption Is Accelerating (Goldman Sachs). An interview with Matthew McDermott, Global Head of Digital Assets.

* DeFi Is Following The SaaS And Fintech Playbooks (Ark Invest). It explores the evolution of Decentralised Finance (DeFi), drawing parallels to historical unbundling and rebundling cycles observed in SaaS and fintech industries.

* The New Entertainment Economy (Fiftyone). A webinar with industry leaders and builders from CreatorFi, EVEN, and Republic Film unpacking blockchain as an infrastructure in the music and entertainment space.

* 6 myths about privacy on blockchains (a16z crypto). It addresses six common misconceptions about privacy on blockchains, emphasising that concerns about new technologies and privacy are not new, dating back to the telegraph.

* Money’s new operating system (51). An fintech-focused stablecoin report.

* The Great Chain Debate (Maja Vujinovic). Explores in a why centralzed blockchains from Stripe and Cricle won’t win. We agree.

🙌 Work with us: We create pioneering thought leadership that helps digital asset and technology companies lead the conversation, earn trust and win business.

Top Signals This Week

Stripe builds its own blockchain

Stripe and Paradigm just launched Tempo, a blockchain purpose-built for payments. Co-designed with Visa, Deutsche Bank, Shopify, Nubank, OpenAI, and Anthropic, it comes with features like fiat-denominated fees and batch transfers (critical for payrolls and remittances, irrelevant for trading). [RELEASE]

So what? Stripe isn’t saying “Tempo is the stablecoin chain.” They’re saying “Tempo is the payments chain.” It is working with top banks, which can plug their tokenised deposits into their infrastructure. Plus, Tempo’s design, fiat-denominated fees and batch payments are positioning it as the “neutral”, Stripe-grade settlement layer for finance.

Our take: This is Stripe’s play to control the money rails. Just like Google with GCUL and Circle with Arc, the strategy is simple: own the chain, own the money.

But here’s the catch: corporate blockchains always face the same wall: they can’t solve the trust problem. IBM’s Hyperledger fizzled, Meta’s Libra collapsed under regulatory pressure. Institutions like BlackRock or governments won’t settle trillions on rails owned by one company. They need neutral, credibly open infrastructure.

Fireblocks launches the SWIFT of stablecoins

What happened: Fireblocks unveiled its Network for Payments, already processing $200B/month in stablecoin flows across 300+ firms, 40+ providers, and 100+ countries. Participants include Circle, Bridge (Stripe’s $1B acquisition), and major OTC desks, PSPs, and banks. The single API lets companies move, convert, and settle stablecoins globally without stitching together fragmented rails. [RELEASE]

So what: Unlike Stripe’s Tempo (payments-focused L1) or Circle’s Arc (USDC-centric), Fireblocks isn’t building its own chain. It’s building the connectivity + orchestration layer across all chains and issuers. Think SWIFT, but for stablecoins:

* Multi-issuer: Supports USDC, USDT, PYUSD, EURC, and others

* Multi-rail: Works across blockchains, banks, and on/off-ramps

This neutral position matters. Again: No one wants to settle trillions on rails owned by one firm. Fireblocks sidesteps that trap: it doesn’t care which stablecoin or chain wins, it just moves the money.

Punchline: While Stripe and Circle fight to own the rails, Fireblocks may quietly own the plumbing. And in payments, plumbing is where the real power sits.

📈 Ondo puts 100+ U.S. stocks on Ethereum

What happened: Ondo Finance launched Ondo Global Markets, offering more than 100 tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs on Ethereum, with support for Solana and BNB Chain to follow. Assets are backed 1:1 by U.S.-registered broker-dealers, transferable onchain 24/7, and integrated with wallets and protocols like BitGo, Ledger, 1inch, and LayerZero. [NEWS]

So what: Stablecoins exported the dollar. Ondo wants to export the entire U.S. stock market.

* Access: Ondo plans to scale to 1,000 assets by year-end, giving eligible investors in APAC, Europe, Africa, and LatAm onchain access to U.S. equities.

* Liquidity: Tokens plug into DeFi rails for lending, collateral, and yield, beyond just “buy and hold.”

* Scale: Competes directly with Kraken’s xStocks, Robinhood’s EU tokenized equities, and Coinbase’s pending U.S. tokenized stock play.

The implications are massive for emerging markets. Buying U.S. equities today often requires complex FX, intermediaries, and high fees.

Galaxy puts Nasdaq stock directly onchain

Galaxy Digital just became the first Nasdaq-listed company to tokenise its SEC-registered public equity directly on Solana via Superstate’s Opening Bell. Unlike wrappers or synthetics, these tokens are legal GLXY shares with real shareholder rights, updated in real-time by Superstate as transfer agent. [RELEASE]

So what? Most tokenised stocks so far (Kraken xStocks, FTX-era synthetics) were derivatives without issuer participation. In Galaxy’s model, shares are issued and recognised by the company itself, unlocking direct regulatory legitimacy and legal clarity. This signals that if equities can live onchain with full compliance, capital markets infrastructure is about to compress settlement times from days to seconds.

Aave turns RWAs into DeFi collateral

Aave just launched Horizon, a lending market where institutions can borrow stablecoins against tokenised Treasuries, loans, and funds. At launch, collateral comes from Circle, Superstate, and Centrifuge, with backers like Ripple, VanEck, and WisdomTree in the mix. [RELEASE]

So what? Until now, tokenized Treasuries and other RWAs were largely dead weight in DeFi, isolated from lending markets and capital-inefficient. Horizon changes that by making RWAs productive collateral. Qualified investors can post RWAs and borrow stablecoins; anyone can supply stablecoins (RLUSD, USDC, GHO) and earn yield from institutional borrowers.

News Flash

* Jack Ma's Yunfeng Financial Group bought $44M of ETH. Link

* US SEC unveils agenda to revamp crypto policies, ease Wall Street rules

* FIS launches AI-powered treasury suite. Link

* VersaBank USA launches pilot for tokenised, FDIC-insured deposit receipts. Link

* ~40% of daily code at Coinbase is AI-generated. Link

* Trump family secures $5B paper fortune from WLFI crypto token launch. Link

* Gemini just launched an XRP-branded credit card with Ripple. Link

That’s all for now, folks.

Take care

– Marc & Team

🚀 Work with us: We create pioneering thought leadership that helps digital asset and technology companies lead the conversation, earn trust and win business.

* Check out our AI newsletter, AI Operator, here.

* Check out our Crypto Treasury Alpha newsletter here.

“Ethereum is the Wall Street token.” That’s not crypto Twitter talking. It’s Jan van Eck, CEO of VanEck. His point is simple: every bank will need rails for stablecoins, and they’ll ask where to build them. His answer: Ethereum.

That’s the backdrop this week as Google is building its own blockchain, Mastercard embeds stablecoins, and Rain made stablecoins swipeable at 150M Visa merchants.

👉 Crypto Treasury Alpha: We launched another newsletter covering institutional moves and digital asset treasury vehicles. Subscribe below 👇

Also, our highlights this week:

* Google is building its own blockchain, CME already testing it

* Mastercard goes stablecoin-native, settlement live across EEMEA

* U.S. puts macro data onchain

* Rain raises $58M, makes stablecoins spendable at 150M+ merchants

* Solana gets $1B Wall Street treasury vehicle, Galaxy, Jump, Multicoin leading

And much more.

🚨Save your spot for our upcoming webinar!

We’ll unpack how artists, music labels and filmmakers can strategically leverage blockchain to unlock direct-to-fan monetisation, onchain royalties, fan engagement and film financing. Spots are limited!

Subscribe here to get notified of our upcoming events.

Top Boardroom Reads

* Ethereum meet Wall Street (Joseph Lubin). His take on SharpLink, Fundstrat and the future of Ethereum.

* The productive treasury: A corporate guide to integrating Ethereum and digital

asset staking (Eigenlayer).

* Google’s new Layer 1 blockchain (Rich Widmann).

* Money’s new operating system (51). An fintech-focused stablecoin report.

* Bitcoin Long-Term Capital Market Assumptions (Bitwise). The report details the macroeconomic factors influencing Bitcoin's outlook, such as rising U.S. debt, fiat debasement risks, friendlier regulation, and institutional adoption.

* The State of Crypto Venture Capital in 2025 (Pantera Capital). Paul talked about how 2025 marks crypto’s most mature cycle yet, defined by record M&A and IPO activity, regulatory clarity, and convergence with AI, payments, and global finance.

* Building the Stripe of Crypto Payments (51). A podcast with Iron CEO on how stablecoins are becoming the new rails for global finance.

* The future of money is onchain (51). A discussion with the CEOs of OpenTrade and Ubyx on stablecoin use cases, infrastructure and programmatic yield.

* The Relative Benefits and Risks of Stablecoins as a Means of Payment (BCA Research). The paper discusses the utility of stablecoins for retail payments through an objective, evidence-based approach that compares stablecoins with traditional retail payment methods.

🙌 Work with us: We create pioneering thought leadership that helps digital asset and technology companies lead the conversation, earn trust and win business.

Top Signals This Week

Google launches its own blockchain

Google announced the Google Cloud Universal Ledger (GCUL), its own layer-1 blockchain earlier this year. It’s EVM-compatible, Python-programmable, and already being tested with CME Group for payments and tokenisation. Now, the announcement has gained new traction from a LinkedIn post of Google’s Web3 lead. [NEWS]

Why it matters: GCUL isn’t just another chain. It’s Google applying the same playbook Stripe and Circle are running: own the rails, own the money. But here’s the catch: history is littered with failed corporate chains (IBM’s Hyperledger, Meta’s Libra). Why? Because centralized blockchains can’t solve the trust problem. Institutions like BlackRock or governments issuing digital currencies need credibly neutral, public infrastructure, not rails owned by one company. Don’t confuse distribution with trust. [OUR TAKE]

Mastercard goes stablecoin-native

What happened: Mastercard and Circle are rolling out stablecoin settlement (USDC + EURC) across Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. For the first time, acquirers on Mastercard’s network can settle merchant payments in stablecoins instead of waiting days for fiat bank wires [RELEASE].

Why it matters: Merchants don’t get paid directly, acquirers do. Embedding stablecoins into the acquiring stack means:

* Faster payouts → no waiting days for cross-border payouts

* Lower costs → stablecoin rails vs legacy correspondent banking

This is Mastercard putting stablecoins at the core of commerce rails, sidestepping banks and owning the flow of settlement [OUR TAKE].

U.S. Government puts macroeconomic data onchain

The U.S. Department of Commerce (via the BEA) and Chainlink are publishing official GDP, inflation (PCE), and consumer demand metrics onchain across 10 blockchains (Ethereum, Arbitrum, Avalanche, etc.). These feeds are secure, audited, and enterprise-grade. [Announcement]

Why it matters: Onchain GDP and inflation data embed macro directly into enterprise workflows:

* Payments: stablecoin treasuries auto-adjust yields to inflation

* Lending: DeFi loans auto-adjust rates if PCE spikes

* Risk: automated hedges trigger on macro releases

This bridged the gap between Wall Street workflows and onchain finance. Instead of reconciling off-chain feeds, institutions get real-time, tamper-proof data where they already operate, making blockchains not just transaction rails, but macro-aware financial infrastructure.

Stablecoins you can swipe

Stablecoin platform Rain raised $58M (Series B led by Sapphire Ventures), bringing total funding to $88.5M just 5 months after its $30M Series A. The company reports 10x transaction growth YTD and says its rails now reach 1.5B+ people across 150 countries via Visa, wallets, and on/off-ramps. [RELEASE] [OUR TAKE]

Why it matters: Stablecoins have $283B in circulation — but most are stuck on balance sheets, not in daily commerce. Rain fixes that by making stablecoins:

* Spendable: direct settlement at 150M+ Visa merchants

* Scalable: one API for money-in, storage, and payouts

* Enterprise-ready: PCI, SOC 2, and audited contracts

This shifts stablecoins from “treasury assets” to operating capital that businesses can actually use for payroll, merchant payouts, and cross-border spend.

🚨Download our latest stablecoin for a deep dive on Rain

Solana gets a $1B Wall Street vehicle

What happened: Galaxy, Jump Crypto, and Multicoin Capital are raising $1B (with Cantor Fitzgerald as banker) to launch the largest Solana treasury company. Think of it as Solana’s de-facto ETF alternative: investors buy shares in a public vehicle that holds SOL, earns staking yield, and offers leveraged exposure.

Why it matters: Bitcoin and Ethereum already have ETFs (11 BTC, 8 ETH) and multiple treasury companies (MicroStrategy, Metaplanet, SharpLink, FG Nexus, Bitmine). Solana has neither.

This treasury vehicle:

* Becomes the default institutional on-ramp to Solana

* Offers 3–5% yield from staking + DeFi (vs. zero from ETFs)

* Bridges SOL into capital markets, not just crypto exchanges

Our take: Forget waiting on a Solana ETF. Wall Street just built one with yield.

News Flash

* Tron cuts fees 60% to protect $81B USDT dominance. [Link]

* US banks lobbying to amend GENIUS [Link]

* Citi’s tokenisation plan with Citi Integrated Digital Asset Platform (CIDAP). [Link]

* B5G6G pushes barter trade stablecoin at Africa–Singapore Forum. [Link]

* Bitwise files for LINK ETF [Link]

* B Strategy plans $1b BNB DAT [Link]

* Metaplanet buys $11.7m BTC, joins FTSE Japan [Link]

That’s all for now, folks.

Take care

– Marc & Team

🚀 Work with us: We create pioneering thought leadership that helps digital asset and technology companies lead the conversation, earn trust and win business.

* Check out our AI newsletter, AI Operator, here.

* Check out our Crypto Treasury Alpha newsletter here.

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