🏛️ Banks Going All-In For Tokenization

A few newsletters ago, we highlighted how Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson said everything is coming on-chain eventually. ⌚

Now, Franklin Templeton is opening 30 validator nodes across 12 chains, including Ethereum, Cardano, Stellar, Polkadot, Solana, and Provenance. 🤯

🎯🔥 Rapid Fire Takeaways:

⛓️ Chainlink Tops Real-World Crypto Assets With the Most Development Again

🗣️ Franklin Templeton's Jenny Johnson on Bitcoin ETFs, RWA Tokenization and Blockchain's Potential for TradFi

📜 DTCC, Euroclear, Clearstream: Building the Digital Asset Securities Ecosystem

📊 NYSE Plans Bitcoin Options, Bringing Another TradFi Giant Into Crypto

🏖️ Hester Peirce makes the case for cross-border crypto sandbox

🌐 Deutsche Bank joins Project Guardian to explore asset tokenization applications

Things are only heating up for asset tokenization in the U.S. and globally. 🔥

Korean banks even have to pay interest on crypto deposits… just in time to nuke Upbit’s main banking partner’s profits. 👀

🤠 Taming the Wild West of Finance 

Did you mark your calendars? Wolf Web3 has all the RWA action from yours truly on Thursday, 2 pm EDT! 📸

We also kicked off a new series with Mattereum focusing on asset tokenization happening every Wednesday, 9 am EDT. Make sure to get up to speed with the recent flagship episode! 🏁

Plenty of tokenization insights packed in there for you. 💥

💽 Real-World Assets (RWA) and Tokenization

All eyes are on asset tokenization, with Ethereum recently topping $1 billion in tokenized US Treasuries. But not everyone is convinced. Moody’s Cristiano Ventricelli recently highlighted that while efficiencies are promising, regulatory uncertainties remain… for now. 🕜

The US Financial Services Committee is hosting a panel focused on the “Tokenization Report Act of 2024,” which requires a collection of agencies and government bodies to submit a report on traditional asset tokenization and its impact. The goal is to better understand tokenization's pros and cons and find a clear path forward. 🔦

Regardless of clarity, Web3 security firm Cyver’s CEO says we need deeper security for tokenized assets if we’re going to onboard TradFi. Thankfully, Chainlink is leading the charge on that front for two months and has shown no signs of slowing down. ⛓️

💻 Institutional Adoption and Market Infrastructure

Big names are working with DLT despite the uncertainty. Clearstream, DTCC, and Euroclear tapped Boston Consulting Group, famous for their $16 trillion by 2030 prediction, for a digital asset framework. Meanwhile, the BIS kicked off Project Rialto, an FX settlement and CBDC project, and shed some light on Project Agora’s role in correspondent banking tokenization. ⛏️

The UK’s consultation on its Digital Securities Sandbox closed last week, with comments primarily focusing on volume limits. Notably, stablecoins had their hands tied, and some observers likening sandboxes with diverse, stifling limitations to asking an aircraft carrier to reconfigure to land a handful of Cessna planes – a tall order for a big operation. 🚢

Private markets are also making big moves. JP Morgan Onyx’ Umar Farooq has been promoted to Chief of Payments, while HSBC led the Series A round for Marketnode, which aims to build out multi-asset digital infrastructure. Topping things off, Zodia will handle custody and staking for Forteus, both of which are backed by huge names, and Circularise is working with Airbus using DLTs, specifically digital product passports (DPPs), for recycled aircraft parts. ✈️

🏛️ Global Regulatory and Institutional Developments

While adoption doesn’t necessarily portend regulatory clarity, France’s aptly named Banque de France’s Deputy Governor revealed that the organization is actively certifying smart contracts, and the EU has created the European Digital Infrastructure Consortium (EDIC) to simplify multi-country tokenization experimentation and initiatives. Across the Rhine, Deutsche Bank has officially joined Singapore’s Project Guardian to explore tokenization applications, joining the ranks of Citi, Franklin Templeton, and J.P. Morgan Chase. ⚜️

The United States continues its tepid walk towards tokenization clarity with the NYSE listing Bitcoin Options. Fed Commissioner Hester Pierce is seizing the momentum of her UK counterpart, pushing for a cross-border digital asset sandbox. However, President Biden recently vetoed the SAB121 cancelation, leaving cross-border collaboration uncertain. 🤨

That hasn’t stopped stablecoin giant Tether from investing $18.75m in cross-border stablecoin payment infrastructure through XREX. XREX’s CEO, Wayne Huang, also founded Unitas Protocol, which overcollateralizes emerging market stablecoins with U.S. dollars to maximize stability. 💸

⚖️ CBDCs and Stablecoins

Speaking of stability, CBDCs are slowly making inroads. China’s digital Yuan removed the “pilot” label from the initiative. Despite the significant move, no announcement has been made yet – could it be concerns about size? After all, India’s CBDC showed balances of less than $10,000 at the end of May. 😬

Nevertheless, the MENA region is pushing forward, with Qatar kicking off the first stage of its CBDC project and Saudi Arabia joining the China-led CBDC initiative Project mBridge. 🏜️

📅 Another Great Week for Tokenization

Coming off the heels of Consensus 2024, we’re more electrified than ever about asset tokenization! The world is finally catching up with the transactional efficiencies possible with distributed ledgers, and it’s an exciting time to be building in the industry. 🌞

Make sure to mark your calendar for this week’s Spaces, and don’t hesitate to reach out on X, LinkedIn, or Telegram to discuss database listings and how we can help scale your RWA operations. 💬📈

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