🎁 Bitcoin Getting Upwrapped - Good or Bad?

No $100,000 BTC milestone yet… but CoinBase is officially delisting wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) from its platform. 🤔

Why is the crypto giant giving the most popular cross-chain solution for the largest digital asset the boot on the eve of new all-time highs? It gets a bit complicated. 👀

🎯🔥 Rapid Fire Takeaways:

💻 EIB issues €100m digital bond to be settled with wholesale CBDC

📜 UK Confirms Digital Gilts

🥇 El Salvador Is Getting Its First Tokenized U.S. Treasuries Offering

😬 Government coalition collapse makes MiCAR messy in Germany

🟣 Sky, formerly Maker, deploys stablecoin on Solana

💰 Trump’s Media Company in Talks to Buy Bakkt Crypto Platform

💳 Mastercard’s MTN connects to J.P. Morgan’s Kinexys Digital Payments for settlement

Long story short: BitGo granted Bit Global control over the multi-signature wallet that holds all the underlying BTC – all $13 billion worth- leading to an ongoing drama. 🎭

Is this shady collusion or simple business? With BitGo launching a MAS-regulated crypto exchange, it’s not like the company shies away from working with regulators. Looks like this drama will have to play out. ⌚

🏛️ TradFi Goes Tokenization

While crypto incumbents play out their drama, incoming presidents are eyeing a stake in the future of finance. Trump’s media company is reportedly in talks to buy the Bakkt crypto platform to expand its role in digital assets. This deal might be “yuuuge.” 👀

Goldman Sachs has also been hard at work as they plan to spin out a crypto platform sometime next year, also eyeing digital asset market share. Perhaps they were enticed by EDX’s recent revelation that it’s seen over $36 billion in trading volume in 2024, with plans to close the year strong. 💪

PwC is backing up these moves and assertions in its latest report on the power of disruptive technology. An interesting observation arises from the report, though. While asset and wealth managers are generally in lockstep with institutional investors, there’s a stark divergence in money markets, with 24% of asset and wealth managers interested and 40% of institutional investors saying the same. Opportunity? 💸

🌐 States State Preference for RWAs

As usual, governments aren’t staying out of the tokenization race. The EIB issued a €100m digital bond to settle with the wholesale CBDC, while the Swiss National Bank took a different stance, calling digital SNB bills premature. The UK officially confirmed that it’s working on Digital Gilts, a sign that the now-non-EU state isn’t resting on its laurels. 💱

In Germany, things were a mixed bag of good and not-so-good news. Deutsche Bank and UBS used the Deutsche Bundesbank’s Trigger Solution to complete tokenized deposit settlements. However, with the German government coalition collapsing, MiCAR is getting messy. No government means the Bundesbank can’t grant new licenses, but non-German entities regulated by MiCAR can still operate in the country. 🤨

In Asia, things are moving at a similar pace. Malaysia is exploring wholesale CBDCs to see if they fit the peninsular nation’s monetary system. The Philippines is taking it further, distributing tokenized government bonds via a proprietary wallet and exchange. 🌏

🔐 Collabs, Expansions, and Unlocks

Tokenization unlocks a ton of latent value for industries – in the case of reinsurance, around $700 billion worth, according to our friends at Nayms. No wonder Tether launched a tokenization platform for businesses and nation-states… there’s a big market up for grabs. ✊

Archax sees it similarly – they just listed tokenized money market funds from State Street, Fidelity, and LGIM. They’re not alone, either. Copper just introduced some new tokenized money market funds of its own! Add Securitize and Elixer collaborating to launch DeFi vaults for Blackrock’s BUIDL fund, and Tokenization is getting more composable by the day. 🧱

There are also plenty of collaborations being had and rewards being granted. Matrixdock is working with Brink’s on global RWA custody, and Fireblocks has partnered with Korean-based NongHyup Bank for VAT tokenization. Gulf Bank is also celebrating its recent award for the highest tokenzied debit portfolio in Kuwait! 🥇

🌱 Stablecoins & Growing Infrastructure

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: Stablecoins are the leading RWA by a wide margin, and their product market fit makes them the vanguard for tokenzied assets. Let’s back up that claim. SocGen-Forge announced an expansion of its MICA-compliant euro stablecoin to XRP Ledger, while Tether-backed Quantoz launched its MICA-compliant USDQ and EURQ. 💶

Maker, now known as Sky, also deployed a stablecoin to Solana, while Mastercard’s MTN network officially connected to JP Morgan’s Kinexys, formerly known as Onyx, for digital payments. 🔌

And it isn’t incumbent financial leaders making the biggest waves. El Salvador, a self-proclaimed Bitcoin country, just got its first tokenzied US Treasury offering. A recent interview with the nation’s top crypto regulator revealed a strong sentiment that developing nations can lead a “financial revolution” by embracing digital assets and tokenization. Time will tell if that thesis plays out. ⏱️

✌️ Good Week, Good Vibes

Another week in the rearview. Good work, everyone!

Next time we meet, we’ll likely need a new digit on the Bitcoin price clock.

Until then – keep tokenizing, and don’t hesitate to touch base and see how RWA World can help you with intros, marketing, mindshare capture, and more!