🥳 Happy 10th Birthday, Ethereum

Welcome back, friends – Ray Buckton, Head of Research at RWA World, here with the latest RWA and asset tokenization info. 📰

With Ethereum turning 10 years old, it's a great time to celebrate the 83.7% RWA dominance the world’s largest smart contract network boasts – we’ve come a long way since the ICO days. 💪

🎯🔥 Rapid Fire Takeaways:

📜 Tether Becomes 18th Largest Holder of U.S. Treasuries With $127 Billion

🚀 Stablecoin Market Expands to $267.4 Billion – Up $61 Billion Since Start of Year

🐪 Abu Dhabi’s ADQ, FAB and IHC Announce Plans for Dirham-Backed Stablecoin

⛹️ Franklin Templeton Taps BounceBit to Launch BB Prime as the First Active Platform for Tokenized Treasuries

🐉 Hong Kong Firms Secure $1.5 Billion in July Funding for Crypto Investment

🔍 Galaxy Digital explores tokenizing its own GLXY shares

👏 Blockchain-Based Loans Firm Figure Files Confidential Submission for IPO

🦅 SEC to boost US blockchain leadership with Project Crypto

Very far – Bank of America is seeing a $16 billion shift towards RWA, as Citigroup, JP Morgan, and Goldman Sachs lead the charge, and Broadridge’s DLT repo is doing $4 trillion per month. 🏦

Learn about it on Tuesday and Thursday at 2 pm EDT with Wolf Crypto. Drop me an email or message on X to be part of the panel – your take matters. 🐺

🏛️ Govs, Regs, and Associations

The US is quickly becoming the land of crypto, with the SEC working on in-kind redemption of crypto ETFs while launching Project Crypto, potentially rewriting the rules of Wall Street. Tether has emerged as the 18th largest holder of US Treasuries at $127 billion, as Coinbase and PayPal are jealous, defending their stablecoin rewards despite the GENUIS Act ban. The Act may benefit RWA companies the most, as Michael Saylor cries out for a formal crypto taxonomy, and Uniswap and a16z are urging more DeFi dev protections. 🛡️

Across the pond, institutions are leaning towards Bitcoin as a treasury asset. Germany launched the first MiCAR-compliant euro stablecoin as the ECB affirmed the coexistence of cash and digital euros. Britain risks being completely left behind, according to the former finance minister. As ruble-backed digital currencies pass $40 billion, Australia’s Project Acacia is picking industry partners. 🦘

The Middle East is as hot as ever, with the Qatar Financial Center calling for global tokenization regulation and Abu Dhabi announcing plans for a dirham-backed stablecoin. Laser Digital has officially gained approval for crypto derivatives out of Dubai. Further into the Asian continent, Nano Labs received Kyrgyz blessing for a CNH-pegged stablecoin. All the way east, South Korea is looking at tokenized securities as KakaoBank gets involved with stablecoins. Japan’s SBI filed for Bitcoin and XRP ETFs while Singapore’s Project Guardian welcomes AM bodies. 🌴

The China/Hong Kong dynamic is essential. Hong Kong’s stablecoin rules are officially live, with firms securing $1.5 billion in July alone for crypto investments, and banks processing $3.3 billion in digital assets in the first half of 2025. JD.com and Ant Group are struggling to get licenses, as the Hong Kong RWA Global Industry Alliance has expanded to Australia and New Zealand. This may be China’s proving ground as it explores a yuan-backed stablecoin to challenge the dollar. 🀄

👀 Tokenization Developments

Some nations are friends, others are foes, but business is all about collaboration… and investment. Smarter Web Company raised $21 million via Bitcoin-denominated bonds, while Mantra scored a $20 million investment from Inveniam for ecosystem expansion. 

Perhaps the biggest collaboration news of the week is JP Morgan and Coinbase partnering up – they’re not alone either: 

• Food Ingredients 🤝 Palm Global Technologies Limited - (expand tokenization)

• Franklin Templeton 🤝 Anchorage Digital - (Expand BENJI Token Support)

• Security First International Holdings 🤝 BTCx Developers - (Shareholder-Backed Bitcoin Treasury Reserve)

• Franklin Templeton 🤝 BounceBit - (Launch BB Prime for Tokenized Treasuries)

• State Street 🤝 Stablecoin Standard - (educate tradFi firms on crypto)

• Spiko 🤝 Concordium - (Disintermediate Trade Finance)

• Credefi 🤝 Vayana - (Credit Tokenization in Emerging Markets)

• Corpay 🤝 Circle - (Stablecoin Payments to Global FX and Commercial Card Rails)

• KUKE Music 🤝 Naxos -  (Launch "Music LEGO Engine")

Plenty of partnerships are scaling the industry, one handshake and high five at a time.

👛 Stablecoins

Business is ever-changing, but some things are stable… like stablecoins, which reached $267.4 billion after rising $61 billion this year. While the tech doesn’t threaten Mastercard and Visa (Visa is even expanding it), banks are exploring issuing joint stablecoins at the same time Web3 giants like Metamask are forming their own stablecoin strategies. Remitly is rolling out stablecoins for international transfers as Stable Labs launches on Base for more cross-chain coverage – lots of work to do if they want to eat into Tether’s 40% stablecoin market share. 🥧

As stablecoins reshape finance in Nigeria, developed economies are scrutinizing the details. The GENIUS Act’s yield ban is largely disliked, as the BIS warns of regulatory gaps in asset markets, and Circle is helping banks offer stablecoins without even taking custody. Slash, a Californian neobank, is issuing a stablecoin for global dollar access, as the Global Dollar Network welcomes Gate as a tier-one partner. 🥇

🆕 New Platforms, Programs, Tools, and Integrations

Shiny, fancy, and new – that’s the name of the game. We have some sleek new integrations this week:

• COTI 🔌 Tokenized Asset Coalition 

• SBI 🔌 Ripple Payments 

• ALT5 Sigma Corporation 🔌 Fundamental Interaction 

• Stabull DEX 🔌 Base 

Even more new things launching in tokenization, from new divisions to yield to collateral and beyond: 

• Future FinTech 🚀 real-world asset tokenization division

• Linea 🚀 auto-stake bridged ETH via Lido 

• Figure 🚀 Confidential IPO Submission

• Leading RWA Ecosystem Players 🚀 Ascend Startup Accelerator 

• Coinbase 🚀 Prediction Market Offerings

• Blockfinex 🚀 DollarCoin for Africa

• ONyc 🚀 Kamino RWA Collateral

• Lynq 🚀 Real-Time Crypto Settlement

• JPMorgan + Key Institutions 🚀 Chainlink CCIP for Cross-Chain Settlements

• Marex 🚀 JPM's Kinexys Digital with Brevan Howard

Congratulations to our friends at Figure on the IPO announcement – check out our recent conversation with Provenance and some of the excellent companies tokenizing assets within their ecosystem. 👂

Everything from whisky to life insurance to home equity is coming on-chain. ⛓️

📊 RWA Sectors & Ecosystems

Crypto treasuries continue to skyrocket, with Unitronix adding some Ethereum to its existing Bitcoin balance. It’s a two-way street, with tokenized stocks soaring. Everyone from Coinbase to Assetera to eToro to Gemini strives to get involved, while Galaxy wants to tokenize its shares. PancakeSwap launched tokenized stocks with 25X leverage, as LetsExchange listed xStocks on its platform. Fairmint is four steps ahead, and CEO Joris Delanoue has a great interview on what this all means. 🌐

Chainlink, which now offers equities data on 37 chains, is powering the entire tokenized equity bonanza. Funds are also clamoring in, as Boros takes funding rates on-chain, and Libre Capital, now Kaio, is tokenizing a $100 million Bitcoin yield fund. With those yields, you could buy a house. It's a good thing RealFi is launching on XRP Ledger to tokenize real estate. 🏠

Commodities are also ripping. GEMtrust is tokenizing rubies, emeralds, and sapphires, and Blue Gold Limited is launching a tokenized gold product. Davis Commodities is ahead of the curve and already exploring a commodity-backed stablecoin for settlement. Commodities can get dirty, so DevvStream Corp is looking to tokenize carbon credits to help clean them up. ⛏️

📚 Another Week in the Books 

What an exhilarating week for asset tokenization. 

Just 18 months ago, this calibre of news would have been groundbreaking. 

Now, it’s just another day in the office as we build the future of finance. 

Join us on Tuesday and Thursday at 2 p.m. ET on Wolf Crypto to hear about it live. 🐺

Until next week! 👋