👍 MakerDAO Approved $1 Billion Tokenized Assets

A new week means new names entering the tokenized asset race. This time, we’re seeing State Street partner with Taurus on digital asset custody. 🏛️

With over $4 trillion in assets under management and a history of calling out wonky SEC accounting rules, they’re a welcome ally in the push to tokenize the world. 🌐

🎯🔥 Rapid Fire Takeaways:

🛣️ State Street Selects Taurus for Crypto Custody, Tokenization

🤝 Why asset managers, brokers need a shared stablecoin

💻 New Hyperledger Lab Zeto targets Ethereum blockchain privacy for enterprises

⛏️ U.S.-Listed Bitcoin Miners Have the Upper Hand Over Unlisted Peers: Bernstein

🔍 Dark Pools Dominate Ethereum as Private Transactions Surge – at Least by One Measure

🧑‍⚖️ The Bahamas Enacts DARE 2024, Expanding Digital Asset Regulations

✅ MakerDAO accepts proposals to tokenize $1B RWA

…but let’s not forget rational self-interest in our quest to make things digital. 🧠

The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) released a new digital assets annex for its Global Master Repo Agreement (GMRA) – regulatory clarity on digital asset custody could be a dream scenario for rehypothecation. 💭

🏜️ Collaboration and Desert Fun

We have exciting news hot off the press – RWA World is officially collaborating with Segmint, a VanEck subsidiary, on asset tokenization! Keep an eye out for some fantastic things coming out of this collaboration. 👀

The RWA World team and Segmint recently had a fantastic discussion with Watches.io founder Jake Plonskier to discuss the future of tokenized timepieces, what that means for market pricing, liquidity, and dynamics, and how the market is heating up! 🔍

Do you know what else is hot? The desert. And RWA Day is bringing the heat to October 8 in Salt Lake City, Utah! Reserve your spot to secure a $500 value completely free, courtesy of RWA World. Check out our media partner Block Fuel’s recent podcast on the upcoming event for the complete scope. 📽️

While you’re there, mark your calendars for this week’s RWA World Roundup this Friday at 9:30 am EDT! 🤠

🏢 What’s Tokenized and Whose Adopting? 

Everything and everyone, it feels like. John Patrick Mullin, the CEO of Mantra, recently claimed blockchains have proven secure and stable enough for side-scale tokenization. Clearpool seems to agree – they’re launching an RWA-focused L2, joining the ranks of Plume and Redbelly to focus on the future of tokenized assets. 🔮

Beyond infrastructure, MakerDAO recently accepted a proposal to tokenize $1 billion worth of RWAs – a figure sure to bolster the existing industry market cap. Add in Hamilton Lane, which is tokenizing a feeder fund with Securitize, and we’re seeing allocators getting antsy about taking tokenization market share as well! 🥧

But adoption commands some degree of modularity. Hence, our friends at Ledger Insights outline the pros, cons, and murmurings of a shared stablecoin between brokers and asset managers. While operationally efficient, Circle’s recent policy piece outlines the need for robust capital risk frameworks for stablecoins before we see mass adoption at financial institutions. ⚖️

🏛️ Regulatory Developments and Infrastructure

Speaking of frameworks, regulators love a compliant order to things. The Bahamas recently expanded its digital asset regulation framework with its DARE 2024 Act, while Cambodia took a slightly different approach via its DLT-powered tourist app for regional payments. Recall the Cambodian riel, which has seen an uptick in commercial usage thanks to these modernization efforts. 💹

Frontier markets may be the best proving grounds for the success of asset tokenization. Nkahiseng Ralepeli and Robyn Lawson of Absa CIB recently outlined how digital asset regulation in Africa could herald a new era of growth for the region. Compare that to Western jurisdictions, where FinCen may be yet again targeting self-hosted wallets for AML reporting standards. At least the ECB is kicking off another workshop on DLT B2B payments. 🤷

Seeing is believing. Thankfully, Moody’s is collaborating with Elliptic on enhanced virtual asset service provider (VASPs) risk screenings, while Hyperledger’s Lab Zeto is working on enterprise privacy using Ethereum. With all this shiny new infrastructure, it’s no surprise that the ICMA has updated its Master Repo Agreement Annex to offer more clarity on digital assets. 🔍

📊 Market Trends and Innovations

‘Tis the season in the USA – this time, Trump is set to earn more passive ETH than royalties from The Apprentice… a topic not on our election bingo card, but largely thanks to his NFT collection royalties. That could partially explain his friendly stance towards the industry – after all, listed Bitcoin miners have the upper hand via debt issuance and capital flexibility, according to Bernstein. 🦾

But it isn’t only about America—there are 7.8 billion non-Americans on Earth! That’s likely why Bitwise is moving into Europe by acquiring ETC Group, while global money transfer app Sling Money has raised $15 million to fund growth and development. That’s a bit more than Parafin’s $10 million Series A, but it's respective wins for both companies regardless. 🎉

With all this adoption and excitement comes an important yet unexpected question: Are we building too much? According to L2Beat, 71 Layer 2 solutions are live, with 82 more coming online soon. While exciting, does this Cambrian explosion provide the infrastructure our industry needs to succeed in a multi-dimensional asset issuance, management, and allocation landscape? 🤔

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, but one thing is for sure. With more and more Ethereum transactions moving to dark pools to facilitate private transactions, mainly to avoid MEV bots, the trend toward centralization is something to watch out for. ⚡