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⚔️ Tether (USDT) Goes to War?

RWA World Newsletter - Aug 16, 2024

Author

Ray Buckton
August 16, 2024

Celsius, the now notoriously defunct lending platform from the early 2020s, is on a war path, suing users who withdrew funds. 🤨

Now, they’re suing stablecoin giant Tether, alleging fraud to the tune of $2 billion. That’s one way to fight a bankruptcy… 😬

🎯🔥 Rapid Fire Takeaways:

…but Tether isn’t folding to pressure. They’re fighting back with a war chest that could make Warren Buffet blush. 🧰

The ongoing litigation drama is another prime example of why asset tokenization is a leading trend – the best of distributed technology merged with consumer protection. 🤝

☀️ Another Great Week! 

We had a data-filled week at RWA World, co-hosting two excellent Spaces with our friends at Polytrade, one on a lack of on-chain tokenized asset data and another on the trustworthiness of the available data. 🤓

And reply to this email to get 10% off your tickets to Permissionless III in October! 🎃

Make sure to get there early for RWA Day and mingle with big names, like Nick Ducoff, Head of Institutional Growth at Solana!

Listen to our recent podcast feature with our media partner, Block Fuel! Tyler and Travis previewed what you can expect from this exclusive event happening on October 8 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Attendance is free (over $500 value!), but space is limited, so click here to apply now!

Oh, and head over to the RWA World Roundup this Friday at 9:30 am EDT! 🤠

🌳 Tokenization Keeps on Growing 

TradFi is making inroads. Franklin Templeton expanded its tokenized Treasuries footprint to Arbitrum following Open Eden's launch on Ripple. The big winner? Chainlink. With RWAs surpassing $3 billion (depending on how you count – Provenance has $13 billion+), Chainlink is set to conquer the world. 🌐

German giants Boerse Stuttgart and KfW are collaborating on a blockchain-based digital bond, and Singapore’s DBS is kicking off Treasury tokens on blockchain rails for 24/7 settlement with Ant International. And it's not just developed markets – ENor Securities, and El Salvadoran exchange, is now offering Backed’s bTokens to retail investors. 🐜

Old industries and old money are joining the party, too. Althea CEO Deborah Simpier sees the company’s Hawk Network helping to fill the gaps of aging infrastructure and underserved populations. The Trump family is also exploring a real estate tokenization venture – time will tell if this is a political move or a genuine foray into decentralized finance. 🗼

🗺️ Regulatory Developments and Challenges

The Federal Reserve targeted Customers Bank, whose executives signed an enforcement agreement to improve risk management practices. This development comes after a judge imposed a $125 million fine on Ripple for 1278 improper institutional transactions. With $1 trillion printing in the U.S. every 100 days, that won’t offset Fed and Friend’s burn rate much. 🔥

Gilbert Verdian of Quant has a great piece outlining the opportunities and challenges faced by the UK in digital asset regulation, and speaking of uncertainties, Ethereum may be less decentralized than previously thought. A paper by the New York Fed outlines how the recent Tornado Cash events impacted the network. 👀

Frontier markets are keeping flexible, with India’s Ministry of Finance stating that they have no near-future plans to regulate crypto sales. However, Thailand has proactively established a regulatory sandbox for digital assets. They’ll need it – their digital wallet program has hit a wall, leaving merchants unhappy. Jamaica has a similar story – the only CBDC wallet provider in the country isn’t confident in the digital currency's success. 😅

💡 Innovation in Digital Finance 

One of the coolest recent innovations is MetaMask, Mastercard, and Baanx’s new blockchain-based debit card! That, and Robinhood’s CEO is firmly on the size of tokenization, calling it a natural evolution for financial markets. All this good news hit the market just in time for the distribution of $2 billion in Mt Gox Bitcoin… hopefully, it motivated them to keep on holding. 🤞

On the banking side, DZ Bank and G+D are exploring offline machine-to-machine payments using blockchain rails, helping our future AI overlords have a way to keep track of who last paid for virtual drinks. Where will these robots be built? Probably Japan, where PwC and NNT Digital have won a Web3 public goods demo. 🤖

But before the robots take over, we have to tokenize the world. The Monetary Authority of Singapore is helping speed that process up by offering FSTI grants to Ample FinTech to empower SMEs with cross-border payment solutions. Same with Morgan Stanley Securities, which is eyeing digital securities by the end of this year. 📅

☑️ Did You Save The Date? 

Don’t forget that Permissionless III and RWA Day are coming up fast! 

If you don’t have your tickets, reply to this email or contact RWA World on X/Twitter, and we’ll get you 10% off.

While you’re there, give us a follow – we have multiple Spaces each week where we dive deep with tokenization founders, allocators, and RWA experts. See you there!