👀 The Big Day Approaches!

CF Benchmarks, a subsidiary of Kraken, is calling for $20 billion in tokenized assets by this time next year (2025). 📈

That’s a major increase, and we’ll be here through it all. In fact, we’re scaling up to do more than ever in the burgeoning world of tokenized assets! 🚀

🎯🔥 Rapid Fire Takeaways:

🦘 Australian bank ANZ joins Monetary Authority of Singapore-led Project Guardian

✊ A Digital Euro for the People - Position Paper

🥇 Kinka Gold Launches Gold-Backed Token on Cardano with EMURGO Support

⏱️ Börse Stuttgart, ECB cut settlement time in blockchain test

🦋 2024 Digital Assets Study: Is transformation within reach?

♟️ 21X announces strategic partnership with SBI Digital Markets

📜 Kasikornbank launches first licensed Thai digital asset custodian

We’re not the only ones scaling up. Our friends and XDC just released a major consensus upgrade dubbed XDC 2.0. ⚙️

Learn all about it next week in Utah for RWA Day! 🎉

🥳 Get Excited!

It’s not too late to secure the final spots for RWA Day, happening October 8 in Salt Lake City, Utah! ⏱️

Mara will showcase something special at the event, and you’ll hear from leaders in tokenization, such as Zoniqx, Plume, Peaq, and more! 🤩

A bit of housekeeping – we won’t be hosting our regular Thursday and Friday at 2 pm EDT Spaces next week due to RWA Day and Permissionless, but we’ll be kicking it live with the WolfWeb3 team while there! If you see us, come and say hi. 🐺

🚀 RWA Tokenization and Adoption

There’s a reason we’re hosting the biggest RWA event in Utah – tokenization isn’t slowing down. Guggenheim tokenized $20 million of commercial paper on Ethereum this week, and Kin five-folded that by tokenizing a $100 million real estate fund on Chintai. Asset classes across the spectrum are coming on-chain – INX and Backed have expanded their tokenized stock offerings (but not for U.S. citizens – not that much freedom, sorry), and 21X is partnering with SBI Digital Markets on a matching engine, further laying the groundwork for mass tokenization of assets. 🤝

Even the hardest asset of all, gold, is joining the party. Kinka Gold, a Japanese subsidiary of Unbanked, launched a gold-backed token on Cardano this week with the full blessing of EMURGO, an entity dedicated to supporting the Cardano ecosystem. They’re not alone – Digital Asset, Euroclear, and The World Gold Council are teaming up to pilot tokenized Gilts, Eurobonds, and, you guessed it, gold. Perhaps AZN, an Australian bank joining Singapore’s Project Guardian, was inspired by all the tokenization. 💡

🗺️ Old World, New Tech

Different regions tackle tokenization at their own pace. In particular, the European Union is making big strides. A recent paper outlined the pros and cons of direct CBDC distribution to citizens, while another paper postulated a model that showed an 80% increase in adoption and 140% in usage. Meanwhile, Börse Stuttgart worked with the ECB to cut settlement times using DLT, while Sparkasse Dortmund issued a digital savings bond on blockchain. Digital Euro, here we come? 💶

On the eastern side of the planet, Kasikornbank announced it will be serving as the first licensed digital asset custodian in Thailand. Never one to be one-upped, Hong Kong’s HSBC issued a HK$1 billion digital bond using its Orion DLT. At the same time, the Bank of East Asia and UDPN collaborated on a stablecoin and tokenized deposit proof of concept.

🧭 Institutional Strategies and Tokenization’s Future

The future of tokenization is brighter than ever. To prove the point, Matrixport acquired Crypto Finance from Deutsche Börse, and Franklin Templeton continues to expand its RWA fund, this time to Aptos. DeFi Technologies even launched an Ethereum staking ETP on the London Stock Exchange. 💥

But… can money truly become digital? According to a recent paper from the UK, that requires “singleness,” or the ability to quickly convert it across platforms and payment repositories. Thankfully, the Bank of England and the FCA kicked off a Digital Securities Sandbox to ensure any future incarnation of digital currencies fit the bill before becoming formally incorporated into the financial system. 💷

State Street continues to make big moves into tokenized assets, tapping BNY executive Vanessa Fernandes as the organization's new head of digital assets. They also released a fantastic report on the future of digital assets, outlining the potential future of tokenization. The most surprising takeaway? While 58% of respondents say digital assets will take 10+ years to go mainstream, 47% are either extremely prepared or already trading on-chain. 👀

🏜️ See You in Utah! 

We’re gearing up for a powerful flagship RWA Day.

If you’ll be at Permissionless, make sure you reserve your spot. 

We’ll see you there!