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Hey, it’s Marc.

Today, major news broke that G7 banks are about to launch a stablecoin. They’re coming for Tether and Circle. More on that below.

Another story that caught my eye: Luxembourg’s sovereign wealth fund allocated 1% of its portfolio ($9M) to a BTC ETF. That’s first state-level Bitcoin investment in the Eurozone. But did you know that Norways and Switzerland’s Central Bank already hold 100s of millions in Strategy shares for indirect Bitcoin exposure? Wild.

The most conservative financial institutions on the planet are buying Bitcoin exposure through corporate proxies.

Let’s do the math: There are nearly 100 sovereign wealth funds globally, managing over $14 trillion.

If just 10% of global sovereign wealth funds allocate 1% to Bitcoin? That’s $140 billion in new demand.

For context: Bitcoin ETFs have pulled in $163B total since launch in January 2024.

Then: Coinbase and Mastercard are apparently in a bidding war for BVNK, a stablecoin startup backed by Visa and Citi (think of it as Bridge).

We just had them on the show:

“Crypto and traditional finance have been living in separate worlds, but they’ll fully merge. In the future, everything will be on-chain in some form, and the distinction will disappear.”

— Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev

This is a timely quote for another BIG story this week:

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) invested $2B in Polymarket, a crypto prediction market. Yes, ICE, the $80B parent of NYSE. Probably one of the biggest moments in DeFi history.

Also this week:

* Softbank & Binance onboard half of Japan’s population to crypto

* BNY Mellon pilots tokenized deposits

* Galaxy has launched GalaxyOne, a unified wealth platform.

* Kraken expands its U.S. equities platform 24/5

We’ll unpack all of these highlights below.

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Top Boardroom Reads

👉Subscribe to our Crypto Treasury Alpha newsletter here.

* G20 Roadmap for Cross-border Payments (FSB)

* Digital Asset Outlook (State Street)

* The Ethereum Foundation’s Commitment to Privacy (Ethereum Foundation)

* The $135B Treasury Wave (Fiftyone)

* Stablecoin growth - policy challenges and approaches (BIS)

* How Stablecoins Are Eating Payments, with Chris Harmse (Fiftyone)

* The First RWA Unicorn IPO (Fiftyone)

🙌 Work with us: We create pioneering thought leadership that helps digital asset and technology companies lead the conversation, earn trust and win business.

Top Signals This Week

G7 banks launch a stablecoin

What happened: Ten of the world’s largest banks — including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Citi, UBS, and Deutsche Bank — are teaming up to launch a G7-backed stablecoin network that will issue bank-backed stablecoins pegged to the USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, CAD, and CHF. [ANNOUNCEMENT]

The message is clear: banks are taking stablecoins back. For the first time, the G7’s largest institutions are building shared rails for digital currencies that settle instantly across a unified blockchain framework.

So what? It’s the strongest challenge yet to Tether and Circle’s $245B duopoly. For years, banks dismissed stablecoins as risky. Now, they’re racing to reclaim the rails they once owned. The Genius Act made it legal for regulated firms to issue their own stablecoins, shifting money creation from banks to corporates and fintechs like Stripe, PayPal, and Circle, which now move trillions on-chain. Stablecoins processed $27.6 trillion in transactions in 2024, officially exceeding Visa’s and Mastercard’s annual payment volume. That’s transaction flow banks used to own.

Full analysis for PRO readers👇

PayPay brings 70M users into crypto

SoftBank-owned PayPay, Japan’s largest cashless payment app, just bought a 40% stake in Binance Japan, instantly onboarding 70 million users — half the country’s population — into crypto [NEWS].

Why it matters: PayPay controls 67% of Japan’s QR code payments and handles one in every five cashless transactions. Now, users can buy crypto with PayPay Money, withdraw proceeds into their wallets, and access Binance Japan without ever leaving the app. It’s also the biggest distribution play Binance has ever pulled off — direct access to 60% of Japan’s adults through a single integration.

Wall Street’s $2B DeFi move

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the global leader in exchange operations and owner of the venerable New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), has completed a strategic investment of up to $2B in Polymarket, a decentralised prediction market platform. [ANNOUNCEMENT]

This is probably one of the biggest moments in DeFi history.

The message is clear: This deal is about data, distribution, and tokenisation. ICE will push Polymarket data to thousands of institutional investors globally.

So what? ICE is the plumbing of global finance. 13 exchanges, 6 clearing houses, $25T+ in annual trading volume. The immediate benefit? Exclusive data distribution. Global rights to sell Polymarket’s event-driven data to institutions. Immediate revenue stream. Hedge funds will pay for real-time probability signals on Fed decisions, elections, economic indicators. Bloomberg sells terminal data. ICE just bought prediction market data.

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Galaxy’s new super app

Galaxy has launched GalaxyOne, a unified wealth platform combining high-yield FDIC-insured cash accounts, crypto and equity trading, and institutional-grade investment products to help individuals manage and grow their portfolios seamlessly. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: Most retail investors still juggle siloed apps, stocks & ETFs, trading, crypto wallets, while professional platforms run on seamless, risk-aware infrastructure. A neobank app combining cash, crypto, and equities directly challenges Robinhood and traditional, fragmented finance apps.

BNY Mellon is exploring tokenised deposit

The world’s largest custodian with $55.8T in AUM, BNY Mellon, is actively exploring the use of tokenised deposits for enabling institutional client payments over distributed ledger technology (DLT) rails. [NEWS]

The message is clear: Existing payment rails are expensive, and institutions will switch to blockchain infrastructure if it saves cost and time for them.

Why it matters: BNY Mellon’s Treasury Services unit processes roughly $2.5T in payments each day, making the shift to instant, 24/7 settlement capabilities a systemic necessity. The move signals accelerating institutional blockchain adoption with major cost-efficiency gains up to 30%.

Kraken isn’t building a crypto exchange

Kraken expands its U.S. equities platform with stock transfers, lending, and 24/5 trading, a move that blurs the line between crypto and Wall Street. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: Legacy brokers sleep on weekends and settle trades in days. Kraken runs 24/5 and settles in seconds. The company’s now gunning for Robinhood’s retail base, Coinbase’s institutional users, and Wall Street’s liquidity, all while setting up for a potential $15B IPO in 2026.

News Flash

* Citi invests in BVNK, deepening US banks’ stablecoin adoption. Link

* Tokenised gold surpasses $3B as investors seek protection from weakening fiat.

* MetaMask launches in-wallet perpetuals trading through Hyperliquid. Link

* S&P has launched the Digital Markets 50 Index. Link

* Grayscale launches first U.S. crypto ETFs with Ethereum and Solana staking. Link

* Samsung Wallet integrates Coinbase in the US and Canada. Link

* Morgan Stanley now guides $2T advisors on crypto portfolio allocations. Link

* Walmart’s OnePay will offer Bitcoin and Ether trading, custody. Link

* CME to launch 24/7 crypto futures and options trading. Link

* BBVA enables 24/7 crypto trading via SGX FX integration. Link

That’s all for now, folks.

Take care

– Marc & Team

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Hi, it’s Marc. ✌️

“Money should travel at the speed of the internet. Stablecoins make that possible.”

— Chris Harmse, Co-founder & CBO of BVNK

BVNK, a leading stablecoin payment infrastructure provider, just hit $20 billion in annual transaction volume with 320 employees.

In May, they partnered with Worldpay, which processes $2.3 trillion annually for 1M+ merchants, to enable stablecoin payouts across 180+ countries.

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🎧 Jump to the best parts

* (08:28) → The new financial stack: Chris outlines the six core ‘payment primitives’ (send, receive, store, earn, spend, comply) driving adoption and explains how companies can now build entire neobanks on top of stablecoin rails, reaching 200 markets instantly.

* (15:13) → The three catalysts behind the 2025 Stablecoin summer: Why did the market explode this year? Chris pinpoints the trifecta of regulatory clarity, massive payment volumes, and a critical mass of global users that created the perfect storm for enterprise adoption.

* (20:41) → Competing with giants like Stripe: As big players enter, Chris explains why fragmentation creates opportunity and how BVNK’s value proposition is to abstract away all complexity, making blockchain payments as seamless as using a credit card.

* (29:15) → Regulation, regions, and the next 3 years: Why LatAm, Africa, and Southeast Asia are leading adoption from the bottom up, and why regulatory clarity has turned from headwind to tailwind for global enterprises.

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We sat down with Chris Harmse, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer at BVNK, to explore the surge in demand for stablecoins for payments and their transformative impact on global finance.

Why it’s important: Stablecoins have crossed $300B in supply, putting them on par with some of the largest U.S. retail money market funds and regional banks. Initiatives like Stripe’s Open Issuance, BVNK’s WorldPay partnership and Circle’s Payment Network CPN show that money movement on blockchains is hitting mainstream.

BVNK: Founded in 2021, BVNK is a London-based fintech company that provides a full-stack stablecoin operating system for businesses, enabling them to integrate stablecoin payments and treasury solutions into their operations. It has processed $20B+ in transactions and is valued at $750M, backed by top investors and enterprise partnerships across 180+ countries.

Where to find Chris Harmse:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisharmse/

X: https://x.com/chrisharmse89

Website: https://bvnk.com/about-us

🎙️ In our conversation, we discussed:

* Why traditional payment rails are broken and fragmented

* The evolution of stablecoins from niche to enterprise-scale

* Which use cases (payouts, commerce, treasury) are scaling fastest

* How BVNK differentiates in an increasingly crowded market

* Why regulatory clarity flipped the narrative in 2025

* The WorldPay partnership and its network effects

* How emerging markets are driving adoption from the bottom up

* Where value will accrue across the payments stack (issuers vs. distributors vs. L1s)

* Navigating the complexities of KYC and compliance in a blockchain world

* Future outlook: Regulation and enterprise adoption

Watch or listen now:YouTube • Spotify • Apple Podcasts

Recommended podcasts:

Recommended reports:

🙌 Work with us: We create pioneering thought leadership that helps digital asset and technology companies lead the conversation, earn trust and win business.

My biggest takeaways from this conversation:

1. Enterprise adoption has matured

1. Enterprise adoption has matured—the conversation shifted from education to execution

The pilot phase is over. Chris argues that enterprises no longer need stablecoin 101 - they’re architecting specific use cases. The traditional financial system, with fragmented domestic schemes and SWIFT-dependent cross-border rails, can’t compete with instant, 24/7, low-cost blockchain infrastructure.

“Two to three years ago, people were thinking about pilots. That has shifted to today where they’re going live and they’re doing billions and billions of dollars of TPV.”

E-commerce is the next inflection point:

“We’re starting to see the early signs... around e-com platforms really starting to accept stablecoins at checkout, which I think is what you really need to get that use case to go vertical.”

The recent initiatives by incumbents are validating it:

* SWIFT will launch a blockchain-based ledger on Ethereum. Full story

* Circle and Stripe are building blockchains to move money. Full story

* Stripe launched stablecoin-as-a-service. Full story

* Visa announced a pilot for stablecoin prefunding on Visa Direct. Full story

and much more.

Other than payments, Chris sees stablecoins enabling neobanks to launch globally, offer wallets, yield, and spend, beyond traditional banking limits:

“You can actually launch banking products on top of stablecoin infrastructure, not just do payments, pay-ins, pay-outs.”

2. Three catalysts converged in 2025 to unlock institutional scale

Chris identifies the trifecta that flipped stablecoins from experimental to essential:

* Regulatory clarity: MiCA in Europe, GENIUS Act in the US (signed July). 73% of organizations cited regulatory uncertainty as their top barrier—that barrier just collapsed.

“I can’t overestimate the impact that regulatory clarity has had on just people willing to interact with stablecoins, enterprises now having a clear framework.”

* Critical mass of TPV: From $27T (2024) to $40T projected in 2025. Strip out crypto trading and $5.7T came from real payments use cases in 2024—3x PayPal’s volume. Liquidity begets liquidity.

“You needed a critical mass of TPV... that’s already gotten to 10 trillion, which is like three times the size of PayPal, almost rivaling Visa’s kind of transaction volume.”

* User adoption in emerging markets: 500M+ global wallet addresses, growing 30% YoY. Users in Argentina, Nigeria, Southeast Asia are demanding digital dollars.

“There was high young populations, high adoption of digitally native, lack of access to traditional financial products but also lack of access to dollars, and stablecoins solved that problem.”

2. Distribution is the multiplier

Everyone obsesses over issuers like Tether ($13B annual profit). Chris delivers the uncomfortable truth: issuance margins compress as competition intensifies. Like money market funds, issuers will compete away treasury yield to distributors and end users.

“Long-term I think issuance ends up similar to money market funds... you’ll take a small fee for providing that wrapper, which is more like a management fee, and not be able to keep all of that yield.”

The real value accrues to orchestration platforms that abstract blockchain complexity for enterprises that refuse to become crypto companies. As Stripe launches its own blockchain (Tempo) and more chains proliferate, fragmentation increasesthe need for abstraction layers.

“The more blockchains there are, the more complexity, the more fragmentation. And therefore, the more businesses like ours can work with enterprise customers to not worry about what blockchain it runs on and just be able to make a payment seamlessly.”

Chris’s view: enterprises don’t care about specific blockchains, just like they don’t care about Visa’s network topology. They want instant, cheap, compliant payments. Period.

“No one cares how the underlying Visa network works. They just want their card to work basically.”

This is the BVNK/Stripe playbook: own the orchestration layer, stay blockchain-agnostic, let issuers compete on yield. Stripe’s $1.1B Bridge acquisition and vertical integration intensifies competition, but also proves the thesis. It’s the AWS vs. multi-cloud debate: enterprises hate lock-in.

Chris’s bottom line: The winners will abstract that complexity entirely and capture margin in the process. The stablecoin wars aren’t about which coin. They’re about who moves them.

Take care,

Marc

* Check out our AI ne…

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 51insights.substack.com

Hey, it’s Marc.

Token2049, the world’s biggest crypto event, just wrapped in Singapore and this year felt different: stablecoin rails, tokenized treasuries, and prediction markets.

Meanwhile, SWIFT just picked Ethereum to build a blockchain with 30+ global banks. The same network that moves $150T a year is admitting crypto rails are the future.

Stripe just launched stablecoin-as-a-service. Every fintech, exchange, and enterprise can now mint its own stablecoin in a few lines of code. We’re heading toward a world where every major institution issues money. And nobody yet knows what the endgame looks like.

Also this week:

* Cloudflare that controls 20% of the internet launched Internet Money

* Visa Direct will start to prefund payouts with stablecoins

We’ll unpack all of these highlights below.

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Top Boardroom Reads

👉Subscribe to our Crypto Treasury Alpha newsletter here.

* Inside Pantera’s $500M Solana Treasury Play, with Cosmo Jiang (51)

* The stablecoin duopoly is ending (Nic Carter)

* Stablecoins 2030 - Web3 to Wall Street (Citi)

* Crypto treasury in a world of wallets (Ubyx)

* The State of Wealth in 2025 (Fintech Prime Time)

* Fintech 101: The Tokenisation of Real World Financial Assets (Fintech Blueprint)

* Why crypto targets massive markets (Bitwise Asset Management)

🙌 Work with us: We create pioneering thought leadership that helps digital asset and technology companies lead the conversation, earn trust and win business.

Top Signals This Week

SWIFT’s picks Ethereum

SWIFT announced on Sept 29 it will launch a blockchain-based ledger with ConsenSys and 30+ major banks - JPMorgan, HSBC, Citi, BNP Paribas, Deutsche, Santander, Wells Fargo, BNY Mellon, and more. The system will enable real-time, 24/7 cross-border settlements using tokenised deposits and smart contracts. [RELEASE]

Why it matters: SWIFT moves $150T annually through 11,500 institutions. But settlements take 5 days with multiple intermediaries, hidden fees, and manual AML checks. Meanwhile, stablecoins scaled from $20B (2020) to $300B today, processing trillions annually. Banks are losing material cross-border payment share. SWIFT’s move is defensive but necessary.

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Stripe launches stablecoin-as-a-service

What happened: Stripe announced three new products that let any business launch, hold, and use stablecoins with just a few lines of code: [RELEASE]

* Open Issuance: Launch and manage your own stablecoin with reserves from BlackRock, Fidelity, and Superstate.

* Stablecoin Financial Accounts: Hold, convert, spend, and send stablecoins directly from a Stripe account in the US.

* On/Off-Ramp Infrastructure: Move between fiat and stablecoins with local APIs and stablecoin Visa cards in 15+ countries.

Why it matters: For a decade, Circle (USDC) and Tether (USDT) have controlled 85%+ of the $245B stablecoin market. Every challenger — from Terra to Binance’s BUSD, failed to dent that dominance. Stripe just changed the economics. Businesses, DeFi protocols, wallets, and even fintechs can now mint their own “house stablecoins,” capture yield, and own user float instead of passing profits to Circle/Tether. This could fragment the market and accelerate the decline of the old duopoly.

Our take: This isn’t just Stripe going after payments, it’s Stripe offering stablecoin infrastructure as a service. If neobanks, exchanges, and apps adopt Stripe’s rails, the next $200B in stablecoin growth won’t be captured by USDC or USDT but by thousands of custom issuers. Think of it as the Shopify moment for stablecoins: Stripe handles the messy compliance and plumbing; platforms keep the margin. For treasurers, that means yield opportunities. For marketers, it opens the door to brand-owned money. For Circle and Tether, it’s an existential challenge: the float is up for grabs.

Visa Direct will prefund payouts with stablecoins

What happened: At SIBOS, Visa announced a pilot for stablecoin prefunding on Visa Direct. Instead of parking fiat in advance, businesses can pre-fund Visa accounts with USDC or EURC. Visa treats those balances as “money in the bank,” unlocking faster global payouts and reducing working-capital drag. [Release]

So what? By allowing businesses to pre-fund accounts with stablecoins, Visa transforms frozen capital into liquid assets that can be moved in minutes, not days. Visa treating USDC and EURC as “money in the bank” for prefunding signals mainstream trust in stablecoins and enables near-instant cross-border payouts. But this also raises threats for regional banks to lose liquidity and fee-based income from correspondent banking services.

Our take: The real signal isn’t the pilot itself, but Visa treating USDC/EURC like deposits, effectively blurring the line between bank balances and blockchain balances.

Cloudflare launched Internet Money

Cloudflare announced NET Dollar, a US dollar–backed stablecoin designed to power instant, programmable payments for the agentic web. It is positioning its global network as a payments rail for machine-to-machine microtransactions, pay-per-use APIs, and fractional payouts. [RELEASE]

So what? With Cloudflare handling ~20% of all internet traffic, its entry into stablecoins is viewed as a potential turning point in the future of online payments. However, it needs open standards and interoperability (like Google’s Agent Payments Protocol/ Coinbase’s x402), otherwise the ecosystem risks siloing and fragmentation if every cloud/cloud-edge provider issues its own token.

Must watch: Execution. If developer and AI platforms adopt Cloudflare’s token for agent-driven payments and if creators see tangible value in new microtransaction models, it could become core web infrastructure.

Chainlink’s and UBS’ $100T tokenisation bridge

Chainlink and UBS just demonstrated how to manage tokenised funds for workflows like subscriptions and redemptions, directly from existing systems using SWIFT ISO 20022 messages via Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE). Banks access blockchains through the same SWIFT infrastructure they’ve used for decades, no new key management or system upgrades required. [RELEASE]

So what? For years, the biggest barrier to institutional adoption of tokenised assets has been the massive operational headache of integrating them. This collaboration provides the “plug-and-play” solution, giving institutions blockchain’s speed, efficiency, and programmability without operational disruption.

News Flash

* Coinbase partners with Samsung to bring Coinbase One to 75M US Samsung Galaxy users. Link

* Stripe partnered with OpenAI for agentic payments. Link

* FG Nexus partners with Securitize to trade shares on Ethereum. Link

* Franklin Templeton’s Solana ETF is listed on DTCC as SOEZ. Link

* AlloyX launches tokenised money market fund RYT on Polygon blockchain. Link

* CME Group to offer 24/7 cryptocurrency futures and options trading. Link

* Animoca to offer tokenised equity on Solana for broader investor access. Link

* Telegram to let users trade tokenised U.S. stocks and ETFs in-app. Link

* Government shutdown delays SEC reviews of pending crypto ETF approvals. Link

* Tixbase becomes the ticketing partner for 2025 Copa América de Béisbol. Link

* Avalanche Treasury merges with $MLAC in $675M deal to expand. Link

That’s all for now, folks.

Take care

– Marc & Team

PS: Upgrade to Pro for our daily CEO Notes & market signals.

* Check out our AI newsletter, AI Operator, here.

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Hi, it’s Marc. ✌️

“Solana is just faster, cheaper, and more accessible.

It maps perfectly to the same consumer demand cycle that made Amazon unbeatable.”

— Cosmo Jiang, General Partner at Pantera Capital

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🎧 Jump to the best parts

* (10:56) → Why “NAV per share” is the new “free cash flow per share: Cosmo explains how digital asset treasuries work just like banks or Amazon in its prime: execution and capital allocation matter more than hype. Investors should look at NAV-per-share growth, not token price, just as Amazon’s stock rewarded reinvestment before profits.

* (22:03) → Inside Solana Company (NASDAQ: HSDT): We break down how Pantera structured Solana Company to systematically acquire and stake Solana, combining a $500M PIPE, $750M in stapled warrants, and differentiated staking economics. Actionable takeaway: public vehicles can outperform ETFs when they compound yield and use capital markets tools (buybacks, convertibles) to increase tokens per share.

* (29:43) → Solana vs. Ethereum & Why Tokens Are Infrastructure Equity: Cosmo makes the case that Solana isn’t just “cheaper”, it’s a cash‑flow‑producing platform growing faster than ETH on incremental users, developers, and fees. He reframes tokens as ownership units in productive networks, not commodities. For investors, that means valuing Solana the way you’d value a high‑growth infra company, not a currency.

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We sat down with Cosmo Jiang, General Partner at Pantera Capital and Board Observer at Solana Company, to unpack the rise of digital asset treasury companies (DATs) and why Solana is at the centre of the next wave.

This isn’t just a copy of MicroStrategy. It’s a redesigned flywheel, engineered for speed, yield, and public markets scale.

Why it’s important: Digital asset treasury companies (DATCOs) have raised $20B in 2025 so far. July alone accounted for nearly $10B, making DATs (digital asset treasuries) the single largest category of crypto fundraising this year. While Bitcoin still dominates, increasing flows are moving to Ethereum, Solana, TON, and other altcoin-focused DATs.

Pantera: It is one of the original and largest institutional investors in digital assets. Its portfolio spans eight tokens, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and BNB across U.S., U.K., and Israeli companies. These include BitMine Immersion, Twenty One Capital, DeFi Development Corp, and Mill City Ventures III.

Where to find Cosmo Jiang:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cosmojiang

X: https://x.com/cosmo_jiang

Pantera: https://panteracapital.com/team/

🎙️ In our conversation, we discuss:

* Origin of digital asset treasuries (DAT)

* Why Solana beats Bitcoin and Ethereum on raw product-market fit

* What Pantera saw that made them launch a $1.25B SOL-native public vehicle

* Why public equities are the ultimate crypto onboarding funnel for institutions

* How Solana Company is engineered to maximize SOL per share

* Why most investors underestimate how active Solana already is

* Understanding MNAV and navigating market cycles

* Why Solana is becoming the default blockchain for payments, AI, and RWAs

* Debunking core crypto misconceptions for institutional investors

* The case for treating tokens like infrastructure equity, not software

* The rise of corporate chains and the multi-chain future

Watch or listen now:YouTube • Spotify • Apple Podcasts

Recommended podcasts:

My biggest takeaways from this conversation:

Wall Street still doesn’t get DATs (yet)

MicroStrategy’s playbook looked simple: buy Bitcoin, issue stock at premium, repeat. Every VC firm nodded along. Few understood why it worked.

Cosmo was instrumental in some of the first “MicroStrategy copycats” like Bitmine and Upexy, but he quickly saw a way to build a better model. He frames it with striking clarity: a digital asset treasury is not just about buying and holding an asset. It’s a balance sheet business, much like a bank or an insurance company.

“The business model is trying to maximize your tokens per share. That’s how you maximize shareholder value.”

That asset? Solana. The vehicle? Solana Company, backed by a $500M PIPE and Pantera’s entire playbook from the past six months.

DATs Are Banks, Not Bitcoin Funds

Most investors think digital asset treasuries are passive holders with sexy balance sheets. Wrong.

DATs are balance-sheet-heavy financial institutions. Just like JPMorgan trades at 2x book value while regional banks trade below 1x, execution determines everything. Pantera asked: “What if we applied banking fundamentals to the fastest-growing L1 that Wall Street hasn’t priced correctly yet?”

The primary engine for this is what he calls the “capital markets flywheel”:

Engine 1: Financial Engineering (85-95% of value creation)

* Issue equity/convertibles at premium to NAV

* Monetize volatility through warrants and converts

* Scale the capital markets flywheel

Engine 2: Base Yield Generation (5-15% of value creation)

* Staking rewards

* DeFi participation

* Real fee capture from on-chain activity

This is where Solana has a distinct advantage over Bitcoin.

“Solana is a productive asset... By capturing fees, it generates value for its token holders. This ability to then go use your Solana, generate this high single-digit staking yield or DeFi yield to really augment that core financial engineering engine can be very powerful.”

Solana vs Ethereum

Cosmo’s argument for choosing Solana over Ethereum is two-fold: market opportunity and fundamental value. While the Ethereum treasury space is now dominated by giants like Bitmine and Sharplink, Solana still lacks a billion-dollar-plus treasury player. Solana Company aims to be that player.

But the core of the thesis is about the fundamentals. Cosmo argues that traditional finance investors fundamentally misunderstand Solana. They see a token, not a high-growth tech business.

His positioning framework, translated for a TradFi audience:

* A High-Growth Tech Stock: “Solana generates $3 billion of annualized free cash flow... It only trades at $120 billion valuation. And so 40 times run-rate earnings for something that’s growing 3x every year is very cheap relative to its growth for any tech investor.” At a $120 billion valuation, that’s 40x earnings for something growing 3x year-over-year. Any tech investor would recognize that as cheap. Yet Solana trades at 5% of Bitcoin’s market cap and 20% of Ethereum’s.

* The Amazon of Blockchains: He compares Solana to Amazon’s “holy trinity” of consumer demands. “Consumers will always want cheaper, they’ll always want faster, and they’ll always want more convenience. And that’s exactly what Solana is.”

* Dominating Incremental Growth: Across new developers, users, transactions, and fees, Solana is “crushing it in terms of market share growth.”

He believes the story of Solana as a cash-flowing, rapidly growing software platform has not yet been told to traditional markets. Solana Company is designed to be the vehicle that tells it.

The Inflation Argument Is Stock Comp, Not a Bug

Traditional investors immediately flag Solana’s inflation rate. Bitcoin has basically none. Ethereum’s is minimal or negative. Solana’s looks high by comparison.

Cosmo reframes it entirely:

“When people talk about token inflation, really they’re talking about what is the equivalent of stock-based compensation in our equity-based compensation in traditional equities.”

Every fast-growing tech company rewards employees with stock options. Solana rewards validators and builders with tokens. Same concept, different label.

“The biggest, best tech companies that are growing fast, they want to reward people that are adding value to their business, which in this case is employees. They want to reward them with stock,” he says.

The Premium question: What happens in a bear market?

Many worry about what happens when the market turns and the premium to Net Asset Value (MNAV) collapses. Cosmo’s view is pragmatic and rooted in …

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 51insights.substack.com

Hey, it’s Marc.

“There is room for both gold and Bitcoin to coexist on central bank balance sheets by 2030.” — Deutsche Bank, in a new report released this week.

Did you know that Norwegian and Swiss National Bank already have $700M+ of Bitcoin exposure by owning Strategy stocks?

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Then: Citi came out with a new report and estimated the stablecoin market size to grow up to $4T by 2030. [Full report]

🚨 We just opened new sponsorship slots for our newsletters & podcast. Want to reach 35k+ digital asset leaders? Contact us here.

Then: Hyperliquid just minted its own dollar. USDH went live this week with ~$2.2M in first-day trading, giving the exchange a native currency to power its markets. The timing is sharp: only a week earlier, Circle launched USDC on Hyperliquid with new cross-chain rails spanning 14+ blockchains. The stage is set for a showdown between “platform-native” and “network-native” money. [Read more]

Whereas, Tether seeks $20B raise at $500B valuation, rivaling OpenAI, among world’s most valuable private companies.

Also this week:

* House GOP pushes 401(k) access to crypto

* Vanguard, the $10T asset manager, to launch crypto ETFs

* CFTC moves to allow tokenised collateral in derivatives

* HSBC expands tokenised deposits to cross-border corporate settlements

* Morgan Stanley nears launch of crypto trading via E-Trade. Link

We’ll unpack all of these highlights below.

👉 We launched a new newsletter on digital asset treasuries. Subscribe below!

Top Boardroom Reads

👉Subscribe to our Crypto Treasury Alpha newsletter here.

* A conversation with VP of Technology at Solana Foundation (51)

* $20B DAT Surge (51)

* Bitcoin vs. Gold: The Future of Central Bank Reserves by 2030 (Deutsche Bank)

* Stablecoins 2030: Web3 to Wall Street (Citi)

* How Bitcoin can Shape the Future of Wealth Management (Bitcoin Suisse)

* OpenAI + NVIDIA: $100B Bet on 10GW AI Infrastructure (51)

* Central bank money as a catalyst for fungibility: the case of stablecoins (ECB)

* Vitalik on L2s (Vitalik Buterin)

* Stablecoin for treasuries (BVNK)

* HYPE’s Damocles Sword (Maelstrom)

* Nasdaq TradeTalks: New Tech Is Driving Market Structure Evolution (DTCC)

🙌 Work with us: We create pioneering thought leadership that helps digital asset and technology companies lead the conversation, earn trust and win business.

Top Signals This Week

Vanguard goes crypto

Vanguard, the $10T asset manager, is about to roll out crypto ETF access across its platform, reaching 1 in 6 U.S. households. For years, Vanguard swore off Bitcoin ETFs, calling them “too volatile.”. In 2024, Vanguard’s head of ETFs, Janel Jackson, called Bitcoin “immature” and “without inherent value”. [NEWS]

Why it matters: Even a 1% allocation from its client base = $100B in flows, bigger than entire crypto ETF categories today. Once access goes live, crypto ETFs move from the edges of retail investing into retirement accounts, long-term portfolios, and passive allocations.

Our take: Vanguard’s CEO Salim Ramji literally built BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF before joining Vanguard. BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF IBIT is the most successful ETF in the company’s history: $80B in assets since its launch in Jan 05, 2024. He knows exactly what he’s walking away from. The timing isn’t coincidence: The SEC just introduced generic listing standards. Expect 100s of ETFs over the coming 8-12 months and an institutional inflow we’ve never seen before.

401(k)s open to crypto

On Sept 22, House Republicans pressed SEC Chair Paul Atkins to fast-track rules letting 401(k)s invest in Bitcoin, Ethereum, private equity, and VC. This builds on Trump’s Aug 7 executive order directing regulators to clear the path. [NEWS]

Our take: $9T sits in U.S. 401(k)s. Even a 1% allocation to crypto = ~$90B of new demand. For context, all U.S. spot BTC ETFs combined have ~$140B AUM today. This isn’t about retail traders, it’s about creating the largest long-term, dollar-cost-averaging inflow Bitcoin has ever seen.

CFTC greenlights Stablecoins for derivatives

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has launched a formal initiative to allow tokenised collateral, including stablecoins, into U.S. derivatives markets. The plan: let traders use tokenised assets like stablecoins and money market funds (MMFs) as margin in derivatives markets. [RELEASE]

Our take: This is the strongest signal yet that U.S. regulators will allow tokenised Money Market Funds (MMFs) and stablecoins as eligible collateral in the $600T global derivatives market (notional value). Collateral = the foundation of derivatives. Shifting from cash and Treasuries to tokenised instruments unlocks 24/7 liquidity, faster settlement, and lower capital costs.

Hyperliquid’s stablecoin

Hyperliquid just launched its own stablecoin, USDH, with ~$2.2M in early trading volume against USDC. Native Markets, which beat Paxos, Frax, and Agora in a validator vote, is rolling out USDH as a fiat-backed token issued on HyperEVM and bridged across the Hyperliquid stack. Reserves sit in cash and short-dated Treasuries, with transparency via oracles and a feedback loop funneling earnings into HYPE buybacks. [NEWS]

Our take: Stablecoin competition is no longer just Circle vs. Tether. Exchanges, L2s, and now trading platforms like Hyperliquid are pushing “house dollars” to own their settlement rails. USDH is an attempt to localise stablecoin utility, yield, and governance within the Hyperliquid ecosystem instead of letting profits flow out to external issuers like Circle (USDC).

HSBC pushed the tokenised deposit service (TDS) in Asia

HSBC just expanded its tokenised deposit service (TDS) to cross-border corridors (Hong Kong ⇄ Singapore) and is eyeing scale into the UK/EU. It has completed its first live USD transfer between Hong Kong and Singapore for Ant International and is pitching 24/7 instant settlement as a new baseline for corporate treasury operations.

So what? Stablecoins may have led the early race with speed and reach, but banks are striking back with their strongest asset: regulated deposits. By tokenising them, traditional financial institutions are creating digital money that delivers blockchain’s instant, programmable features with the safety, trust, and regulatory clarity only banks can offer. [ANNOUNCEMENT]

$100B Bet on 10GW AI Infrastructure

OpenAI and Nvidia signed a letter of intent: Nvidia may invest up to $100B in OpenAI to fund AI data centres using millions of Nvidia chips. [RELEASE] [See full story]

So what: It is Nvidia pre-paying one of its largest customers to ensure demand. It validates that compute scarcity = strategy, as Nvidia is investing $100B just to guarantee demand and erecting a formidable moat against rivals like AMD, Intel, and Google’s in-house silicon.

News Flash

* Strive acquires Smeler Scientific. Link

* Circle is exploring mechanisms to make USDC transactions reversible. Link

* Anthony Scaramucci backs AVAX treasury aiming to raise $550M. Link

* Morgan Stanley nears launch of crypto trading via E-Trade. Link

* Swarm to offer nine tokenised stocks on the Plasma blockchain mainnet. Link

* Forward Industries to tokenise stock, expanding Solana treasury and DeFi use. Link

* World Liberty Financial to launch debit card and trading app soon. Link

* Kraken and Legion launch the Yield Basis BTC protocol with merit-based sale. Link

* Plasma launched a neobank, Plasma One. Link

* Bank of Canada urges federal stablecoin rules to modernise payments, remittances. Link

* UAE signs global crypto tax deal, launches consultation to shape rules. Link

* China and South Korea launch CN and KRW stablecoins globally. Link

* PayPal invests in Stable blockchain to expand PYUSD usage globally. Link

* GSR proposes Digital Asset Treasury ETF. Link

* Grayscale crypto index fund approved for ETF. Link

That’s all for now, folks.

Take care

– Marc & Team

PS: Upgrade to Pro for our daily CEO Notes & market signals.

* Check out our AI newsletter, AI Operator, here.

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Hey, it’s Marc. ✌️

“Solana’s built to be the internet’s capital market fast, decentralized, and ready for the future.”

We sat down with Matt Sorg, VP of Technology at Solana Foundation, for an insightful look into why Solana’s high-speed, low-cost blockchain is redefining how value moves globally.

From his days leading AI at Unity to steering Solana’s tech vision, Matt’s journey reflects the cutting edge of blockchain innovation. Now, he’s helping Solana power everything from meme coins to institutional assets, with AI and quantum security on the horizon.

We talked about:

* Solana’s core philosophy: "Increased Bandwidth, Reduced Latency."

* Why it’s the go-to for DeFi, NFTs, and DePIN

* How Solana outpaces traditional finance

* Preparing for a quantum-secure future

* AI’s growing role in blockchain

… and much more.

Here are our key insights & take-aways.

The Solana advantage

Matt keeps it real about Solana’s edge:

“Solana delivers internet-scale capital markets, moving value faster than anything out there.”

Unlike traditional systems like Visa, which settle daily, Solana’s near-instant transactions let businesses scale at the speed of the internet. Think digital startups buying AI compute or tokenizing assets, Solana’s low fees and high throughput make it a no-brainer for innovators.

Matt explained how Solana’s ecosystem thrives:

Hey, it’s Marc.

The SEC approved “generic listing standards” that cut crypto ETF approvals from 240+ days to just 75. What this means: instead of only Bitcoin and Ethen reum ETFs, we could see 100+ new ETFs (Solana, XRP, DOGE, you name it) in the next 12 months. [More]

On top of that, the Fed cut rates to 4.0–4.25% and signaled two more this year to support jobs:

“Federal Reserve doesn't feel the need to move quickly on interest rate cuts.”

— Jerome Powell, Chair of the Federal Reserve of the United States

And if that weren’t enough, Google just launched the first open standard for AI agents to move money, including stablecoins. Pair this with PayPal rolling out crypto-native peer-to-peer payments and you see where payments are headed: programmable, instant, and borderless.

Also this week:

* MoneyGram, the world's largest on-off-ramp integrates stablecoins.

* PayPal launches peer-to-peer crypto payments

* Google launches open payment standard for agents, incl. crypto

* Coinbase to launch Base token [deep dive]

* Metamask launched mUSD stablecoin.

* Ethereum Foundation forms an AI team.

* Circle launches native USDC on HyperEVM. And much more…

We’ll unpack all of these highlights below.

👉 We launched a new newsletter on digital asset treasuries. Subscribe below!

Top Boardroom Reads

* Stablecoins in focus: navigating the new digital financial landscape (EY)

* The $1.6B Solana Treasury Bet, with Kyle Samani, Co-Founder of Multicoin Capital (51)

* Weekly Digital Asset Treasury Update (51)

* DAT Value Creation (Pantera Capital)

* Digital Asset Alpha Letter August (FG Nexus)

* Wall Street need a blockchain, that blockchain is Ethereum (Securitize)

* BIS survey on central bank digital currencies and crypto (BIS)

* How America weaponized crypto (51)

* Circle vs. Hyperliquid (51)

* Tempo, Libra, and the Illusion of Neutrality (Maja Vujinovic)

🙌 Work with us: We create pioneering thought leadership that helps digital asset and technology companies lead the conversation, earn trust and win business.

Top Signals This Week

Google: Agents are now moving stablecoins

Google announced the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), the first open standard for AI agents making payments (incl. cards, real-time bank rails and stablecoins). The spec and reference code are live on GitHub, and the effort already includes 60+ payments, cards and web3 partners (Mastercard, AmEx, PayPal, Coinbase, Adyen and more). [Announcement] [Analysis]

Why it matters: This is first enterprise-grade standard for AI agents to transact with stablecoins and crypto. AP2 includes x402, Coinbase ’s extension for agent-to-agent stablecoin payments. That means AI agents can now send stablecoins across wallets natively on blockchain rails.

Go deeper: The protocol solves three core problems that break traditional payments when a bot buys for you: authorization (did the user actually pre-authorize this agent for this task?), authenticity (does the cart reflect the user’s intent?) and accountability (who owns liability if something goes wrong?).

So what? This is Google saying: "Agent commerce with digital money is happening. Here's the standard." The future of payments won’t look like Stripe or Visa. It’ll look like agents moving stablecoins on open protocols.

SEC opens crypto ETF floodgates

The SEC approved Generic Listing Standards for crypto ETFs. Instead of 240-day, case-by-case filings, any token with a regulated futures market and six months of price history now qualifies for a spot ETF, with a standardized 75-day approval window.

* Bitcoin took 11 years to get one ETF.

* Now, expect 100+ ETFs in the next 12 months (Solana, XRP, DOGE, and more).

* Grayscale’s multi-crypto ETF with BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL, and ADA was approved alongside.

Why it matters: This marks the systemic shift. ETFs give pensions and institutions the cleanest on-ramp, with BTC and ETH ETF assets already tripling to $175B in a year. 59% of institutions now plan 5%+ crypto allocation. With rates falling and approvals now standardized, altcoin ETFs like Solana and XRP are inevitable, accelerating adoption and locking digital assets into Wall Street’s core product shelf.

MoneyGram integrates stablecoins

MoneyGram, the world's largest on-off-ramp, launched a next-gen mobile app in Colombia that delivers inbound remittances as instant, USD-backed stablecoin balances (USDC), powered by Stellar and Crossmint. It is letting recipients hold, spend, or cash out dollars instead of local pesos, disrupting $860B remittances market. MoneyGram is the largest cash on/off ramp with nearly 500,000 retail locations across 170+ countries. [RELEASE] [Analysis]

So what? With the peso down 40% in 4 years and $11.8B flowing in remittances, Colombians need dollar stability. If MoneyGram wins just 5% share, that’s $592M in USD wallets, shifting the battle from moving money to owning the customer’s balance.

Why it matters: Remittances are a $860B market ripe for disruption, with blockchain slashing fees from ~10% to near zero. MoneyGram’s stablecoin app in Colombia is just the start, the real race is who scales dollar wallets across global corridors first.

Circle vs. Hyperliquid

Days after Hyperliquid voted to launch USDH, a native stablecoin designed to funnel yield back into the protocol, Circle dropped its counterpunch: native USDC on Hyperliquid, complete with CCTP V2 for seamless cross-chain transfers across 14+ blockchains. [RELEASE] [Full Analysis]

So what? Circle’s play is classic defence: drop native USDC + CCTP right after the USDH vote to remind Hyperliquid that USDC’s moat isn’t just liquidity, it’s trust and institutional rails. But this is bigger than Circle vs. USDH. Hyperliquid has become the test case for the “protocol state” — platforms using governance and market power to force issuers to share yield and align with the ecosystem. The fight is simple:

* USDH → share the yield, keep value in the protocol

* USDC → stay safe, stay liquid, stay global

Coinbase to launch Base token

After years of denying it, Coinbase confirmed it is exploring a token for its Ethereum L2, Base. No design or timeline yet, but it’s now public strategy. [Tweet] [Full Analysis]

Why it matters: With 13M daily txns, 865K active addresses, $5B TVL, and $1.28B in daily DEX volume, Base already outpaces Arbitrum and Optimism on activity. A token launch would instantly create a top-tier L2 asset and Coinbase’s $84B market cap adds a “Coinbase premium” that could push valuation to the $8B–$10B range.

So what: Coinbase isn’t launching a token just to pump Base. They’re rewriting the growth story: from an exchange business to a platform + ecosystem giant.

PayPal launches peer-to-peer crypto payments

PayPal is launching PayPal Links, one-time, personalized payment links that let a sender drop a private, single-use payment into any conversation (text, DM, email); the feature debuts in the U.S. today, with the UK, Italy and more rolling out later this month. [RELEASE] [Analysis]

Why it matters: Unlike Zelle®, Apple Pay or Venmo, these links work everywhere. No app switching, no friction. Right now, PayPal Links are just a smoother UX over PayPal’s existing payment rails.

The real disruption: With crypto (coming soon), money can leave PayPal’s walled garden and move 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 crypto wallet. Money will move on blockchain rails, instantly, globally, at cents-per-transaction, bypassing banks.

So what? PayPal is collapsing discovery → payment → settlement into a single shareable artifact, which (1) reduces merchant and checkout friction in conversational channels, (2) increases instant on-platform balances (creating float and product expansion opportunities), and (3) normalises crypto/stablecoin as a native settlement option inside mainstream P2P flows.

News Flash

* AI agents can use Circle wallets to unlock and pay for APIs. Link

* SEC greenlights Grayscale crypto index fund conversion to ETF. Link

* The Ethereum Foundation just announced the creation of its first AI-focused group, the dAI Team. Link

* Amex now gives travellers digital passport stamps as NFTs. Link

* SBI and global banks test real-time cross-border tokenised settlements. Link

* UBS and Swiss banks trial tokenised deposits on the Ethereum blockchain. Link

* London Stock Exchange launches blockchain platform for tokenized private funds. Link

* Apollo tokenizes credit strategy as Grove invests $50M in ACRDX. Link

* MetaMask's mUSD stablecoin went live. Link

* Bitwise files with the SEC to launch a spot Avalanche ETF. Link

* Santander’s Openbank now lets German retail clients trade crypto. Link

* Forward Industries launches $4B share sale to expand Solana treasury. Link

* DBS, Franklin Templeton, and Ripple launch tokenized money market fund. Link

That’s all for now, folks.

Take care

– Marc & Team

🚀 Work with us: We create pioneering thought leadership that helps digital asset and technology companies lead the conversation, earn trust and win business.

* Check out our AI newsletter, AI Operator, here.

* Check out our Crypto Treasury Alpha newsletter here.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.51insights.xyz/subscribe

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Hey, it’s Marc. ✌️

“Solana is the foundation for Internet Capital Markets. And we’re building the most on-chain public company in the world to prove it.”

We sat down with Kyle Samani — co-founder of Multicoin Capital, early Solana backer, and now Chairman of Forward Industries — a newly launched $1.65B Solana treasury company backed by Multicoin, Galaxy Digital, and Jump [RELEASE]. 📈 NASDAQ: FORD

"We are now the largest Solana DAT Treasury company in the world. And I can tell you our aspirations are a lot greater than that. We just got to the starting line and we're sprinting."

Kyle’s not new to making bold bets. From launching Multicoin in 2017 to leading Solana’s seed round in 2018, his views have often been early — and right. Now he’s taking that same conviction to public markets and is betting everything on Solana's internet capital markets vision.

We talked about:

* Why Forward Industries raised $1.65B for Solana (not Bitcoin)

* The MNAV premium game and what happens in bear markets

* How treasury companies can actually outperform holding crypto directly

* Solana vs Ethereum

* Why corporate layer ones will fail

* The timeline for internet capital markets going mainstream

Let’s jump in.

Why FORD exists

“It’s not enough to just buy Solana and trade at a premium. We want to rebuild capital markets on-chain.”

Kyle sees Forward Industries as the first fully on-chain public company — not just buying SOL, but running payroll, governance, dividends, and vendor payments entirely on-chain.

The vision:

* Public company treasury model, but with real utility and cash flow

* On-chain fundraising and operations

* Yield from Solana DeFi, staking, and credit arbitrage

They’ve already secured ~$1.65B, including personal capital from Kyle and institutional backers. Up to 75% of capitalcame from TradFi institutions, including pensions, endowments, and sovereigns.

Solana > ETFs

Kyle breaks down why treasury companies can outperform ETFs:

“ETFs give you fixed exposure. But with a treasury company, you can grow the asset per share through yield, arbitrage, and M&A.”

His strategy:

Hey, it’s Marc.

This week felt like a turning point. Nasdaq tokenizing stocks, Tether entering the US, Fidelity moving Treasuries onchain, Franklin Templeton plugging into Binance, and then, this:

“Crypto’s time has come. Most crypto tokens are not securities, and we will draw the lines clearly. We must ensure that entrepreneurs can raise capital on-chain without endless legal uncertainty.” — SEC chair Paul Atkins

Wow. On top of that, we’ve all been glued to the Hyperliquid showdown and why Circle is about to lose 10% of its yearly revenue.

We’ll unpack all of these highlights below.

👉 Crypto Treasury Alpha: Subscribe to our newsletter on digital asset treasury vehicles as long as it’s free 👇

Top Boardroom Reads

* Stablecoin and the Future of Finance (IMF). How stablecoins reshape payments and challenge monetary control.

* The New Entertainment Economy (51). How blockchain is rewriting music & media economics.

* Blockchains as emerging economies (Fidelity). A framework to value chains as digital nations.

* The stablecoin moment (State Street). GENIUS Act and its global market fallout.

* 1 Million Bitcoin (Fiftyone). A snapshot digital asset treasuries.

* Tempo, Libra, and the Illusion of Neutrality (Maja Vujinovic). Why both corporate and open chains will win.

🙌 Work with us: We create pioneering thought leadership that helps digital asset and technology companies lead the conversation, earn trust and win business.

Top Signals This Week

Tether goes U.S.

What happened: Tether is launching USAT, its first U.S.-compliant stablecoin in December. Anchorage Digital will issue, Cantor Fitzgerald will custody, and Bo Hines (ex-White House digital asset advisor) will run Tether U.S.

Why it matters:

* Direct shot at Circle: Tether already prints $13B in yearly profits vs. Circle’s $156M. With USAT, Tether now invades Circle’s regulatory home turf.

* Boost for ETH & Tron: 78% of USDT supply lives on these chains — expect more flow as USAT scales.

* Dollar dominance: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said it best: “We’re going to keep the U.S. the dominant reserve currency in the world — and we’re going to use stablecoins to do that.”

So what? This is about who controls the rails of the dollar in the digital era. USDT has a $180B market cap today. I expect 100s of billions to be flowing into USAT over the next years. And Tether just went from offshore giant to U.S. player with Washington ties, Wall Street custody, and a clear regulatory framework.

NASDAQ tokenizes stocks starting 2026

Nasdaq has filed with the SEC to tokenize every stock on its exchange starting 2026.

If approved, every listed share will trade in two forms:

* traditional digital (today’s rails)

* tokenized blockchain version (new rails)

Same order book. Same rights. Same execution priority.

Dive deeper: Nasdaq won’t run its own chain. Instead, it’s tapping DTCC’s AppChain, built on Hyperledger Besu (Ethereum-compatible), with a working group that includes Citi, Mastercard, Visa, Santander, Consensys, and Accenture.

Why it matters: Tokenized assets are $28B today. Ripple + BCG project $18.9T by 2033. Until now, “tokenized stocks” were mostly wrappers and derivatives with no shareholder rights (Robinhood, Kraken). This would be different: issuer-recognized, regulator-approved, real equities onchain. And once stocks settle on blockchain, the rest of Wall Street will follow. This could be a once-in-a-generation overhaul of capital markets.

Circle about to lose 10% of its yearly revenue

What happened: Hyperliquid, a DEX with $700M TVL and more daily protocol revenue than Ethereum and Solana, wants its own native stablecoin: USDH. We’re witnessing one of the biggest showdowns in crypto right now. [NEWS]

Why it matters: Hyperliquid has $5.5B in stablecoins sitting on it today. Most of that is USDC, on which Circle quietly collects the interest. At current rates that’s ~$200M a year (almost 10% of its revenue). Zero flows back to Hyperliquid. With a native USDH, that value could be captured by the Hyperliquid ecosystem instead. [ANALYSIS]

Now Paxos, Ethena, Agora, Sky (MakerDAO), Frax, Native Markets and others are all competing with proposals ranging from BlackRock-backed reserves to PayPal integrations to fully decentralized issuance. The final vote will happen on September 14.

The twist: Whoever issues USDH must share the yield back to the ecosystem, pay validators, fund the assistance pool, and buy back HYPE. That revenue could grow to $1B+ a year as stablecoin balances scale.

Bottom line: Winning USDH doesn’t guarantee revenue, but it grants brand legitimacy, the seal of being Hyperliquid’s “native” stablecoin. Even if no proposal hits escape velocity, the network wins.

Fidelity joins tokenization race

What happened: Fidelity just launched its $204M Fidelity Digital Interest Token (FDIT) ($16.4T AUA) on Ethereum, a tokenized Treasury MMF, making it the second mega-asset manager (after BlackRock’s $2.2B BUIDL fund) to move assets onchain. Ondo Finance is the anchor investor, with 99% of FDIT’s assets tied to its OUSG fund. [ANNOUNCEMENT]

So what? This instantly makes Fidelity one of the largest players in the $7B tokenized Treasuries market and a direct challenger to BlackRock’s BUIDL. With $12T AUM, the potential pipeline is enormous.

Devil’s advocate: FDIT already has 99% exposure to Ondo’s OUSG. If Ondo’s inflows stall or reverse, Fidelity’s on-chain MMF looks illiquid.

Dive deeper: FDIT is ERC20-native, recording ownership, transfers, and settlement directly onchain. JPMorgan, Fidelity, and BlackRock are already using tokenized MMFs as collateral, proving real efficiency gains in settlement, margining, and capital flows.

Big picture: Tokenisation is moving from pilots into production. BlackRock, Kraken, R3, Solana are pushing tokenised stocks, MMFs, bonds, real estate, and more.

Bonus: Fidelity released a report where it compared tokenization to American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), concluding it as the blockchain equivalent of moving an offshore asset to be recognized for investment and trading in a local market.

Franklin Templeton partners with Binance

Franklin Templeton ($1.6T AUM) partners with Binance (300M users) to build "tokenized financial products" that merge: [ANNOUNCEMENT]

* Franklin’s compliant tokenization (BENJI platform + tokenized funds)

* Binance’s global trading infrastructure + investor reach

This dwarfs any pervious partnerships.

* BlackRock x Coinbase? US only.

* JPMorganChase x Coinbase? 80M users, US only.

* Franklin x Binance? 300M users + global markets + retail & institutions.

Tokenized funds won’t sit in a silo; they’ll trade at scale. And 300M Binance users = instant distribution.

Stepping back: Franklin Templeton was the first incumbent to launch tokenised money market funds in 2021 with FOBXX, now live on eight blockchains, and this year launched the first fully tokenised UCITS SICAV fund in Luxembourg.

So what? The line between TradFi and DeFi is blurring faster than most investors realize.

News Flash

* BBVA brings crypto custody on-chain with Ripple. Link

* SEC’s plan to let companies raise capital directly on-chain under clear rules. Link

* SEC delays BlackRock’s Ethereum staking ETF, plus XRP and Solana funds. Link

* DTCC released institutional-grade upgrades on its collateral appchain. Link

* Ant Digital tokenises $8.4B in China’s renewable energy assets. Link

* Solowin Holdings (NASDAQ: $SWIN ) acquires AlloyX, a stablecoin infrastructure provider, for $350M. Link

* Kraken acquires Breakout, an evaluation-based proprietary trading firm. Link

* Tetra Digital Group to launch Canada’s first regulated stablecoin in 2026. Link

* R3 hits $17B in tokenised assets, launches Labs on Solana. Link

* Trump Media plans five America First ETFs, pending SEC approval. Link

* Grayscale files for BCH, LTC and HBAR ETFs. Link

* Hong Kong to launch wholesale CBDC and tokenised interbank deposits. Link

* Oracle jumped 40%+ and added nearly $250B of market value (currently $922B) in a single session. Read the full AI story

That’s all for now, folks.

Take care

– Marc & Team

🚀 Work with us: We create pioneering thought leadership that helps digital asset and technology companies lead the conversation, earn trust and win business.

* Check out our AI newsletter, AI Operator, here.

* Check out our Crypto Treasury Alpha newsletter here.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.51insights.xyz/subscribe

Hey, it’s Marc.

Russia just accused America of weaponizing crypto to "erase its $35 trillion debt." Washington will "shove debt into stablecoins, devalue it, and reset the system."

They're not wrong.

July 18 was the day the U.S. stopped playing defence and went all-in on digital assets:

President Trump signed the GENIUS Act [The law], America's first federal crypto law. The House passed the CLARITY Act 294-134.

Together, these laws transform stablecoins into a private-sector engine that funds U.S. debt while extending dollar dominance globally.

Now, America wants to become “the crypto capital of the world”.

Let’s unpack.

The Genius of the GENIUS Act

The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act creates the first comprehensive regulatory framework for digital dollars in the US. That’s significant.

The law is breathtakingly simple: Private companies can now issue digital dollars, backed 1:1 by U.S. Treasuries. Every stablecoin becomes a Treasury bond buying machine. More on that later.

The law gives non-bank financial giants such as Stripe, PayPal, Robinhood, Visa, and Mastercard a green light to issue stablecoins if they register and comply.

By defining “payment stablecoins” in law and excluding them from securities and commodities regulation, the GENIUS Act offers long-awaited legal certainty. It also positions the U.S. ahead of the EU’s MiCA framework and Hong Kong’s licensing regime, which limit issuers to regulated institutions.

This regulatory clarity is already accelerating adoption among major payments companies.

* Western Union, long a crypto skeptic, is now piloting stablecoin-based treasury operations and testing on/off-ramps in Latin America and Africa.

* Visa expanded its stablecoin program by adding euro-backed EURC and regulated USDG and PYUSD, alongside Stellar and Avalanche support.

* JPMorgan is now testing Bitcoin and Ethereum-backed loans and has partnered with Coinbase to enable Chase customers to fund their Coinbase accounts directly from bank accounts and credit cards.

* PNC Bank has announced direct crypto trading through its own Coinbase integration.

* Interactive Brokers is exploring the launch of a proprietary stablecoin to enable 24/7 account funding, treating digital assets as operational infrastructure.

In short: The GENIUS Act is not just policy. It’s the starting gun for a regulated, scalable digital dollar economy.

And it’s creating a powerful digital dollar engine:

* Stablecoin issuers must back coins 1:1 with U.S. Treasuries + cash

* They keep 100% of Treasury yields (currently 4%+)

* Users get digital dollars, issuers get risk-free profits

* More stablecoins = more Treasury demand = cheaper U.S. borrowing costs

Circle already makes ~$2 billion annually just from Treasury yields on USDC reserves. Scale this across $100 billion… $1 trillion… $10 trillion in stablecoins? That's a private-sector cash cow that quietly funds U.S. debt without printing money or rising taxes, while exporting digital dollars worldwide.

Private Profit Machines

Tether and Circle, the largest Stablecoins issuers, aren’t just crypto companies. They are shadow central banks. Together, they issued more than $230B in USDT and USDC. Their business model is breathtaking in its simplicity: take in dollars, issue tokens, park reserves in yield-generating assets, and pocket the spread. No lending risk. No complex operations. Just a perpetual cash engine. Tether and Circle hold $204 billion in U.S. Treasuries, more than Norway or Brazil.

The catch: this model lives and dies by Fed policy. When rates hit 4%+, Circle prints $2 billion annually in revenue. When the Fed cuts to zero (like 2020-2021), that profit engine stops cold. Circle's stock price reflects this reality—it's essentially a leveraged bet on Treasury yields.

Circle knows the risk. It barely breaks even after distribution costs and only made $156 million on $1.7 billion revenue in 2024. That's 83x less profit than Tether. That's why they're frantically building alternative revenue streams: launching their own blockchain, creating payment rails, owning the infrastructure. CEO Jeremy Allaire calls it "building the internet of money." Translation: We need revenue sources beyond rate arbitrage before the Fed cuts rates again.

Meanwhile, Tether just announced it's coming home. CEO Paolo Ardoino confirmed plans to bring USDT into the U.S. market and launch a separate U.S.-specific stablecoin under the GENIUS Act framework.

The strategic implications are massive. America pulls off another power move by bringing the world's largest stablecoin issuer under U.S. regulatory control. In 2024, Tether reported $13B in profit with just 49 employees. That’s more profit per employee than any company in history. Tether holds $160 billion in U.S. Treasuries with 500+ million global users already using USDT. The U.S. just domesticated the world's largest existing Treasury buyer.

With these Acts, these companies have the clearest, most efficient legal money-printing operation. And for blockchain networks, this is pure upside. 90% of total Stablecoins supply resides on Ethereum and Tron.

The Hidden Debt Reduction Engine

Russia's recent accusation reveals the deeper strategy. Say Treasuries yield 4%, but inflation runs at 5%. Holders of Treasury-backed stablecoins, whether Circle's USDC reserves or foreign institutions, are effectively losing 1% of purchasing power annually.

The U.S. still services its debt "on time," but in real terms, it's paying back less. No money printing. No new taxes. Just massive geopolitical leverage disguised as financial innovation.

CLARITY Act: more clarity

The regulatory mess in the US pushed crypto companies offshore for years, with "regulation by enforcement" as the norm. Now, The CLARITY Act ends years of regulatory confusion by clearly dividing oversight between the SEC and CFTC.

The Solution: The CLARITY Act creates a two-sheriff system with clear boundaries:

* SEC gets securities: Investment contracts and traditional "get rich" token offerings

* CFTC gets digital commodities: Bitcoin mining, Ethereum gas fees, network governance tokens

Assets can mature from security to commodity once they achieve decentralization and functionality, ending the regulatory limbo that's paralyzed the industry.

What Changes Immediately

For Exchanges: Clear registration paths with provisional 180-day onboarding. SEC-registered platforms can finally trade digital assets alongside securities.

For DeFi Builders: Safe harbor protection for protocol development, wallets, nodes, and infrastructure. Regulation focuses on fraud and manipulation, not innovation.

For Banks: Only federally supervised entities can custody digital assets, but segregation rules are clear. Customer assets remain protected in bankruptcy. Pooled assets for staking and validation are permitted with customer opt-in.

Who Regulates What?

1. SEC

The SEC cannot:

* Regulate stablecoin issuers directly

* Impose prophylactic rules like reporting or recordkeeping just in case

The SEC can:

* Enforce anti-fraud, anti-manipulation, and insider trading rules (only when stablecoins are traded via SEC-registered platforms: broker-dealers, ATSs, national exchanges)

And there’s more:

* The SEC must revise its rules to allow ATSs and exchanges to support stablecoins.

* It can’t block platforms that trade stablecoins alongside securities.

Bottom line: SEC has transaction oversight, not issuer control.

2. CFTC

The CFTC can:

* Regulate cash or spot transactions only if done through CFTC-registered entities (like commodity exchanges)

The CFTC cannot:

* Regulate the issuer of a permitted stablecoin

* Impose rules on how stablecoins work or operate

Bottom line: CFTC’s jurisdiction is platform-specific, not coin-specific.

3. Banks

For federally supervised banks, trust companies, and credit unions:

* Stablecoins held in custody = not your liability

* No capital requirements unless tied to custody risk

* No balance sheet impact for assets you don’t own

Bottom line: Traditional institutions can safely hold stablecoins for clients, without wrecking their balance sheets.

Senate Banking Chairman Tim Scott wants legislation completed by September 30. The Senate Agriculture Committee releases their CFTC-focused draft in early September. Bipartisan momentum is building, 78 Democrats supported the House version.

The Global Stablecoin War

The US’ biggest competitors shoot themselves in the foot with centralized control and bureaucratic overreach.

China's Trap: The digital yuan has 260 million users and $7.3 trillion in cumulative transactions, but total usage since inception hit only $260 billion, compared to Alipay's $17 trillion annually. Every transaction is monitored by Beijing, making it toxic for international business and retail users. Despite massive government promotion, users won't switch from existing platforms, prompting even former Chinese central bankers to publicly express disappointment. Recognizing these limitations, Beijing now explores yuan-backed stablecoins in Hong Kong and Shanghai, essentially copying America's private sector approach.

Europe’s Regulatory Suicide: The European Union’s MiCA transforms the continent's crypto market into a compliance graveyard, driving innovation offshore while creating massive economic inefficiencies. MiCA forced major exchanges to delist USDT for EU customers. Coinbase, Kraken, Crypto.com, and Binance removed USDT by March 31, 2025.

Tether's compliance challenges reveal MiCA's structural problems. The regulation requires 60% of reserves held in European banks, exactly what CEO Paolo Ardoino calls dangerous:

"The issue lies with being forced to over rely on traditional banks which could lead to a banking and stablecoin crisis occurring simultaneously," Ardoino explained.

He also criticized the EU's broader digital currency strategy:

"The European Central Bank is more interested [in pushing] the digital euro as a way to control people and control how they spend their money."

The regulatory arbitrage is already happening. Decentralized exchanges continue operating USDT without restrictions, creating a two-tier market that undermines MiCA's entire framework. European users can still hold and transfer USDT. The European Securities and Markets Authority clarified that "custody and transfer services do not in themselves constitute an 'offering to the public'"—but they cannot trade it on compliant platforms.

While America builds profit engines and China expands digital yuan adoption, Europe created a regulatory maze that increases costs and reduces choice.

The White House Report

In July, the White House released a 160+ page report, Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology, outlining the US strategy to become the "crypto capital of the world." It’s the most pro-crypto policy roadmap in US history. In short:

* Crypto = national priority

* Stablecoins = core to USD dominance

* DeFi = embraced, not banned

* CBDCs = explicitly outlawed

The White House also states that banks can custody crypto, issue stablecoins, use public blockchains and shouldn’t be punished for serving crypto clients (Chokepoint 2.0).

Within 24 hours, SEC Chair Atkins launched Project Crypto to begin implementing elements of the plan that fall under the SEC’s remit. [See the full story]

Financial Infrastructure for the Next Century

The GENIUS and CLARITY Acts represent the biggest U.S. financial infrastructure change since the 1970s. Together, they create a regulated, scalable digital dollar economy that reinforces American monetary dominance while enabling private sector innovation.

* For investors: Growth opportunities in licensed issuers, compliance infrastructure, and strategic partnerships as the U.S. cements its position as the global digital asset capital.

* For corporations: New payment rails that bypass slow settlement systems, reduce FX exposure, and enable 24/7 programmable money for global operations.

* For America: A self-reinforcing system where private innovation drives Treasury demand, lowers government borrowing costs, and extends dollar influence worldwide, all without printing money or raising taxes.

take care,

Marc

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