Blockchain In Finance

Wall Street firms are doubling down on digital assets. Last week's Q2 2025 earnings season exposed a clear divide: while some major banks and firms were relatively silent on digital assets, others positioned themselves as crypto pioneers. Recent legislative developments created more regulatory clarity and running room for financial institutions to explore institutionalizing digital assets, and the market leaders have been front running investments and partnerships and are wasting no time staking leadership claims in the space. Which firms are positioning, partnering, and investing to establish a lead? BlackRock has positioned itself as a leader in shaping the future of finance, with increasing involvement in digital assets, tokenization, and managing stablecoin reserves. Beyond the earnings rhetoric, what is BlackRock doing to drive this innovation? BlackRock's business relationships reveal the depth of their digital asset strategy. Their partnerships span cryptocurrency custody (Coinbase, Anchorage Digital), stablecoin backing (Ethena), and blockchain infrastructure (Injective). They've also invested in digital asset trading platforms like Flowdesk and fintech innovators including Upvest, Texas Stock Exchange, and Sokin; creating a comprehensive ecosystem for digital asset integration across trading, custody, and tokenization. Insights on other major players' digital assets strategies from CB Insights' Earnings Analyst agent insights on their Q2 earnings calls: → Citigroup emerged as another aggressive adopter, with CEO Jane Fraser expressing "high confidence and enthusiasm" about Citi Token Services' ability to provide "multi-asset, multi-bank, cross-border, always-on solutions without needing to partner with other banks." → BNY Mellon and State Street focused heavily on stablecoin infrastructure, with BNY serving as "reserve custodian for Société Générale's first USD stablecoin in Europe" and "primary custodian for Ripple's US stablecoin reserves." State Street's CEO highlighted how "tokenization of money market funds enables uses of these assets in a different way than originally anticipated." CB Insights' Earnings Analyst agent help identify these strategic pivots immediately after calls. Want insights analysis on the major tech firms announcing earnings this week? Comment "Mag7" below for free access to CB Insights' Earnings Analyst breakdown of each Mag7 Q2 2025 quarter and where they are headed.

This was long overdue. European banks are finally stepping into the stablecoin play. Here’s the context you won’t find in the headlines. Stablecoins are the most serious challenger to the banks’ business model: • Instead of money sitting in bank accounts, it moves into tokens. For banks, that can erode their cheapest and most stable source of funding. • Stablecoins enable instant, on-chain settlement across borders, cutting banks out of payment flows and fee pools tied to card schemes and correspondent networks. • Stablecoins operate 24/7 and settle in real time, allowing corporates to manage liquidity continuously - and threatening banks’ cash-management revenues. And yet if banks don’t adopt stablecoins, they risk being pushed out of the digital money layer entirely. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 Nearly the entire stablecoin market - about 99% - is tied to the US dollar. Why? • The dollar is the world’s reserve currency and the dominant settlement asset in trade and finance. • Stablecoin providers peg to USD because that’s where institutional demand and deep liquidity are. • The more activity that happens in USD stablecoins, the harder it becomes for other currencies to gain adoption. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲 • European banks and corporates risk becoming price-takers in a dollar-denominated digital ecosystem. Even if a payment moves between two European parties, if it's in USD stablecoins, it runs through US-centric infrastructure. • Because euro liquidity in stablecoins is still thin, Europe lacks the depth to build robust digital financial rails of its own – leaving banks and corporates dependent on dollar flows. • Without credible euro-based stablecoins, Europe risks losing the race in programmable money and embedded finance. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗲 The above is exactly what the banks' coalition wants to address. • A euro stablecoin gives European banks and corporates digital money in their own currency. • Via the euro stablecoin banks get to keep deposits and yield, unlock new revenues, stay central to digital markets, and align with regulators’ push for sovereign, supervised money. • MiCA (the European digital assets regulation) forces issuers to hold fully backed, transparent reserves, audited under EU supervision. • A euro stablecoin needs scale, liquidity, and trust — no bank can achieve that alone, but many banks together can pool balance sheets, customers, and credibility to make it viable. • Banks can embed the stablecoin directly into accounts, treasury products, and settlement systems from day one. • European corporates will prefer a euro-native stablecoin for settlement, liquidity, and embedded finance over USD tokens that expose them to FX risk and US regulatory dependence. The question is: will European banks manage to break the dollar's stablecoin monopoly? Opinions: my own Subscribe to my newsletter: https://lnkd.in/dkqhnxdg

🤓FINALLY it is published 📖(11 Nov) Tokenization of Financial Assets International Organization of Securities Commissions - IOSCO ⏳ In recent years, the financial sector has been experimenting with #DLT to deliver financial services. Proponents argue that features such as fractionalization, programmability, composability, and atomicity may create efficiencies, expand access to products, and reduce frictions. However, the adoption of new technologies can also introduce or amplify risks that regulators must understand and address to safeguard investors’ interests. 📑The Report notes that #IOSCO’s existing principles—being technology-neutral—remain applicable to tokenization. 🕵️♀️The Fintech Task Force #FTF gathered evidence through literature review, regulatory surveys, and stakeholder outreach. 📊 It found varying levels of commercial adoption, depending on use-case objectives and challenges. 👶Overall, tokenization remains nascent: 📈Growth is uneven and uncertain across asset classes, with fixed-income products and money-market funds #MMFs leading adoption. ⛓️💥Lack of cross-blockchain interoperability and credible settlement assets limits scalability. 🔄Lifecycle impact findings: 🖨️ Issuance and distribution: Tokenization has evolved, but distribution and secondary trading still rely on traditional infrastructure due to liquidity and accessibility concerns. 📩Clearing and settlement: DLT-based systems can offer faster settlement, but participants often prefer traditional infrastructure due to familiarity, operational resilience, and network effects. 🗃️Asset servicing: Some digital custody and collateral mobility improvements have been observed (e.g., intraday repo). ⚠️Risk observations: ‼️Risks vary by use case, technology, and architecture. Most risks map to existing taxonomies, but some vulnerabilities are unique to DLT—for instance, cyber-attacks, data leakage, network congestion, smart contract bugs, or private-key loss. 📝Legal uncertainty remains significant—especially regarding ownership and transfer rights of tokenized financial assets, particularly for non-native tokens. ⚖️As tokenization scales, regulators should anticipate potential market structure changes, increased dependencies, and interconnectedness that could amplify systemic risks and link tokenized finance with crypto-asset markets (e.g., tokenized MMFs used as “stablecoin” reserve assets or crypto collateral) 📚Regulatory responses by IOSCO members include: 📄 Applying existing frameworks 📄 Issuing guidance clarifying regulatory applicability 📄 Establishing sandbox regimes 📄 Enacting amended laws and regulations 📘 The Report concludes that members should consider applying IOSCO’s technology-neutral, principles-based, and outcomes-focused standards, including: 1️⃣ Objectives and Principles of Securities Regulation (IOSCO 2017) 2️⃣ Recommendations for Crypto and Digital Asset Markets (IOSCO 2023) 3️⃣ Recommendations for Decentralized Finance (IOSCO 2024)

🚨 NEW: 10 Global Banks Just Revealed Their Stablecoin Alternative Plan - For G7 currencies. FX is going onchain, to public chains(!) --- Santander, Bank of America, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, MUFG, TD Bank, and UBS announced they're jointly exploring a 1:1 reserve-backed stablecoin for G7 currencies 👉 On public blockchains. This is ten systemically important banks saying: we're going to issue regulated digital money on Ethereum and other public chains. --- There's a pattern emerging here. Three weeks ago: Nine European banks (ING, UniCredit, Danske, DekaBank, Banca Sella, KBC, SEB, CaixaBank, Raiffeisen) announced a MiCAR-compliant euro stablecoin, targeting H2 2026 launch. Two weeks ago: Swift announced it's building a blockchain-based shared ledger with 30+ global banks, focused on 24/7 real-time cross-border payments. Banks are building blockchain payment infrastructure at institutional scale. And always with a "settlement asset" Why? --- Because there's no central bank for the internet. Domestically, real-time, 24/7 is entirely possible; many countries have it. The Central Bank plays a key risk management role. The world, and the internet has no central bank. So cross-border is much harder. --- This means - Stablecoins are cheaper in exotic currencies - TradFi FX is much cheaper in G7 currencies - Somewhere in the middle cross-border treasury and remittances all use USD, and stablecoins are a great way to do that. The banks HAD to react. --- There's a real business case. Major banks already move G7 currency pairs at 1-6 basis points—99% margins. Bank tokens could make those flows even MORE efficient. That's not what crypto advocates expected --- For years, banks insisted they needed permissioned chains. Now they're explicitly exploring "a stable payment asset available on public blockchains." The stablecoin wars escalated. Bank balance sheets, deposit insurance, day-one G7 regulatory compliance, and the credibility of Goldman, Citi, and UBS. This won't happen over night, but the implication is clear --- This isn't banks vs crypto anymore. It's banks using onchain infrastructure. JPMorgan piloted JPMD. HSBC launched tokenized deposits. Apple, Airbnb, Uber, and X are reportedly exploring stablecoin integration. Everyone converged on the same truth: programmable money that settles instantly, 24/7, is the future. Some on Ethereum. Some on Swift's ledger. Some on private networks. Most likely? All of the above, with interoperability connecting them. What's your read? Are bank stablecoins DOA or is this inevitable institutionalization?

Goldman Sachs - Why Digital Asset Adoption Is Accelerating 1️⃣ Institutions Are Finally Here - Over the last 12–18 months, we’ve seen a decisive shift: banks, asset managers, and corporates are moving from “wait and see” to building dedicated digital asset teams 2️⃣ Regulation is Maturing Globally - From MiCA in Europe to the UK’s Digital Securities Sandbox and US regulatory shifts (SAB 122, GENIUS & STABLE Acts), frameworks are giving institutions the confidence to act. 3️⃣ Tangible Efficiency Gains - Blockchain is cutting costs and unlocking transparency — e.g., Walmart tracing food supply chains from 7 days to 2.2 seconds 4️⃣ Capital Markets Are Scaling M&A volumes surged to $15.8B in 2024 (vs. $1B in 2019). In 2025 alone, $6.4B in digital asset M&A reflects convergence between TradFi and crypto. 5️⃣ Tokenisation & Stablecoins Are Key Drivers - Tokenised real-world assets could reach $18.9T by 2033, while stablecoins (already ~$220B in supply) are proving to be crypto’s “first killer app” for cross-border payments and 24/7 settlement. Real Life Example - Stripe recently acquired Bridge, a stablecoin infrastructure provider, to enhance crypto payments. This is just one of many moves showing how mainstream firms are betting on blockchain rails. Why It Matters - Digital assets are no longer a “what if.” They are rewiring financial infrastructure, improving transparency, reducing settlement times, and creating new rails for money, collateral, and assets. Companies that ignore this risk being left behind as markets move to a 24/7, programmable financial system. What Happens Next Expect: - Continued exchange consolidation (e.g., Coinbase buying Deribit, Robinhood buying Bitstamp by Robinhood). - More institutional-grade stablecoin frameworks. - Tokenisation of gilts, MMFs, and real estate accelerating adoption. The bottom line: digital assets are moving from the edge of finance to its core.

I kept hearing that #Bitcoin “went mainstream”, so I did what any responsible adult does. I looked at the data instead. What I found in 2025–2026 was less hype, more spreadsheets. 📊 Spot #Bitcoin ETFs pulled in tens of billions in net inflows in under a year. That’s not retail FOMO. That’s committees, mandates, and monthly rebalancing. 📈 Over 70% of new #BTC exposure now comes via regulated products and custodians, not self-custody wallets. The holders changed, so the market changed. ⚖️ Major financial centers rolled out clearer custody, capital, and disclosure frameworks in 2025. In other words, #Bitcoin became deployable without career risk. 🏦 #Bitcoin correlations are shifting post ETF era. Less meme behavior, more portfolio math. Risk teams are now arguing about drawdowns, not vibes. 🏛️ When policymakers start debating strategic reserves, even hypothetically, the asset has already crossed the line. Ideology exits. Risk management enters. None of that feels very mainstream. It feels… institutional. I wrote a short piece pulling together the numbers and what they quietly imply for how #Bitcoin is actually being used today. Sharing here for informational and thought-leadership purposes only, not financial, investment, legal, or regulatory advice, in case it’s useful, or at least mildly entertaining for anyone who enjoys stats more than slogans. #Bitcoin #InstitutionalAdoption #DigitalAssets #MarketStructure #VirtualAssets #Crypto #CryptoInfrastructure #CapitalMarkets #ThoughtLeadership #Cryptocurrency #Cryptocurrencies

🔴 Onchain privacy: Boerse Stuttgart Group has settled its first tokenized transaction on Ethereum while keeping data confidential👇 More specifically, the transaction was executed via Seturion, the DLT platform operated by Europe’s sixth-largest exchange group. 👉 Seturion is currently in the process of obtaining a license to operate under the DLT Pilot Regime, a transitional regulatory framework designed to enable the testing of distributed ledger technology (DLT) within market infrastructures. “Today, issuing a structured product costs around €3–7 per instrument. With Seturion, those costs can drop by up to 90% […] The current T+2 cycle is reduced to around 30 minutes. That’s a huge gain in efficiency for both issuers and investors,” as noted by Lidia Kurt, CEO of Seturion, in an interview with Blockstories. → The settlement took place on Aztec, an Ethereum Layer-2 network already well known among crypto-native investors, which leverages zero-knowledge cryptography at the protocol level to enable fully programmable privacy. As a result, only the seller, buyer, issuer, trading and settlement venues, as well as regulators, can decrypt transaction events, amounts, balances, and counterparties. 👉 An extremely important challenge for regulators, in particular, who are seeking to strike the right balance between confidentiality and accountability. “Removing the need for proprietary, permissioned chains, this represents a breakthrough in bringing institutional finance to an open-source, decentralized infrastructure,” as noted by Boerse Stuttgart Digital, the digital and crypto-focused arm of the Boerse Stuttgart Group. —------------------------- This milestone comes amid intensifying competition driven by the rapid development of tokenization. Across Europe, exchanges and market infrastructure providers are racing to launch DLT-based settlement platforms for traditional financial institutions. This is happening as Europe increasingly bets on DLT as a core infrastructure for its future capital markets, and as the ECB has announced plans to accept tokenized collateral for its refinancing operations. At Blockstories, we will be following this closely in our Institutional Briefing, our weekly newsletter for banks and asset managers, read by more than 15,000 professionals and published every Thursday. To subscribe, link in the first comment👇

Tokenization is transforming how global markets operate and making financial systems more efficient, transparent, and accessible. In my CoinDesk TV interview at SmartCon, I shared how Broadridge is reimagining Wall Street through innovations like our Distributed Ledger Repo (DLR) platform, which is now processing more than $385 billion in daily transactions. I also discuss how interoperability through networks like Canton and Chainlink’s CCIP will be critical to connecting digital assets across platforms, and how programmable compliance can help scale tokenization responsibly. Watch the full interview begining at the 1:01:01: http://spklr.io/6042BMja8 #Tokenization #DLT #Blockchain #Innovation

Reimagining Compliance, Trust and TPRM: Could Blockchain End Our Reliance on PDFs, Screenshots and Questionnaires? ⛓️ Why not use proof instead of trust. And what if instead of trusting auditors, we also trust math? 🔢 Who trusts Attestations and Certifications? 📋 SOC 2 provides trust. You also require trust. You trust that: - The vendor implemented what they claimed (lol, sure) - The auditor properly validated those claims (with screenshots, of course) - Controls haven't degraded since assessment (infrastructure never changes) - Documentation reflects reality (boilerplate policies FTW) But in security, trust isn't a strategy - verification is. Blockchain Security Validation: Trust the Proof ⛓️ Imagine replacing subjective assessment with cryptographic verification: - Configuration states are validated and cryptographically signed - Results immutably recorded on blockchain, evidence are now tamper-proofed - Smart contracts can validate controls automatically against predefined criteria - You can check historical record showing continuous compliance, - Easy real-time alerting when controls drift from attested state Rather than an auditor telling you that "encryption is used," the system would cryptographically verify that "TLS 1.3 is correctly implemented on all endpoints with no deprecated ciphers." Documentation Theatre to Verifiable Security 🎭 This transforms security attestation from paperwork exercise to mathematical proof: - Customers verify cryptographic evidence instead of reading through lengthy massaged control language - Vendors can prove continuous compliance, not just during audit cycles - Configuration drift triggers immediate alerts, not annual findings - Technical teams focus on implementation, not documentation - Customers can check control effectiveness without seeing sensitive implementation details, preserving vendor confidentiality The blockchain creates a permanent, verifiable history addressing both trust issues and point-in-time limitations of current attestations. Why This Matters 🎯 By bridging the documentation-reality gap with cryptographic proof, we eliminate the need for sample-based shallow testing. Imagine never having to answer "Do you have MFA?" again because customers can verify your MFA implementation themselves. The Path Forward 🚀 This isn't woo-woo - the building blocks exist today. We have: - Secure enclave technologies for sensitive validation - Smart contract platforms for attestation logic - API-driven cloud environments ready for integration - Zero-knowledge proofs for private verification What's missing is standardisation and ecosystem adoption. The first vendor to implement this model won't just streamline compliance/audit - they'll fundamentally change TPRM/customer trust dynamics. PS: This wouldn't work for all controls, lots of legal liability to work through, etc. #GRCEngineering

Stablecoins are rapidly transforming how money moves globally, blurring the lines between traditional finance and crypto. At the heart of this shift are platforms like BVNK , Bridge, and zerohash, offering the rails that connect traditional finance to digital assets. All three offer APIs that help fintechs and enterprises send, receive, convert and store value globally, while abstracting away blockchain complexity, regulatory burden, and custody risk. 👉 In this piece, I compare these providers across six key dimensions: 🔹 Payments (speed, flexibility, use cases) 🔹 Wallets and custody (integrated vs modular models) 🔹 Technology stack (developer UX and orchestration capabilities) 🔹 Licensing and compliance (jurisdictional reach and regulatory protections) 🔹 Security (certifications, controls, architecture) 🔹 Customer footprint (clients, volumes, trust signals) The goal is to help fintech teams make an informed decision based on their needs, whether you’re building global payouts, launching a stablecoin wallet, or embedding crypto into your product. #fintech #payments #banking Simon Emma Chris Jesse Zach Laurent Sean Mark Edward Shaun