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SEC Announce ‘Project Crypto’

AND... Remitly go all in on Stablecoins

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Introduction

Welcome to the Tokenized newsletter, brought to you by the creators of the Tokenized Podcast; Simon Taylor of Fintech Brainfood and Pet Berisha of Sporting Crypto, written by Jeremy Batchelder.

We are the newsletter for institutions that need help preparing for a Tokenized future.

We run through the headlines every week, what it means for you and a market readout. Always with an institutional, business-focused perspective. 

Join us every week as we meet your Tokenization needs.

Simon’s Market Readout 💬 

A pixelated Simon gives you his market readout for the week.

The SEC has just released a blizzard of announcements that have taken a lot of questions that have existed for 10 to 12 years and just simplified them to very clear opinions, in a sweeping plan to accommodate cryptoassets.

This includes: liquid staking not constituting the sale of a security.

Quite frankly, that was unimaginable 12 months ago.

That is the kind of regulatory clarity that the industry has craved. And when I say industry, I don't mean crypto yield farmers and degens. I mean the giant world of Wall Street capital markets, giant hedge funds and the asset managers that have been waiting on the sidelines to deploy institutional capital into this space.

Liquid staking is something that we spoke to Lido and others about on the tokenized podcast. Institutions are very interested, but they're worried about the regulatory position. The USA is today the world's capital market. The SEC is the world's securities regulator. Quite frankly, the type of clarity they are bringing is a game-changer.

So the question becomes, what do you do about it?

Do you wait for legislation, or do you start investigating this now?

Do you start looking at the liquid staking as a part of your treasury and yield opportunities?

Do you start looking at, if securities are not an issue for you, what could you do with this token space?

Do you start looking at issuing tokenized stocks if you're in Fintech?

Do you follow Robinhood's lead and start tokenizing stocks on your own blockchain?

There are so many more design choices and innovations that become available.

I can't remember a time in my 20 years in financial services when as many things felt possible. It's exciting times. Pay attention and don't sit on your hands.

Stories You Can't Miss 📰

🏦 Remitly Goes All-In on Stablecoins with Wallet Launch and Bridge Partnership

Remitly is launching a comprehensive stablecoin strategy across three fronts: introducing Remitly Wallet for multi-currency storage, partnering with Bridge for stablecoin payouts, and integrating USDC into treasury operations, all rolling out in September.

Key Points:

  • Remitly Wallet will allow customers to hold both fiat currencies and stablecoins in one platform, targeting users in high-inflation economies seeking USD stability

  • Partnership with Bridge (Stripe company) adds stablecoin payout options to Remitly's existing network serving 170+ countries

  • Internal treasury operations now use USDC for 24/7 liquidity management, reducing working capital tied up in pre-funding local currencies

The Tokenized Take:

  • Holistic stablecoin integration: Unlike competitors focusing on single use cases, Remitly is deploying stablecoins across customer storage, payouts, and internal operations - creating a comprehensive competitive advantage

  • Capital efficiency breakthrough: Using USDC for treasury operations addresses remittance companies' biggest pain point - massive working capital requirements for pre-funding dozens of local currencies

  • Regulatory moat advantage: Remitly's existing licenses across 170+ countries provide a significant barrier to entry for launching compliant stablecoin services at this scale

🚀 SEC Chairman Launches "Project Crypto" to Make America the Crypto Capital

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins announced "Project Crypto," a Commission-wide initiative to modernize securities rules and enable America's financial markets to move on-chain, following President Trump's GENIUS Act and the Presidential Working Group Report on Digital Asset Markets.

Key Points:

  • Project Crypto will develop clear rules for crypto asset distributions, custody, and trading, with staff directed to draft proposals for public comment while using interpretative and exemptive authorities in the interim

  • The SEC will establish bright-line guidelines to help market participants determine whether crypto assets are securities, digital collectibles, digital commodities, or stablecoins based on economic realities

  • New regulatory framework will allow "super-apps" - single platforms where broker-dealers can offer trading in both security and non-security crypto assets alongside traditional securities and services like staking and lending

  • Innovation exemption will allow registrants and non-registrants to quickly launch new business models that don't fit existing rules, with principles-based conditions rather than prescriptive requirements

The Tokenized Take:

  • Regulatory 180-degree turn: This represents a complete reversal from the previous administration's "regulation by enforcement" approach, potentially bringing billions in offshore crypto activity back to U.S. markets

  • Super-app competitive advantage: Allowing single-license platforms to offer comprehensive crypto and traditional securities services could give U.S. firms a massive competitive edge over fragmented international offerings

  • Innovation sandbox reality: The proposed innovation exemption could accelerate blockchain experimentation in traditional finance, similar to how regulatory sandboxes drove fintech innovation in other jurisdictions

  • Market structure revolution: Enabling on-chain trading of tokenized securities may require fundamental changes to Reg NMS, potentially reshaping how all U.S. equity markets operate after 20 years of the current framework

💸 Stablecorner ⚖️ → The Multi-Chain, Multi-Currency Future of Stablecoins

The stablecoin landscape is rapidly evolving beyond the current USD-dominated, single-chain paradigm toward a more diverse, interconnected ecosystem. As Cuy Sheffield from Visa revealed on the latest Tokenized Podcast, this transformation is already underway in institutional infrastructure.

Visa has been using stablecoins on their settlement system for two years, moving hundreds of millions of dollars on-chain. What started with USDC on Ethereum has expanded to include Solana, partnerships with Paxos for USDG and PYUSD, USDC on Stellar and Avalanche, and even launched the first pilot with EuroC - marking the first non-USD stablecoin in their network.

This expansion reflects a broader market reality that Tony McLaughlin, founder of Ubyx, described as inevitable: "The market structure to come is everyone can receive stablecoins, everyone can issue stablecoins, and it's a pluralistic market structure." This mirrors historical payment networks where universal acceptance became the standard.

The current 99.9% USD dominance doesn't reflect global economic reality. While USD stablecoins capture massive market share, Sheffield noted that outside the US, "the biggest opportunity for stablecoins is in emerging markets" where local institutions are "wary of a dollar stablecoin only strategy." They recognize that embracing only dollar rails while leaving local currencies on inferior technology creates regulatory and political challenges.

Infrastructure providers are responding with multi-currency strategies. FIS's partnership with Circle to offer USDC to 13,000 financial institutions gives banks immediate blockchain access, while companies like Agant are building pound-denominated stablecoins to serve capital markets and cross-border flows through London's financial hub.

The path forward requires recognizing stablecoins as modern negotiable instruments rather than currency replacements. As McLaughlin emphasized, every dollar stablecoin sent internationally is "a gift and a blessing" for receiving countries that can profit from conversion fees and FX spreads - provided they build infrastructure for seamless acceptance and conversion.

The ultimate winners will embrace both seamless dollar stablecoin acceptance and robust local currency stablecoin issuance, creating a truly interconnected global payments ecosystem that serves international efficiency while preserving domestic monetary sovereignty.

📰 Some More News:

🏦 Tokenization, Stablecoins & Finance

  • Remitly Harnesses the Power of Stablecoins for Cross-Border Payments (Read more here)

  • Ethena’s USDe jumps to third-largest stablecoin as market cap surges 75% to $9.3 billion in past three weeks (Read more here)

  • Barry Silbert returns to Grayscale as chairman as the firm prepares to go public (Read more here)

  • Coinbase CEO pushes back against UK advertising regime after exchange’s TV commercial gets pulled (Read more here)

  • Visa expands stablecoin settlement options (Read more here)

  • Assetera to enable EU crypto exchanges to offer Backed tokenized stocks (Read more here)

  • Flywire add Stablecoin capabilities with BVNK (Read more here)

  • U.S Neobank Slash Debuts Stablecoin with Stripe's Bridge for Global Business Payments (Read more here)

🤑 Funding and M&A

  • Phantom acquiring Solana memecoin trading platform Solsniper (Read more here)

💼 Government & Policy

  • Crypto-Friendly SEC Offers Stopgap Stablecoin Accounting Clarity (Read more here)

  • Alongside stablecoins, Korea progresses tokenized securities (Read more here)

  • SEC Chief Paul Atkin's Project Crypto Flying Under Radar Amid Market Selloff: Bernstein (Read more here)

Simon’s Market Readout 💬 

A pixelated Simon gives you his market readout for the week.

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Tweet of the Week 🐤 

From Haseeb

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Disclaimers

This newsletter is for informational purposes only and is not financial, business or legal advice. These thoughts & opinions and do not represent the opinions of any other person, business, entity or sponsor. Any companies or projects mentioned are for illustrative purposes unless specified.

The contents of this newsletter should not be used in any public or private domain without the express permission of the author.

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It's crucial to provide our readers with clear information regarding the inherent nature of services and products that might be covered in this newsletter, including those advertised by our sponsors from time to time. When you buy cryptoassets (including NFTs) your capital is at risk. Risks associated with cryptoassets include price volatility, loss of capital (the value of your cryptoassets could drop to zero), complexity, lack of regulation and lack of protection. Most service providers operating in the cryptoasset industry do not currently operate in a regulated industry. Therefore, please be aware that when you buy cryptoassets, you are not protected under financial compensation schemes and protections typically afforded to investors when dealing with regulated and authorised entities to operate as financial services firm.