The Rise of Specialized Stablecoin Infrastructure

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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.

Stories You Can’t Miss 📰

🚀 M^0 Stablecoin Platform Launches on Solana

Programmable stablecoin platform M^0 is bringing its T-bill backed stablecoin infrastructure to Solana through a partnership with KAST neobank.

Key Points:

• M^0 is a composable stablecoin infrastructure that enables developers to create custom stablecoins with built-in yield and shared liquidity, with the $M token serving as the building block

• KAST is a self-custodial "banking wallet" that combines wallet, protocol, swap, paymaster, and stablecoin in one experience, offering USD-denominated accounts to users in over 150 countries

• The integration will introduce two M^0-powered stablecoins: USDK (standard payment token) and USDKY (yield-bearing variant)

• When users deposit any stablecoin into KAST, it's held as USDK on Solana by default, with options to swap to preferred yield-bearing alternatives or send supported stablecoins via wallet address or phone number

The Tokenized Take:

• M^0 is a central bank for stablecoins: The problem with stablecoins is they’re not compatible. I can swap $1 fiat dollar for another with no issue. Doing that with stables is much harder. M^0 fixes this.

• Strategic expansion timing: Solana's stablecoin market has surged 733% from $1.5B in December 2024 to $12.5B by April 2025, creating perfect timing for M^0's expansion to this high-growth blockchain

• Strong existing traction: M^0 currently has $170M in TVL and has already powered Noble's USDN with significant market adoption, demonstrating proven demand for its infrastructure

• Seamless traditional finance integration: KAST's optional KYC unlocks fiat deposits/withdrawals and debit card functionality that works with Apple Pay and Google Pay at over 100 million vendors worldwide

• Unique programmable features: M^0's infrastructure is distinctive for allowing full customization of stablecoin yield utilization, enabling use cases from treasury management to user incentives with built-in composability across protocols

💰 Ripple Acquires Hidden Road for $1.25 Billion

Ripple has announced a major acquisition of prime broker Hidden Road, marking one of the largest deals in the digital asset space to date.

Key Points:

• Ripple is acquiring Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, making it the first crypto company to own and operate a global, multi-asset prime broker

• The deal is structured primarily in cash, along with portions in XRP and Ripple equity, with Hidden Road founder Marc Asch staying on to lead the prime brokerage business

• Hidden Road clears over $3 trillion annually, services more than 300 top-tier institutional clients, and processes $10B+ in daily clearing volume

• As part of the acquisition, RLUSD will be integrated as collateral across Hidden Road's platform, becoming the first stablecoin to enable efficient cross-margining between digital assets and traditional markets

• Hidden Road will migrate its post-trade activity to the XRP Ledger (XRPL) to streamline operations and lower costs

The Tokenized Take:

• Hidden Road is well-liked but gets a UX upgrade here: As prime brokers go, Hidden Road had a good reputation, but the one “catch” was settlement speed. RLUSD could solve that UX issue its customers potentially had.

• Bootstrapping RLUSD adoption: By integrating RLUSD as collateral across Hidden Road's platform, Ripple creates real institutional utility for its stablecoin through trading, margin, and cross-asset collateralization

• XRPL validation at scale: Moving even a portion of Hidden Road's $10B+ daily clearing volume to XRPL would demonstrate blockchain's utility for institutional settlement

• Strategic ecosystem building: The acquisition represents Ripple's comprehensive approach to institutional infrastructure, building on previous moves into custody with Metaco and cross-border payments

• Regulatory positioning: With SEC litigation largely resolved and 60+ regulatory licenses globally, Ripple is uniquely positioned to bridge traditional finance and blockchain infrastructure

💸 Stablecorner ⚖️ → The Rise of Specialized Stablecoin Infrastructure

The stablecoin landscape is experiencing a fundamental shift in how these assets are being used on blockchain networks. As Fernando Martinez revealed in the latest episode of Tokenized Podcast:

This dramatic increase signals that stablecoins have evolved from primarily serving as trading pairs to becoming the dominant form of on-chain activity, driving new infrastructure development across the ecosystem.

Nonco's FX on-chain initiative addresses a critical bottleneck that emerged as cross-border payment companies scaled. Companies like Bridge, Conduit, and Felix Pago had been using stablecoins for remittances and cross-border payments, but they quickly outgrew the liquidity capabilities of local crypto exchanges.

As Fernando explained, these payment companies initially relied on local crypto exchanges for fiat/stablecoin conversion, but this approach hit scaling limitations:

Nonco solved this by establishing regulated local entities with direct banking relationships and connections to traditional FX liquidity providers, enabling them to capture 60% of the Mexican peso stablecoin market in just four months.

Specialized payment chains are emerging to support this stablecoin-dominant environment. Companies like Codex (which recently raised $16 million led by Dragonfly) are building purpose-built blockchains specifically optimized for stablecoin transfers. Another notable example is One Money Network, founded by former Binance US CEO Brian Schroeder, targeting similar opportunities. However, these specialized chains face competition from established networks like Tron, which gained significant market share in stablecoin transfers despite initial scepticism. As Fernando bluntly explained the Tron phenomenon: "Everybody's like, why Tron? The market dictated it, simple as that. It's cheap." 

This pragmatic market-driven approach to infrastructure selection highlights how utility and cost efficiency often triumph over technical ideals in the payments space.

📰 Some More News:

🏦 Tokenization, Stablecoins & Finance

• Modern Treasury launches stablecoin payouts (Read more)

• Thunes and Triple-A Founder on how they are leveraging stablecoins (Read more)

• Solana adds confidential transactions (Read more)

• Chris Dixon from a16z on the “Whatsapp moment of money” (Read more)

• Standard Chartered Partners with OKX to enable off-exchange collateral (Read more)

• JPMorgan Adds GBP Support to Its Blockchain Payments Service Kinexys (Read more)

• Tokenization Layer 1 Mantra’s token falls 90% in a sudden crash (Read more) 

• Kraken Launches U.S.-Listed Stock & ETF Trading, Expanding Beyond Crypto (Read more)

🤑 Funding and M&A

• An in-depth analysis on the Ripple x Hidden Road acquisition (Read more)

• Node Capital launches liquid token fund  (Read more)

💼 Government & Policy

• Luca Prosperi from M^0 analysis on the GENIUS Bill (Read more)

• SEC Publishes Disclosure Guidance for Crypto Issuers (Read more) 

• Helium says SEC have dropped securities claims against Nova Labs (Read more)

Simon’s Market Readout 💬 

Tweet of the Week 🐤 

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