For forward-thinking banks, the path forward involves a strategic approach that may include both stablecoins and tokenized deposits. Tokenized deposits offer another path by converting traditional bank deposits into blockchain-based assets. The main benefit of this approach is that tokenized deposits carry the same regulatory protections, deposit insurance, and central bank backing as traditional deposits to ensure stability while providing a conservative entry point into blockchain technology. Meanwhile, properly designed stablecoins can serve different purposes. They enable banks to compete in new markets, serve crypto-native customers, and participate in the growing decentralized finance ecosystem. And with a rapidly expanding ecosystem and a growing cadre of developers looking to integrate blockchain technology into financial services, banks that offer both options will be best positioned to meet diverse customer needs. The benefits offered by both approaches include enabling instant, low-cost cross-border payments, programmable smart contracts for automated financial services, and enhanced transparency for regulators. For stablecoins specifically, the advancing regulatory frameworks are establishing clear guidelines for reserves, capital requirements, and consumer protections. Rather than viewing stablecoins and tokenized deposits as competing options, banks should consider how each can complement their overall digital asset strategy. While stablecoins are all the rage, banks should take an approach that balances their appetite for innovation with proper risk management. Once they understand the regulatory landscape and have proper safeguards in place, they can explore issuing a stablecoin and consider tokenized deposits. By embracing multiple paths into the digital asset economy, banks can responsibly start their journey into blockchain while remaining steady on firm financial ground.
PNC’s Covid time partnership with Pirates to support SMEs continues to pick up momentum, having now aided a total of 36 small businesses in the Pittsburgh area
Pirates and PNC Bank teamed up to establish the “Going to Bat for Small Business” program to help local entrepreneurs navigate the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. The initiative was well-received and has continued to pick up momentum, having now aided a total of 36 small businesses in the Pittsburgh area. Each year, six small businesses are selected for the program. Representatives from the class of 2025 were invited to PNC Park on Monday for a meet-and-greet with officials from the Pirates and PNC Bank. They also took part in a pregame ceremony and had the opportunity to watch the game between the Pirates and San Francisco Giants from the ballpark’s World Series Suites. Those chosen for the “Going to Bat for Small Business” program receive a promotional period where the Pirates provide in-game, social media, online and in-park assets. Those include live drop-ins by Pirates broadcasters, radio and television commercials produced by the Pirates, social media sponsorship, and signage inside PNC Park. Each business also receives mentorship from Pirates and PNC professionals as well as a financial grant. Lou Cestello, head of Regional Presidents and regional president of Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania for PNC said, “This program is making a meaningful impact for the small businesses we serve, particularly through the guidance provided by PNC and the Pirates in areas such as financing and marketing. Our goal is to help them transform their ideas into successful realities.”
Rocket partners Viral Nation revamping social media policy , to move beyond curated perfection to offer something deeper – real stories, support, and guidance for people working toward homeownership
Viral Nation, a global leader in social-first transformation, today announced it has been named the Social Media Agency of Record for Rocket, the Detroit-based fintech platform including mortgage, real estate, title, and personal finance businesses. Rocket will leverage Viral Nation’s influencer marketing, social strategy, community management, and social content creation abilities to deliver raw, relatable homeownership stories that break through social media’s glossy facade. At a time when nearly 80% of social media users turn to their feeds for dream-home inspiration, Rocket and Viral Nation are moving beyond curated perfection to offer something deeper – real stories, support, and guidance for people working toward homeownership. “Homeownership is the single most powerful expression of the American dream – and everyone deserves to see themselves in that story,” said Jonathan Mildenhall, Chief Marketing Officer for Rocket. “With Viral Nation as our social media agency of record, we’re using content to build a movement. One grounded in honest storytelling, vibrant communities, and meaningful solutions. We know that when people see others like them owning their dream, it sparks belief. And belief is where transformation begins.” Rocket launched “Own the Dream,” the company’s new core creative idea, with an unforgettable Super Bowl ad. The message was amplified by Viral Nation’s strategic social campaigns, which drove 247 million views nationwide and sparked genuine conversations across all platforms. This new partnership builds on that moment by fostering a vibrant, welcoming community through voices from Rocket’s network of everyday home-seekers and homebuying experts. Viral Nation will help Rocket cut through noisy feeds by showcasing real client stories, influencer ambassador programs, and dynamic community management. Together, Rocket and Viral Nation will ignite moments that resonate deeply with Americans – piercing through challenges to offer guidance on every step of the homebuying journey. “Rocket’s mission to redefine homeownership inspires us to build a social movement that empowers every American to envision themselves on this journey,” said Joe Gagliese, CEO and Co-Founder of Viral Nation. “Rocket is more than a financial services company; it’s a culturally influential brand, authentically leading and shaping the communities it serves.” Through this new partnership, Rocket’s social presence won’t just inspire—it will guide. Together, the brands are building tools, stories, and spaces that turn aspiration into action.
PNC’s advisors to have access to to MSCI Wealth Manager – a fully integrated digital platform with robust analytics, portfolio management tools, institutional-grade research and solutions
MSCI and PNC Bank have entered into a strategic collaboration to provide financial advisors of PNC with access to MSCI Wealth Manager – a fully integrated digital platform with robust analytics, portfolio management tools, institutional-grade research and solutions to help advisors create more personalized experiences for end-investors. From high-net-worth and emerging-affluent individuals to large, sophisticated institutional investors, asset and wealth managers are increasingly asked to create customized portfolios that reflect their end-clients’ unique financial goals, risk tolerance and values. MSCI Wealth Manager was designed to support advisors’ efforts to provide tailored financial advice to a wider range of clients by unifying portfolio construction, model management, analytics and client proposal generation within a single solution. MSCI Wealth Manager connects advisors and investment teams through a unified ecosystem built on MSCI’s multi-asset class (MAC) risk model. The solution is designed to quickly illustrate risks in a client portfolio by identifying assets that are outliers based on the clients’ risk appetite. Furthermore, advisors can compare, align and personalize their clients’ portfolio around recommended asset allocations on the MSCI Wealth Manager platform. With MSCI Wealth Manager, advisors can:
- Differentiate their clients’ experiences by providing a base of transparent, multi-asset analytics, risk decomposition tools, and outcome-based investment insights that can be retrofit to an individual investor’s goals;
- Tap into new opportunities by leveraging MSCI’s deep expertise in index construction, sustainability, and private asset coverage, as well as factor modeling; and
- Analyze portfolio data from current and prospective clients’ investment statements, which can be uploaded directly to the platform.
BNY Mellon to be primary custodian for $TBILL “the world’s first tokenized US Treasury fund to receive an investment grade A rating from Moody’s”
Tokenization platform OpenEden said it has appointed the Bank of New York Mellon (BNY) as primary custodian for the underlying assets of its Tokenized US Treasury Bills ($TBILL) Fund which has $287 million in assets under management. It added that BNY Investments Dreyfus will manage the $TBILL Fund on OpenEden’s behalf as sub-manager. OpenEden described $TBILL as “the world’s first tokenized US Treasury fund to receive an investment grade A rating from Moody’s.” While readers might assume that means it is currently A rated, an April report from the ratings agency had downgraded it from A-bf to Baa-bf. Moody’s responded to our queries noting the rating has been upgraded back to A-bf based on the appointment of BNY Mellon Investment Management Singapore as the investment manager. The ‘bf’ in the ratings stands for bond funds and the rating represents Moody’s opinion of the maturity-adjusted credit quality of the assets within the portfolio. It is not a credit rating. While clearly having BNY involved in the fund should provide some peace of mind, an awareness of OpenEden’s controversial background might be useful for investors to make their own judgment.
State Street joins JPMorgan’s blockchain-based tokenized asset platform Digital Debt Service as the first third-party custodian
State Street is pushing deeper into digital assets by joining JPMorgan’s blockchain-based tokenized asset platform Digital Debt Service as the first third-party custodian. The first transaction State Street anchored was a $100 million tokenized commercial paper issuance by the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC), a Singapore-based banking group. State Street Investment Management, the bank’s asset management arm, purchased the debt. J.P. Morgan Securities acted as placement agent. The tokenized asset market could grow could balloon in the next few years, though projections vary from McKinsey’s $2 trillion by 2030 to Ripple and BCG’s almost $19 trillion by 2033. By joining JPMorgan’s blockchain platform, State Street can now offer clients custody of tokenized debt securities without changing its traditional servicing model. In this particular case, State Street manages client holdings in a digital wallet directly connected to JPMorgan’s system, eliminating manual steps in settlement and recordkeeping. The infrastructure supports delivery-versus-payment settlement, with the option for same-day (T+0) settlement, and automates corporate actions such as interest payments and redemptions through smart contracts.
Neuro-symbolic AI makes AI smarter, safer and more aligned with human reasoning by blending data-driven learning with symbolic logic
To make artificial intelligence smarter, safer and more aligned with human reasoning, neuro-symbolic AI blends data-driven learning with symbolic logic. This hybrid approach combines the pattern recognition power of neural networks with the structured reasoning of symbolic systems. Recognizing its potential, AWS is investing in neuro-symbolic AI by providing the infrastructure, tools and research to scale hybrid systems. The tech giant is combining deep learning advances with formal logic to unlock new frontiers in AI reasoning, according to Byron Cook, vice president and distinguished scientist at AWS. Neural networks excel at learning from raw data, while symbolic AI thrives at logic and reasoning but falters with unstructured inputs. By combining the strengths of both, neuro-symbolic AI enables systems that can learn and reason, paving the way for more intelligent, adaptable AI, Cook pointed out. “For example, you can use it to synthesize more data to train over, you can combine it with reinforcement learning and then you can also sidecar tools out,” he said. “At our inference time or after inference, you can move the statements coming out of a language model, put them into logic and then prove or disprove the correctness of them. Automated reasoning is the symbolic manipulation of, like you move symbols around and you deduce things that are true about the semantics that those formally represent. You can do all kinds of things in combination with machine learning. The tools are practical now, and you can put them together. Customers really needed these tools themselves before doing deployments, and so that led to IAM Access Analyzer and VPC Reachability Analyzer. Now with automated reasoning checks and bedrock guardrails, we’re using the very same tools we’re using now to address incorrectness due to hallucinations.”
Major banks taking divergent approaches ranging from token deposits on public blockchain and token services on private blockchain to partnerships with stablecoin issuers for launching stablecoin-based payments
Among major U.S. banks—JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, U.S. Bank, and PNC—several have launched tokenized deposit systems akin to stablecoins within their own ecosystems. Interoperability remains a challenge, prompting analysts to ask if a stablecoin consortium, like Zelle, would make sense. Citi’s Jane Fraser acknowledged potential for collaboration but asserted that Citi’s own live-token service, now operational in four markets, is a “killer app” for programmable, cross-border payments. JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon didn’t respond to the consortium idea, though JPM is part of the Zelle-owning consortium. BofA’s Brian Moynihan favored both solo and joint approaches, noting client demand hasn’t materialized yet, though the bank holds blockchain patents and partners with stablecoin issuers. Citi is exploring its own stablecoin, while JPMorgan’s JPMD token runs on Coinbase’s Base network for institutional fund transfers. U.S. Bank’s CEO Gunjan Kedia said stablecoins aren’t material yet, though they’re ready to pilot. PNC’s CEO William Demchak predicted an industry-led stablecoin would emerge, though he and Kedia expressed skepticism about its near-term impact, especially in domestic payments where demand and cost advantages remain unclear.
SandboxAQ report shows only 6% of organizations have implemented a comprehensive, AI-native security strategy across both IT and AI systems while 79% are already using AI in production environments
SandboxAQ released its inaugural AI Security Benchmark Report, revealing a significant disconnect between enterprise AI adoption and cybersecurity readiness. While 79% of organizations are already using AI in production environments, only 6% have implemented a comprehensive, AI-native security strategy, leaving the vast majority of enterprises vulnerable to threats they are not yet equipped to detect or mitigate. The report highlights widespread concern about the risks AI introduces, from model manipulation and data leakage to adversarial attacks and the misuse of non-human identities (NHIs). Yet despite growing anxiety among CISOs, only 28% of organizations have conducted a full AI-specific security assessment, and most are still relying on traditional, rule-based tools that were never designed to address dynamic, machine-speed systems. Only 6% of organizations have implemented AI-native security protections across both IT and AI systems. 74% of security leaders are highly concerned about AI-enhanced cyberattacks, and 69% are highly concerned about AI uncovering new vulnerabilities in their environments. Just 10% of companies have a dedicated AI security team; in most organizations, responsibility falls to traditional IT or security teams. Marc Manzano, General Manager of the Cybersecurity Group at SandboxAQ said, ” This report highlights a growing recognition among security leaders that defending against evolving threats requires new assumptions and approaches, not just new layers or patches to current tooling.”
Mark Zuckerberg thinks that glasses will be the primary way users interact with AI in the years ahead and those without AI glasses will be at a significant cognitive disadvantage
Echoing sentiments shared in his “superintelligence”-focused blog post, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg expanded on his bullish ideas that glasses will be the primary way users interact with AI in the years ahead. During Meta’s second-quarter earnings call, the social networking exec told investors he believes people without AI glasses will be at a disadvantage in the future. “I continue to think that glasses are basically going to be the ideal form factor for AI, because you can let an AI see what you see throughout the day, hear what you hear, [and] talk to you,” Zuckerberg said. Adding a display to those glasses will then unlock more value, he said, whether that’s a wider, holographic field of view, as with Meta’s next-gen Orion AR glasses, or a smaller display that might ship in everyday AI eyewear. “I think in the future, if you don’t have glasses that have AI — or some way to interact with AI — I think you’re … probably [going to] be at a pretty significant cognitive disadvantage compared to other people,” Zuckerberg added. “The other thing that’s awesome about glasses is they are going to be the ideal way to blend the physical and digital worlds together,” he said. “So the whole Metaverse vision, I think, is going to … end up being extremely important, too, and AI is going to accelerate that.”