Talos will acquire Coin Metrics, the provider of crypto financial intelligence. By incorporating Coin Metrics’ extensive crypto market data, blockchain analytics and benchmark indexes with Talos’s platform – a unified order and execution management (OEMS) and portfolio management system (PMS) – the combination will create the industry’s first integrated data and investment management platform. This acquisition aligns with Talos’s strategy of building the most comprehensive, one-stop solution for all institutional trading workflows in digital assets. The firms’ complementary services will create synergies for their collective clients, including streamlined access to advanced portfolio analytics, sophisticated risk monitoring, premium indexes and industry-leading execution capabilities. Anton Katz, CEO and Co-Founder of Talos said “By bringing our platforms together, we’re creating a fully integrated, one-stop solution that benefits the clients of both firms. Institutions increasingly look to us to support the entire digital asset investment lifecycle, from trading and portfolio management to market data, on-chain analytics, and portfolio construction.
Health-tech platform Wellgistics Health to use XRPL to process real-time, B2B payments among pharmacies, manufacturers, and vendors; purchase additional XRP and deploy the holdings as collateral to secure financing, and as a source of income generation
Wellgistics Health has filed an S-1 registration statement with the SEC detailing a plan to integrate XRP and the XRP Ledger (XRPL) across its payments and treasury operations. The health-tech company said it will use XRPL to process real-time, low-cost business-to-business payments among pharmacies, manufacturers, and vendors and expand its XRP holdings. The company may raise capital through equity and debt offerings to purchase additional XRP, deploy those holdings to generate income, and use the asset as collateral for future financing. The S-1 positions XRP as an active balance sheet instrument. Wellgistics intends to accumulate XRP and apply it to several functions: as a payments rail, as collateral to secure financing, and as a source of income generation. The company indicated that treating XRP as collateral could provide liquidity without disrupting operations. It also outlined plans to raise capital specifically for digital asset acquisition, signaling that future issuances of equity or debt may be tied to enlarging its XRP position. Wellgistics will implement XRPL to support near-instant settlement and reduced fees for business partners. The company identified a network of approximately 6,000 pharmacies and 150 manufacturers that will interface with the XRPL-based system. The stated objective is to streamline value transfer and improve liquidity across that ecosystem by avoiding the delays and costs present in traditional payment systems. Beyond the LDA arrangement, the S-1 states that Wellgistics may pursue additional equity and debt offerings to finance XRP purchases and related infrastructure. Additionally, the S-1 includes risk disclosures tied to XRP’s regulatory status and ongoing litigation. Wellgistics warned that adverse legal or regulatory outcomes could affect XRP’s price and, as a result, the value of the company’s treasury assets and collateral.
Curve Finance’s Yield Basis protocol shields DeFi liquidity providers from market volatility and liquidation risk by maintaining an overcollateralized position, implementing a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar
Yield Basis, an innovative protocol from Curve Finance, addresses the issue of impermanent loss in the cryptocurrency market. By implementing crvUSD, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, Yield Basis shields liquidity providers from market volatility by maintaining an overcollateralized position. This model empowers investors to participate with confidence and avoid catastrophic losses amid price drops. Yield farming and lending are key components of decentralized finance (DeFi), allowing users to earn returns on cryptocurrency assets. However, the risks of Yield Basis include market volatility and liquidation, which must be navigated with care. Liquidity providers must pivot their strategies according to market conditions to maximize returns and foster long-term value growth. As the DeFi sector evolves, institutional recognition of decentralized finance innovations is increasing, leading to an integration of traditional finance with decentralized frameworks. The recent launch of crvUSD marks a significant milestone towards robust stablecoin infrastructures within DeFi, enhancing capital efficiency and unlocking novel yield avenues for seasoned investors.
BankSocial’s tokenized liquidity network built on private permissioned DLT uses interoperable, tokenized rails to enable direct settlement between credit unions eliminating the need for acquirers and offering a real-time view of all transactions across participants
Bank Social is introducing a private permissioned tokenized liquidity network—a new form of modernized shared branching built on distributed ledger technology that may reshape how credit unions move money among themselves and with their members. According to Bank Social COO Becky Reed, the initiative is less about cryptocurrency speculation and more about creating the next-generation backbone for cooperative financial institutions. Under BankSocial’s new model, if a member of Credit Union A deposits funds at Credit Union B, a third party—a designated acquirer—typically facilitates the transaction, often using legacy infrastructure. Bank Social’s model eliminates the need for that intermediary by using interoperable, tokenized rails to enable direct settlement between institutions. “There’s no need for acquirers anymore,” said Reed. “Every participating credit union on the network can settle directly with any other credit union. It’s faster, cheaper, and more secure.” What really differentiates this new model, Reed emphasized, is network visibility and fraud prevention. Traditional payment systems hand off funds and visibility once money leaves the originating institution, leaving fraud detection fragmented and slow. The tokenized network provides a full, real-time view of all transactions across participants. “Using AI, we can analyze transaction patterns across the network in real time. So, if a fraud ring tries to exploit five different local credit unions within minutes of each other, the system can flag it—and even temporarily pause suspicious activity,” said Reed. The system is tokenized, meaning digital representations of value are issued and tracked on a distributed ledger. But these tokens are used strictly as transactional instruments—not investment vehicles, Reed explained. The fintech provides the technology platform and tokenization infrastructure, allowing credit unions to create and manage their own private liquidity networks, Reed explained.
DeFi platform Gnosis’s integration with Noah’s compliant payments infrastructure to power stablecoin adoption through regulated virtual USD accounts, real-time stablecoin-to-fiat conversion, free on/off-ramps, and cross-border payments
Noah, a regulated global payments infrastructure provider, and Gnosis, a leader in decentralized financial systems, announced a strategic partnership to power the next chapter of stablecoin adoption through seamless integration of real-world financial infrastructure with onchain tools. Noah Gnosis Stablecoin Integration marks a major step in bridging real-world finance with decentralized ecosystems. The partnership makes it possible to have regulated virtual USD accounts, on-chain stablecoin payments, and money transfers across borders. This makes DeFi easier to use for payroll, B2B transactions, and remittances. This collaboration introduces regulated virtual USD accounts for users in the United States and abroad, along with real-time stablecoin-to-fiat conversion, free on/off-ramps, and cross-border payment functionality across 70+ countries. By combining Noah’s compliant infrastructure with Gnosis’s user-centric onchain ecosystem, the partnership makes everyday financial tools like payroll, remittances, and B2B payments available through decentralized finance applications. By embedding compliant stablecoin infrastructure, the collaboration allows these users to transact in USD and stablecoins with full regulatory confidence. For users in emerging markets, it unlocks new access to U.S. dollar-denominated accounts and seamless payments to and from the U.S.—making it easier to earn, save, and do business globally without relying on traditional intermediaries.
Stablecoins: The structural gap between the redemption rights for institutional accounts and retail users and the higher likelihood of redemption pressure in a crisis for EU stablecoins leading to run risks that could hurt financial stability
The passage of the GENIUS Act for stablecoins in the United States has encouraged numerous stablecoin papers and posts. A key concern is what happens if something goes wrong. American Enterprise Institute (AEI) argues for a change in the FDIC rules. If a bank collapses holding stablecoin balances, then the FDIC deposit insurance claims of any stablecoin issuer should be subordinated to all other deposit holders. Circle’s de-pegging event, where the price dropped from $1 to 87.5 cents, draws attention to a major feature of the largest stablecoins – both USDC and Tether do not provide direct redemptions to retail stablecoin holders, but instead work via intermediaries. Another post from the MIT Digital Currency Initiative highlights that during Circle’s de-peg crisis it redeemed about $2 billion in stablecoins – but crucially, these redemptions were not equally accessible to all holders. “This suggests that the primary market peg presumably held for institutional clients, even as the secondary market peg for retail users broke. The divergence highlights the structural gap between the redemption rights for institutional accounts and retail users,” the authors wrote. The EU’s concerns about multi-jurisdiction stablecoins highlight an intuitive finding – if it’s easier to redeem, the run risk is higher. Apart from direct redemption, EU stablecoins will also be more prone to redemption pressure in a crisis because there are no fees for cashing out. The authors additionally suggest that gated redemptions, as proposed in the UK, are a good idea to reduce runs. Even where there is no direct redemption, such as with the two largest stablecoins USDC and Tether, there are different run risks. On the face of it, USDC looks like it has more desirable features. However, ease of redemption directly correlates with run risk. So more arbitrageurs mean easier redemption and elevated vulnerability to runs. Higher levels of liquid assets make the issuer more likely to allow more off-ramps, also increasing run risk. The researchers found another area where more arbitrageurs are beneficial – during normal times, the price of the stablecoin is more stable. These findings highlight a key trade off between price stability and financial stability.
Coinbase’s Base overtakes Solana in daily token issuances driven by rise in Zora, an on-chain social network which runs on Base network that lets users create tokens directly from their posts
Base, the Ethereum Layer 2 network backed by Coinbase, has overtaken Solana (known for its memecoin support) in daily token issuances, Dune analytics data shows. The change is in large part driven by Zora, a burgeoning rising on-chain social network where every post becomes a financial asset. The redesigned app fuses social feeds with token minting, letting users create tokens directly from their posts. That move has helped the little-known ZORA token—which runs on the Base network—jump as much as 440% weekly during the app’s launch. Since the Base App relaunch, activities in Zora have hit all-time highs: over 1.6 million Creator Coins minted, nearly 3 million unique traders, and more than $470 million in total volume. The Creator Coin model is simple but powerful. Each coin has a fixed 1 billion supply, half streamed to the creator over five years, half open to the market. Every trade sends 1% in $ZORA back to the content originator, linking engagement directly to earnings. While the “creator coin” model seems to have simplified token creation to the point that it resembles traditional social media, where every post is instantly tradable, it’s not without its critics.
The projected growth in stablecoin market from its current $250 billion to $900 billion could lead to a 1% decrease in both total bank assets and bank lending, translating into an estimated $325 billion reduction in available bank loans to the economy
An economic bulletin released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City says, “The effect of U.S. dollar stablecoins on the Treasury market will depend on the stablecoin market’s size and future growth.” U.S. banks currently allocate about 50 cents of every dollar in their assets to direct loans to the economy, totaling approximately $13 trillion. A hypothetical $1 shift of funds from a bank deposit to a stablecoin issuer is projected to decrease bank lending by around 50 cents, while simultaneously increasing total Treasury holdings by 30 cents, assuming current asset mixes hold for both banks and issuers. Should the stablecoin market expand as projected from its current $250 billion to $900 billion — a growth scenario considered within independent projections — this $650 billion shift could lead to a 1% decrease in both total bank assets and bank lending, translating into an estimated $325 billion reduction in available bank loans to the economy. The net effect on Treasury demand could vary depending on the source of funds for stablecoin purchases. Ultimately, any increased demand for Treasurys driven by stablecoins inherently diverts funding from other prior uses, including loans to the broader economy. As a result, the greenfield opportunity looms for platform and alternative lenders — the Upstarts and SoFis of the world that either have their own banks or use a mix of funding channels, including institutional investors, to capture at least some of that share of demand.
GENIUS Act for stablecoins passes house on way to being first major U.S. crypto law
The first major crypto regulatory initiative in the U.S. is about to become law after the House of Representatives passed the stablecoin bill known as the GENIUS Act. The approval came directly on the heels of another major legislative accomplishment for the industry, when the House also passed the Clarity Act that would govern the oversight of the digital assets markets in the U.S. The first significant crypto bill is on its way to being signed into law after the U.S. House of Representatives passed stablecoin-regulating legislation known as the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, which now gets forwarded to President Donald Trump. The landmark legislative achievement for the crypto industry marks a sharp turnaround from recent years in which the sector languished under resistant U.S. regulators and a Congress unable to finish policy efforts. And it follows close behind another major House action to pass the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (known as “CLARITY”) — a bill that will establish a full set of rules over the wider crypto markets. The GENIUS Act passed 308-122. Because it arrived as a Senate bill with a 68-30 approval in that chamber, all it needs now is a presidential signature before it becomes the law of the land. Regulators can then begin establishing regulations for the conduct of stablecoin issuers — a field currently dominated by Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC but which has drawn a high level of attention from traditional financial institutions, including Wall Street banks. The legislative process again showed a large number of Democrats joining the Republican majority in favor of tailored regulations for the U.S. crypto industry.
Interactive Brokers is working on enabling instant, 24/7 stablecoin funding for brokerage accounts and supporting asset transfers for commonly traded cryptocurrencies and may potentially issue stablecoins
Interactive Brokers Group is considering launching a stablecoin for customers, joining a number of large financial firms that are betting big on the digital token boom as the U.S. eases regulations around the crypto industry. The deliberations come at a time when the underlying infrastructure of global financial markets is undergoing a once-in-a-generation transformation due to the proliferation of blockchain-based assets like stablecoins. Interactive Brokers’ billionaire founder Thomas Peterffy said the company is working on potentially issuing stablecoins, but has yet to make a final decision on how that will be offered to customers. The popular trading platform is now working on enabling instant, 24/7 stablecoin funding for brokerage accounts, as well as supporting asset transfers for commonly traded cryptocurrencies, said Peterffy, who also sounded a note of caution on the risks of rapid widespread adoption of crypto. Among the options being considered, the firm could allow customers to use stablecoins issued by other financial institutions to fund their accounts, depending upon the credibility of the issuer.