BitGo announced the launch of its WalletConnect integration powered by Reown’s WalletKit SDK, enabling institutions to securely access decentralized applications (dApps) and the broader DeFi ecosystem directly from BitGo’s self-custody hot wallets. The integration enables direct access to DeFi, DAO governance, and trading protocols through a single, secure interface. It brings together BitGo’s enterprise-grade security controls with Reown’s fast, scalable connectivity layer. What You Can Do—All Directly From Your BitGo Self-Custody Wallet: Supply or borrow assets via leading DeFi protocols; Vote in governance proposals across supported DAOs; Access perpetual trading; Swap tokens on AMMs like Uniswap. These capabilities allow institutional clients to deploy capital, participate in protocol operations, and execute onchain strategies—all without leaving BitGo’s custody framework. No asset movement required: Interact with DeFi protocols while keeping assets in your self-custody BitGo wallet; Maintain enterprise-grade security: All transactions are governed by BitGo’s policy engine and access controls; Streamlined experience: Secure, fast, and intuitive access to dApps through WalletConnect—without the need for custom integrations.
Tokenized private credit fund managed by Apollo Global Management and Securitize reaches $100 million in on-chain assets indicative of the growing acceptance of blockchain tech in traditional finance
Apollo Global Management’s tokenized private credit fund, managed by Apollo and Securitize, has reached a $100 million in on-chain assets, highlighting the growing acceptance of blockchain technology in traditional finance. The fund targets key investment areas such as Corporate Direct Lending, Asset-Backed Lending, Performing Credit, Dislocated Credit, and Structured Credit. The $100 million milestone aligns with industry projections, which estimate the global tokenization market will grow from $2.3 billion in 2021 to $5.6 billion by 2026. Securitize’s technology enables the fund to operate across multiple blockchains, enhancing accessibility for institutional investors. The partnership builds on a growing collaboration between traditional finance and digital asset firms, and Securitize’s platform streamlines private market efficiency, offering improved transparency and potentially lower interest rates. However, challenges remain, such as the decentralized nature of blockchain platforms.
Crypto exchange Kraken debuts P2P payments taking on PayPal, Venmo and Block’s CashApp; also plans physical and virtual cards as well as pay-in-advance services like loans
Crypto exchange Kraken launched a peer-to-peer payments app that enables users to send and receive funds – in both cryptocurrency and fiat currency – across more than a hundred countries. The move is a bid to expand Kraken’s offerings beyond its digital asset trading business, and puts the firm in competition with PayPal, Venmo and Block’s CashApp. Krak users will have a dedicated spend account and will be able to instantly send and request payments across 300 different assets, including crypto and local currencies, the company said in a press release. Crypto transfers will be made using blockchain technology, while Kraken will make cash transfers internally without using external banking infrastructure. “We’re able to move money across borders right off the bat, because that’s what we do from a trading perspective in our venues, and we’ve actually already spent over 10 years building out that system for money transmitter licenses in all the jurisdictions,” said Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Kraken. “You have to do that as an exchange anyways, and so what we realized is that our customers just wanted to do more with their money.” Kraken plans to launch a series of products through Krak in the future, including physical and virtual cards as well as pay-in-advance services like loans, the company said.
Volcano Exchange’s financial RWA digital asset leverages blockchain tech to transform high-threshold private banking services into divisible and tradable digital assets lowering the entry barrier for retail investors
Volcano Exchange (VEX), a global digital trading platform for Real World Assets (RWA), today announced the official launch of its first financial RWA digital asset–HL (Morgan Stanley Private Wealth RWA Token). Backed by the future returns of Morgan Stanley Private Bank’s premium wealth management products, HL has a total issuance of $20 million, corresponding to 200 million HL tokens, with an initial subscription price of $0.1 per token. This issuance marks a deep integration of traditional finance and blockchain technology, offering global investors more transparent, efficient, and flexible digital asset trading and staking services. HL is VEX’s first RWA digital asset underpinned by the revenue rights of a traditional financial institution, with its value directly pegged to the future earnings of Morgan Stanley Private Bank products. Leveraging blockchain technology, VEX transforms high-threshold private banking services into divisible and tradable digital assets, lowering the entry barrier for retail investors while maintaining the stability and compliance of traditional finance. With a total supply of 200 million tokens, HL is available for subscription on the VEX platform at an initial price of $0.1 per token. After the subscription period concludes, HL will be officially listed for trading, becoming VEX’s first RWA digital financial trading pair. Holders can freely trade on secondary markets or participate in value-added services such as staking and lending through VEX’s digital finance sector, maximizing asset liquidity. The launch of HL represents a major milestone in the RWA space. By digitizing traditional financial assets through blockchain technology, we enhance their liquidity and composability. Moving forward, VEX will continue to onboard premium assets from top-tier institutions, building a global RWA financial infrastructure.
Fnality partner Adhara and ioBuilders merge to scale DLT for institutions and capital markets
Fnality partner Adhara is merging with fellow institutional blockchain developer ioBuilders in a move that expands their scale to serve institutions through an expanded product offering. Adhara offers tokenized cash and settlement solutions, whereas ioBuilders has focused on capital markets. Both firms have a focus on Ethereum technologies, although ioBuilders also works with Hedera Hashgraph. Each company has worked with numerous banks. Adhara’s biggest customer is Fnality, the wholesale settlement solution owned by 20 institutions. That’s resulted in it working alongside the DTCC, Lloyds and Santander with other projects involving Deutsche Bank and UBS. It also has a contract from the Bank of Spain for a wholesale CBDC and tokenized deposit trial. ioBuilders with its 80 staff has also partnered several institutions, including the BME stock exchange, IDB and BBVA for a bond issuance, and Renta 4 Banco and Allfunds for fund tokenization. Industry investors see the combination as strategically significant. “This is the leading bank-to-bank blockchain software provider globally – ready to replace incumbents,” said Gerrit Seidel, General Partner at Yabeo which co-led Adhara’s 2021 Series A funding.
‘Solvers’ can help address fragmented liquidity in DeFi by enabling interoperability across chains through a unified execution layer that allows for invisible bridging and composability at the infrastructure layer
Decentralized finance (DeFi) is facing a significant challenge as the proliferation of new blockchains has fragmented its once-unified liquidity, threatening its core advantage of composability. The fragmentation of DeFi’s liquidity across dozens of L1s, rollups, and appchains creates fundamental inefficiencies, such as thinner markets, higher slippage, and weaker user and protocol incentives. The shift to multichain has been necessary for scaling, but without a way to emulate composability across chains, it risks undermining DeFi’s success. The lack of a unified execution layer in DeFi systems has led to inconsistent interfaces, fragmented pricing, and uncertain outcomes. Solvers, sophisticated actors, can help solve this issue by enabling interoperability across chains. By expressing an intent, solvers execute across chains, abstracting away the complexity underneath. This approach allows for invisible bridging, allowing one-click swaps, deposits, or interactions that move across chains without the user needing to manage the complexity. Multichain is not just theoretical anymore, but the environment in which DeFi operates today. Without solving for composability at the infrastructure layer, DeFi may not scale with it. The risk is not dramatic collapse, but slow erosion of thinner liquidity, weaker incentives, and fewer things that work across chains. Solver infrastructure offers a way out by mimicking the experience of synchrony across fragmented chains, preserving DeFi’s power and unlocking what comes next.
Deutsche Bank planning to debut crypto custody service, developed using technology division of crypto exchange Bitpanda it recruited in 2026
Deutsche Bank is reportedly planning to debut its cryptocurrency custody service in 2026. The banking giant recruited the technology division of crypto exchange Bitpanda to help develop the offering. Deutsche Bank’s corporate bank, which first announced its custody plans in 2022, will also continue to work with Swiss tech company Taurus on the service. The custody project is happening as big banks are upping their focus on digital assets, bolstered by new European regulations and a more pro-crypto environment in the United States. “We can certainly see the momentum of stablecoins along with a regulatory supportive environment, especially in the U.S.,” said Sabih Behzad, Deutsche Bank’s head of digital assets and currencies transformation. “Banks have a wide variety of options available to engage in the stablecoin industry — everything from acting as a reserve manager, through to issuing their own stablecoin, either alone or in a consortium.”
Tokenized stocks are a synthetic wrapper with tokens that track real stocks much like derivatives, suffer from low liquidity and are very similar to what contracts for difference (CFDs) brokers already offer
Robinhood, Kraken, Gemini, and a few other crypto exchanges now offer tokenised stocks outside the US, while Coinbase wants to bring them into the US. While platforms are currently offering listed stocks, a key feature of tokenised stocks is their potential to make unlisted shares of private companies tradable. Robinhood has demonstrated this by rolling out tokenised shares of OpenAI and SpaceX to users in Europe. Despite the many claimed benefits and loud voices supporting them, some critics are pointing out the drawbacks. Anton Golub, the Chief Business Officer at crypto exchange Freedx, questioned the marketing claims and noted that tokenised stocks are very similar to what contracts for difference (CFDs) brokers are already offering in Europe and elsewhere. It’s wrapper,” he wrote in a LinkedIn post. “It’s not real equity,” he added, pointing out that people would be buying tokens that track real stocks – much like derivatives. Furthermore, when it comes to round-the-clock access, liquidity remains a concern. CFDs brokers and retail platforms do offer after-market trading, but in practice, liquidity during those hours is very low. “No market maker can hedge exposure on Saturday or Sunday,” Golub said. “That means there is no liquidity and you’ll be quoted a fake price with wide spreads.” “Tokenized stocks only make sense if they are natively issued by companies themselves [or] they exist as primary asset, not a synthetic wrapper,” Golub added.
ALT5 Sigma’s crypto-as-a-service solution enables institutions to seamlessly integrate stablecoins into core operations via APIs regardless of the issuing entity or blockchain protocol through support for both permissioned and permissionless stablecoins
ALT5 Sigma Corporation, provider of Crypto-as-a-Service infrastructure, has launched a comprehensive stablecoin management solution for U.S. institutions. Designed for regulated entities, the platform enables seamless integration, utilization, and oversight of stablecoins-regardless of the issuing entity or blockchain protocol. Whether managing proprietary tokens or leveraging market leaders, institutions can operationalize, monitor, and scale stablecoin use through ALT5 Sigma’s infrastructure. Integration with existing workflows and systems is supported via robust APIs. ALT5 Sigma’s infrastructure supports both permissioned and permissionless stablecoins, enabling institutions to: Integrate stablecoins into core operations, regardless of the blockchain or issuance model; Manage risk, compliance, and wallet infrastructure through built-in KYC/AML and monitoring tools; Connect to internal systems via APIs, including treasury, ERP, CRM, and banking platforms; Enable programmable flows, such as recurring disbursements, settlement automation, and cross-border transfers. Ron Pitters, Chief Operating Officer of ALT5 Sigma Corporation said, “By integrating stablecoins into enterprise systems, we enable real-time payments, automated settlements, and streamlined treasury functions-without requiring custom blockchain development.”
Ripple Ledger is to support a prime broker’s post trade settlement, data reconciliation, and collateral movements lowering settlement times to just 3 to 5 seconds
In a significant move, Ripple recently confirmed that XRPL will play a core role in powering Hidden Road’s post-trade processes, marking a potential turning point for how trades are settled in prime brokerage. Ripple’s UK and Europe Managing Director, Cassie Craddock, has revealed that XRPL will manage the post-trade infrastructure for Hidden Road, a prime broker handling over $10 billion in daily cleared volume. According to Craddock, the ledger will support trade settlement, data reconciliation, and collateral movements. This integration is expected to drastically cut settlement times, from the standard 24 hours to just 3 to 5 seconds. Craddock added, “We also see that there is an active audience of 300 institutional clients. We are very much focused on building our business, developing new cases and utility for digital assets, and enabling and solving customer problems for our banking and institutional customers.” Beyond infrastructure, Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin will serve as the core collateral for Hidden Road’s trading services. Craddock confirmed this role, saying RLUSD enables the bridging of the digital asset space to TradFi, highlighting Ripple’s broader ambition to integrate stable digital value into traditional financial ecosystems. “The XRP Ledger will be used as post-trade for all of Hidden Road’s Prime Brokerage Services,” Craddock mentioned. “We will use RLUSD as collateral to enable the bridging of digital assets to tradfi.”