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Microsoft, Alphabet and Goldman Sachs object to tokenized shares on OKXICE

Microsoft, Alphabet and Goldman Sachs object to tokenized shares on OKXICE

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Three of the largest U.S. corporations have told OKXICE they do not want tokenized versions of their shares traded on the venue. For BlockWest readers, the growing objector list tests how much of the SEC’s tokenized-stock framework issuers can veto in practice.

  • Microsoft, Alphabet and Goldman Sachs are among seven new issuers objecting to tokenized shares on OKXICE.
  • The disclosed tally of objecting companies reached 16, up from nine in the earlier public notice.
  • Watch whether the 47 rostered companies without a disclosed objection stay silent under the SEC’s five-year Innovation Exemption.
  • 16 issuers with disclosed objections, up from nine in the earlier notice
  • 47 rostered companies without a disclosed objection, out of 62 originally listed
  • 63 tickers in OKXICE’s original notice, representing 62 companies
  • 5-year length of the SEC Innovation Exemption OKXICE seeks to operate under

Microsoft, Alphabet and Goldman Sachs have objected to tokenized versions of their shares trading on OKXICE, the planned venue from crypto exchange OKX and New York Stock Exchange parent Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), CoinDesk reported. The three are among seven additional objectors.

The updated public notice, dated Monday (October 19), lifts the disclosed total to 16 companies, from nine in the earlier notice. The document does not explain their reasons or specify when they submitted their objections.

Objections now cover 15 of the 62 companies OKXICE listed

OKXICE’s original notice identified 63 tickers representing 62 companies, with Alphabet appearing through both share classes. Fifteen of those companies have now objected, leaving 47 without a disclosed objection. That puts roughly a quarter of the proposed roster on record as objecting.

The seven new names are Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), Goldman Sachs (GS), Qualcomm (QCOM), Caterpillar (CAT), McDonald’s (MCD) and Western Digital (WDC).

The tally is a hurdle for the SEC’s new framework for tokenized stock trading, which was unveiled last month. That framework allows issuers to block venues from offering blockchain-based versions of their shares.

Cerebras is the only objector outside OKXICE’s original roster

Cerebras Systems (CBRS) is the other objecting issuer, and it was not on the original proposed trading roster. The count of 16 is therefore 15 roster companies plus Cerebras.

Earlier objectors were Broadcom (AVGO), Verizon (VZ), UnitedHealth (UNH), CoreWeave (CRWV), AppLovin (APP), Applied Digital (APLD), Rocket Lab (RKLB) and Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI). Those nine, including Cerebras, made up the nine in the earlier notice.

OKXICE’s October 5 plan rests on the SEC’s five-year Innovation Exemption

OKXICE announced its plans on October 5, seeking to operate under the SEC’s five-year “Innovation Exemption.” The framework allows qualifying venues to trade tokenized U.S. stocks through automated market makers and liquidity pools, while giving issuers an opportunity to object.

The venue plans round-the-clock, stablecoin-settled trading of tokens backed one-for-one by shares. Those tokens would carry equivalent dividend and voting rights.

The reporting includes no comment from the objecting companies, OKX or ICE. Only the notice’s list of names is on the record, so each issuer’s position beyond the objection itself is unstated.

The BlockWest read. We read the objections as a contest over who controls the listing decision. Because issuers hold the opt-out, OKXICE’s usable roster is set by the companies, not by the venue. Large names such as Microsoft and Goldman Sachs removing themselves narrows what an allocator could access at launch. The venue’s liquidity plan now depends on the 47 names that have stayed quiet.

The open question is whether the next update to OKXICE’s public notice adds names to the 16, and whether any objecting issuer explains its reasons, which the current notice does not.

Institutions managing €800 billion demand proof crypto networks generate token returns

Institutions managing €800 billion demand proof crypto networks generate token returns

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Institutional allocators managing hundreds of billions in assets are demanding proof that cryptocurrency networks generate measurable earnings tied to token value, not just ecosystem activity. The question signals a maturation in how large wealth managers evaluate crypto investments beyond speculation and toward fundamental revenue models.

  • Institutions managing €800 billion in assets raised concerns that crypto ecosystem traction lacks fundamental investment justification during closed-door meetings.
  • Robinhood Chain processed 793.7 million transactions and $51 million in network fees in its first full quarter, though 74 percent came in a 12-day surge.
  • Arbitrum governance token ARB is documented solely as a voting mechanism, leaving allocators unclear how network revenues translate to token-holder returns.
  • €800B Assets under management by institutions questioning crypto’s fundamental value proposition.
  • $1.07B Stablecoin supply on Robinhood Chain by quarter-end, up from $102.3 million at launch.
  • 74% Share of quarterly network fees earned during a 12-day period in late August and early September.
  • 12 months Timeframe Arbitrum’s head of strategy predicted for institutions to become very active participants.

Brendan Ma, head of investment strategy at the Arbitrum Foundation, engaged with representatives of institutions managing approximately €800 billion in assets through intensive closed-door meetings focused on cryptocurrency investments. CryptoSlate reported that the core tension recurring across these conversations centered on a fundamental disconnect: blockchain networks demonstrated genuine activity and ecosystem development, yet allocators saw no clear link between that traction and financial returns for token holders.

There’s been business or ecosystem traction that has been divorced from any fundamental case.

Brendan Ma, head of investment strategy, Arbitrum Foundation

Ma explained that private bankers and wealth managers repeatedly pressed him on how network activity translated into value for an investor holding the asset. Institutions expressed interest in networks that were “building towards durable, sustainable network revenues and a P&L that can be geared towards investment and reinvestment.”

The revenue question institutions are demanding answers on

Allocators distinguished between two separate investment pathways. One involves deciding whether to purchase and hold cryptocurrency assets directly, typically driven by conviction about which infrastructure protocols will underpin future tokenization. The other involves building products on top of blockchain networks and using infrastructure to deploy them with clients.

For the first group, the critical question centers on which infrastructure will power the tokenization of real-world assets. The second group of builders asks which assets make sense to bring on chain. Ma noted that stablecoins and Treasury bonds moved fastest into blockchain environments, and competition is intensifying across private credit, equities, commodities, and structured strategies like hedge fund products.

Private and publicly listed banks Ma encountered possessed sophisticated thinking about both products and investments but remained largely quiet about their ambitions publicly.

Robinhood Chain’s early numbers reveal the revenue-to-activity challenge

Robinhood Chain, an Ethereum layer-2 network built using Arbitrum technology, launched publicly on July 1 and provided an immediate test case. Between its launch and the end of the third quarter, the network processed 793.7 million transactions and generated $51 million in fees paid by users, according to Robinhood’s October 9 quarterly report. Application revenue measured separately reached $591.4 million during the same period.

The fee distribution exposed a concentration risk. A 12-day window from August 30 to September 10 accounted for 74 percent of the quarter’s total network fees, suggesting the early surge may not represent sustainable economics. Stablecoin supply on Robinhood Chain expanded from $102.3 million at launch to $1.07 billion by quarter-end, a tenfold increase that nonetheless left open questions about persistence.

Allocators now face two critical uncertainties: whether activity levels will sustain after the launch spike fades, and how any resulting revenue reaches the investors who bought the token.

How governance tokens become investment cases

Arbitrum’s governance documentation describes the ARB token as a mechanism for voting on decentralized autonomous organization proposals. No documented connection ties governance participation to token-holder economics or returns.

For an institutional investment committee to approve allocation, the case would need to explain how governance rights connect to network economics and generate value for token holders. Alternatively, an institution valuing the infrastructure itself could build on Arbitrum independently without taking an ARB position, making the token a separate decision from the infrastructure investment.

Ma predicted that within 12 months these institutions would become “very active, very knowledgeable” participants in crypto, suggesting their engagement is still in early stages despite their current skepticism.

The BlockWest read. These allocators are not rejecting crypto; they are demanding grown-up financial metrics. The infrastructure case for blockchains is separate from and stronger than the investment case for any single token, and institutions will likely build on multiple chains while remaining selective about which governance tokens merit capital. Sustained fees and transparent revenue distribution are table stakes, not differentiators.

The question Brendan Ma will face in the months ahead is whether any major blockchain network can demonstrate that fees paid by users and applications translate directly into measurable returns for token holders—or whether the gulf between infrastructure value and token value has become permanent. Watch for the first institutional fund prospectus that treats a blockchain token as an equity-like claim on network revenues rather than a governance placeholder or speculative bet.

Federated Hermes to issue tokenized fund shares in early 2027

Federated Hermes to issue tokenized fund shares in early 2027

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Federated Hermes, a $911 billion asset manager, is moving beyond third-party tokenization experiments to issue its own blockchain-based fund shares in early 2027. This marks a major institutional commitment to onchain finance and signals accelerating adoption of tokenized securities among Wall Street’s largest players.

  • Federated Hermes plans to launch tokenized fund shares in early 2027, taking direct control rather than relying on third parties.
  • Money market funds are the likely starting point, leveraging the firm’s $911 billion in assets and deep expertise in liquidity management.
  • Prometheum will handle custody, clearing and settlement, making products available through traditional brokerages and financial advisers rather than only blockchain-native channels.
  • $911B Assets under management at Federated Hermes, positioning it among major institutional players.
  • Early 2027 Timeline for launch of first tokenized fund share classes.
  • $5.5T Citi projection for tokenized securities market size by 2030.
  • 15 years Kevin Barr’s tenure at BNY before joining Federated Hermes in May 2026.

CoinDesk reported Tuesday that Federated Hermes, the Pittsburgh-based asset manager, intends to issue tokenized fund shares directly in early 2027. The initiative extends the firm’s prior blockchain experiments, which involved London-based Archax, Goldman Sachs and Singapore-based Conduit Digital tokenizing existing fund products. With this new effort, Federated Hermes will take an operational lead in issuing tokenized share classes itself rather than relying on external platforms to create digital versions of conventional holdings.

Money market funds positioned as the natural entry point

Kevin Barr, director of digital asset products and platform at Federated Hermes, told CoinDesk that money market funds represent the logical starting point given the firm’s substantial liquidity management business. Such funds invest in short-term debt and allow investors to park cash while earning yield, a use case that has already driven tokenization efforts across Wall Street at firms including BlackRock, Franklin Templeton and JPMorgan.

You can have instantaneous movement of those funds. You can have programmability of those funds in a way that is perhaps more difficult or operationally inefficient with traditional infrastructure.

Kevin Barr, director of digital asset products and platform, Federated Hermes

Tokenized money market funds enable 24-hour asset settlement and can serve as collateral for loans or trades, allowing firms to deploy cash reserves without liquidating positions. Citi has projected that the tokenized securities market could reach $5.5 trillion by 2030, underscoring institutional conviction in the technology’s potential to reshape market infrastructure.

Distribution through Prometheum bridges traditional brokerages and blockchain infrastructure

Federated Hermes has partnered with Prometheum, a New York-based digital securities infrastructure provider, to handle regulated brokerage, custody and clearing services. Prometheum’s SEC-registered broker-dealer subsidiaries will provide the operational backbone, while its correspondent clearing platform allows other broker-dealers to offer Federated Hermes’ tokenized products to their clients without requiring system overhauls.

Barr, who previously spent 15 years at BNY Mellon where he led digital cash and innovation initiatives, joined Federated Hermes in May 2026 and emphasized that access, rather than underlying blockchain technology, represents the primary barrier to wider institutional adoption.

By embedding tokenized securities within established distribution channels, Federated Hermes positions the products as a natural extension of its existing franchise rather than as a specialized or experimental offering. This approach differs markedly from earlier tokenization efforts that required investors to access blockchain-native platforms or specialized infrastructure.

The BlockWest read. Federated Hermes’ shift toward self-issued tokenized funds reflects institutional confidence that blockchain infrastructure can support trillions in mainstream finance. The real competitive pressure, however, lies not in blockchain technology itself but in distribution: Prometheum’s role as a regulatory bridge suggests that custody, clearing and broker-dealer licensing remain the genuine gatekeepers to institutional adoption.

Federated Hermes has not disclosed which specific blockchains will host its tokenized funds or which initial fund products will launch. Watch for those details in coming months as the firm works toward the early 2027 launch window and for any regulatory guidance from the SEC or financial advisers’ compliance teams on distributing blockchain-based share classes through traditional channels.

IMF validates demand for tokenized stocks despite volatility and illiquidity concerns

IMF validates demand for tokenized stocks despite volatility and illiquidity concerns

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The International Monetary Fund has identified genuine demand for tokenized stocks, validating a key use case for blockchain finance, but warns that fragmentation, volatility and illiquidity remain material obstacles to wider adoption. Regulators and market participants must establish interoperability standards and legal frameworks before the market scales beyond its current $2.3 billion size.

  • More than half of tokenized stock trades occur outside regular U.S. market hours, with approximately 80% of trades involving fractional shares.
  • Tokenized equities are roughly 1.5 times as volatile as traditional shares and significantly less liquid, according to IMF analysis.
  • The tokenized equity market represents $2.3 billion of a $65 billion real-world asset tokenization space, compared to $160 trillion in global equity market capitalization.
  • $2.3 billion Tokenized equities market share of total $65 billion RWA sector
  • 80% Share of tokenized stock trades involving fractional ownership, sub-one-share transactions
  • 85% Overnight price moves reflected in traditional shares within five minutes of market open
  • 1.5x Volatility of tokenized equities relative to traditional equivalent shares

CoinDesk reported that the International Monetary Fund’s latest Global Financial Stability Report examined the five most actively traded tokenized U.S. equities, including Tesla (TSLA), Nvidia (NVDA) and Alphabet (GOOG), as well as the Nasdaq 100 Index, across centralized and decentralized trading venues. The study found that tokenized stocks are delivering on two long-promised benefits of blockchain finance: round-the-clock trading and fractional ownership. Yet the IMF also documented significant trade-offs: tokenized equities remain markedly more volatile and substantially less liquid than their traditional counterparts.

Round-the-clock trading and fractional shares show real investor demand

The IMF’s analysis of trading patterns reveals that market participants are actively using tokenized equities for their practical advantages. More than half of all trades in tokenized stocks occurred outside regular U.S. market hours, demonstrating sustained demand for 24/7 access. About 80% of trades involved less than one share, showing that investors value the ability to purchase fractional ownership at lower entry points.

The overnight price discovery in tokenized markets also carries measurable information. More than 85% of overnight movement in tokenized shares was reflected in their traditional counterparts within five minutes of U.S. market open, according to the IMF. This price correlation suggests that tokenized venues are contributing to overall price efficiency rather than operating in isolation.

Volatility and illiquidity pose structural challenges to market growth

The IMF’s report found that tokenized equities are approximately 1.5 times as volatile as equivalent shares on traditional venues and significantly less liquid overall. The root cause is not simply the nascency of blockchain markets, the IMF argued, but rather fragmentation across incompatible systems. Today’s market is split across private platforms, public blockchains, custodians and settlement tools that frequently do not interoperate.

This fragmentation prevents the tokenized equity market from achieving the cost and time savings that the technology theoretically enables. The IMF noted that tokenization could eventually replace manual record reconciliation, automate dividend payments and speed up collateral transfers. However, realizing these benefits requires sufficient issuers, investors, trading venues and settlement assets operating on compatible infrastructure.

Market expansion requires legal clarity and interoperability standards before scaling

The tokenized real-world asset market has grown rapidly to approximately $65 billion as of July 31, with tokenized equities accounting for roughly $2.3 billion of that total. For context, global equity market capitalization reached just under $160 trillion in 2025, according to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. The IMF’s assessment is that while tokenized stocks show real use cases, the market remains too small and fragmented to present systemic risk today.

Multiple platforms are now entering the space. Bullish, a Gibraltar-based crypto company and CoinDesk’s parent, introduced tokenized equity trading in August. Earlier in October, OKX and Intercontinental Exchange, which owns and operates the New York Stock Exchange, filed plans for a venue offering round-the-clock trading in tokenized U.S. shares. Crypto exchanges Coinbase Global (COIN), Kraken and Binance also offer tokenized stock trading, as does Robinhood Markets (HOOD).

The IMF warned that automated margin calls, liquidations and collateral movement between platforms could make market shocks harder to contain as trading expands to 24 hours daily.

The fund stated that legal rules governing ownership, safeguards for liquidity, interoperability between systems and settlement arrangements must be developed before the market grows substantially larger. Bitget CEO Gracy Chen told the IMF that “moving assets onchain is only the first step. The bigger question is how efficiently that capital can work once it is there.”

Moving assets onchain is only the first step. The bigger question is how efficiently that capital can work once it is there.

Gracy Chen, CEO of Bitget

The BlockWest read. The IMF’s findings matter to institutional allocators and settlement infrastructure providers because they quantify what works in tokenization (pricing efficiency, access) and what remains broken (liquidity, volatility). Before capital flows meaningfully into tokenized equities, market participants need interoperable custody and settlement layers that today’s fragmented ecosystem does not yet provide.

Regulators and exchanges must clarify the legal ownership framework and liquidity safeguards for tokenized equities before material capital migration from traditional markets occurs. The interoperability standard that enables seamless settlement across multiple platforms will determine whether tokenized equity trading becomes a marginal feature or a meaningful share of overall equity trading volume.

Tokenized commodities expand into lending and oil products beyond gold

Tokenized commodities expand into lending and oil products beyond gold

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Tokenized commodities are expanding beyond gold into lending markets and energy products, potentially unlocking blockchain-based financing for assets traditionally reserved for large institutions. The sector could grow to over $100 billion within a decade if companies solve custody, logistics and borrower risk challenges.

  • Tokenized commodities market reached $5.55 billion by end of March 2026, up from $1.43 billion at start of 2025.
  • Paxos Labs’ PAXGy token generates lending income by deploying gold reserves to institutional borrowers, allowing holders to accumulate more gold.
  • EnSub expanded its oil token to Solana on October 2 and is developing natural gas and Brent crude products for working capital and hedging.
  • $5.55B Tokenized commodities market cap at end of March 2026
  • $1.43B Market cap at beginning of 2025, showing 288% growth in 15 months
  • 90% Share of growth accounted for by Paxos and Tether gold tokens
  • $100B Projected tokenized commodities market size within one decade

CoinDesk reported that executives at Paxos Labs, Theo and Energy Substantiation view tokenized commodities as more than a mechanism to track prices or ease buying. They argue blockchain networks can connect investors seeking income with businesses needing inventory financing, expanding access to markets historically closed to smaller players. The sector’s foundation remains narrow: gold and silver tokens dominated growth through March 2026, but the infrastructure now supports lending, energy products and collateral financing that could broaden the addressable market substantially.

Paxos bets on gold lending to unlock smaller investors

Paxos Labs is deploying PAXGy tokens to institutional borrowers, structuring the product so that lending income accrues to token holders in the form of additional gold. Each PAXGy token is backed by PAX Gold and designed to become redeemable for more PAXG as underlying lending rates are paid back in ounce terms, effectively allowing holders to accumulate gold while maintaining price exposure.

The big proposition is access.

Bhau Kotecha, co-founder of Paxos Labs

Kotecha told CoinDesk that gold lending has historically required scale and relationships unavailable to many investors. He sees potential demand from individuals, family offices and institutions, with borrowing against PAXGy as a possible subsequent step.

The model carries risks. Lending returns are not guaranteed, and borrower defaults could erode the token’s value, creating a trade-off between yield and security for holders seeking exposure to the metal’s price alone.

Silver and energy tokens address different financing needs

Theo’s thSLVR product passes income from institutional silver leases to holders while maintaining exposure to the metal’s price. Theo Chief Investment Officer Iggy Ioppe forecasts a tokenized commodities market worth tens of billions within five years and more than $100 billion within a decade, with silver as the natural second market after gold.

Ioppe sees growth coming from institutions seeking productive collateral, refiners financing inventory and corporate treasuries seeking assets that settle quickly. Greater volatility and tighter available supply of silver complicate the opportunity but also strengthen the case for tokenization among users with established leasing relationships.

Oil presents larger logistical challenges and, in EnSub’s view, substantial upside. EnSub expanded its WTIC token from Ethereum to Solana on Friday (October 2), with each token representing one barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude backed by verified physical inventory. Co-founder and CEO JP Thieriot said natural gas and Brent tokens are under development.

Energy tokenization faces custody and settlement hurdles

Thieriot expects demand from energy buyers hedging costs, investors seeking exposure and suppliers needing working capital, predicting oil tokens could account for a quarter of the oil market within 10 years. The executives differ on how quickly energy can follow metals into widespread tokenization.

Ioppe argued that storage and transport make income-generating energy tokens harder to build than precious metals products. Thieriot countered that “verifiable inventory, workable custody and settlement” are the essential prerequisites for commodities continuously in motion.

Expansion will therefore depend on connecting tokens to reliable physical markets and giving owners a compelling reason to use them over existing financing mechanisms. The path forward requires solving not just technology but logistics, custody infrastructure and borrower creditworthiness across multiple asset classes.

The BlockWest read. The sector’s growth reflects a shift from passive price exposure toward productive yield. Institutions already hold commodities; tokenization succeeds only if it beats existing financing costs. Borrower defaults in PAXGy or thSLVR would demonstrate that blockchain settlement and custody remain the easy part, while creditworthiness assessment remains the hard one.

The critical test arrives as EnSub scales oil and natural gas tokens beyond Ethereum and Solana. Within 12 months, the market will reveal whether energy companies adopt tokenized working capital at meaningful scale or whether storage, transport and regulatory fragmentation keep oil financing in traditional channels. Ioppe’s forecast of $100 billion by 2036 assumes that happens; Thieriot’s prediction of oil tokens capturing a quarter of the market by 2036 hinges on verifiable inventory systems and custody arrangements that do not yet exist at commercial scale.

Securitize tokenizes 12 major U.S. stocks on Solana blockchain

Securitize tokenizes 12 major U.S. stocks on Solana blockchain

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Securitize is bringing tokenized versions of 12 major U.S. stocks to Solana, with plans to expand trading to the New York Stock Exchange and a new crypto-focused venue. This move signals accelerating institutional adoption of blockchain-based equities as regulators create pathways for tokenized securities trading.

  • Securitize Stocks will tokenize 12 U.S. companies including Apple, Nvidia, Tesla, Microsoft and Amazon on Solana.
  • Each token is backed one-for-one by an actual share and designed to preserve dividends and voting rights.
  • Trading planned for NYSE’s 24/7 digital platform and OKXICE joint venture, pending regulatory approval and venue launch.
  • 12 U.S. publicly traded companies launching with Securitize Stocks tokenization.
  • USDC Stablecoin settlement currency for initial PropAMM platform trades.

CoinDesk reported Thursday that tokenization platform Securitize is launching Securitize Stocks, a product that converts shares of major U.S. corporations into blockchain-based tokens on the Solana network. The initial roster includes Apple, Nvidia, Tesla, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Netflix, Circle, Strategy and Palantir. Trading will launch on Securitize’s existing PropAMM platform, a Solana-based venue, with Jump Trading supplying liquidity and settlement occurring in USDC stablecoin. The offering reflects a broader Wall Street push to move equities onto blockchain infrastructure, enabling around-the-clock trading, faster settlement and potential use of stocks as collateral in onchain lending markets.

Tokens designed to preserve shareholder rights and market protections

Each Securitize Stock token is backed one-for-one by an actual share held in custody, structured to maintain economic benefits and shareholder entitlements including dividends and voting rights. The tokens represent security entitlements rather than direct ownership on corporate registers, though conversion to direct ownership may become possible as companies adopt tokenization themselves.

The opportunity is to bring equities onchain without leaving behind the ownership, investor protections and market infrastructure that make U.S. capital markets work. Securitize Stocks are designed around that principle, while creating a bridge to a future where issuers themselves can participate directly in tokenization.

Carlos Domingo, Chairman and CEO of Securitize

RQD will provide clearing, custody and settlement infrastructure connecting tokenized shares to traditional securities markets. Ripple Prime plans to explore institutional applications for the assets, while eligible investors in the U.S., Europe and permitted markets will initially access tokens during extended market hours with plans to expand to 24/7 availability.

NYSE and OKXICE expansion hinges on regulatory approval and venue launch

Securitize Stocks are planned for listing on the New York Stock Exchange’s forthcoming 24/7 digital trading platform and the OKXICE Tokenized Securities Venue, a joint venture between NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and crypto exchange OKX. Both expansions remain conditional on the venues launching and obtaining necessary regulatory clearances. According to a filing this week, the OKX-ICE joint venture has submitted paperwork to introduce tokenized stock trading under the Securities and Exchange Commission’s framework.

The SEC introduced an innovation exemption last month to establish a regulatory pathway for new tokenized securities trading venues built on blockchain infrastructure.

Nick Ducoff, general manager of institutional at Solana Foundation, said that tokenized equities provide worldwide investors access to opportunities they might otherwise lack, “at internet scale.”

The BlockWest read. Securitize’s move succeeds because it layers blockchain efficiency onto institutional guardrails rather than replacing them. The preservation of voting rights and dividend entitlements, combined with RQD custody backing and eventual NYSE integration, makes these tokens fundamentally different from pure crypto assets. For asset managers and custodians, this creates a new collateral class without abandoning fiduciary standards.

The immediate catalyst for investor interest will be whether NYSE and OKXICE launch their platforms on schedule and whether the SEC’s innovation exemption creates a durable regulatory moat. Watch for whether Securitize expands the company list beyond 12, and whether other blockchain platforms or tokenization firms announce competing offerings under the same regulatory pathway.

Standard Chartered launches institutional digital-asset custody in Singapore.

Standard Chartered launches institutional digital-asset custody in Singapore.

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Standard Chartered is launching institutional digital-asset custody in Singapore, marking its expansion into a major Asian wealth hub and explicitly covering stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets alongside cryptocurrencies. The move underscores how global banks are building regulated infrastructure to capture institutional demand in jurisdictions where crypto adoption remains nascent but growing.

  • Standard Chartered will offer custody for selected cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and tokenized real-world assets to institutional and accredited investor clients in Singapore.
  • The service expands the bank’s digital-asset custody network across the UAE, Luxembourg, Hong Kong, and now Singapore, all subject to regulatory approval.
  • The bank has not disclosed which assets it will support or when the custody service will launch, leaving implementation details unresolved.
  • 55 Markets where Standard Chartered operates globally as a leading international banking group
  • May 2026 When Standard Chartered agreed to acquire remaining stake in Zodia Custody from Northern Trust

Standard Chartered announced Thursday (October 8) plans to launch digital-asset custody services in Singapore for institutional clients, according to the bank’s statement. The offering will cover selected cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets, subject to applicable regulatory requirements, and will sit within the bank’s Financing and Securities Services division rather than operate as a retail product.

Standard Chartered extends custody network across major financial centers

The Singapore launch extends Standard Chartered’s digital-asset custody footprint beyond existing operations in the United Arab Emirates, Luxembourg and Hong Kong. As CoinDesk reported, the move positions the bank to capture institutional demand in Singapore, one of Asia’s key wealth-management and digital-asset hubs.

Patrick Lee, Standard Chartered’s Singapore chief executive and CEO for ASEAN and South Asia, said the bank sees rising institutional demand for trusted infrastructure to move and safeguard tokenized assets. “Robust infrastructure will be critical to supporting the secure movement, safekeeping, and servicing of tokenised assets at an institutional scale,” Lee said in the bank’s statement.

Secure and regulated custody is a critical foundation of the digital asset ecosystem. As a GSIB we provide the trust, security and institutional safeguards needed to support broader market participation and adoption.

Ole Matthiessen, Global Head of Transaction Services and Digital Assets, Standard Chartered

Zodia custody acquisition sets foundation for institutional expansion

Standard Chartered has been building this business through its custody arm, Zodia, which the bank created with Northern Trust. In May 2026, Standard Chartered agreed to acquire the remaining stake in Zodia Custody, strengthening its control over the infrastructure. Last month, the bank began offering institutional spot bitcoin and ether trading through its Dubai branch’s foreign-exchange platform, signaling its broader push into digital assets.

The Singapore custody service will integrate with the bank’s existing asset-servicing capabilities, enabling clients to move seamlessly from safeguarding traditional assets to tokenizing and holding digital versions of those assets within an institutional-grade framework. This connected approach distinguishes Standard Chartered from competitors offering custody alone.

Critical details on supported assets and launch timing remain unspecified

Standard Chartered did not disclose which cryptocurrencies, stablecoins or tokenized products the Singapore service will support, nor did it announce a launch date.

The silence on implementation details leaves material questions open: whether the bank will support major assets like bitcoin and ether, which stablecoins it will custody, and whether it will include emerging tokenized commodities, equities or bonds. The regulatory approval process in Singapore, overseen by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, will likely determine the scope and timing of the offering.

The BlockWest read. Standard Chartered’s move reflects a broader shift in institutional banking toward digital-asset custody as table stakes rather than innovation. What matters for allocators is whether this service will integrate with the bank’s traditional financing and securities capabilities to offer tokenized-asset issuance and settlement at scale, or remain a siloed custody product competing on brand and security alone.

Investors and institutional clients should monitor Standard Chartered’s announcement of regulatory approval from Singapore authorities and the formal launch date, which will signal whether the bank can meet demand faster than rivals and whether the MAS’s approval process becomes a model or bottleneck for other global banks entering the market.

Taurus co-founder says banks need internal infrastructure to use Swift’s blockchain ledger

Taurus co-founder says banks need internal infrastructure to use Swift’s blockchain ledger

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Swift’s new blockchain-based ledger for tokenized deposits is live, but banks still need to build their own digital-asset plumbing before they can plug into it, according to Taurus co-founder Lamine Brahimi. The warning matters for any bank weighing whether round-the-clock, cross-border settlement is now within reach or still years of internal engineering away.

  • Banks need a permissioned ledger, digital-asset wallets, and tokenization and smart-contract tools to connect, Brahimi says.
  • Swift’s ledger moves tokenized deposits across borders 24/7 but functions as an orchestration layer, not a settlement replacement.
  • HSBC, Standard Chartered, DBS and Citi have already completed live transactions, including a weekend payment settled in minutes.
  • 17 banks preparing live tokenized-deposit transactions, per Swift’s July statement
  • $1.5Q in annual Swift money transfers, a system dominant since the 1970s
  • August HSBC and Standard Chartered’s first live interbank transaction on the ledger
  • 2 days prior settlement window DBS and Citi cut to minutes

Swift, the messaging network that underpins most of the world’s bank-to-bank transfers, has begun rolling out a blockchain-based ledger meant to let tokenized bank deposits move across borders at any hour. According to reporting by CoinDesk, Taurus co-founder and managing partner Lamine Brahimi says the ledger is ready for live payments but is not a standalone fix for banks lacking the right internal infrastructure. Brahimi’s firm, which builds custody and tokenization software for financial institutions, recently built its own connection into the Swift system.

Three layers banks need before they can connect

Brahimi laid out a specific checklist for any institution hoping to use Swift’s ledger. Banks need a permissioned ledger that can interact with Swift’s own, digital-asset wallet capabilities, and tokenization and smart-contract tools to integrate with Swift’s smart contracts.

“If you want to connect today to the Swift ledger, you need three things. You need your own permissioned ledger that interacts with that of Swift, you need wallet capabilities, and you also need tokenization and smart-contract capabilities to be able to integrate the Swift smart contracts.”

Lamine Brahimi, co-founder and managing partner, Taurus

That requirement means the ledger does not replace a bank’s internal systems. It sits as an orchestration layer, moving tokenized deposits across borders while final settlement still runs through existing arrangements.

HSBC, Standard Chartered, DBS and Citi already running live payments

Swift said in July that 17 banks were preparing live tokenized-deposit transactions, an early signal of its first real attempt to modernize a bank-messaging network that has dominated global finance since the 1970s and still routes up to $1.5 quadrillion a year. HSBC and Standard Chartered completed the first live interbank transaction on the ledger in August.

DBS and Citi later executed a weekend cross-border dollar payment that settled in minutes, work that previously took up to two business days. Brahimi called the extra infrastructure requirement a design choice rather than a flaw, noting it should not hold Swift back from continuing to dominate its sector.

“I think it’s a good move,” Brahimi said. “That provides the choice.” He argued the setup gives banks the option to keep using existing payment rails or shift to tokenized deposits that move around the clock, without forcing a wholesale rebuild of their systems.

Taurus bets a single platform beats a multi-vendor build

Taurus announced its Swift integration in August, according to a company blog post, and Brahimi says the firm packages all three required layers, permissioned ledger, wallet management, and tokenization and smart-contract software, into one platform. He said competing vendors may require banks to stitch together multiple products to meet the same requirements.

Brahimi tied the infrastructure barrier to why tokenized deposits have stayed a largely institutional product. “Tokenized deposits until Swift’s announcement were barely used,” he said. “They were mostly used by huge banks like JPMorgan, because they had such a big global scale.”

Swift’s model keeps deposits on banks’ own balance sheets, a structural difference from stablecoins issued outside the banking system. That distinction, combined with the layered connection requirements Brahimi describes, keeps the ledger oriented toward large institutions for now rather than opening tokenized settlement to smaller banks or non-bank players.

The BlockWest read. The real gatekeeper here is not Swift’s ledger but which vendors banks pick to build the three layers Brahimi describes. Taurus is positioning itself as a single-platform alternative while rivals push multi-vendor stacks, meaning the next competitive battle in tokenized deposits plays out among infrastructure providers, not among the banks themselves.

Swift has not disclosed a timeline for when the remaining banks among the 17 it named in July will move from testing to live transactions, leaving open how quickly tokenized-deposit settlement spreads beyond HSBC, Standard Chartered, DBS and Citi.

Amber Premium joins XDC Network as masternode validator

Amber Premium joins XDC Network as masternode validator

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Amber Premium, the digital asset platform owned by Nasdaq-listed Amber International, has become a masternode validator on the XDC Network through its Singapore subsidiary, Sparrow Tech. The move puts a regulated crypto trading and wealth management firm inside the infrastructure layer that confirms transactions and maintains the ledger, rather than just trading on top of it.

  • Amber Premium joined XDC Network as a masternode validator via its Singapore unit, Sparrow Tech.
  • Sparrow Tech holds a Major Payment Institution licence from Singapore’s Monetary Authority for digital payment token services.
  • Brazil’s VERT Capital has announced plans to tokenize up to $1 billion of assets on the XDC network.
  • $1B VERT Capital’s planned tokenization target on the XDC network
  • 9/16/26 date XDC Foundation detailed tokenized deposits versus stablecoins on X

Amber Premium, the crypto trading and wealth platform owned by Amber International, has joined the XDC Network as a masternode validator, according to a report by BeInCrypto. The validator role runs through Sparrow Tech, Amber’s Singapore entity, which operates as Amber Premium Singapore.

For a company known mainly for crypto trading and wealth management, running network infrastructure is a different kind of commitment.

Sparrow Tech holds Singapore’s Major Payment Institution licence

Sparrow Tech is licensed as a Major Payment Institution by the Monetary Authority of Singapore for digital payment token services, and MAS records confirm the licence. Becoming a validator moves Amber closer to the technical core of the XDC Network, the layer that confirms transactions and maintains the ledger every other participant relies on.

XDC has been recruiting established financial and telecom firms into its validator set. Deutsche Telekom already operates infrastructure on the network, while Republic and Clearpool have joined as institutional validators alongside SBI-linked infrastructure. Amber’s addition extends that roster from telecom and lending platforms into crypto trading.

Filling validator sets with recognizable financial names makes the network easier for banks to trust, but it cuts against the decentralization ideal public blockchains were built around. For XDC, that appears to be a deliberate trade-off.

VERT Capital plans to tokenize $1 billion on XDC

XDC has positioned itself around trade finance and tokenized real-world assets rather than general-purpose smart contracts. Brazil’s VERT Capital has said it intends to tokenize up to $1 billion in assets on the network, which would rank among the larger real-world-asset tokenization commitments disclosed for XDC to date.

The XDC Foundation has also been drawing a line between tokenized deposits and stablecoins, writing in a post on X that a stablecoin is generally a claim on its issuer backed by a separately held reserve pool, while a tokenized deposit remains a claim on the issuing bank itself. That distinction matters for how institutions and regulators classify the instruments moving across XDC’s rails.

Amber and XDC frame validators as the AI payments layer

Amber and XDC are also tying the partnership to AI agents that could eventually move money and initiate transactions without human involvement. XDC’s argument is that as machines make more financial decisions, the credibility of the infrastructure validating those transactions matters more.

That framing is a future thesis, not a current product.

The concrete development today is simpler: a Nasdaq-listed digital asset company has decided operating blockchain infrastructure is worth its capital and time.

The BlockWest read. We read Amber’s validator seat less as an AI story and more as a balance-sheet one. A Nasdaq-listed, MAS-licensed operator gives institutions a counterparty they can underwrite the way they underwrite a custodian or clearing member, something a pseudonymous node operator cannot offer. Expect more regulated trading and payments firms to pursue XDC validator slots as tokenization deals like VERT Capital’s move from announcement toward execution.

Neither Amber nor XDC has disclosed when Sparrow Tech’s validator node goes fully live or how the AI-agent thesis will be tested in practice. The next marker to watch is whether VERT Capital’s announced $1 billion tokenization plan begins moving real assets onto XDC, which would show whether the network’s growing roster of regulated validators can actually handle institutional volume.

Stripe targets over 100 countries for stablecoin card expansion by year-end

Stripe targets over 100 countries for stablecoin card expansion by year-end

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Stripe is pushing deeper into stablecoin payments, with plans to bring its digital-dollar card programs to more than 100 countries by year-end. The expansion, detailed by Henri Stern, the Privy co-founder who now also oversees stablecoins and crypto across Stripe, comes as stablecoin card spending has tripled over the past year.

  • Stripe expects stablecoin card programs in over 100 countries by year-end, Stern told CoinDesk.
  • Stablecoin card spending reached about $1.2 billion last month, roughly triple the volume a year earlier, according to PaymentScan.
  • Current stablecoin card customers include Kraken, Ramp and payments app Morse.
  • 100+ countries targeted for Stripe stablecoin cards by year-end
  • $1.2B monthly stablecoin card spending, triple last year’s volume
  • 400M+ cards issued by Stripe since 2018
  • $1.1B price Stripe paid to acquire Bridge in 2024

Stripe, the global payments company, is betting that stablecoins can sit alongside traditional currencies as a routine way for consumers and businesses to pay. Henri Stern, chief executive and co-founder of crypto wallet infrastructure firm Privy, which Stripe acquired in 2025, has taken on an expanded role overseeing stablecoins and crypto across the company, Stripe told CoinDesk. Stern said Stripe expects its stablecoin card programs to reach more than 100 countries by year-end.

Stablecoin card spending triples to $1.2 billion a month

About $1.2 billion in stablecoins were spent through cards last month, triple the amount recorded a year earlier, according to data from PaymentScan. That is still a small slice of the broader card payments industry tracked by the Nilson Report, but the growth suggests stablecoins are moving beyond crypto trading and cross-border transfers into everyday retail spending.

Stripe’s customers for the product span different use cases. Ramp, a corporate card fintech, could use stablecoins to extend its card into new markets without rebuilding local banking relationships country by country. Kraken, the crypto exchange, has explored letting customers spend directly from accounts where they already hold digital assets, while payments app Morse is also live on the rails.

Stern’s dual role ties Privy, Bridge and the card business together

Stripe’s stablecoin card push rests on infrastructure it already owns. The company has issued more than 400 million cards and processed hundreds of billions of dollars in card volume since 2018, Stern said, and is now pairing that issuing network with Bridge, the stablecoin infrastructure firm Stripe bought for $1.1 billion in 2024.

If you’re using Stripe, Bridge, Privy, Tempo, Open USD, it should be absolutely amazing, and it should feel like these systems were built to exist together.

Henri Stern, head of stablecoins and crypto at Stripe

Most current card programs run on Circle’s USDC. Stern said Stripe intends to stay “completely stablecoin agnostic, completely blockchain agnostic” rather than lock customers into a single token or chain.

Open USD and Tempo widen Stripe’s stablecoin ambitions

Stripe has been assembling a broader blockchain payments stack beyond cards. After buying Bridge and Privy, it partnered with crypto investment firm Paradigm to build Tempo, a blockchain designed specifically for payments, and became a founding investor in Open Standard, the company building Open USD, a stablecoin positioned to compete with Circle’s USDC and Tether’s USDT.

Bridge co-founder Zach Abrams has moved to run Open Standard full time. Stern said Stripe is also exploring tokenized deposits, decentralized finance use cases and accepting more digital assets as payment, though he added that “by and far, the bulk of our work happens with stablecoins.”

The BlockWest read. Stripe is less interested in selling crypto than in making stablecoins invisible inside products merchants already run on its rails. For corporate treasuries and fintechs like Ramp, that lowers the cost of entering new markets without separate banking integrations in each one. The real test is whether Stripe can keep Circle’s USDC, Open USD and other tokens interchangeable on its rails without quietly favoring the stablecoin it has equity in.

Stripe has not given an exact date for the 100-country rollout beyond “by the end of the year,” leaving open which markets go live first and whether Kraken, Ramp and Morse remain the only named customers once the expansion is complete.

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