💎 SEC proposes collaboration with japanese regulators on asset tokenization and Web3 innovation

On March 25, 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released a document outlining a proposal for potential collaboration with the Asia Web3 Alliance in Japan. The submission highlights an initiative aimed at fostering global cooperation around Web3 innovation, digital assets, and regulatory alignment across the Asia-Pacific region.

The proposal emphasizes several key areas for joint focus:
⚫️Developing consistent international standards for digital asset regulation 
⚫️Encouraging dialogue between regulators, technology leaders, and research institutions 
⚫️Supporting the growth of secure and transparent decentralized ecosystems 
⚫️Promoting innovation while safeguarding users and financial systems

Rather than detailing a past event, the document presents a framework for future collaboration — one that could play a significant role in shaping the next phase of global Web3 development.

⭐️ Ripple enters prime brokerage with $1.25B Hidden Road deal

Ripple is making major moves. The company just announced its acquisition of Hidden Road, a global multi-asset prime broker, in a deal worth $1.25 billion. With this move, Ripple becomes the first crypto firm to fully own and operate a global prime brokerage platform.

🔼Hidden Road serves over 300 institutional clients and clears more than $3 trillion in trades annually across FX, digital assets, derivatives, and more. Backed by Ripple’s resources, it’s now set to scale even further.

✅Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse noted that with regulatory clarity finally emerging in the U.S. after long-standing issues with the SEC, the path is now open for deeper expansion into institutional finance.

🗣The deal will also boost Ripple’s new stablecoin, RLUSD, which will be used as collateral in Hidden Road’s prime brokerage services — unlocking seamless cross-margining between digital assets and traditional markets.

🪙 On top of that, Hidden Road plans to shift its post-trade operations onto the XRP Ledger, further validating XRPL as a powerful foundation for institutional DeFi.

The acquisition is still subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in the coming months. Big things ahead.

✨OKX x Standard Chartered x Franklin Templeton — TradFi meets DeFi

OKX has kicked off a game-changing pilot with Standard Chartered and Franklin Templeton, pushing the boundaries of how traditional finance and crypto can work together. The initiative, called collateral mirroring, lets tokenized assets play a real role in the world of finance.

⭐️ Franklin Templeton, one of the biggest names in asset management, is providing tokenized money market funds (MMFs) that live on public blockchains like Ethereum and Stellar. These tokens can now be used as collateral for OTC trades on OKX. Meanwhile, the real-world assets behind them stay securely held by Standard Chartered. The program runs under the oversight of Dubai’s VARA and within the DIFC—a tightly regulated global financial hub.

Why it matters:
🔷Franklin Templeton’s participation shows institutional players are serious about Web3.
🔷Tokenization is turning real. These products are usable, regulated, and plugged into DeFi.
🔷Regulatory clarity builds confidence. Thanks to VARA and DIFC, there’s a solid legal foundation for projects like this to grow.
🔷With collateral mirroring, users can tap into liquidity without moving physical assets across institutions.

The RWA tokenization wave is gaining momentum—and this pilot is proof that DeFi and TradFi don’t have to compete. They can co-exist, unlock new efficiencies, and drive the next evolution of global finance.

✨ Ripple backs XRP tracker fund by HashKey Capital

HashKey Capital has launched the XRP Tracker Fund, aimed at professional investors in Asia, especially in the regulated jurisdiction of Hong Kong. The fund, supported by Ripple, emphasizes the company's commitment to driving institutional adoption of XRP.

🔼The fund offers a regulated, transparent way to gain exposure to XRP, including institutional-grade custody, reporting, and regulatory compliance. This initiative is part of Ripple's broader strategy to expand XRP's use beyond the U.S. and strengthen its position in the Asia-Pacific region.

This move is a strong signal for the broader digital asset market. By enabling regulated, institutional access to XRP, the fund helps legitimize crypto as a viable asset class and bridges traditional finance with blockchain innovation. Overall, initiatives like this contribute to greater market maturity, improved transparency, and increased investor confidence across the Web3 ecosystem.

⭐️ Circle launches new payment network with USDC

Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, has announced the launch of a new payment and remittance network designed for banks, fintech companies, payment services, and remittance providers. This initiative aims to expand the use of USDC in international transactions and compete with traditional payment systems like Visa and Mastercard.

💎 Circle plans to integrate USDC into the global payment infrastructure, providing faster and more cost-effective international transfers. The company also introduced updates to its CCTP V2 protocol, which enables near-instant USDC transfers across blockchains, speeding up settlements and reducing fees.

🔼The launch of Circle’s new network highlights the growing role of stablecoins in reshaping global payment systems, offering more efficient and accessible solutions for cross-border payments.

✨ Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund, FAB, and IHC collaborate to launch new Dirham-backed stablecoin

Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund ADQ, conglomerate IHC, and the UAE's largest lender by assets, First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), have announced plans to launch a new stablecoin backed by the UAE dirham. This initiative marks a significant step in the UAE's efforts to establish itself as a global hub for digital assets.

🌐 The stablecoin, which will be fully regulated by the UAE's central bank, is set to be issued by FAB, pending regulatory approval. Designed for a wide range of everyday scenarios, the digital currency aims to facilitate seamless transactions for citizens, consumers, businesses, and institutions across the UAE.

⭐️ This move underscores the UAE's commitment to advancing its digital economy and fostering innovation in the financial sector. By integrating blockchain technology and stablecoins into the national financial infrastructure, the UAE is positioning itself at the forefront of the evolving global digital economy.

✅ The introduction of this dirham-backed stablecoin is expected to enhance the efficiency of digital transactions, promote financial inclusion, and attract further investment into the UAE's burgeoning fintech ecosystem.

As the UAE continues to embrace digital transformation, this development signifies a pivotal moment in the nation's journey towards becoming a leading player in the global digital finance landscape.

✨ Ripple ups its bid for Circle — A move that could reshape the market

After Circle turned down Ripple’s initial $5 billion offer, CEO Brad Garlinghouse came back with a bold counter — a massive $20 billion bid, signaling just how serious Ripple is about making this deal happen.

🔼If successful, the merger would unite two major forces in Web3 finance: XRP and USDC. This kind of move could dramatically shift the digital payments landscape and give Ripple a significant edge against competitors like PayPal, BlackRock, and others.

🏆 It’s worth noting that our community invested in Circle back when the company was valued at $8 billion — a smart, early move at a fraction of today’s potential valuation. Yet another example of the value of early access and strategic investing through MMPro.

If the deal goes through, it could be one of the most impactful crypto events of the year. We’ll be keeping a close eye on what happens next.

✨ BlackRock discusses staking, tokenization, and crypto ETFs with the SEC

On May 9, 2025, BlackRock — the world’s largest asset manager — sat down with the SEC’s crypto team to dive into the future of digital finance.

The key highlights:
🔷Staking: BlackRock is exploring the idea of integrating staking into its Ethereum ETFs, giving investors a chance to earn extra yield on top of market performance.
🔷Tokenization: The firm showcased its $2.9B BUIDL fund, which aims to bring real-world assets like bonds and real estate on-chain, streamlining processes and cutting costs.
🔷Crypto ETFs: The conversation included ETF approval frameworks and the possibility of launching options tied to crypto ETFs.

This meeting signals just how serious traditional finance is getting about crypto — and how close we are to a more seamless blend of digital assets and institutional finance.

✨ Catena Labs raises $18M to build the first AI-native financial institution

Big news from the intersection of AI and Web3: Catena Labs just secured $18 million to build a fully AI-native financial institution. The round was backed by leading VCs like Tribe Capital, Hack VC, and other top players in the AI and crypto space.

💎 Catena’s vision? A new kind of financial system where AI agents can make real-time decisions and interact with DeFi protocols — no humans needed. It's about making finance faster, smarter, and fully autonomous.

🔼As AI continues to reshape entire industries, Catena is positioning itself at the forefront of this shift — bringing the power of machine intelligence directly into the heart of digital finance.

This isn’t just another DeFi project. It’s a bold move toward the future of autonomous finance. Watch this space — Catena Labs is just getting started.

🤩 Circle files for IPO

Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, has officially filed for an initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The company plans to offer 24 million Class A shares priced between $24 and $26, potentially raising up to $624 million and reaching a fully diluted valuation of $6.7 billion.

IPO Structure:
⚫️Circle itself will offer 9.6 million new shares.
⚫️14.4 million shares will be sold by existing investors, including Accel and General Catalyst.
⚫️Underwriters will have a 30-day option to purchase an additional 3.6 million shares.

Key Details:
⚫️Ticker symbol: CRCL
⚫️Lead underwriters: J.P. Morgan, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs
⚫️ARK Investment Management, led by Cathie Wood, has shown interest in purchasing up to $150 million worth of shares.

🔥 Circle manages USDC, the world’s second-largest stablecoin with a market cap exceeding $60 billion. The company previously attempted to go public via a SPAC deal in 2022, which was ultimately canceled.

This IPO marks a major milestone in the convergence of traditional finance and digital assets, reflecting renewed investor confidence in crypto infrastructure.

🌐 Hidden Road launches OTC digital asset dwaps for U.S. Institutional clients

On May 28, 2025, Hidden Road — recently acquired by Ripple for $1.25 billion — announced the launch of prime brokerage services for over-the-counter (OTC) digital asset swaps tailored specifically for institutional clients in the United States.

Key Highlights:
🟠Access to OTC swaps: U.S. institutional investors can now engage in settled OTC swaps on dozens of leading digital assets, including Bitcoin and Ethereum.
🟠Regulated platform: Services are offered through Hidden Road Partners CIV UK Ltd, which is regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), ensuring high levels of trust and regulatory compliance.
🟠Additional services: The offering includes cross-margining and financing solutions designed to optimize collateral management and enhance trading efficiency in digital assets.

This move addresses the current lack of sophisticated financial products for institutional investors in the U.S. seeking advanced digital asset instruments. According to Michael Higgins, Hidden Road’s International CEO, the rollout of these services provides clients with broader access to solutions that were previously unavailable in the American market.

⭐️ Backed by Ripple, Hidden Road aims to significantly scale its operations, aspiring to become one of the largest non-bank prime brokers globally.

This launch marks a major step in building institutional-grade infrastructure for digital asset trading in the U.S., offering more mature and regulated solutions for professional market participants.

🪙 Ethereum to anchor global finance? Consensys CEO Joe Lubin thinks so.

During an interview on Rug Radio, Ethereum co-founder and Consensys CEO Joe Lubin shared a bold vision:

Ethereum could eventually surpass Bitcoin in value — not just price, but in utility and institutional relevance.

Key take aways:
🪙 Institutional interest: Consensys is in advanced talks with sovereign wealth funds and top-tier banks from a “very big country” to build out Ethereum-based financial infrastructure — both L1 and tailored L2s.
🪙 Strategic pivot: Unlike Bitcoin's “buy and hold” narrative, institutional players are looking to actively use ETH — via staking, restaking, and DeFi — turning it into a yield-bearing, programmable asset.
🪙 ETH as a treasury asset: Public company SharpLink (recently backed by Consensys with $425M) is building a treasury denominated in ETH — a groundbreaking move that could trigger a new wave of on-chain corporate finance.
🪙 Long-term positioning: Ethereum may not always dominate headlines like Solana or Bitcoin — but it’s quietly building the rails for the next generation of digital finance.

💡 According to Lubin, the convergence of trust, utility, and capital could push Ethereum to the forefront of the global financial system — not just as a tech platform, but as the most trusted programmable asset in the world.

—

🌍 With governments and financial giants now eyeing Ethereum for infrastructure, the narrative is shifting from speculation to systemic integration.

🇺🇸 Circle Raises $1.1B in Blockbuster IPO — Valued at Nearly $8B

Stablecoin issuer Circle, the company behind $USDC, has pulled off one of the largest crypto IPOs in recent years — raising $1.1 billion by selling 34 million shares at $31 each, well above the original $27–28 range.

🟢 Key Details:

Final valuation: ~$8 billion (fully diluted)

Shares debut on NYSE under the ticker $CRCL

Led by J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup

25x oversubscribed, per Bloomberg

🔥 This level of demand signals massive institutional interest in stablecoin-backed infrastructure — not just speculative crypto bets.

🌐 USDC is the second-largest stablecoin with over $61B in circulation, making Circle one of the most important players in the tokenized dollar economy.

📈 The IPO also reflects shifting U.S. regulatory sentiment under Trump’s administration, which has promised lighter crypto regulation — paving the way for more crypto-native companies to go public.

This is more than just a listing — it’s a landmark moment for stablecoins entering traditional finance at scale.

#Circle #CRCL #IPO #USDC #Stablecoins #CryptoFinance #TradFi #Blockchain

🚀 Gemini Files for Confidential IPO
Crypto exchange Gemini, founded by the Winklevoss twins, has confidentially submitted a draft registration (Form S-1) to the U.S. SEC for a proposed initial public offering of its Class A common stock.

📄 The number of shares and price range haven’t been disclosed yet.

⏳ The IPO is expected to take place after the SEC review, subject to market conditions.

🌐 This move positions Gemini as the next major crypto-native company eyeing public markets — following in the footsteps of Coinbase and Circle.

As institutional demand rises for compliant digital asset infrastructure, all eyes are now on Gemini.

🚨 Tether at $515B? CEO drops jaw-dropping IPO estimate

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino claims that if the company were to go public today, its valuation would hit $515 billion — enough to rank it as the 19th largest company in the world.

🏦 That puts Tether ahead of giants like Costco and Coca-Cola in market cap terms.

🧠 Ardoino calls this estimate “somewhat conservative” — suggesting the real number could be even higher.

🔋 Tether, the issuer of USDT, currently dominates the stablecoin market with over $110B in circulation, generating massive cash flows from its U.S. Treasury holdings.

This bold statement hints at the untapped equity value behind crypto’s most controversial — and profitable — infrastructure company.

As stablecoins go institutional, Tether’s scale is starting to look more like BlackRock than a crypto startup.

⏺TRON EYES U.S. IPO VIA REVERSE MERGER

According to a recent report from Crypto Briefing, Justin Sun’s TRON Foundation is exploring a reverse merger with a publicly listed U.S. company — a strategic shortcut to an IPO in American markets.

🔁 A reverse merger allows a private company to become publicly traded by acquiring or merging with an existing public shell company — bypassing the longer traditional IPO process.

💬 While TRON hasn’t officially confirmed the move, insiders claim discussions are active and ongoing. Sun has previously hinted at taking TRON public, particularly in jurisdictions with regulatory clarity.

🌍 This potential move could mark a significant milestone in TRON’s transition from blockchain infrastructure project to mainstream financial entity — aligning with a broader trend of Web3-native companies entering public markets.

⚙️ As tokenization and crypto infrastructure gain traction, public listings like this could bring new legitimacy and capital to the sector.

🟢RWA sector up 260% in H1 2025 — now over $23B
#RWA #DeFi #BlackRock #Solana #crypto

Real-world assets are exploding on-chain. In just six months, the RWA market has surged +260%, crossing the $23B mark, according to Binance Research’s June 2025 report.

Why it matters?
Institutions are here — and they’re building.

🚀 BlackRock’s BUIDL fund grew from $649M → $2.9B in 2025.
📈 It just made its first DeFi move, integrating with Euler Finance.
🌐 Protocols like Centrifuge and Securitize are launching tokenized funds on Solana, plugged into Solana-native DeFi like Kamino.

This isn’t vapor. It’s real capital moving into programmable infrastructure.

RWAs are reshaping on-chain finance — from speculative loops to sustainable yield.
This is the shift from “crypto casino” → to global digital capital markets.

And this is only halftime.

💥 CRCL STOCK: +540% SINCE IPO
#CRCL #USDC #stablecoins #crypto 🇺🇸

Circle — the issuer of $USDC — is on fire.
Since going public on June 5, CRCL has soared +540%.

📈 From $31 to over $160 per share
💵$1.1B IPO → now worth over $8B
🌐 USDC: the 2nd-largest stablecoin in the world

This is what happens when real crypto infrastructure meets public markets.

Circle’s explosive performance is a signal:
💡 Institutions want regulated, dollar-pegged rails
💡 Capital is rotating into yield-bearing stability
💡 The stablecoin wars are heating up

And if you think it’s too late —
it probably means it’s just getting started.

🇺🇸 OKX EXPLORES U.S. IPO AFTER DOJ SETTLEMENT

Leading global crypto exchange OKX is considering a U.S. IPO, according to BeInCrypto, following its April relaunch in the American market and a $500 M settlement with the DOJ earlier this year.

📈 The push for public listing comes as OKX establishes new U.S. HQ in San Jose and appoints ex-Morgan Stanley exec Roshan Robert as U.S. CEO—signaling a shift toward compliance and institutional strategy.

📈 The news already sparked a ~5% rally in OKB token—barely in sync with a broader market dip, showing investor confidence.

🖥 OKX is joining the wave of crypto platforms deploying to U.S. public markets—alongside Circle, Gemini, and Bullish —leveraging favorable regulation and rising institutional appetite.

🔑 LEDGER LAUNCHES PHYSICAL RECOVERY KEY

Ledger just dropped a hardware-level solution for wallet recovery — the Ledger Recovery Key.
It’s a physical device that helps users restore access to their wallets, without relying solely on seed phrases.

🧩 The key works by encrypting your recovery phrase and splitting it into 3 shards, held by Ledger, Coincover, and EscrowTech. Only 2 out of 3 are needed to recover your assets.

🧾Identity verification is required — a KYC-style process integrated into the device.

💬 While Ledger says this improves security for non-technical users, critics warn it could increase reliance on third parties — and reopens debates around firmware trust.

⚖️ Convenience meets control — but not without tradeoffs.