51 Insights - Weekly Briefing

Marc Baumann

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  1. 26/12/2025

    159: 2026, the year of...

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.51insights.xyz Hey, it’s Marc. Happy Holidays! Below are the sharpest signals we’ve seen hiding beneath the year-end noise. Here are my top 12 narratives I am interested in going into 2026: * RWA’s & 24/7 settlements * Stablecoin TradFi implementation and rails * Onchain cross-border payments * Tokenized treasuries & deposits (vs stablecoins) * Public vs. corporate chains * DeFi x TradFi (yield products) * Privacy * Quantum resistance * Prediction markets * Perp DEXes * Autonomous finance * Crypto-as-a-service infra plays What are you looking at? 🎁 Year-end discount: Secure our limited 20% year-end discount on PRO subscriptions! Ending January 1st. My prediction is that RWAs are going to have their comeback in 2026, starting with equities. Don’t forget: we’re still SO early. Our highlights this week: * Coinbase doubles down on prediction markets * J.P. Morgan to launch crypto trading for institutional clients * Stripe’s 1.5% tax on the old world * Klarna integrates USDC funding Let’s jump in 👇 🚨 We have a series of killer podcasts coming up & just opened new sponsorship slots. Grab your spot here! Top Boardroom Reads * 2026 Investment Outlook (BlackRock) * Why the application layer is crypto’s next $10T opportunity, with Richard Galvin, CIO of DACM (Fiftyone) * Understanding Stablecoins (IMF) * 2026 Digital Asset Outlook: Dawn of the Institutional Era (Grayscale) * 2026 crypto market outlook (Fidelity) * OUTLOOK 2026 Promise and Pressure (JPMorgan) * The Year Ahead: 10 Crypto Predictions for 2026 (Bitwise) * Plan for 2026: Predictions from Our Portfolio Managers (VanEck) * 2026 Crypto Market Outlook (Coinbase) * 26 Crypto, Bitcoin, DeFi, and AI Predictions for 2026 (Galaxy Research) * How Crypto will rewire finance in 2026 (SVB) * The Man Who Can’t Be Moved (Saanya Ojha) * Silent Sirens, Flashing For Us All (Jack Clark, Anthropic Co-Founder) News Flash * Aave, the biggest DeFi lending protocol, is entering governance war. Link * Pro-crypto Michael Selig sworn in as new CFTC Chair. Link * Amplify debuts stablecoin and tokenisation ETFs on NYSE Arca. Link * Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, considers launching crypto-backed loans. Link * Solstice and Cor Prime completed the first institutional stablecoin funding trade using public blockchains. Link Top Signals This Week Coinbase doubles down as prediction markets go mainstream Coinbase announced its tenth acquisition this year - The Clearing Company, a prediction markets startup. The deal closes in January 2026. This follows Coinbase’s launch of its own prediction platform, positioning it as a direct competitor to Robinhood, Interactive Brokers, and CME-FanDuel. [RELEASE] After the U.S. election, multiple use-cases expanded beyond politics: * Financial macro outcomes (S&P500, oil, CPI, GDP) * Policy outcomes * Sports + entertainment * Broader “trade on headlines” consumer behavior Why it matters: Prediction markets reached $44B in trading volume in 2025, with Polymarket and Kalshi accounting for $21.5B and $17.1B, respectively. Prediction markets are transitioning from niche speculative tools into a primary financial infrastructure, bridging the gap between digital assets and traditional derivatives. The sector’s projected growth to $1T by 2030 is fueled by tokenization, which allows these contracts to be used as DeFi collateral. Be smart: The IRS has yet to guide whether gains should be classified as capital assets, gambling winnings, or Section 1256 contracts. Fun fact: AI bots are already making millions per month on Polymarket by exploiting market inefficiencies. Our view: Prediction markets are becoming a new consumer financial rail. The institutional and crypto-native ecosystem convergence benefits from high-frequency retail engagement. However, the distinction between "investment" and "gambling" will ultimately determine long-term liquidity and institutional adoption of these markets. JPMorgan to launch crypto trading for institutional clients JPMorgan is weighing spot and derivatives crypto trading for institutional clients. This is driven by regulatory change: OCC issued Interpretive Letter 1188, confirming national banks can act as “riskless principal” intermediaries, buying from one counterparty and selling to another without holding inventory risk. [NEWS] In the last 60 days alone, the bank: * Launched the JPMD deposit token on the Base (Ethereum L2) public blockchain. * Arranged the first U.S. commercial paper issuance (for Galaxy Digital) on the Solana blockchain, settled in USDC. * Launched its first tokenised money-market fund, MONY, on Ethereum. Why it matters: J.P. Morgan doesn't need to "win" crypto-native users. By acting as an intermediary, they allow institutional allocators to trade crypto within their existing compliance and reporting frameworks. If a hedge fund can trade BTC through its JPM Prime account, the incentive to use a crypto-native exchange vanishes. Stripe’s 1.5% tax on the old world Stripe has launched Tempo, its payment blockchain on public testnet. It is also charging a 1.5% transaction fee for businesses accepting payments in stablecoins. While that looks pricier than pure-play crypto processors, it’s a masterclass in vertical integration. [SEE FULL ANALYSIS] Why it matters: This isn't a fee for a blockchain transfer; it's a fee for payment acceptance. Stripe is providing the "last mile" of commerce: fraud protection, 101-country compliance, and instant conversion to USD for merchant bank accounts. For a business, 1.5% is significantly cheaper than the 3%+ often charged for cross-border credit card transactions. Our view: Traditional card networks solved for authorization speed (the “swipe”), but they never solved for settlement speed (the “cash”). Merchants typically wait 3-5 days for international funds. Tempo collapses this timeline to near-instant settlement, eliminating the need for corporate treasuries to hold idle “buffer cash” across global subsidiaries. 🚨 We just opened new sponsorship slots for our newsletters & podcast. Want to reach 35k+ digital asset leaders? Contact us here. Klarna swaps banks for blockchains Klarna is bypassing traditional bank loans to fund its business using USDC. Through a partnership with Coinbase, the "Buy Now, Pay Later" giant is tapping into a $78B pool of digital dollar liquidity to settle its institutional debts faster and cheaper than ever before.[RELEASE] How it works: Klarna needs massive amounts of short-term cash to pay merchants while they wait for customers to pay them back. Usually, they get this from consumer deposits or bank loans. Now, they’re getting it by issuing "Commercial Paper" (short-term debt) directly in USDC on public blockchains. Why it matters: Enabled by the regulatory framework of the 2025 GENIUS Act, the partnership allows Klarna to tap into a $78B USDC market, bypassing traditional banking intermediation for faster, 24/7 settlement. It creates a dual-layer strategy: using institutional USDC for operational funding while preparing "KlarnaUSD", their own stablecoin, for consumer-facing payments in 2026. 🙌 Work with us: We arm financial institutions and digital asset leaders with bespoke research, thought leadership to shape the most important conversations, scale trust, and win business. That’s all for now, folks. PRO Readers: Read our alpha insights below! – Marc & Team 💎 Investor Insights (Alpha)

    9 min
  2. 158: Exchange everything

    19/12/2025

    158: Exchange everything

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.51insights.xyz Hey, it’s Marc. “Public blockchains are more transparent than any legacy financial system ever built... crypto could become the most powerful financial surveillance architecture ever invented.” — Paul Atkins at SEC crypto task force roundtable The real action this weeks are infrastructure updates: Coinbase, DTCC, SoFi, JP Morgan. The winners? Ethereum, Canton, and Solana. On top of that, the OCC has approved five national trust bank charters for digital asset entities. Now, these entities will be reviewed under the same standards used for traditional banks. Our highlights this week: * JPMorgan launches its first tokenized MMF “MONY” on Ethereum * Coinbase launches tokenization and stablecoin as-a-service * SoFi becomes the first national bank to issue a public stablecoin * DTCC picks Canton to tokenize U.S. Treasuries * OCC grants federal bank charters to Circle, Ripple, and Fidelity * Visa launches 24/7 USDC settlement for U.S. institutions Let’s jump in 👇 PS: We have a series of killer podcasts coming up & just opened new sponsorship slots. Grab your spot here! Top Boardroom Reads * Why altcoins will be bigger than Bitcoin, with Yat Siu, Co-founder of Animoca Brands (51) * Banks in the Age of Stablecoins (Fed) * 17 things we’re excited about for crypto in 2026 (a16z) * Stablecoins, Financial Stability, And Treasuries (S&P Global) * Crypto Report Card: Scoring 2025’s Predictions (Pantera) * The End Of Interchange (AVC) Top Signals This Week JPMorgan’s $100M “MONY” Move on Ethereum JPMorgan just launched MONY, a $100M tokenized money-market fund live on the Ethereum mainnet. Powered by their Kinexys Digital Assets platform (formerly Onyx), the fund is seeded with JPM’s own capital and marks their most aggressive step into public DeFi rails to date. [NEWS] [ANALYSIS] Why it matters: While BlackRock’s BUIDL fund ($1.8B) and Franklin Templeton’s BENJI led the way, JPM’s entry signals that the largest bank in the U.S. now views Ethereum as a legitimate settlement layer. But the real “innovation” isn’t the fund itself, it’s the funding mechanism. Investors can subscribe and redeem using USDC. By integrating Circle’s stablecoin into the plumbing of a major MMF, JPM is admitting that private bank coins can’t compete with the liquidity and reach of public stablecoins. Our view: By treating public blockchains as settlement rails, JPM is commoditizing the infrastructure while maintaining the customer interface. The First Nationally Chartered Stablecoin: SoFiUSD SoFi Bank, N.A. (an OCC-regulated, FDIC-insured institution) officially launched SoFiUSD, a fully reserved stablecoin on the public Ethereum blockchain. Unlike JPMorgan’s “JPM Coin” which exists on a private ledger, SoFiUSD is permissionless, meaning it can interact with the broader DeFi ecosystem while maintaining “bank-grade” oversight. [NEWS] Why it matters: By issuing a stablecoin from a national charter, SoFi eliminates the two biggest hurdles for institutional adoption: counterparty risk and regulatory ambiguity. Because SoFi holds its reserves directly at the Fed, it has zero liquidity or credit risk, something even USDC (Circle) and USDT (Tether) cannot claim as non-banks. This creates a “Triple-A” equivalent stablecoin that can move 24/7 with instant finality. Our view: SoFi isn’t just launching a product; they are offering “Stablecoin-as-a-Service.” Through its technology arm, Galileo, SoFi can now…. (continue below) Coinbase is no longer a crypto exchange On December 17, 2025, Coinbase rolled out a coordinated set of upgrades aimed at becoming a full-spectrum financial platform, aka the “everything exchange”: * Trading of major stocks & ETFs, 24/5. zero fees. Thousans more coming. * Perpetual futures for stocks (outside of US). Massive for global liquidity. Coming early 2026. * Prediction markets: together with Kalshi, Coinbase is turning the world’s events – elections, Fed rates, sports – into tradeable assets. * Tokenization as-a-service * Stablecoins as-a-service …marking a clear move to bring traditional assets and payments onto a single, regulated digital stack. [RELEASE] Why it matters: By using the Base blockchain as the settlement layer and USDC as the medium of exchange, they are bypassing legacy clearinghouses. This allows for cross-collateralization: you can now theoretically use your Nvidia stock to instantly hedge an election outcome or a sports contract. Be smart: For a decade, Coinbase was a "leveraged bet" on crypto volatility; when trading slowed, revenue vanished. The “Everything Exchange” strategy breaks that dependency. Our view: The most slept-on part of this? Stablecoin-as-a-Service. Coinbase is now (continue below)… Crypto just became the banking system The U.S. banking regulator OCC (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency) approved five crypto-focused firms to operate as national trust banks, pending final conditions. Two are brand new banks (Ripple and Circle), and four: BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos are upgrading from state to federal oversight. [RELEASE] The OCC’s actions are the executive implementation of the GENIUS Act, passed by the 119th Congress on July 18, 2025. So what? This puts major digital-asset players under the same federal framework as traditional trust banks. The regulator is signalling that crypto custody and settlement can sit inside the mainstream banking system, not outside it. This opens an $85T institutional custody market without traditional banks’ permission. Canton won the $100T settlement race DTCC announced that it will begin tokenising U.S. Treasury securities that are already held at DTC, its core custody arm. This will happen on the Canton Network, with a live production MVP targeted for the first half of 2026. [RELEASE] So what? DTCC is the core utility of U.S. capital markets. Its subsidiaries process securities transactions valued at approximately $3.7 quadrillion annually and maintain custody of assets valued at $99T. By choosing Canton, a permissioned, privacy-preserving network designed for regulated institutions, DTCC is also signalling how it thinks tokenisation should happen: inside existing rules, with known participants, and without exposing sensitive trading activity to the public. 🚨 We just opened new sponsorship slots for our newsletters & podcast. Want to reach 35k+ digital asset leaders? Contact us here. 🙌 Work with us: We arm financial institutions and digital asset leaders with bespoke research, thought leadership to shape the most important conversations, scale trust, and win business. Visa launches 24/7 USDC settlement for U.S. institutions Visa has officially launched USDC settlement for U.S. financial institutions, moving its stablecoin program from a global pilot into the core of the American payment system. U.S. issuers and acquirers, starting with Cross River Bank and Lead Bank, can now settle their obligations using Circle’s USDC on the Solana blockchain. Additionally, Visa is a design partner for Arc, Circle’s new Layer 1 blockchain, where it plans to operate a validator node and further scale its onchain settlement. [RELEASE] So what? The traditional banking system operates on a “business day” schedule, leaving a 48-hour liquidity gap every weekend. By using USDC, Visa enables seven-day settlement, letting banks move money and manage liquidity without waiting for Fed systems to reopen. With Visa’s stablecoin volumes already running at a $3.5T annualized pace, this is a live upgrade to the plumbing of global commerce. News Flash * Trump administration says "we are closer than ever to passing the landmark crypto market structure legislation." Link * Visa launched a Stablecoin Advisory Practice for bank clients. Link * Interactive Brokers allows stablecoin funding. Link * Tether considers tokenising stock at $500b value. Link * Bitcoin hoar ding company Strategy remains in the Nasdaq 100. Link * SEC has concluded its investigation into the Aave Protocol. Link * Exodus, MoonPay to launch US dollar stablecoin in early 2026. Link * Strategy buys $980m BTC, BitMine buys $321m ETH. Link That’s all for now, folks. PRO Readers: Read our alpha insights below! – Marc & Team 💎 Investor Insights (Alpha)

    11 min

  3. 13/12/2025

    157: The Fed is bullish

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.51insights.xyz Hey, it’s Marc. “Under my leadership, SEC is prioritizing innovation and embracing new technologies to enable this on-chain future.” - That’s the Chair of the SEC, Paul Atkins, folks. Context: While crypto world is gathering at Abu Dhabi Finance Week, Bitcoin MENA and Solana Breakpoint, one of the most significant regulatory shifts happened yesterday: DTCC, the backbone of U.S. capital markets, just received a green light from the SEC that could eventually migrate $100 trillion of assets on-chain. Meanwhile: The Fed has cut the interest rate on bank reserves to 3.65% and is actively expanding its balance sheet with short-term Treasuries. In plain English? The Fed is putting more money into the banking system. Historically, this is the single strongest macro tailwind for crypto. Here is what matters this week: * DTCC receives tokenization green light from SEC * CFTC lets banks use BTC, ETH, and USDC as collateral * State Street brings money markets to Solana * SEC is rewriting the capital markets with a new Sandbox * JPMorgan enables on-chain commercial paper using USDC We’ll unpack all of these highlights below 👇 PS: We have a series of killer podcasts coming up & just opened new sponsorship slots. Grab your spot here! Top Boardroom Reads * The $400T tokenization migration, with Carlos Domingo, CEO Securitize (51) * Tokenized Collateral, Stablecoins, and 24/7 Trading and Clearing Infrastructure for Regulated Derivatives Markets (SEC) * The Internet’s Blueprint for Ethereum: A Trillion-Dollar Public Goods Valuation Framework (EMRC) * Everyone’s wrong about quantum computing (a16z) * I do not regret spending 8 years of my life in crypto (Nic Carter) * The Anatomy of a Crypto Neobank (Messari) Top Signals This Week The $100 trillion green light What happened: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a “No-Action Letter” to the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), authorising its subsidiary to launch a service for tokenizing real-world assets. Expected in the second half of 2026. [Release] [Letter] [Platform] Why it matters: The DTCC isn’t just another player; it is the operating system of American capital, custodying over $100 trillion in assets and processing quadrillions in annual transactions. DTCC confirmed to Bloomberg their “ultimate aspiration” is to add the entire depository. Our view: This is one of the most important signals of the year. While the DTCC will utilize a private AppChain built on Hyperledger Besu (an Ethereum-compatible client) for privacy and compliance, their explicit goal is interoperability across the TradFi and DeFi ecosystems. This reinforces the thesis that the future financial rail is EVM-compatible, cementing Ethereum’s standard as the settlement layer for the global economy. CFTC lets banks use BTC, ETH, and USDC as collateral CFTC has permitted Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDC (high-quality liquid assets) to serve as margin collateral for Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs; = regulated financial intermediaries) under a pilot program. The regulator has effectively removed the rule Staff Advisory 20-34 that forced digital asset holders to sell their tokens for cash before they could hedge. Bitnomial is the first exchange to receive approval for this model. [RELEASE] Why it matters: The U.S. banking system still works on weekday hours, but crypto trades nonstop. The CFTC pilot narrows that gap by letting firms use stablecoins as margin, opening the door to real 24/7 collateral movement in regulated markets. Bitnomial shows how this works: collateral stays inside the clearing system and can be sold instantly, which reduces risk and speeds everything up. But it also exposes a new problem. If Bitcoin crashes on a Saturday, banks still cannot move dollars to cover losses. Be smart: The SEC and CFTC are reviewing “Blueprint Tokenised Collateral” proposals that use tokenised T-bills and 24/7 stablecoins to fix the weekend gap. Our view: By allowing BTC/ETH/USDC as collateral, U.S. FCMs (Futures Commission Merchants) now offer the same capital efficiency as offshore venues. This removes the extra costs and delays that previously forced people to use risky foreign platforms. 🚨 We just opened new sponsorship slots for our newsletters & podcast. Want to reach 35k+ digital asset leaders? Contact us here. State Street brings money markets to Solana State Street Investment Management and Galaxy Digital are building a new investment product called SWEEP (State Street Galaxy Onchain Liquidity Sweep Fund). Ondo Finance will be puting $200M into SWEEP through its existing OUSG fund. It will launch on the Solana blockchain in early 2026. [RELEASE] Why it matters: State Street ($5.12T AUM) is one of the largest custodian banks in the world. Moving from private pilots to a public blockchain like Solana signals that top-tier institutions are finally comfortable with the security and compliance of public networks. The capital size is modest, but the shift from sandbox pilots to production-grade infrastructure marks a turning point for institutional onchain adoption. Our view: This is a clear win for both Ondo Finance and Solana. Ondo is taking the smart path by partnering with major players instead of trying to beat them, becoming the place where their products reach users. It also sets up an important test: how well State Street’s older systems can connect to Solana’s fast, modern network. 🙌 Work with us: We arm financial institutions and digital asset leaders with bespoke research, thought leadership to shape the most important conversations, scale trust, and win business. SEC is rewriting capital markets After a delay due to the government shutdown, SEC Chair Paul Atkins confirmed the “Innovation Exemption” launches in January 2026. This directive, part of “Project Crypto“, allows digital asset firms to launch on-chain products under a temporary “sandbox” without immediate registration.[Update] “ICOs transcend all four topics. Three of those areas are on the CFTC side, so we’ll let them worry about that, and we’ll focus on tokenized securities.” – Paul Atkins, SEC Chair Why it matters: The strategic implication here is binary: digital assets are graduating from a speculative asset class to the operating system of capital markets. By establishing a clear taxonomy (distinguishing “Tokenized Securities” from “Network Tokens” and “Digital Commodities”), Atkins is unlocking the $16 trillion opportunity in Real World Assets (RWA). Today, tokenised RWAs sit at a meagre $36B. The Innovation Exemption is the regulatory unlock required to move bonds, real estate, and private equity on-chain at scale. JPMorgan enables on-chain commercial paper using USDC JPMorgan arranged a U.S. commercial paper issuance for Galaxy Digital on the Solana public blockchain, with Coinbase and Franklin Templeton buying the paper and proceeds paid in USDC. [RELEASE] How it works: J.P. Morgan created the on-chain USCP token (valued at $50M) and handled delivery-versus-payment settlement; Galaxy was the issuer and structurer; Coinbase provided custody and on/off ramps; Franklin Templeton participated as a buyer. Why it matters: It turns a proof-of-concept into an actual playbook: a global bank arranging the deal, institutional investors buying it, a public chain running the settlement, and a dollar stablecoin moving the money. By collapsing issuance, custody, and settlement into a single on-chain flow, it shows how core capital markets plumbing can be rebuilt for speed and simplicity. News Flash * Fed quietly restarts money printer with T-bill QE. Link * Stripe charges 1.5% for stablecoin transfers after Tempo launch. Link * XXI goes public via Cantor’s SPAC deal. Link * Tether launches privacy-first health platform. Link * SEC ends Biden-era investigation into Ondo Finance. Link * BMW used JPMorgan’s blockchain for automated FX transfers. Link * OCC clears banks to facilitate crypto trades. Link * YouTube launches stablecoin payouts through PayPal for U.S. creators. Link * HashKey launches Hong Kong IPO seeking up to $214.7M. Link * Tether gains Abu Dhabi’s approval to expand USDT. Link * EU plans 2027 reforms centralizing market and crypto oversight under ESMA. Link That’s all for now, folks. PRO: read our alpha insights below! Take care – Marc & Team 💎 Investor Insights (Alpha)

    9 min

  4. 05/12/2025

    156: Wall Street just surrendered

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.51insights.xyz Hey, it’s Marc. For a decade, the “safe” career move for wealth managers was to mock Bitcoin. As of this week, that stance is officially a liability. Two massive dominos – managing a combined $13 trillion – just fell. First, Bank of America, starting Jan 5, 2026, are actively prescribing Bitcoin to their wealth management clients. Second, Vanguard, the final boss of anti-crypto sentiment, just unlocked the gates for 50 million investors. On the wake of the news, BTC bounced above $92K, total crypto market capitalization rose to $3.06T. Here is what matters this week: * Bank of America greenlights a 1-4% crypto allocation for 15,000+ advisors. * Vanguard reverses its ban, allowing trading of BTC, ETH, SOL, and XRP ETFs. * The Fed laid out new national rules for stablecoin issuers * Citadel petitions the SEC to regulate DeFi like the NYSE. * Sony is building its stablecoin We’ll unpack all of these highlights below 👇 Top Boardroom Reads * Understanding Stablecoins (IMF) * The crypto playbook for 2026, with Matt Hougan, CIO of Bitwise (51) * Larry Fink and Rob Goldstein on how tokenisation could transform finance (The Economist) * Asset Tokenization 101 (Deutsche Bank) * FUND TOKENISATION (Irish Funds) * The Future of Digital Assets (Citadel) * Elon Musk: A Different Conversation (Nikhil Kamath) Top Signals This Week Vanguard and Bank of America embrace Bitcoin What happened: Bank of America has authorized its 15,000+ advisors to actively recommend a 1–4% portfolio allocation to crypto, effective January 5, 2026. This guidance applies across Merrill, Private Bank, and Merrill Edge, utilizing specific ETFs from BlackRock (IBIT), Fidelity (FBTC), Bitwise (BITB), and Grayscale (BTC). Simultaneously, Vanguard ($11T AUM) reversed its long-standing ban, opening access to Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and Solana ETFs for its 50 million clients. [NEWS] Why it matters: The banking sector is moving to capture the flow rather than fight it. With BoA managing $2.1T in wealth management assets, even a conservative 1% allocation implies ~$20B in potential inflows—roughly 1.2% of Bitcoin’s total market cap from a single entity. Be smart: Strategically, this is about leverage and fees. Vanguard’s pivot was likely forced by seeing BlackRock’s IBIT ETF amass $70B in assets and become a top revenue generator. Wall Street wants Bitcoin exposure to be a rent-seeking product they control, not a bearer asset you own. Our view: The “reputational risk” of touching crypto is dead; By guiding clients into 1-4% allocations, banks are effectively ensuring that the next leg of adoption flows strictly through their fee-generating pipes. 🚨 We just opened new sponsorship slots for our newsletters & podcast. Want to reach 35k+ digital asset leaders? Contact us here. Citadel wants DeFi under the rulebook What happened: Citadel Securities, one of the world’s largest hedge funds, officially petitioned the SEC to classify DeFi platforms trading tokenized U.S. stocks as exchanges or broker-dealers. Their argument is binary: if a protocol, wallet, or app facilitates the trade of a security, it bears the same liability as the NYSE, regardless of whether it uses code or clerks. [LETTER] While some argue that Citadel is just trying to protect its monopoly, Mike Cagney, co-founder of Figure said, “Tokenizing DTCC securities won’t work… Trust doesn’t work in DeFi. The real way to bring public equities to blockchain is to issue them on the blockchain.” Why it matters: Citadel compares current DeFi equity markets to a dangerous “shadow market” lacking insurance or recourse. By demanding strict registration, they aim to disqualify permissionless protocols from the tokenized equity market, ensuring that future liquidity flows remain centralized. Our view: Citadel isn’t trying to stop tokenization; they are trying to own the order flow. If the SEC adopts this stance, the “Real World Asset” (RWA) sector faces a hard bifurcation: tokenized stocks will flourish, but they will trade inside a compliant walled garden run by TradFi market makers, not on Uniswap. 🙌 Work with us: We arm financial institutions and digital asset leaders with bespoke research, thought leadership to shape the most important conversations, scale trust, and win business. The Fed is preparing new national rules for stablecoin issuers What happened: On December 2, 2025, Federal Reserve Vice Chair Michelle Bowman signaled a major regulatory pivot: the Fed is actively drafting a framework to allow traditional banks to handle stablecoins and digital assets. In her testimony, she admitted that the current regulatory regime handicaps banks against “shadow” competitors – tech giants like Apple and crypto-native firms – who are capturing lending and payments market share without facing bank-level scrutiny. Why it matters: This is an explicit admission that the center of financial gravity has shifted outside the banking system. Our view: The Fed isn’t banning stablecoins; they are domesticating them. By inviting community and regional banks into the digital money game, the Fed is effectively trying to recapture the payments rail from tech players. Sony launches a stablecoin What happened: Sony Bank is launching a USD stablecoin in the U.S., tapping crypto infrastructure firm Bastion to handle the regulatory and technical stack. This follows the launch of their Ethereum Layer-2, Soneium, and proprietary wallets. The objective is clear: unify payments across PlayStation, Sony Music, and Sony Pictures on a proprietary rail. [RELEASE] Why it matters: This is a direct attack on interchange fees. Sony generates over $85B in annual revenue, with ~30% coming from the U.S. market. Currently, Visa and Mastercard extract a ~2-3% tax on every digital subscription and game download. By routing payments through its own stablecoin on Soneium, Sony is attempting to reclaim hundreds of millions in EBITDA. Our view: While the market has largely dismissed Sony’s blockchain (Soneium) as a commercial failure due to lack of organic traction, that assessment misses the long-term strategy. Sony isn’t building for crypto natives; they are building a closed-loop economy for their 116 million active users. News Flash * Ten major European banks are launching a euro stablecoin by 2026. Link * Russia is likely to loosen crypto rules. Link * Fusaka upgrade is live on the Ethereum mainnet. Link * Kraken acquires Backed Finance. Link * SoFi is raising $1.5B to strengthen its balance sheet and fund new products. Link * China’s Huaxia Bank issued $637M in bonds fully paid in digital yuan. Link 💎 Investor Insights (Alpha)

    8 min

  5. 01/12/2025

    155: Downgraded

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.51insights.xyz Hey, it’s Marc. Bitcoin has erased its 2025 gains and the macro ghosts have returned: the Fed is hesitant on cuts and thin liquidity is amplifying every sell order into a cascade. But if you look at the plumbing, a completely different story is emerging. While the market flushes out leverage and panics over Strategy’s potential index eviction, Wall Street is quietly laying the rails for the next phase. Here is what matters while the dust settles: * Strategy is at risk of losing $2B * Tether’s S&P downgrade * JP Morgan securitizes securitization * Nasdaq’s 40x Bitcoin unlock We’ll unpack all of these highlights below 👇 🎁 Cyber-Monday-Deal: Upgrade to PRO now and safe 25% (valid for a limited time) Top Boardroom Reads * Crypto hoarders dump tokens as shares tumble (Financial Times) * Bitcoin and the Quantum Problem – Part II: The Quantum Supremacy (Nic Carter) * Stablecoin Stability Assessment: Tether (USDT) (S&P Global) * When can a quantum computer destroy bitcoin? (Anastasia) * Part 1: My Life Is a Lie (Michael W. Green) Top Signals This Week Strategy is at risk of losing $2B What happened: MSCI released a proposal to purge “Digital Asset Treasury” (DAT) firms from its global indexes. JPMorgan estimates this rule change, potentially effective January 2026, would trigger between $2.8B and $8.8B in forced selling of MicroStrategy (MSTR) as passive funds mechanically dump the stock. See Saylor’s response. Why it matters: This effectively “un-institutionalizes” Saylor’s strategy. MSTR joined the MSCI World Index in May 2024, granting it access to the massive river of passive global capital. MSCI is now attempting to dam that river. This creates a structural crisis for the entire DAT sector. Our take: While Saylor argues MSTR is an operating company, MSCI sees a disguised ETF with unquantifiable risk. If this rule passes, the premium MSTR trades at relative to its Bitcoin NAV faces an immediate, mechanical repricing shock. 🚨 We just opened new sponsorship slots for our newsletters & podcast. Want to reach 35k+ digital asset leaders? Contact us here. Tether’s S&P downgrade S&P Global Ratings downgraded Tether from “Constrained” to “Weak” on November 26, 2025. This is a clear warning about the strength of the collateral backing the most important liquidity token in crypto. [Assessment] So what? Tether has inadvertently graduated from a crypto-native utility to a “shadow central bank.” With a $112B portfolio of U.S. Treasuries and Reverse Repos, it is no longer just a passive holder; it is a structural pillar of the short-term sovereign debt market. Unlike traditional banks, Tether pays 0% interest to USDT holders while harvesting yields on government paper. This generates ~$13B in pure annual profit, while effectively holding the U.S. Treasury market hostage to its own stability. Our view: With $13B in annual free cash flow and 0% cost of capital, Tether runs the world’s most profitable carry trade. This creates a “Too Big to Regulate” paradox: Washington cannot aggressively sanction Tether without risking a liquidity shock to the short end of the Treasury curve. Be smart: Investors shouldn’t worry about imminent insolvency. Tether is arguably more solvent than many regional banks. The real worry is regulatory friction. As Tether behaves more like a nation-state than a company, it invites nation-state level scrutiny. 🙌 Work with us: We arm financial institutions and digital asset leaders with bespoke research, thought leadership to shape the most important conversations, scale trust, and win business. JPMorgan securitizes the securitization JPMorgan Chase issued structured notes linked to the performance of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT). This is explicitly engineered around the 2024–2028 Bitcoin halving cycle, combining an early‑call coupon profile in 2026 with leveraged upside and limited downside protection into 2028. [RELEASE] Why it matters: IBIT alone holds on the order of 700k+ BTC, more than 3.5% of eventual BTC supply; JPM is now wrapping that liquidity into yield-bearing products for the massive wealth management complex. By putting Bitcoin exposure on the same “shelf” as S&P 500 autocallables, JPM effectively transforms a volatile commodity into a programmable financial instrument for private banking clients who prioritize capital preservation over raw alpha. Our view: The “Dimon Paradox” is officially over: while Jamie Dimon publicly dismisses crypto, his trading desk is aggressively packaging it into products that mechanically dampen volatility, turning Bitcoin from a speculative bet into liquid institutional collateral. Nasdaq’s 40x Bitcoin unlock Nasdaq filed a proposal with the SEC to increase position limits for BlackRock’s IBIT ETF options from 25,000 to 1 million contracts. This 40x increase aligns Bitcoin’s regulatory treatment with the most liquid ETFs in the world, such as the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets and China Large-Cap funds. [NEWS] Why it matters: This creates massive room for institutional exposure. Until now, strict limits acted as a “speed limit” for smart money; the 25,000 contract cap prevented large volatility funds and macro desks from hedging or speculating at scale. News Flash * Texas becomes first state to buy Bitcoin. Link * Kraken launches a 1%-cashback crypto debit card in Europe. Link * Kevin Hassett emerges as Fed frontrunner. Link * Polymarket secures CFTC approval to operate fully as an exchange. Link * Klarna launched its first stablecoin, KlarnaUSD. Link * Nasdaq plans real tokenized stock trading by 2026, opposing derivative-style alternatives. Link * Singapore completed its first live interbank settlement trial using wholesale CBDC. Link 💎 Investor Insights (Alpha)

    8 min

  6. 22/11/2025

    154: Quantum, Kraken, Circle

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.51insights.xyz Hey, it’s Marc. Investors are trying to make sense of one of the sharpest, most confusing selloffs of the year. Here are the top 6 narratives right now: * Vitalik Buterin and Ray Dalio warning about crypto’s lack of quantum resistance * The rise of privacy coins such as Zcash, a feature Bitcoin can’t deliver (Jan Van Eck talked about this on CNBC this week). * a major market maker may have taken balance-sheet damage, thinning liquidity when the market needed it most. * a surge in BTC loan liquidations forced mechanical selling across the board. * Cathy Wood, a popular macro investor, reducing her BTC price forecast due to stablecoins “crowing out” the original Bitcoin use case (via CNBC) * And some traders simply blame the extended U.S. government shutdown, which temporarily slowed USD flows into risk assets. Here’s what is clear: the market is extremely oversold, and we’ve seen this movie before. In every major crypto cycle, 2017, 2021, even back to 2016. We’ve had brutal 30–70% resets in the middle of strong structural trends. And this time, nothing fundamentally broke. Markets simply repriced risk faster than anyone expected. While traders panic, the future is being built in plain sight. Our highlights this week: * Kraken raised $800M at a $20B valuation and confidentially filed for an IPO * Aave launched the first mainstream-ready DeFi app * Circle introduced xReserve, solving fragmentation of USDC across chains. * Coinbase revives ICOs in the US * Franklin Templeton expanded to Canton We’ll unpack all of these highlights below 👇 🚨 We just opened new sponsorship slots for our newsletters & podcast. Want to reach 35k+ digital asset leaders? Contact us here. Top Signals This Week Crypto’s quantum threat Vitalik Buterin’s, Ethereum’s co-founder, warning at DevConnect was simple: Ethereum needs quantum-resistant cryptography within ~4 years. Not because the chain will fail, but because users won’t migrate in time. In the same news cycle, Ray Dalio went on CNBC saying quantum is one of the core reasons Bitcoin won’t become a global reserve asset. [NEWS] Zoom in: Ethereum is making quantum-safe cryptography a core priority in “The Splurge” phase. It also proposed a system that makes all rollups feel like one unified network. Solana is actively working on quantum resistance too. And Bitcoin? It’s still debating how, and whether, to do a migration at all. There’s a proof of concept somewhere, but consensus is miles away. Our take: The global crypto market cap sits at $2.93T, and every dollar of it relies on cryptography that quantum computers could eventually break. If a fault-tolerant quantum machine emerges faster than expected, exposed public keys, old address formats, and archived transaction data become easy targets. A hard fork would be the only realistic path to safety for most networks. And forks are messy. In short: the technical migration is straightforward. The economic and political migration is not. 👉 Upgrade to PRO to receive our deep dive on this and secure a limited 20% discount! Kraken raises $800M and wants to go public Kraken just raised $800M at a $20B valuation and confidentially filed to go public. Citadel, DRW and Jane Street led the round, helping Kraken to become a full-stack platform across spot trading, derivatives, equities, tokenised assets, staking, and payments. [RELEASE] [ANALYSIS] The IPO is the headline. But the real story is why these investors showed up. Our take? Kraken is about to become the first major U.S. crypto exchange to go public since Coinbase. But here’s what they don’t tell you: This is all preparation for a future where most of financial activity happens on-chain. Kraken has spent the last three years preparing for this, turning itself into a full-stack liquidity platform: spot, derivatives, U.S. stocks and ETFs, custody, staking, OTC, payments (Krak), tokenization, and even its own L2. Because next trillion-dollar companies won’t be “exchanges”. They’ll be liquidity networks that plug millions of users into open, on-chain financial rails. 🙌 Work with us: We arm financial institutions and digital asset leaders with bespoke research, thought leadership to shape the most important conversations, scale trust, and win business. The Netscape moment of DeFi Aave ($30.92B TVL) just shipped the first mass consumer finance app that successfully hides the blockchain. No seed phrases. No gas fees. Just a normal app offering up to 9% yield (18x the national savings average) to users. [RELEASE] So what? This proves that complex financial engineering can be wrapped in consumer-grade UX. It opens the floodgates for a new wave of apps where the “bank” is just code in the background. We’ll likely see a host of protocols moving up the stack to own the customer relationship. If Aave succeeds here, every major DeFi protocol (Uniswap, MakerDAO, Compound) will launch a consumer app within 12 months to defend their liquidity. Circle’s xReserve makes USDC interoperable Circle launched xReserve, unifying its $70B+ USDC liquidity into one portable, chain-agnostic standard. Any blockchain can now mint its own native USDC-backed token that’s fully interchangeable with real USDC – no more wrapped, synthetic, or bridged variants. Transfers work through a Circle-run “burn-and-mint” attestation system instead of external bridges. [RELEASE] Why it matters: xReserve solves the biggest structural issue in stablecoins: fragmentation. Bridged versions like “USDC.e” aren’t fungible at the protocol level, forcing users to swap through liquidity pools, paying slippage and fees while LPs spread capital across multiple copies of the same asset. xReserve collapses that entirely, one pool, one asset, everywhere. Our take: It also signals a deeper shift: Circle is moving from issuer to infrastructure. By controlling the interoperability layer, Circle commoditizes third-party bridges (LayerZero, Axelar) and positions USDC as the transport standard for on-chain settlement. Coinbase: ICO’s 2.0 Coinbase launched an end-to-end token sales platform for global retail users (including the United States). With that, it is redesigning how tokens are distributed, priced, and launched. [BLOG] So what? In 2017-18 ICO boom, projects raised more than $5.6B but operated with almost no rules, no disclosures, and no safeguards. Result: more than 80% of ICO tokens collapsed within 90 days. The SEC’s crackdown effectively shut down public token sales in the U.S. by arguing that most ICOs were unregistered securities. Now, the SEC is officially introducing a new framework on how tokens fit within existing securities laws. And, Coinbase is trying to fix the primary market while fighting over the secondary one with a more transparent, fair, and compliant launch process that can finally bring token fundraising back onshore. Franklin moves $798M to Canton Franklin Templeton just expanded its Benji Technology Platform onto the Canton Network. The firm manages $1.69T and will move $798M of AUM onto Canton immediately. [NEWS] So what? This is a bet on privacy-led tokenisation. Institutional desks can’t expose positions or collateral flows on public chains. Canton solves that through Daml-based smart contracts and Private Contract Stores, giving each participant strict control over who sees what. It’s the first architecture that meets banks’ confidentiality requirements while still enabling cross-institution settlement. News Flash * HSBC will offer tokenised deposits to US and UAE clients. Link * Mastercard partners with Polygon. Link * Vitalik introduced Kohaku, a privacy-focused tool on Ethereum. Link * Rain acquired Uptop. Link * FDIC considers guidance over tokenised deposit insurance. Link * BNY launches stablecoin reserves fund. Link * Singapore to trial tokenised bills, bring in stablecoin laws. Link * A new US bill would allow Bitcoin tax payments and build a national reserve. Link Top Boardroom Reads * 2025 ONCHAIN REVENUE REPORT (1kx) * Crypto Trends Report 2025 (Variant.fund) * Thematic Review on FSB Global Regulatory Framework for Crypto-asset Activities (FSB) * 2026 is the year of pragmatic privacy in crypto: Canton, Zcash and more (Cointelegraph) * The next-generation monetary and financial system (BIS) 👉Check out our Crypto Treasury Alpha newsletter here. 💎 Investor Insights (Alpha)

    10 min

  7. 15/11/2025

    153: ICO's are back

    Hey, it’s Marc. Introducing… 💎 Investor Insights (PRO): our new bottom-of-newsletter section loaded with alpha: * Each week we break down the biggest news in crypto. * Now, for PRO readers, we answer the only question that matters: How can you act on that and front-run the market? You’ll get trade ideas, allocation plays & actionable alpha. 👉 Upgrade to PRO to unlock this week’s Investor Insights. Let’s get into it… This week, at the Cantor’s Crypto & AI/Energy Infrastructure conference in Miami, something rare happened: Cantor managed to pull crypto OGs, the biggest TradFi institutions, and the AI/infra crowd into one room. Wall Street isn’t “watching crypto” anymore. They’re all in. Then, my signal of the week: JP Morgan collaborates with DBS Bank to move regulated bank money across public blockchain rails. Yes, public chains. That’s a huge deal. This is one of the biggest wins ever for public blockchains. More below. Our highlights this week: * Czech National Bank (CNB) became the FIRST national bank to add Bitcoin to its balance sheet. * Coinbase introduces Token Launches, letting retail buy digital tokens before listing. * Cash App unlocks stablecoins for 58M users * SEC will introduce token taxonomy * Tether unveils its global vision We’ll unpack all of these highlights below 👇 🚨 We just opened new sponsorship slots for our newsletters & podcast. Want to reach 35k+ digital asset leaders? Contact us here. Top Signals This Week Coinbase just relaunched the ICO era, with a twist What happened: Coinbase just introduced Token Launches, a compliant U.S. launchpad that lets retail investors buy new tokens beforet hey list on the exchange. One sale per month, $100–$100k tickets, paid in USDC, no fees. Allocations depend on behavior: early dumpers get punished, holders get priority. [RELEASE] Our take: Coinbase just opened the door for a compliant U.S. version of on-chain capital formation. It doesn’t fix everything, but it’s a step toward solving one of crypto’s dirtiest secrets: most token launches have been pump-and-dump schemes. No product, no traction, just insiders cashing out while retail gets dumped on. If this works, it sets a new precedent: Access for real users, not just VC exit liquidity. 👉Trade Coinbase on Robinhood JP Morgan x DBS: The $1.5 Trillion On-Chain Bridge DBS and J.P. Morgan’s Kinexys are building a cross-bank framework to let tokenised deposits move seamlessly between their blockchain systems: DBS Token Services and Kinexys Digital Payments. They are doing it across permissioned and public chains (Base, Ethereum L2) at the same time. [RELEASE] So what? The banks are wiring their deposit-token networks together, creating cross-issuer, cross-chain fungibility: * JPM deposit tokens (JPMD) issued on Base * DBS deposit tokens on DBS Token Services * Real-time, 24/7 settlement between clients, no SWIFT, no correspondent banks * Redeemable as real bank money on either side This is regulated bank money moving across public blockchain rails. Unlike stablecoins, tokenised deposits can earn interest and integrate directly with core banking systems, making them a more practical form of on-chain cash for corporates and institutional treasuries. Our take: Banks are choosing open infrastructure. This is one of the biggest wins ever for public blockchains, and for Ethereum’s legitimacy. 🙌 Work with us: We arm financial institutions and digital asset leaders with bespoke research, thought leadership to shape the most important conversations, scale trust, and win business. Tether isn’t what you think it is At Cantor’s Crypto & AI/Energy Infrastructure conference in Miami this week, Tether’s CEO, Paolo Ardoino, painted a picture of a company evolving far beyond its stablecoin origins. Tether is building what might become the most important digital infrastructure company of the decade: * Finance: USDT, USAT (Genius Act-compliant), XAUT (gold-backed), Rumble * Communication: Keet (fully peer-to-peer messaging, no central servers) * Energy: Tether kiosks — 500 live in Africa, 100k planned, powering up to 150M people; Tether is also the world’s biggest Bitcoin miner. * Intelligence: QVAX — a peer-to-peer AI runtime that runs LLMs locally So what? Ardoino’s vision presented Tether as a force for global stability and a champion of the U.S. dollar’s hegemony. By embedding the dollar in the financial fabric of emerging markets, he argued, Tether is creating an “eradication-proof” network that will benefit the U.S. economy for the foreseeable future. More below 👇 Inside “Project Crypto”: SEC will introduce token taxonomy The U.S. SEC is officially introducing a new framework on how tokens fit within existing securities laws. This was one of the first initiatives under “Project Crypto.” The program brings together teams from the SEC’s divisions of trading, investment management, and enforcement to build a unified framework for token classification, custody, and disclosure standards. [RELEASE] So what? This is the moment the broader digital asset industry has been waiting for. Similar to the GENIUS Act, this can accelerate U.S. crypto innovation with clarity about digital commodities and collectibles. 👉 Upgrade to PRO to receive our deep dive on this Cash App unlocks stablecoins Jack Dorsey's Cash App is adding stablecoins for 58M users. This will enable users to get a blockchain wallet address, send & receive stablecoins, and 4M merchants can accept Bitcoin (even without holding BTC). [RELEASE] So what? Stablecoins solve what Bitcoin can’t for everyday commerce with instant settlement, no price volatility, no tax friction on small purchases, and work globally without banks. Even hardcore maximalists like Dorsey can’t argue with the economics. Stablecoins are becoming the default backend for global consumer finance. Franklin Templeton joins Canton Network Franklin Templeton just expanded its Benji Technology Platform, the blockchain stack that powers its tokenised mutual funds, onto the Canton Network. This will move FT’s $798M AUM to Canton immediately. [NEWS] So what? Privacy is the primary enabler. The commitment to the Canton Network confirms institutional alignment on architectural guarantees regarding privacy and authorisation rules. Canton’s use of the Daml protocol and Private Contract Stores addresses this requirement by maintaining the necessary institutional confidentiality for cross-market activities. This is a huge win for Canton. News Flash * Citi expands tokenized payments to euros, enabling 24/7 global liquidity. Link * Pantera-backed Solana Company is tokenizing its shares onchain. Link * BlackRock’s BUIDL Fund Expands to BNB Chain. Link * MoonPay launches Enterprise Stablecoin Services, integrating M0. Link * Tether, KraneShares, and Bitfinex unite to tokenize capital markets. Link * UK’s FCA moves from tokenisation blueprint to real fund implementation. * Visa pilots stablecoin payouts to speed up global payments for creators. Link * SoFi becomes first US bank to enable direct Solana purchases. Link * Coinbase ends acquisition talks with BVNK. * Ripple raised 500M at a $40B valuation, backed by Citadel and Fortress. Link Top Boardroom Reads * Down 13%, smarter than ever (51) * Galaxy brain resistance (Vitalik Buterin) * Stablecoins and the future of finance (IMF) * The Fintech Effect 2025 (Plaid) * The Digital Revolution: Transforming Financial Market Infrastructure (BNY) * The Next Wave of Stablecoin Economics Belongs to DeFi (Simon) 👉Check out our Crypto Treasury Alpha newsletter here. 💎 Investor Insights (Alpha) * JP Morgan x DBS: Many investors increase exposure to Ethereum (ETH) as deposit-token volumes eventually route through L2s. They add a smaller position to Optimism (OP) as Base scaling demand rises. For equity exposure, Coinbase (COIN) is the purest beneficiary of Base’s institutional volume. While Base’s revenue is currently a minor contributor compared to Coinbase’s core trading business, its growth potential could be a significant driver for the company. Soon, Coinbase will also launch its Base infrastructure token. Keep an eye on that. 👉 Trade on Robinhood * Franklin Templeton → Canton: FT moving $798M onto Canton confirms that privacy-first chains are well positioned to capture institutional demand. Canton has raised $135M from the biggest names in finance (Goldman, DRW, Citadel, etc.). 400 institutions are already on board. And the Canton token went live this week. 👉 Trade it on Gate or Coinbase. * Cash App adding stablecoins for 58M users is one of the largest consumer-side onramp expansion to date. Consumer payments are a volume game and rails that settle fast and cheap win. Many investors keep an eye on BLOCK (XYZ), the company behind Cash App. 👉 Trade on Robinhood * Tether is becoming a global infrastructure company in energy, AI, and communications, while remaining the largest distributor of U.S. dollars outside the U.S. This supports long-term Bitcoin mining demand and EM fintech rails. Many investors add to Bitcoin miner equities Marathon (MARA), CleanSpark (CLSK), and Cipher Mining (CIFR). 👉 Trade on Robinhood That’s all for now, folks. Take care – Marc & Team This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.51insights.xyz/subscribe

    10 min

  8. 07/11/2025

    152: Billion-dollar checks

    Hey, it’s Marc. This week, I had the chance to speak with Raoul Pal on the big debasement trade, rising debt, Bitcoin vs Gold and the best macro play for the next 5 years. Then, the signal of the week: Mastercard: $2B for Zerohash. Coinbase: $2B for BVNK. Kraken: $1.5B for NinjaTrader. Ripple: Palisade. Securitize: $1.25B SPAC. The pattern is unmistakable: crypto and payment giants are writing billion-dollar checks to own the infrastructure layer of digital money. The boring stuff: authorization layers, settlement rails, custody pipes. The backend that connects dollars to digital assets. In Q3 alone, 95 companies closed crypto M&A deals worth $10B+. This isn’t M&A. It’s a land grab for the pipes. And whoever controls the pipes, controls the flow. Who’s next? This week’s highlights: * Google integrates Polymarket data into Search and Finance * Mastercard acquires Zerohash for $2B. * Coinbase to buy BVNK for $2B. * Securitize’s is going public with $1.25B SPAC * Visa adds support for 4 stablecoins * Franklin Templeton launches Hong Kong’s first tokenized money market fund We’ll unpack all of these highlights below 👇 🚨 We just opened new sponsorship slots for our newsletters & podcast. Want to reach 35k+ digital asset leaders? Contact us here. Top Boardroom Reads * Q3 2025 Crypto M&A and Financing Report (Architect & Partners) * Raoul Pal’s 2026 Playbook: Dollar, Debt, and Crypto’s Big Debasement Trade (51) * How Stablecoins Are Eating Payments, with Chris Harmse, Co-founder & CBO of BVNK (Fiftyone) * DeFi 101 (Standard Chartered) * DeFi - A Strategic Opportunity for the UK (UK Cryptoasset Business Council) * Stablecoin Payments from the Ground Up (Artemis) Top Signals This Week Mastercard’s $2B play to own digital money’s backend Mastercard is reportedly in late-stage talks to acquire Zerohash for between $1.5B and $2B, a company that raised $104M from Interactive Brokers, Morgan Stanley, and Apollo at a $1B valuation in September and just became one of the first firms authorised under Europe’s new MiCAR framework. This would be one of Mastercard’s largest investments ever in the crypto space.[NEWS] Our take: This is about owning the infrastructure layer between traditional money and digital money. Mastercard’s entire business model rests on controlling the “authorization” and “settlement” layers of global payments. In today’s system, those steps are intentionally separate: authorization happens instantly, but settlement drags on for days, allowing Mastercard to sit in the middle and monetize the flow. Stablecoins collapse that gap. The move would let Mastercard internalize the new on-chain settlement layer, preserving its role as the trusted, compliant intermediary. 🙌 Work with us: We arm financial institutions and digital asset leaders with bespoke research, thought leadership to shape the most important conversations, scale trust, and win business. Coinbase to buy BVNK for $2B Coinbase is reportedly in late-stage talks to acquire BVNK for around $2B. Backed by Visa, Citi and Tiger Global, BVNK has processed $20B+ in transactions and is valued at $750M, available across 180+ countries. [NEWS] Why it matters: The distribution war just got real. Stablecoin economics are splitting into two games: issuers (Tether, Circle) capture yield on reserves, while distributors (Coinbase, Stripe) capture transaction flow. Coinbase already keeps the lion’s share of Circle’s USDC yield, now it’s buying the payment rails to control both ends. As BVNK’s Chris Harmse told us: “Issuance will end up like money market funds—low-margin wrappers. The value is in distribution.” So what? Coinbase’s Q3 numbers make one thing clear: it is no longer a retail trading story. Institutional investors now drive 4x more volume than consumers ($236B vs. $59B). Revenue from these clients jumped 144% YoY to $135M, while stablecoins quietly became a profit engine, contributing $246M (20% of total revenue). With $747M coming from subscriptions and services, Coinbase is building a steadier, enterprise-grade business. Visa’s new card: It’s called a stablecoin Visa has just gone all-in on stablecoins, adding support for four tokens (USDC, PYUSD, USDG, EURC) across four different blockchains, all of which are convertible into 25 fiat currencies. [NEWS] So what? Stablecoin card spend has quadrupled year-over-year, with Visa now facilitating more than $2.5B in annualised blockchain settlements. Visa users have purchased more than 100B of crypto and stablecoin assets and spent more than 35B of these assets using their Visa credentials. As money gets faster, smarter, and more software-driven, Visa is aiming to make sure every new transaction, whether it’s a tap, token, or transfer, still runs through its network. Securitize’s is going public with $1.25B SPAC BlackRock-backed fintech Securitize is going public via a $1.25 billion SPAC merger with a Cantor Fitzgerald–affiliated vehicle, making it the first major tokenisation infrastructure company to go public. The deal, unanimously approved by both boards, is expected to close in the first half of 2026, pending regulatory approvals. [NEWS] The backdrop: Founded in 2017, Securitize operates the pipes of tokenisation: issuance, trading, and servicing of digital securities and is one of the few SEC-registered firms in the space (broker-dealer, transfer agent, and ATS). The company has already tokenised over $4B in assets, including BlackRock’s $3B BUIDL fund. “We’ve been profitable for two years and forecast around $69 million in revenue and will be profitable in 2025. Our credibility increases immediately once we’re publicly traded.” — Carlos Domingo, CEO at Securitize So what? Traditional investment banks are repositioning to capture the tokenisation wave, with SPACs serving as fast-track vehicles for high-trust fintech plays. Securitise is betting on $10T tokenisation market, suggesting a coming capital rotation from yield-bearing stablecoins to on-chain treasury markets, where Securitize’s rails are already embedded. 👉 Upgrade to PRO to receive our deep dive on this Hong Kong builds liquidity bridge for U.S. treasuries Franklin Templeton just launched Hong Kong’s first tokenised money-market fund. The fund, backed by U.S. Treasuries, is the first live project under the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s new “Fintech 2030” strategy. This is happening with regulatory support and in partnership with banking titans like HSBC. [NEWS] By the numbers: Tokenized U.S. Treasuries grew 5x between January 2024 and April 2025, hitting $7.4 billion by mid-2025. That’s still tiny, just 0.03% of the $26 trillion Treasury market. But Standard Chartered forecasts $30 trillion by 2034. BlackRock’s BUIDL fund alone controls $2.8B and grew 4x in 2025. Franklin Templeton’s $844M BENJI platform is second. Six players control almost all of tokenized Treasuries. The infrastructure is concentrating fast. So what? It signals Hong Kong’s bid to make U.S. dollar–backed digital assets a core part of its capital market infrastructure, effectively bridging Western assets with Asian liquidity under regulatory oversight. News Flash * Ripple raised $500M with $40B valuation. Link * Tether made a profit of $10B in 2025. Link * Polygon & Anq are developing a sovereign-backed digital token in India, ARC. Link * Canada plans stablecoin laws requiring reserves and risk controls. Link * Gemini enters prediction markets. Link * Animoca Brands plans NASDAQ listing through reverse merger. Link * Visa adds tokenised digital wallet support to fleet cards. Link * Fireblocks acquired authentication startup Dynamic. Link That’s all for now, folks. Take care – Marc & Team * Check out our AI newsletter, AI Operator, here. * Check out our Crypto Treasury Alpha newsletter here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.51insights.xyz/subscribe

    10 min
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