Highlights of this episode
This week’s statistics cowl the interval from March 13, 2026 to March 20, 2026.
This week, the whole market capitalization of RWA on-chain steadily elevated to $27.35 billion, whereas the whole market capitalization of stablecoins fell again to $301.67 billion. The variety of month-to-month energetic addresses declined considerably, whereas the whole variety of holders continued to increase, and the market continued to transition from a “high-turnover growth” part to a “stock accumulation” part.
A landmark breakthrough has been achieved in the regulatory framework: the U.S. SEC has formally authorised Nasdaq’s pilot program for trading tokenized shares, permitting tokenized securities to share the identical order ebook as conventional shares, marking the formal entry of mainstream Wall Road exchanges; negotiations on the Senate’s crypto market construction invoice have made progress and a compromise is anticipated to be reached quickly.
At the mission degree, there’s an explosive pattern of “mainstream finance going all the manner on the blockchain”: a number of regional banks in the United States and VersaBank in Canada are increasing their tokenized deposit enterprise, and Coinbase and Tempo are collectively selling AI Agent crypto funds.
By way of financing, Ironlight accomplished a $21 million Sequence A funding spherical to increase its compliant tokenized securities infrastructure, Dtcpay accomplished a $10 million Sequence A funding spherical, TransFi accomplished a $19.2 million funding spherical, RedotPay is elevating $150 million with the purpose of IPO in the US at a valuation of over $4 billion, and Mastercard plans to purchase stablecoin infrastructure firm BVNK for up to $1.8 billion.
Knowledge Perspective
RWA Observe Panorama
In accordance to the newest information disclosed by RWA.xyz, as of March 20, 2026, the whole market worth of RWA on the blockchain reached US$27.35 billion, a big improve of 9.68% in contrast to the identical interval final month; the whole variety of asset holders elevated to approximately 681,200, a rise of 4.9% in contrast to the identical interval final month, matching the development fee of RWA’s scale.
Stablecoin Market
The whole market capitalization of stablecoins fell to $301.67 billion, a slight lower of 1.96% in contrast to the identical interval final month, ending the earlier two-month upward pattern, and liquidity swimming pools got here underneath stress once more; month-to-month transaction quantity declined to $9.06 trillion, a lower of 8.98% in contrast to the identical interval final month.
The whole variety of month-to-month energetic addresses fell to 49.02 million, a lower of 5.86% in contrast to the identical interval final month; the whole variety of holders continued to develop to 238 million, a rise of 4.98% in contrast to the identical interval final month. The two are clearly diverging, indicating that the incremental funds in the market are getting into more for allocation-oriented holding somewhat than for transactional demand. The consumer base is increasing, however the transaction momentum is weakening at the margin, and the market continues to transition from a “high-turnover growth” to a “stock accumulation” stage.
The main stablecoins are USDT, USDC, and USDS. Amongst them, the market capitalization of USDT decreased by 4.67% in contrast to the identical interval final month; the market capitalization of USDC elevated reasonably by 3.61% in contrast to the identical interval final month; and the market capitalization of USDS surged by 23.07% in contrast to the identical interval final month.
Regulatory information
In accordance to Caixin, the variety of establishments working China’s digital yuan can be additional expanded. The Folks’s Bank of China (PBOC) plans to add approximately 12 commercial banks to the digital yuan system, enterprise capabilities equivalent to pockets opening, alternate, and fee processing, in addition to every day operation and upkeep. Beforehand, 10 banks, together with the six main state-owned banks, had already participated. The digital yuan adopts a “centralized PBOC + commercial bank two-tier operation” structure. The PBOC is answerable for issuance, top-level design, and system supervision, whereas designated working establishments are answerable for front-end providers and compliance obligations equivalent to anti-money laundering and buyer identification. As the digital yuan upgrades from “digital money” to “digital deposit foreign money,” the enthusiasm of commercial banks to take part is anticipated to improve, and the utility eventualities and lined establishments of the digital yuan are anticipated to increase concurrently.
The U.S. SEC has approved Nasdaq’s pilot program for tokenized stock trading and proposed amendments to clarify that Rule 15c2-11 applies only to stock securities.
In accordance to The Block, the U.S. Securities and Change Fee (SEC) has authorised a rule change for Nasdaq that permits it to assist tokenized stock trading. In accordance to the approval paperwork, eligible contributors can settle trades in tokenized type by a pilot program operated by a depository belief firm. Tokenized shares will share the identical order ebook and execution precedence as conventional shares and should present shareholders with the identical rights and privileges as conventionally traded shares.
This transfer is the newest instance of the convergence of conventional finance and cryptocurrency, marking a big step in the direction of placing market infrastructure on-chain. Beforehand, most tokenized shares had been solely accessible to non-U.S. customers. The SEC chairman said that public remark can be sought in the coming weeks on rule improvement, together with a proposed innovation exemption. The pilot interval has not but been introduced.
In accordance to an official announcement, the U.S. Securities and Change Fee (SEC) right this moment proposed revising Rule 15c2-11 of the Change Act to make clear that the rule applies solely to fairness securities, which means that belongings equivalent to cryptocurrencies aren’t lined. This rule outlines the info assortment and overview necessities for brokers when quoting or sustaining steady quotes in the over-the-counter (OTC) securities market, aiming to stop manipulation and fraudulent trading in the OTC stock market. The proposal can be open for public remark for 60 days after its publication in the Federal Register.
In accordance to CoinDesk, negotiations on the CLARITY Act, the U.S. crypto market construction invoice, have been ongoing for weeks and are actually “practically finalized.” Sources say the up to date legislative textual content was submitted to the White Home for overview on Thursday, and Republican senators on the Senate Banking Committee met that day to talk about how to bridge the last variations. A compromise is imminent in the long-standing dispute over stablecoin yields, however lawmakers are nonetheless discussing what different concessions they’ll supply group banks in alternate for his or her assist, probably together with provisions associated to current housing laws. Democrats are nonetheless demanding a ban on senior authorities officers cashing in on private crypto positive factors (primarily focusing on Trump) and are calling for Democratic commissioners to fill vacancies earlier than the CFTC passes new guidelines. Senator Lummis said that the Coinbase CEO has been more versatile in current negotiations. In the meantime, the SEC launched its first crypto asset classification definition this week. The SEC chairman said that solely Congress can rewrite the regulation, however till then, regulators are offering the accountable regulatory path the market wants.
In accordance to Cointelegraph, the European Central Bank (ECB) has launched two digital euro working teams to solicit proposals from trade specialists, specializing in how to implement a digital euro in ATMs, self-service terminals, and varied fee acceptance infrastructures. The first working group is answerable for creating technical specs for ATM and fee terminal suppliers, together with communication applied sciences, offline transaction capabilities, and the reuse of present fee requirements. The second working group is answerable for designing a testing, certification, and approval framework for fee options and infrastructure. This work will report to the Rulebook Growth Group, which incorporates representatives from retailers, fee service suppliers, and customers. The ECB beforehand deliberate to launch a 12-month digital euro pilot program in the second half of 2027; its last implementation will rely upon the passage of related laws.
The Bank of Korea and nine banks launch the second phase of testing for the digital won.
In accordance to CoinDesk, the Bank of Korea, along with 9 commercial banks, has launched the second part of its digital received pilot program. This part assessments bank-issued deposit tokens pegged to the received on a wholesale CBDC infrastructure for nationwide funds and authorities subsidy disbursements. Kyonnam Bank and iM Bank have joined this part, specializing in verifying the payment discount impact in large-scale transaction eventualities and assuaging the burden of bank card transaction charges for giant enterprises and small retailers. Beforehand difficult-to-implement peer-to-peer transfers can be enabled on this part. The authorities plans to distribute some subsidies in digital foreign money in the first half of this 12 months, prioritizing purposes equivalent to electrical automobile charging infrastructure, and exploring the feasibility of utilizing digital foreign money as a fee technique for AI brokers.
Native Observations
Pharos, an L1 public blockchain, received a “betting” investment from GCL New Energy, valuing the company at nearly $1 billion.
In accordance to an official announcement, the L1 public blockchain Pharos has strategically expanded its capital cooperation with GCL New Power (HKEX: 0451). GCL New Power has accomplished its funding in Pharos, valuing the firm at practically $1 billion. Pharos’s FDV (Funds-to-Worth) should common a minimum of $760 million inside three months of its token launch and subsequent three-month durations; in any other case, additional funding is not going to be executed. This funding permits Pharos to drive the transformation of the RWA market from an idea pilot to large-scale, sustainable industrial commercialization.
Venture progress
The World Gold Council plans to launch a tokenized gold framework to challenge Tether and Paxos.
In accordance to Decrypt, the World Gold Council, based in 1987, is collaborating with the Boston Consulting Group to suggest a “Gold as a Service” framework aimed toward establishing requirements for tokenized gold and difficult crypto-native issuers equivalent to Tether Gold and PAX Gold. This service will present a shared community enabling corporations issuing tokenized gold to entry a unified platform to handle bodily reserves, improve belief by steady auditing, and set up fungibility between merchandise.
The tokenized gold market, at present dominated by Paxos and Tether, has a complete market capitalization of approximately $4.9 billion, with every having established its personal unbiased custody and issuance system. The World Gold Council launched the first bodily gold ETF in the United States, SPDR Gold Shares, in 2004, which at present has a market capitalization of $126 billion. The council states that the new service may decrease the entry barrier for issuers and is anticipated to spawn lots of of tokenized gold merchandise.
In accordance to CoinDesk, regional banks in the United States are collectively creating a tokenized deposit platform referred to as Cari Community, which operates on ZKsync’s personal permissioned blockchain “Prividium”. Collaborating banks embody Huntington Bancshares, First Horizon, M&T Bank, KeyCorp, and Outdated Nationwide Bancorp. This community permits banks to tokenize buyer deposits, enabling immediate interbank settlements inside a regulated system. The tokens stay recorded as bank deposits and are topic to present laws and FDIC insurance coverage. The mission is deliberate to formally launch in 2026 and is at present testing the issuance, switch, and redemption processes of deposit tokens. It has acquired assist from a consortium of mid-sized U.S. banks and goals to present stablecoin-like 24/7 fee capabilities.
In accordance to Cointelegraph, VersaBank, a Canadian chartered bank, has added overseas alternate performance to its tokenized deposit platform, permitting customers to convert USD to CAD in actual time on a platform utilizing a blockchain system. This function makes use of Actual Bank Tokenized Deposits (RBTDs) for twenty-four/7 real-time foreign money alternate, aiming to enhance cross-border transactions by lowering reliance on conventional overseas alternate tracks. RBTDs are tokenized variations of bank deposits that may be transferred on blockchain infrastructure and are backed 1:1 by buyer deposits as liabilities of the issuing bank. In contrast to stablecoins issued by conventional non-bank entities, which function inside the conventional banking system, RBTDs are a tokenized model of bank deposits that may be transferred on blockchain infrastructure. This replace is a step in the platform’s commercialization course of, as VersaBank has been piloting its tokenized deposit system since final 12 months.
Flow Traders expands into tokenized assets through a 24/7 over-the-counter trading platform.
In accordance to The Block, cryptocurrency market maker Circulation Merchants has expanded its 24/7 OTC trading platform to embody tokenized belongings, offering “two-way liquidity” for merchandise equivalent to Franklin Templeton’s on-chain cash market fund BENJI and Tether Gold XAUT. This permits institutional counterparties to commerce and hedge utilizing fiat foreign money or stablecoins outdoors of conventional market trading hours. Circulation Merchants’ CEO said that tokenization has the potential to be the subsequent step in the evolution of market buildings, and the firm will solely assist tokenized belongings for “permitted” counterparties who’ve accomplished KYC.
In accordance to CoinDesk, Amundi, Europe’s largest asset supervisor (managing approximately €2.3 trillion in belongings), has partnered with Spiko Finance to launch the tokenized mutual fund SAFO, powered by Chainlink know-how.
EtherFi allocated $25 million to Plume to integrate tokenized RWA asset yields into the platform.
In accordance to Cointelegraph, Ethereum liquidity restaking platform EtherFi has allotted $25 million to Plume’s real-world asset protocol Nest, straight integrating tokenized RWA yields into its platform. Initially, the funds can be allotted to Plume’s nBASIS vault, which is pegged to Superstate’s USCC crypto arbitrage fund. Future plans embody including a devoted RWA vault straight to the EtherFi interface. This integration will give EtherFi over $6 billion in consumer deposits RWA publicity. In contrast to conventional DeFi yields, RWA methods generate returns from money flows equivalent to authorities securities curiosity and lending actions.
PayPal expands its PYUSD stablecoin service to 70 countries.
In accordance to Fortune, PayPal introduced the growth of its stablecoin PYUSD pockets holdings to 68 more international locations and areas, bringing the whole variety of markets that may maintain it to 70, a big improve from the earlier limitation of solely the United States and the United Kingdom. The new markets embody Uganda, Colombia, and Peru, overlaying more areas in South America, Africa, and Asia.
In accordance to The Info, Coinbase is pushing its AI agent to settle for cryptocurrency funds and is searching for a stablecoin partnership with Cloudflare. Given Cloudflare’s key function in managing community site visitors, a profitable settlement would place the stablecoin at the coronary heart of AI agent-driven site visitors. In the meantime, competitors is heating up, with Stripe additionally launching its agent-oriented fee protocol yesterday.
SBI’s digital asset division launches retail USDC lending service.
In accordance to Cointelegraph, SBI Holdings’ digital asset arm, SBI VC Commerce, introduced the launch of a USDC lending service for retail customers in Japan. Customers can lend their USDC stablecoin to the platform with a fixed-term settlement in alternate for curiosity, with a most mortgage quantity of 5,000 USDC per transaction. This product is a mortgage to SBI VC Commerce, not a deposit, and customers bear direct counterparty danger. SBI said that it could re-lend the borrowed USDC as a part of its operations.
Tempo launches mainnet and releases machine payment protocol
Tempo, a stablecoin public chain powered by Stripe and Paradigm, introduced its mainnet launch and launched the Machine Funds Protocol (MPP), an open customary collectively developed with Stripe, to assist machine fee eventualities utilizing varied fee strategies equivalent to stablecoins and debit playing cards. Tempo is designed for high-frequency, small-amount, programmable funds, emphasizing predictable low charges, excessive throughput, and immediate settlement. MPP introduces a “classes” mechanism, enabling steady streaming payment deductions inside a restricted quantity after a single authorization, supporting the aggregation of quite a few small interactions right into a single settlement transaction. The preliminary service catalog contains over 100 mannequin, information, and infrastructure suppliers, with companions equivalent to Visa, Mastercard, OpenAI, Shopify, and Commonplace Chartered testing eventualities together with cross-border remittances, international distribution, embedded finance, and tokenized deposits.
RWA’s MSX trading platform has added two new ETF spot underlying assets.
In accordance to official sources, MSX has launched spot trading for the US greenback lengthy ETF $UUP.M and the medium-term authorities bond ETF $IEF.M.
Financing Dynamics
Ironlight raises $21 million to expand its compliant tokenized securities infrastructure
In accordance to PR Newswire, Ironlight Group, a fintech firm targeted on tokenized securities infrastructure, introduced the completion of a $21 million Sequence A funding spherical. The spherical was led by a number of Wall Road and monetary providers executives, together with former TD Bank President and CEO Greg Braca, in addition to institutional traders equivalent to the Sei Growth Basis and Laidlaw Personal Fairness. The funds can be used to increase its SEC Regulation ATS and FINRA-regulated different trading system (ATS), Ironlight Markets, and Ironlight Applied sciences, which supplies a platform for the issuance, distribution, and settlement of tokenized securities. Ironlight at present helps the tokenization and on-chain atomic settlement of belongings equivalent to personal fairness, structured merchandise, fastened revenue, personal credit score, and actual property.
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In accordance to Tech in Asia, Singapore-based stablecoin fee infrastructure firm Dtcpay introduced the completion of a $10 million Sequence A funding spherical, led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India.
The firm has obtained a license to function an digital cash establishment in Luxembourg to increase its regulated fee providers in the European Financial Space. Dtcpay builds stablecoin fee infrastructure for companies and customers and has partnered with Visa to launch playing cards that join digital and conventional finance. Its platform helps real-time settlement between stablecoins and fiat currencies.
Stablecoin cross-border payment platform TransFi raises $19.2 million.
In accordance to Globenewswire, stablecoin cross-border fee platform TransFi has accomplished a $19.2 million funding spherical, together with a $14.2 million Sequence A fairness funding spherical and a $5 million dedicated liquidity funding spherical. The spherical was led by Turing Monetary Group, a strategic investor in digital funds and monetary infrastructure.
TransFi reportedly makes use of stablecoins as a settlement mechanism to present rising markets with an alternate to conventional correspondent banking and the SWIFT system. It helps over 40 fiat currencies and over 100 digital belongings, integrates over 250 native fee strategies, operates in over 70 international locations, and serves over 100 shoppers and a couple of million end-users globally. The new funds can be used to increase into Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Center East, Latin America, and Africa, deepen its regulatory licensing efforts, and increase its liquidity community.
In accordance to Bloomberg, Hong Kong-based stablecoin fee firm RedotPay is in talks with a number of establishments for a brand new funding spherical of up to $150 million. The firm beforehand accomplished funding rounds exceeding $150 million in September and December of final 12 months, with traders together with Coinbase and Circle’s enterprise capital arm. RedotPay is at present valued at over $1 billion and goals to checklist in the US this 12 months at a valuation exceeding $4 billion.
Bloomberg stories that the firm is dealing with frequent government turnover whereas pursuing its IPO, with at the least 5 senior staff serving lower than 12 months in the previous 12 months, and the compliance chief place altering twice. It’s at present continuing with its itemizing plan with out a chief monetary officer. RedotPay’s annualized whole fee quantity reportedly surpassed $10 billion in December final 12 months, doubling year-on-year, with income reaching $158 million, over 6 million customers, and protection in more than 100 international locations.
Mastercard plans to acquire stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK for up to $1.8 billion.
In accordance to Bloomberg, Mastercard plans to purchase stablecoin infrastructure startup BVNK for up to $1.8 billion, together with a possible $300 million consideration. BVNK had beforehand negotiated a $2 billion acquisition take care of Coinbase final 12 months, however these discussions led to November. Mastercard has not too long ago established a worldwide community of partnerships with over 85 digital asset and crypto-related corporations, making an attempt to keep its core place in funds throughout rising applied sciences equivalent to stablecoins. Headquartered in London, this transaction will additional strengthen the conventional fee community’s presence in crypto funds and stablecoin settlement infrastructure.
Insights Highlights
In accordance to the China Securities Journal, the newest statistics present that the international stablecoin on-chain transaction quantity in 2025, after deduplication, was approximately $25 trillion, however transactions with precise fee backgrounds accounted for lower than 1%. Consultants analyzed that the overwhelming majority of those transactions had been of three sorts: first, inside fund transfers between wallets and protocols underneath the identical establishment or controlling entity; second, on-chain protocols splitting and transferring the identical funds a number of instances throughout the alternate course of to artificially inflate transaction quantity; and third, stablecoins performing as intermediaries for cryptocurrency exchanges and getting used for high-frequency hypothesis. In the identical 12 months, 15 main cryptocurrency fee establishments processed approximately $132 billion in stablecoin funds, whereas worldwide card organizations processed approximately $4.5 billion in associated transactions.
In accordance to the Hong Kong Financial Journal, Citibank Analysis expects the Hong Kong Financial Authority (HKMA) to announce the first batch of stablecoin issuer licenses this month. Based mostly on the expertise of mainland fee establishments, Citibank estimates that the future scale of stablecoins circulating on Hong Kong platforms can be approximately US$16 billion (about HK$124.8 billion, with a fluctuation of US$8 billion). This determine may probably improve additional if on-chain exercise surges and abroad demand is factored in.
Analysts level out that licensing will drive the compliance of the stablecoin ecosystem, and VATP can be an inevitable step. Nonetheless, the ecosystem continues to be in its early phases, and it’s anticipated that native market contributors equivalent to OSL will nonetheless want to make important investments in the subsequent 2 to 3 years, dealing with profitability challenges in the quick time period.
PANews Overview: Wall Road is accelerating the tokenization of belongings. First, the SEC has authorised Nasdaq to pilot tokenized securities trading, with the DTC offering custody and settlement providers. This covers extremely liquid belongings equivalent to the Russell 1000 index and main ETFs. This transfer optimizes the settlement course of by blockchain know-how whereas preserving the present regulatory framework and shareholder rights, and ensures that tokenized securities share the identical order ebook as conventional trading seats to keep away from liquidity fragmentation.
Secondly, the S&P 500 Index formally approved the launch of on-chain perpetual derivatives on the Hyperliquid platform for the first time, supporting non-US traders to conduct 24/7 leveraged trading. This signifies that asset tokenization is driving the accelerated migration of worldwide monetary belongings to the blockchain by two parallel paths: “introducing blockchain into conventional markets” and “constructing trading methods straight on the blockchain.” The scale of tokenized shares has already surpassed $100 million to over $4 billion.
Stablecoin ecosystem map: from trading instruments to global financial infrastructure
PANews Overview: Stablecoins are evolving from a easy “crypto trading instrument” right into a core infrastructure of the international digital monetary system. As of 2026, the international stablecoin market dimension exceeded $310 billion, with annual transaction quantity reaching $33 trillion. Its purposes have expanded to areas equivalent to funds, cross-border settlements, RWA (Actual-World Asset) collateral, and AI-driven funds.
Key drivers of this shift embody the clarification of worldwide regulatory frameworks (equivalent to MiCA and the Hong Kong licensing system), the continued inflow of institutional funds, and the geoeconomic demand for environment friendly clearing networks. Whereas USDT and USDC stay dominant, market competitors is shifting in the direction of capital effectivity, compliance capabilities, and interest-bearing merchandise.
Regardless of dealing with dangers equivalent to know-how and regulation, stablecoins, with their closed-loop ecosystem and resilience, have gotten an vital bridge connecting conventional finance with decentralized ecosystems and driving the evolution of systemic finance.
PANews Overview: Hong Kong’s first batch of stablecoin issuer licenses is anticipated to be issued in March 2026. Due to their restricted quantity, they’re thought-about a scarce entry level into monetary infrastructure. The regulatory framework is extraordinarily demanding, requiring issuers to endure near-bank-level regulation, together with reserve asset segregation, liquidity danger administration, and stress testing.
Presently, opponents fall into three classes: “bank-affiliated” entities represented by the Commonplace Chartered consortium, “trade platform-type” entities with actual enterprise eventualities, and “native native establishments” equivalent to OSL.
Stablecoins have developed from being a easy on-chain transaction medium to a key instrument connecting conventional finance with RWA (Actual-World Asset) settlement, with purposes overlaying company treasury administration, retail funds, and Web3 transaction liquidity.
Hong Kong’s transfer goals to set up a sturdy digital monetary system by prudent entry, thereby seizing a commanding place in the international monetary infrastructure competitors.
