🇬🇧 UK Tweaks Blockchain Laws & Standard Chartered Launches Crypto Custody

Sunday is here.

Welcome back to another newsletter from us at The Merge.

Tokenisation News

🇬🇧 UK Government Tweaks Law on Blockchain for Funds

🇱🇺 Standard Chartered Launches Crypto Custody in Luxembourg

🌐 DTCC Doubles Down on Tokenisation for 2025

Read Time: 5 Minutes

Global Market Overview

Real World Assets on-chain (excl stablecoins) are worth $15.24 billion (↑8.23% from last month).

There are 81,928 Total Asset Holders (↑2.6% from last month).

• $203.84b is in Stablecoins

• $9.79b is within Private Credit

• $3.87b is in US Treasury Debt

• $1.07b is in Commodities

• $119.32m is in Global Bonds

• $11.63m is in Stocks

The top 3 networks are: 🥇Ethereum ($124.4b in Total Value Locked) 🥈Tron ($59.7b in TVL) & 🥉Solana ($5.3b in TVL).

Fancy taking a look for yourself? Check it out here.

Tweet of the Week

So, what’s being tokenised this week?

Private Credit

Currently, there are $9.7 billion in Active-Value Loans and $16.4 billion in Total Loan Value across all protocols.

As of today, the top 3 current protocols with outstanding loans are: 🥇Figure ($9.2b)🥈Maple Finance ($271m) &🥉Mercado Bitcoin ($88m).

Top stories this week?

🇱🇺 Standard Chartered Launches Crypto Custody in Luxembourg

Standard Chartered has launched a new entity in Luxembourg to serve as its EU regulatory entry point for crypto and digital asset custody services, aligned with the EU's Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation which came into effect at the start of this year.

This expansion is part of the bank's global digital asset strategy, following similar efforts in the UAE, leveraging Luxembourg's balanced regulatory environment to meet rising EU demand.

Laurent Marochini, formerly Head of Innovation at Société Générale, has been appointed CEO.

Stablecoins

Currently, the market cap of stablecoins is $203.8 billion (↑1.35% from last month).

As of today, it makes up 0.98% (↑1.35% from last month) of all M2 Money Supply with Monthly Transfer Volume totalling $4.92 trillion (↑104.77% from last month).

The top 3 current entities are: 🥇Tether ($136.7b)🥈Circle ($44.6b) &🥉Ethena ($5.79b).

Top stories this week?

🌐 DTCC Doubles Down on Tokenisation for 2025

DTCC, the world's largest central securities depository, who clear around $2.5 Quadrillion a year - has prioritised tokenisation for 2025 to transform the securities industry.

CEO Frank La Salla emphasised advancing digital asset adoption, tokenising collateral and funds, and leveraging DTCC's clearing and settlement expertise.

Nadine Chakar, Global Head of DTCC Digital Assets, stressed implementing real-world ledger applications as soon as possible.

Commodities

Currently, the market cap of commodities is $1.07b (↓1.07% from last month).

As of today, the Monthly Transfer Volume totals $386.5m (↑41.4% from last month) with 59.1k current holders.

The top 3 current entities are: 🥇Paxos ($535m)🥈Tether ($516.6m) & 🥉Comtech Gold ($12.2m).

Bonds

Currently, the total value of bonds is $119.3m (↑5.3% from last month).

As of today, the Average Yield to Maturity is 0%. There are 638 Holders (↓2.19% from last week).

The top 3 current entities are: 🥇Spiko ($92.8m)🥈 Backed Finance ($20.15m)🥉 OpenTrade ($6.37m).

Top stories this week?

🇬🇧 UK Government Tweaks Law on Blockchain for Funds

The UK Treasury has made a significant regulatory clarification by excluding cryptocurrency staking from collective investment scheme regulations, effective January 2024. Below is our summary:

Staking Reform

• UK Treasury excludes crypto staking from collective investment schemes

• Change effective January 2024

• Specifically defines staking as blockchain validation

Regulatory Approach

• Government maintaining measured stance on crypto

• Current rules only cover marketing and compliance

• Individual legislation (like stablecoins) delayed

Future Plans

• Comprehensive framework planned for 2026

• FCA published a policy roadmap

• Discussion paper released on crypto-asset regulations

VaultCraft launches V2, TVL skyrockets above $100M

VaultCraft launches V2, partners with Safe, and secures $100M+ in Bitcoin

• Matrixport, Asia’s leading crypto providers, commits $100M+ in Bitcoin

• OKX Web3 to launch Safe Smart Vaults with $250K+ in rewards

Earn Now

Stocks

Currently, the total value of stocks is $11.63m (↓11.3% from last month).

As of today, the Monthly Transfer Volume totals $38.6m (↑607.8% from last month🔥) with 116 Active Addresses and 933 Current Holders.

The top 3 current entities are 🥇Coinbase Global ($5.4m)🥈iShares Core S&P 500 ($3.3m) &🥉Nvidia ($1.4m).

Weekly Resource List

👻 Phantom Wallet: Beginner-Friendly Wallet

Multiple chains, one wallet. No need for switching. Seamlessly access the largest NFT marketplaces. A multi-chain wallet that helps you explore web3, use apps, and buy, store, and trade crypto and NFTs across Solana, Ethereum, and Polygon. (link) 

💳 Coinbase Wallet: The Crypto Wallet of Choice

You’ve more than likely heard and probably used Coinbase, so no introduction is needed. This is by far one of the easiest and non-crypto native wallets to be picked up and used by anyone. They even have a ‘Simple Mode’ for beginners. (link) 

🌐 RWA.xyz: On-Chain RWA Analytics

Explore tokenised real-world assets and the investors, issuers and service providers participating in public blockchains. View protocol statistics, industry aggregate metrics, and the issuers all in one place (link)

🔎 Santiment: Crypto Intelligence Tool

A behaviour analytics platform for crypto, sourcing on-chain, social and development information on thousands of coins, including market signals. For RWA’s insights check out this (link) 

As always, thanks for reading.

Vote below and let us know your thoughts this week —we’d love to hear from you.

Until next Sunday,

Merge