News Roundup — UBS Launches Tokenized Money Market Investment Fund on Ethereum

Major news stories this week;

1. ‍UBS launches tokenized money market investment fund on Ethereum‍
2. Bank of Canada Releases more Retail Payments Activities Act Resources for Fintech, Crypto and Payfac Businesses‍
3. Coinbase, Visa to Allow Real-Time Crypto Deposits Through Debit Card‍
4. Solana launches sUSD stablecoin with a yield of 4-5%‍
5. US Treasury Says Stablecoins Should Be Replaced by a CBDC

Story Summaries;

1. Investment giant UBS, the largest private bank in the world, announced the launch of uMINT, or the "UBS USD Money Market Investment Fund Token," a tokenized investment fund on the Ethereum blockchain. While UBS didn't disclose exactly which financial instruments made up the fund, it said the fund provides investors access to "high quality money market instruments based on a conservative, risk-managed framework". Ethereum is currently the largest blockchain for real-world asset tokenization, which tallies over $3 billion worth of tokenized assets on the network. About $3.9 billion worth of assets are currently tokenized onchain not counting private credit, with U.S. Treasury Debt forming the largest subset. #EMEA #EmergingRegion
2. Between October 2 and October 16, 2024, the Bank of Canada (Bank) released a host of additional guidance, including additional case scenarios (Case Scenarios), and updated supervisory policies and guidelines related to retail payments supervision (Supervisory Policies) in advance of the initial RPAA registration period which commences on November 1, 2024. These new Case Scenarios and updated Supervisory Policies help payments, fintech, crypto and other payments-related businesses to determine whether or not they will be required to register with the Bank as a payment services provider and have a better understanding of how to complete the registration application. #Regulations #Canada
3. Customers of payments giant Visa (V) can now integrate their eligible debit card into their Coinbase (COIN) accounts and deposit funds, at times instantly, the two firms announced on Tuesday. The feature applies to users living in the U.S. or the European Union. They will also be able to buy or sell cryptocurrencies directly on the exchange using the Visa debit card, offering a much easier way for non-savvy crypto folks to invest in the asset class. #BlockchainTechnology #USA #EMEA
4. The Solana platform has launched sUSD (Solayer USD), the first stablecoin of its kind backed by US Treasury bonds. The first synthetic RWA-stablecoin not only maintains a stable 1:1 exchange rate against the US dollar, but can also generate 4-5% annualized yield, making it more attractive than conventional stablecoins. Solayer created this interesting stablecoin in partnership with OpenEden, the first and only tokenized asset platform with credit rating «A» from Moody’s. OpenEden has raised more than $150 million in institutional liquidity on Ethereum. The sUSD stablecoin (Solayer USD) is based on the Solayer RFQ (Request for Quote) protocol, a fully automated marketplace that matches USDC offers with qualified tokenizers. #Stablecoins
5. The U.S. Treasury Department is concerned about the growth of the market and believes privately issued stablecoins should eventually be replaced by a state-backed central bank digital currency (CBDC), according to a Treasury report released Wednesday. “In a similar manner to how privately-issued ‘wildcat’ currencies were replaced by government-backed central currencies in the late-1800s, Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) will likely need to replace stablecoins as the primary form of digital currency underpinning tokenized transactions,” the report, which was prepared by the Treasury’s Office of Debt Management, said. #Stablecoins #USA

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And that’s all for last week’s news! Wishing you a great week ahead!