Highlights of this episode
This week's statistics cover the period from May 16, 2026 to May 22, 2026.
This week, the total on-chain market capitalization of RWA increased to $33.87 billion, with the number of holders exceeding 800,000, setting a new record. The market capitalization of stablecoins barely stabilized, but the monthly transaction volume plummeted by more than 30%, indicating a shrinking demand for large-value settlements. Meanwhile, the total number of holders continued to expand, and the market is shifting from "high-frequency trading" to "configurational holding and scenario penetration".
Key developments have emerged in the regulatory landscape: the U.S. SEC may release an "innovation exemption" rule for third-party tokenized stocks as early as this week, opening a new framework for DeFi platforms to trade tokens not endorsed by listed companies; Japan's Liberal Democratic Party has formally approved a "AI + Blockchain Finance" proposal, supporting yen stablecoins and tokenized deposits, and including foreign trust-type stablecoins in electronic settlement regulations; the Bank of England plans to release a draft regulation on systemic stablecoins next month and encourage tokenized deposits.
At the project level, traditional institutions and emerging players are making all-out efforts: Securitize plans to go public through a reverse merger to bet on asset tokenization; Sui launched a gas-free stablecoin transfer; Germany's AllUnity will issue a Swedish krona stablecoin and launch an AI Agent payment system; Russia's state-owned oil company Gazprom requires its subsidiaries to open digital ruble accounts; and MoneyGram became the anchor remittance verification provider for the Tempo network.
In terms of financing, stablecoin infrastructure Checker and multilateral clearing protocol Cycles have completed financing rounds of $8 million and $6.4 million, respectively.
Data Perspective
RWA Track Panorama
According to the latest data disclosed by RWA.xyz, as of May 22, 2026, the total market capitalization of RWA on-chain reached $33.87 billion, a 1.77% increase compared to the same period last month. While the growth rate has slowed significantly, it still maintains positive growth. The total number of asset holders increased to approximately 800,100, an 8.04% increase compared to the same period last month, setting a new record.
Stablecoin Market
The total market capitalization of stablecoins rebounded to $305 billion, a slight increase of 0.15% month-on-month, with liquidity barely stabilizing after a previous contraction. Monthly transaction volume declined significantly to $6.65 trillion, a sharp drop of 32.51% month-on-month, marking the largest monthly decline in recent times, indicating a sharp contraction in demand for large-scale settlements and arbitrage in the market.
The total number of monthly active addresses dropped to 56.28 million, a decrease of 1.49% compared to the same period last month; the total number of holders steadily expanded to 256 million, an increase of 4.4% compared to the same period last month. The divergence between the two indicates that although retail investor demand is increasing, on-chain transaction participation is cooling down, and overall market activity is weakening.
The leading stablecoins are USDT, USDC, and USDS. Among them, the market capitalization of USDT increased by 1.13% month-on-month; the market capitalization of USDC decreased by 2.97% month-on-month; and the market capitalization of USDS increased by 7.14% month-on-month.
Regulatory news
The U.S. SEC is about to release an "innovation exemption" rule for tokenized stocks , which will only apply to stocks currently tradable on the secondary market.
According to Bloomberg, sources familiar with the matter revealed that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is about to release an "innovation exemption" rule for tokenized stocks, establishing a new framework for trading crypto versions of publicly traded stocks.
According to a post on the X platform by SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, there has been an overinterpretation of the proposed "innovation exemption" for on-chain trading of stocks in a tokenized national market system. Peirce stated that she has always expected the exemption to be limited to facilitating the trading of digital representations of the same underlying equity securities that investors can currently purchase on the secondary market, rather than the trading of synthetic securities.
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas commented that he was not surprised by the expectation of tokenization and maintained his view that tokenization can only distribute stocks and ETFs to on-chain users (at least in the short term), and is more of a distribution channel than a disruptive force for ETFs.
According to an official announcement, the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) has released a proposed rule outlining operational and risk management standards for NCUA-licensed stablecoin issuers under the GENIUS Act. NCUA Chairman Kyle Hauptman stated that the proposed rule aims to ensure credit unions are not disadvantaged in terms of standards and to align with proposed standards for bank subsidiaries. The proposed rule has been published in the Federal Register, and the comment period will end on July 17, 2026.
According to CoinDesk, South Carolina's S.0163 bill prohibits state agencies from accepting or testing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and bans state-level payment requests in the form of CBDCs. The bill also protects users' self-custody rights, allows individuals to freely use digital assets for legitimate transactions, and restricts discriminatory regulations targeting crypto mining and node operations. Furthermore, the bill clarifies that crypto payments cannot be used as a standalone basis for additional tax assessments. According to the state's fiscal impact statement, the bill is not expected to have a significant impact on existing fiscal operations.
According to Cointelegraph, Republican lawmakers are calling for a permanent ban on U.S. central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in the upcoming Century 21 Housing Act, which is set to vote in the House of Representatives. Representative Mike Flood stated that the revised House bill aims to overturn the "hidden green light" for CBDCs and make the ban permanent. If the bill passes the House, it will return to the Senate for further amendments. Representative Warren Davidson supports a permanent ban, arguing that the 2030 expiry date essentially gives CBDCs a pre-launch development period. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer is also pushing his "Anti-CBDC Surveillance Nation Act," which passed the House last July but has not yet been approved by the Senate. Emmer warned that if the U.S. adopts a CBDC, privacy and economic freedom will be lost.
According to The Block, Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has formally approved a policy proposal titled "Next-Generation AI and On-Chain Finance Vision," which plans to build a new generation of financial systems based on AI and blockchain. The proposal, drafted by a project team led by LDP lawmaker Seiji Kihara, was formally approved by the party's policy research council on May 19. The proposal proposes building on-chain financial infrastructure to support 24/7 automated agent business activities and argues that the combination of AI and blockchain can achieve integrated transactions, settlements, and financing. The document also supports the promotion of tokenized deposits and a yen stablecoin, and emphasizes the importance of promoting the tokenization of the Bank of Japan's account deposits.
In addition, the proposal supports a joint stablecoin issuance project involving Japan's three major banks and requests the Financial Services Agency (FSA) to develop a five-year roadmap to promote joint investment in AI and blockchain financial infrastructure by the public and private sectors.
According to CoinPost, Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA) announced an amendment to the Cabinet Office Ordinance, formally recognizing foreign trust beneficiary rights, which are "equivalent" to Japan's electronic settlement methods, as electronic settlement methods under the Payment Services Act. The amendment will take effect on June 1st. This revision clarifies two points: first, it establishes a legal basis for providing services to eligible foreign trust-based stablecoins within Japan; second, it stipulates that when dealing with foreign electronic settlement methods, trading operators should use equivalence to the Japanese system as the eligibility criterion. Simultaneously, related foreign trust beneficiary rights will be excluded from the category of securities under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act and will be regulated solely as electronic settlement methods.
The UK's FCA has launched a regulatory consultation on tokenized wholesale markets.
According to The Block, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England (BoE) have jointly launched a consultation on the tokenized wholesale financial market, focusing on prudential regulation of tokenized securities, collateral, and settlement infrastructure arrangements. The consultation is open to banks, brokerages, asset management firms, trading and clearing infrastructure providers, and fintech companies offering tokenization solutions, currently focusing on tokenized securities such as bonds, stocks, and fund units. Market participants must submit feedback by July 3rd. The FCA and BoE plan to release feedback documents this summer and launch a cross-institutional roadmap for the digital wholesale market later this year. The Digital Securities Sandbox, being developed in parallel by the two institutions, currently has 16 companies in the testing phase.
Sarah Breeden, Deputy Governor for Financial Stability at the Bank of England, stated in a speech at City Week 2026 in London that tokenization will be a strategic priority for the future, building a UK financial system that includes regulated stablecoins. The Bank of England plans to release a draft of systemic stablecoin regulations next month and finalize it by the end of the year, with the possibility of setting a temporary cap on the total issuance of stablecoins if necessary. The Bank encourages commercial banks to issue tokenized deposits and upgrade retail payment infrastructure to support interbank use. The Bank of England and the FCA have been advancing a pilot program for tokenized securities through the Digital Securities Sandbox, with 16 institutions, including Euroclear, HSBC, and LSEG, preparing to launch by the end of 2026. The Bank is still evaluating a digital pound sterling (CBDC) proposal and supports the government's Digital Gilt tokenized government bond project.
Local Observations
According to Aastocks, Digital Asset Clearing Center (DACC), a tokenized financial market infrastructure, announced the completion of a $10 million strategic funding round. Conflux, Global InfoTech, Fosun International, Blockstone, Avior Capital, Fintech World, Satoshi Ventures, and BridgeTower were among the investors. DACC currently provides end-to-end "Clearing-as-a-Service" services to financial institutions, and the new funding will support its efforts to build a compliant financial settlement and clearing infrastructure.
Project progress
Securitize plans to list via a reverse merger with CEPT, betting on asset tokenization.
According to SPACinsider, Securitize is moving forward with a business merger with Nasdaq-listed SPAC Cantor Equity Partners II (ticker symbol: CEPT), with plans to go public through this merger. Securitize founder and CEO Carlos Domingo stated that the company has already profited in the asset tokenization space through partnerships with multiple financial institutions and will leverage SPAC transactions to accelerate expansion, issuing and trading more assets beyond stablecoins in the form of digital tokens.
According to Businesswire, Nasdaq-listed Datavault AI released its Q1 2026 business update, disclosing that the company has signed over $800 million in tokenization contracts, with approximately $100 million expected to be recognized in 2026. This represents approximately $75 million in new contracts in Q1, further validating institutional demand for RWA (Real-World Asset) tokenization platforms. Regarding assets and financing, the company strengthened its balance sheet through a $60 million private placement and an additional $120 million in non-dilutive financing, and is advancing the expansion of its SanQtum AI infrastructure platform across the United States. It also plans to expand its quantum-safe GPU edge network by the end of 2026, deploying approximately 48,000 GPUs.
According to PR Newswire, global payments provider MoneyGram has announced a strategic partnership with Tempo, a public blockchain focused on high-frequency payments, becoming a pegged remittance validator on the Tempo network and participating in the verification of on-chain remittance transactions. MoneyGram will leverage its compliance and global clearing experience to upgrade its settlement infrastructure based on stablecoins and blockchain. The partnership also includes collaborating with Stripe to use Tempo's on-chain infrastructure for stablecoin settlement in actual clearing processes, thereby improving fund management and cross-border payment efficiency. The two parties will further explore open and interoperable stablecoin payment network scenarios in the future.
According to The Block, Kik founder Ted Livingston's app Flipcash has launched its native stablecoin USDF on Solana using Coinbase's custom stablecoin platform, becoming the first application to use Coinbase's Stablecoin-as-a-Service platform. USDF is pegged 1:1 to the US dollar and fully backed by USDC, with Coinbase handling issuance, reserves, and compliance.
USDF will be used for cash-like payments within the Flipcash app. Flipcash is a digital payments app built on Solana that allows users to create and trade their own fixed-supply "community currencies." Coinbase launched its Stablecoin-as-a-Service platform in late 2025, enabling businesses to issue branded stablecoins without building their own infrastructure.
The euro-denominated stablecoin project Qivalis has secured the backing of 37 banks.
According to the Financial Times, Amsterdam-based Qivalis has secured the backing of 37 European banks, including BNP Paribas, ING, and UniCredit, for its yet-to-be-launched stablecoin. The 25 newly added banks include ING, Intesa Sanpaolo, and Rabobank.
As executives and policymakers grow increasingly concerned about the consequences of the dollar's dominance in the crypto market, the support garnered by this single-euro stablecoin project makes it the most backed stablecoin project in Europe. Qivalis has applied for a license from the Dutch Central Bank, hoping to obtain it in the second half of this year, and aims to be operational by the time the license is granted.
AllUnity in Germany will issue a Swedish krona stablecoin and launch AI-powered Agentic Payments.
According to CoinDesk, German stablecoin startup AllUnity plans to launch its Swedish krona-denominated stablecoin, SEKAU, as early as June, after completing regulatory and operational approvals. SEKAU will be issued under the MiCA framework and fully backed by the krona reserve. The company also released its "Agentic Payments" system for AI-driven trading scenarios, based on Coinbase's x402 standard. This system allows businesses to receive payments initiated by automated software agents and settle them directly to local bank accounts. AllUnity, supported by DWS, Flow Traders, and Galaxy Digital, has already launched Euro and Swiss Franc stablecoins over the past year, aiming to provide European businesses with local currency stablecoins and blockchain payment infrastructure, reducing their reliance on US dollar stablecoins.
Russian state-owned oil company Gazprom has asked its subsidiaries to open digital ruble accounts.
According to Bits.media, Gazprom, a Russian state-owned enterprise, has required its 17 subsidiaries to open digital ruble accounts at the Central Bank of Russia. The company stated that this move is in preparation for legislation that will take effect on September 1st, requiring legal entities to be able to accept digital rubles as a form of payment for goods and services. The Russian digital ruble has been under testing since August 2023, and by the end of 2025, more than 130 legal entity accounts had participated in the platform's testing. From September 1st, major Russian banks and large enterprises must provide their clients with the ability to trade digital rubles.
According to CoinDesk, A7A5, a stablecoin project based on the Russian ruble, stated that even if the situation between Russia and Ukraine eases and some sanctions are lifted in the future, the stablecoin still has long-term viability. Its core value lies in cross-border settlement efficiency, profitability, and the construction of regional crypto payment infrastructure. The stablecoin previously had a market capitalization of approximately $500 million. It was initially designed to help Russia bypass banking restrictions, but hopes to further develop into a "direct settlement channel between stablecoins," enabling direct exchange with other stablecoins without relying on USDT, USDC, or the US dollar system.
According to Yonhap News Agency, KB Financial Group announced the completion of a proof-of-concept for all stages of its Korean Won stablecoin payment, settlement, and remittance processes. Partners included electronic payment company KG Inicis and Kaia blockchain and digital asset solutions company OpenAsset. This proof-of-concept is a comprehensive demonstration case that connects the entire financial service process—from the issuance of the Korean Won stablecoin to offline payments, merchant settlements, and international remittances—into a single process. Its key feature is the transition of the internal settlement structure to a blockchain-based system while maintaining customers' existing financial service usage methods. This actual payment model was implemented through offline self-service payment terminals at the Hollys coffee chain. Its architecture is designed so that when consumers can pay via QR code without installing a digital wallet, the settlement stage automatically executes a blockchain smart contract.
In addition, a new process has been implemented for overseas remittance verification: first, the Korean Won stablecoin is converted into a US Dollar stablecoin using Kaia's on-chain liquidity, and then the remittance is transferred to the actual bank account through a local partner in Vietnam. Unlike the existing SWIFT remittance method, which takes several days, the entire remittance process can be completed in just 3 minutes, and the transaction fee is reduced by approximately 87% compared to the previous method.
Aptos will list the Korean won stablecoin KRW1
Aptos announced on its X platform that it will launch the Korean won stablecoin KRW1. KRW1 is launched by BDACS Korea, a South Korean digital asset infrastructure company.
Sui launches gas-free stablecoin transfer feature
According to official news, Sui has announced the launch of a gas-free stablecoin transfer feature, allowing users and businesses to conduct peer-to-peer stablecoin transfers without paying gas fees or holding SUI tokens, reducing transfer fees to zero. This feature is powered by Fireblocks and is being rolled out gradually on the Sui mainnet. This upgrade supports multiple stablecoins including USDsui, SuiUSDe, AUSD, FDUSD, USDB, USDC, and USDY. The feature is based on Sui's newly launched Address Balances system, which simplifies on-chain fund storage and transfer processes while maintaining high performance and scalability. Sui stated that this upgrade will further propel Sui into becoming a core stablecoin infrastructure for enterprise payments, fintech, and AI agent-automated payment scenarios.
Defiance ETFs have submitted applications for money market ETFs that comply with the GENIUS Act.
Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart disclosed in an article on the X platform that asset management company Defiance ETFs has submitted an application for a money market ETF that complies with the GENIUS Act. The fund's investment strategy aims to meet the GENIUS Act's requirements for eligible reserve assets that stablecoin issuers can hold, thereby facilitating investment by stablecoin issuers.
Aleo has announced its integration with Dynamic, allowing developers to build payment applications that support privacy transactions and enterprise-grade security. Dynamic states that in real-world payment scenarios, privacy is not an optional feature, but a fundamental requirement. Most people do not disclose their salary income to the world, therefore stablecoin transactions should not be fully exposed on public ledgers.
Furthermore, for businesses, the complete disclosure of sensitive data such as payroll and B2B transaction volume poses potential commercial risks. Through this integration with Dynamic, developers can leverage Aleo's privacy-preserving computing capabilities to provide a higher level of data protection and security for scenarios such as stablecoin payments and corporate transfers.
MSX opened pre-IPO subscriptions for Anthropic and Polymarket on May 16.
According to official sources, MSX, a leading global RWA trading platform, has opened its second pre-IPO offering. This offering includes AI company Anthropic and prediction market platform Polymarket. Details of the offering are as follows:
Anthropic subscriptions will open on May 16, 2026 at 12:00 (UTC+8), with a subscription price of 855 USD and an estimated value of $950 billion.
Polymarket subscriptions will open on May 16, 2026 at 12:00 (UTC+8), with a subscription price of 152U and an estimated value of $15 billion.
MSX's Pre-IPO section aims to provide investors with a product entry point to participate in pre-IPO investment opportunities of high-quality companies. Users can participate in relevant Pre-IPO projects in a relatively low-threshold manner through USD stablecoins. Previously, the first Pre-IPO project, Cerebras ($CBRS.M), has completed the closed loop from subscription to spot trading after listing. The return rate for subscription users once exceeded 300%, providing a case reference for the feasibility of the Pre-IPO track in Web3 trading scenarios.
Financing Dynamics
Stablecoin infrastructure company Checker raises $8 million in funding.
According to The Block, stablecoin infrastructure startup Checker has raised a total of $8 million in Pre-Seed and Seed rounds, with investors including Galaxy Ventures, Al Mada Ventures, Framework Ventures, as well as Bitso, Airtm, DFS Lab, Onigiri Capital, SNZ Capital, and Velocity. Checker provides a single API to institutions, helping financial institutions such as B2B cross-border payment providers access stablecoin liquidity, accounts, and compliance capabilities. It currently serves over 30 licensed institutions globally and has processed over $3 billion in stablecoin transactions in the past 12 months, representing approximately 1% of the global annual B2B stablecoin payment transaction volume. The company plans to use the new funding to expand into the Brazilian, Kenyan, Hong Kong, and US markets, and launch embedded lending (settlement financing) and AI-powered agent tools for account opening, compliance auditing, and fund management.
According to The Block, Cycles, a multilateral clearing startup founded by Cosmos co-founder Ethan Buchman, has completed a new funding round of $6.4 million, led by Blockchange Ventures, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Compound VC, Primitive Ventures, and others, bringing its total funding to $8.7 million. Cycles aims to create an open clearing protocol that uses zero-knowledge proofs (ZK), trusted execution environments (TEEs), and graph algorithms to clear more transactions between multiple parties with less capital. Lynq and FalconX, as the first partners of Cycles Prime, will participate in pilot testing on the testnet with market makers, prime brokers, exchanges, and several leading trading institutions. The company also launched Cycles Pay, a stablecoin pegged to its clearing engine.
Insights Highlights
According to a CoinDesk report, JPMorgan Chase stated in its latest report that although tokenized money market funds (MMFs) offer interest income, they currently only account for about 5% of the overall stablecoin market. The report points out that stablecoins have become the de facto "cash" tool in the crypto market due to their widespread use in centralized exchanges and DeFi for trading, collateralization, settlement, and cross-border payments. In contrast, tokenized MMFs are classified as securities and are subject to registration, disclosure, and transfer restrictions, limiting their on-chain circulation. JPMorgan Chase predicts that without adjustments to the regulatory framework, the share of tokenized MMFs will struggle to exceed 10%–15% of the stablecoin market. Current demand primarily comes from crypto-native institutions seeking returns on idle funds and institutional investors looking to balance on-chain settlement with traditional regulatory protections.
Research: Tokenized stocks face risks of liquidity and revenue fragmentation.
According to Cointelegraph, Tiger Research released a report stating that the U.S. SEC's move to allow third parties to list tokenized stocks could lead to two major structural risks: liquidity and revenue fragmentation. Ryan Yoon, head of research, stated that traditional finance views the collapse of previously centralized liquidity as a serious structural threat. When the same listed stock is tokenized on different blockchain networks and decentralized platforms, trading volume and order flow that should be concentrated in a single venue like the NYSE or Nasdaq will be dispersed across multiple venues, causing price differences between platforms, increasing slippage on large orders, and reducing market efficiency. Revenue fragmentation follows market fragmentation, with financial revenue that should belong to domestic exchanges flowing overseas. SEC Commissioner Peirce previously stated that any exemptions will be limited, only allowing the trading of digital representations of the same underlying equity securities that are already available for purchase on the secondary market.
PANews Overview: With the implementation of a series of global crypto regulatory laws, the stablecoin sector is transitioning from a period of rapid, unregulated growth to a second phase driven by compliance and ecosystem development.
Amidst fierce competition among emerging stablecoins, USDG, issued by Paxos, stands out due to its "balanced approach," compared to USD, which relies on complex leverage and carries potential risks with its reserves, and USD1 and PYUSD, which face policy risks from the single jurisdiction of the United States.
It meets both Singapore's MAS and Europe's MiCA compliance standards and has bankruptcy-isolated reserves of 100% USD equivalent. Furthermore, leveraging the GDN open ecosystem, USDG has attracted top institutions such as Aave and OKX to join, enabling cross-platform profit sharing. Through deep integration with OKX, users can enjoy zero-fee exchange, interest-bearing without lock-up periods or holding limits, high lending rates, and low-risk leveraged arbitrage using interest rate differentials.
In other words, USDG, which balances compliance and security with yield and liquidity, is setting the future trend for stablecoins with its certainty premium.
PANews Overview: With daily trading volume reaching a record high of $3.57 billion, the tokenized stock sector is experiencing explosive growth and accelerating its move towards mainstream adoption.
Currently, the crypto space is fully capturing the liquidity of pre-IPO assets: Polymarket has partnered with Nasdaq to launch a prediction market linked to private equity data, promoting transparency in the valuation of unicorn companies; Hyperliquid, the leading prep DEX, has taken the lead in achieving on-chain price discovery by launching perpetual contracts for unlisted companies, directly challenging Wall Street's traditional pricing power.
Meanwhile, the U.S. SEC may introduce innovative exemption rules to allow third parties to issue tokens pegged to equity values and trade them in DeFi. While this improves the efficiency of global capital markets, it requires platforms to guarantee corresponding dividends and other rights. However, experts also warn of the risks of unclear rights arising from multi-layered SPV packaging structures, emphasizing that genuine and compliant on-chain transactions are the core of the institutional market.
VISA is increasing its reliance on stablecoin settlements, making crypto payments more certain.
PANews Overview: Visa recently announced the expansion of its global stablecoin settlement pilot network to nine blockchains, with an annualized settlement volume of $7 billion. This continued expansion indicates that stablecoins are evolving from liquidity tools in the crypto market into clearing infrastructure beneath traditional financial networks.
Against the backdrop of the cooling of Web3 narratives, crypto payments have become one of the few sectors with increasing certainty due to their rigid demand for efficient and low-cost cash flow in real-world scenarios such as cross-border payments and payroll.
While the entry of giants like Visa and Stripe has accelerated market maturity, it has also left room for startups to differentiate themselves and cultivate specific regions and vertical application scenarios. However, given that this sector directly touches on cash flow, global regulation is continuously tightening, making the "unconventional" model unsustainable. Compliance, risk control, and licensed operation have become core hurdles that startups cannot overcome.
