Highlights of this episode
This week's statistics cover the period from January 9, 2026 to January 16, 2026.
This week, the total market capitalization of RWA on-chain steadily increased to $21.22 billion, with the number of holders exceeding 630,000. The growth was mainly driven by the expansion of the investor base. The total market capitalization of stablecoins remained basically flat, but the monthly transaction volume surged by 45.63%, with a turnover rate as high as 27.3 times. This highlights that the market has entered a stage of "deepening zero-sum game". Large-scale institutional settlements and derivative collateralization have driven the rapid turnover of existing funds, forming a unique pattern of "high liquidity and low growth".
On the regulatory front, the "civil war" over stablecoin yields in the United States has intensified. Coinbase actively lobbied against restrictions, but was refuted by executives from JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America. The CLARITY Act has become the focus of the game between traditional banks and crypto, and the hearing on its review has been postponed to January 27. Dubai tightened stablecoin rules, while South Korea passed legislation on security tokens. Global regulation continues to be refined amid controversy.
Banking institutions are deepening their involvement in tokenization: Custodian giants such as Bank of New York Mellon and State Street have launched tokenized deposit services, and Swift, in partnership with Chainlink, has completed a pilot program for interoperability of tokenized assets with multiple banks, demonstrating that traditional financial infrastructure is accelerating its integration with on-chain systems.
Payment infrastructure continues to upgrade: Visa and BVNK integrate stablecoin payments, South Korea's KB company applies for a stablecoin credit card patent, and Ripple invests in LMAX to promote the application of RLUSD in institutional settlements, indicating that stablecoins are increasingly penetrating cross-border payments and daily consumption scenarios.
In addition, several stablecoin payment companies have secured substantial funding, with capital continuing to bet on compliance and global expansion.
Data Perspective
RWA Track Panorama
According to the latest data disclosed by RWA.xyz, as of January 16, 2026, the total market value of RWA on the chain reached US$21.22 billion, a slight increase of 5.76% compared to the same period last month, maintaining a steady growth rate; the total number of asset holders increased to approximately 632,700, an increase of 9.08% compared to the same period last month.
The fact that the growth rate of asset holders is higher than the growth rate of asset size indicates that the current market expansion is mainly driven by the expansion of the investor base, rather than a significant increase in the average holding per person.
Stablecoin Market
The total market capitalization of stablecoins reached $299.01 billion, a slight decrease of 0.44% compared to the same period last month, with the overall scale continuing to shrink; monthly transaction volume surged to $8.17 trillion, a dramatic increase of 45.63% compared to the same period last month, with a turnover rate (transaction volume/market capitalization) as high as 27.3 times, indicating a sharp increase in the activity and utilization efficiency of existing funds.
The total number of monthly active addresses increased to 46.73 million, up 8.02% month-over-month; the total number of holders steadily increased to approximately 222 million, up 5.18% month-over-month, indicating a continued expansion of the user base.
Data indicates that the market has entered a phase of "deepening competition among existing funds and structural adjustments." Market capitalization contraction reflects a lack of new capital inflows or even net outflows. However, demand from institutional large-scale settlements and derivatives collateral is driving rapid turnover of existing funds, resulting in a unique pattern of "high liquidity and low growth."
The leading stablecoins are USDT, USDC, and USDS. Among them, the market capitalization of USDT increased slightly by 0.03% month-on-month; the market capitalization of USDC decreased by 2.36% month-on-month; and the market capitalization of USDS decreased slightly by 0.78% month-on-month.
Regulatory news
According to CoinDesk, the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee plans to release its cryptocurrency market structure bill on January 21 and hold a crucial hearing on the text of the bill on January 27. The hearing, originally scheduled for January 15 (postponed Monday), will begin at 3 p.m. The bill amendment hearing is a key step in advancing the legislative process, allowing senators to debate amendments, vote on whether to include them in the base text, and then vote on whether to submit the entire bill to the full Senate for consideration. The Senate Banking Committee will hold its own amendment hearing on its version of the bill this Thursday. The Banking Committee's draft bill was released around midnight Monday, but senators are expected to propose amendments before the hearing.
Since the initial draft for discussion was released, the Agriculture Committee has not yet released the text of its draft bill. Outstanding issues include ethics provisions (addressing the connections between President Trump and his family with several crypto companies) and quorum rules (requiring bipartisan leadership of regulators such as the SEC and CFTC). Currently, both agencies have only Republican commissioners. Sources indicate that the Banking Committee's bill text also lacks provisions on ethics or quorum, so the current version is unlikely to gain bipartisan support.
According to journalist Eleanor Terrett, after the U.S. Senate Banking Committee postponed its review of the crypto market structure bill for nearly 24 hours, parties are assessing the progress. Multiple sources indicate that the bill could still "likely" move forward if banks, Coinbase, and Democrats can reach an agreement on "yield" terms in the coming days.
Regarding the section on tokenized securities in the bill, some tokenization companies believe Coinbase's objections are taken out of context, while parties including Brian Armstrong have stated they want significant changes or complete removal of the clause. Furthermore, ethical concerns raised in the bill are still under discussion, and related dialogues between the White House and the Senate are reportedly ongoing. Sources indicate that the delay of the Banking Committee does not necessarily affect the Agriculture Committee's review process; if the Agriculture Committee can reach a strong bipartisan agreement, it could facilitate a smoother review process by the Senate Banking Committee.
Dubai bans privacy coins and tightens regulations on stablecoins
According to CoinDesk, the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has banned the trading, promotion, and derivatives activities of privacy coins at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) since January 12, citing their inability to meet anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance requirements. The new regulations also redefine stablecoins, recognizing only "fiat-backed crypto tokens" backed by fiat currency and high-quality assets; algorithmic stablecoins such as Ethena are not considered stablecoins. Furthermore, the DFSA has transferred the responsibility for token suitability assessments to licensed institutions, shifting its regulatory focus to compliance enforcement.
According to Digital Asset, the South Korean National Assembly has passed amendments to the Capital Markets Act and the Electronic Securities Act, marking the formal establishment of a framework for the issuance and circulation of security tokens (STOs) approximately three years after financial regulators issued relevant guidelines.
The core amendments include the introduction of the distributed ledger concept, allowing issuers meeting certain conditions to directly issue and manage tokenized securities through electronic registration, and establishing a new "Issuance Account Management Institution." Furthermore, atypical securities such as investment contracts will be brought under the regulatory scope of the Capital Markets Act, and their trading in the over-the-counter market will be permitted through the establishment of a new over-the-counter brokerage business. The revised Capital Markets Act will take effect from the date of promulgation. However, provisions related to investment inducement guidelines will take effect six months after promulgation, and provisions related to over-the-counter trading will take effect one year after promulgation.
Project progress
Bank of New York Mellon launches tokenized deposits to expand its digital asset business.
According to Bloomberg, Bank of New York Mellon has launched a tokenized deposit service that allows customers to transfer funds via blockchain, becoming the latest major global bank to delve deeper into the digital asset space. The company stated that this form of digital cash is an on-chain representation of deposits held in BNY Mellon customers' accounts at the bank. As BNY Mellon moves towards 24/7 operations, the service can be used for collateralized and margin trading and can accelerate payments. Clients participating in this new service include exchange operator Intercontinental Exchange, trading firms Citadel Securities and DRW Holdings, Ripple Prime (a subsidiary of Ripple Labs Inc.), asset management firm Baillie Gifford, and stablecoin company Circle.
The world's largest custodian bank, Bank of New York (BNY), will launch a platform that allows institutional clients to settle deposits on a blockchain. This functionality will operate on BNY's private permissioned blockchain and will be subject to the company's established risk, compliance, and control framework.
According to Bloomberg, global custody giant State Street announced the launch of its digital asset platform, planning to offer tokenized money market funds, ETFs, stablecoins, and deposit products. This initiative, to be developed in collaboration with its asset management division and partner institutions, marks a shift from back-office services to direct involvement in asset issuance. Previously, State Street partnered with Galaxy Digital to issue tokenized funds and is also considering offering crypto custody services in the future.
Société Générale and Swift are testing stablecoin-settled tokenized bonds.
According to CoinDesk, Société Générale's digital asset division, SG-FORGE, partnered with Swift to successfully complete the issuance, delivery-to-payment (DvP), interest payment, and redemption of tokenized bonds using Swift's MiCA-compliant stablecoin, EUR CoinVertible (EURCV). This test validates the potential for collaboration between traditional payment systems and blockchain platforms, enabling cross-platform asset transaction coordination and potentially accelerating the digitalization of capital markets. This project is part of a larger digital asset experiment led by Swift and involving more than 30 global banks.
According to a Chainlink announcement, Swift, in collaboration with Chainlink and UBS Asset Management, has completed key interoperability tests with BNP Paribas, Intesa Sanpaolo, and Société Générale, enabling seamless settlement of tokenized assets between traditional payment systems and blockchain platforms. This pilot program covers DvP settlement, interest payments, and redemption processes, marking substantial progress for Swift in unifying and coordinating on-chain and off-chain financial systems.
This initiative focuses on key processes such as DvP settlement, interest payments, and redemption of tokenized bonds, encompassing roles such as payment agents, custodians, and registrars. The project builds on a previous pilot project completed by Swift and Chainlink under the Monetary Authority of Singapore's (MAS) Guardian Program, demonstrating how financial institutions can leverage existing Swift infrastructure to facilitate off-chain cash settlement for tokenized funds.
South Korean financial giant KB has applied for a patent for a stablecoin credit card.
According to The Block, KB Kookmin Card, a subsidiary of KB Financial, South Korea's largest financial group, has filed a patent application for stablecoin payment technology. The patent covers a hybrid payment system that allows users to make payments using stablecoins with existing credit cards. According to the design, users can link their blockchain wallet address to their existing credit card. During payment, the stablecoin balance in the linked e-wallet will be deducted first; if the balance is insufficient, the remaining amount will be deducted from the credit card. KB stated that this design aims to lower the barrier to entry for digital asset payments while preserving existing card payment infrastructure, a familiar user experience, and related benefits (such as rewards and protections), helping stablecoins move from niche platforms to mainstream finance.
Visa partners with BVNK to launch stablecoin payment service
According to CoinDesk, Visa has announced a partnership with stablecoin payment infrastructure company BVNK to integrate stablecoin functionality into its Visa Direct real-time payments network. This partnership will allow businesses in select markets to pre-fund payments with stablecoins and directly distribute funds to the recipient's digital wallet. BVNK will provide the underlying infrastructure to process and settle these stablecoin transactions; the company currently processes over $30 billion in stablecoin payments annually. Visa invested in BVNK through its venture capital arm in May 2025, and Citigroup subsequently made a strategic investment.
Bakkt agrees to acquire stablecoin payment infrastructure DTR
According to an official announcement, Bakkt Holdings (NYSE: BKKT) has reached an agreement to acquire Distributed Technologies Research Ltd. (DTR), a global stablecoin payments infrastructure company, for approximately 9,128,682 Class A ordinary shares, to advance the integration of its stablecoin settlement and digital banking businesses. The transaction is expected to close upon regulatory and shareholder approval, with ICE voting in favor of the deal. The company will change its name to "Bakkt, Inc." on January 22 and will hold an investor day on the NYSE on March 17.
Galaxy Digital completes its first tokenized secured loan certificate issuance, raising $75 million.
According to Alternativeswatch, Nasdaq-listed Galaxy Digital announced the completion of its first tokenized collateralized loan certificate, "Galaxy CLO 2025-1," on the Avalanche blockchain, raising $75 million. The funds will be used to support Galaxy's lending business, including financing an uncommitted line of credit for Arch Lending. Galaxy's lending team and digital infrastructure team were responsible for structuring and tokenizing the collateralized loan certificate (CLO), respectively, while Galaxy Asset Management was responsible for its issuance and management.
Figure launches the OPEN platform, enabling direct stock lending transactions on the blockchain.
According to Bloomberg, Figure Technology has launched a new platform, "OPEN" (On-Chain Public Equity Network), which allows companies to issue real-world equity tokens on its Provenance blockchain. Shareholders can then directly borrow and lend shares without going through traditional brokers or custodians. Figure will be the first to issue its own equity tokens and support trading on its decentralized platform, aiming to restructure equity market infrastructure.
According to Reuters, sources revealed on Wednesday that Pakistan has reached an agreement with World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency company affiliated with the Trump family, to explore the use of its USD-denominated stablecoin, USD1, for cross-border payments. Under the agreement, World Liberty will collaborate with the Central Bank of Pakistan to integrate its USD1 stablecoin into a regulated digital payment infrastructure, allowing it to operate alongside Pakistan's domestic digital currency infrastructure. The news is expected to be officially announced during World Liberty CEO Zach Witkoff's visit to Islamabad.
According to an announcement by Ripple and LMAX Group, the two companies have entered into a multi-year strategic partnership agreement. Ripple will provide $150 million in funding to facilitate the widespread adoption of the RLUSD stablecoin as a margin and settlement asset within the LMAX global institutional trading system. RLUSD will support crypto, perpetual contracts, CFDs, and some fiat-to-crypto products, aiming to improve cross-asset margin efficiency and achieve 24/7 on-chain settlement. The partnership also includes RLUSD custody through the LMAX Custody segregated wallet and integration with Ripple Prime to expand institutional liquidity and reduce market fragmentation.
STBL Releases Q1 Roadmap: USST Mainnet Deployment and Launch of Lending and RWA Expansion
Stablecoin protocol STBL released its Q1 2026 roadmap, with the core objective of shifting from infrastructure development to application deployment, activating USST as a productive asset that can be used for lending and yield generation. Key points include:
In January, USST will be deployed on the mainnet, integrating Hypernative for an automated anchoring mechanism and launching DeFi lending functionality;
In February, liquidity will be injected and RWA collateral will be expanded, and an ecosystem-specific stablecoin (ESS) structure will be deployed on the testnet;
In March, the plan is to extend native USST minting to other high-performance chains such as Solana and Stellar, and release a simplified interface for the STBL DApp.
MANTRA announces layoffs and restructuring to address market challenges.
MANTRA co-founder John Patrick Mullin issued a statement saying that MANTRA will undergo a corporate restructuring and downsizing, affecting multiple support departments including business development, marketing, and human resources. Mullin stated that adverse events in April 2025 and downward market pressures led to an unsustainable cost structure, and the restructuring aims to focus on core strategies in the RWA field to improve capital efficiency and maintain a leading position.
According to BeInCrypto, sources familiar with the matter said that Polygon recently implemented a large-scale internal layoff, with approximately 30% of its employees being laid off this week. On social media, numerous Polygon employees and ecosystem members have posted announcements of departures or team changes. These layoffs occur after Polygon's strategic shift towards stablecoin payments and the completion of its $250 million acquisition of Coinme and Sequence. Kurt Patat, head of communications at Polygon Labs, confirmed that the layoffs are part of the post-acquisition team integration measures, and the company's total headcount is expected to remain stable.
Related reading: Polygon invests $250 million to complete its puzzle; POL token's deflationary trend ushers in a "year of rebirth".
According to Russian media reports, Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin, has registered the trademark for its asset tokenization platform, Hadron, in Russia. The company filed the application in October 2025, and the Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent) approved the registration in January 2026. The company has been granted exclusive rights to the trademark, valid until October 3, 2035. The trademark can be used for blockchain financial services, cryptocurrency trading and exchange, crypto payment processing, and related consulting services.
According to The Block, Tether-backed mobile wallet Oobit has announced native integration with the Solana ecosystem wallet Phantom, allowing users to make one-click payments using stablecoins at merchants worldwide that support Visa through Oobit's DePay system. Funds are deducted from the wallet in real time and automatically converted to fiat currency, eliminating the need for pre-transfers or intermediaries. Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko participated in Oobit's $25 million Series A funding round.
According to CoinDesk, when stablecoin issuer Tether announced a "strategic investment" in Ledn last November, it chose to keep the details confidential. Sources familiar with the matter revealed that Tether actually paid between $40 million and $50 million in the investment. Ledn is a company that provides fiat and stablecoin loans backed by Bitcoin, and this investment valued Ledn at approximately $500 million.
According to Crowdfund Insider, stablecoin payment infrastructure provider PhotonPay announced the completion of a tens of millions of US dollars Series B funding round. The round was led by IDG Capital, with participation from Hillhouse Investment, Enlight Capital, Lightspeed Faction, and Shoplazza. Blacksheep Technology served as the exclusive financial advisor. The company did not disclose its valuation. The new funds will be used to accelerate the expansion of its stablecoin financial payment channels, recruit key talent, and expand its global regulatory compliance footprint, with a focus on the United States and several emerging markets.
Founded in 2015, PhotonPay currently operates 11 centers globally and employs over 300 people. The company claims its annualized payment processing volume, based on its "stablecoin-native" clearing and settlement infrastructure, exceeds $30 billion. It has partnered with financial institutions such as JPMorgan Chase, Circle, Standard Chartered Bank, DBS Bank, and Mastercard, and plans to strengthen its account issuance, acquiring, and foreign exchange services capabilities. Starting in 2026, PhotonPay also plans to launch value-added services for businesses, including yield-generating treasury products for idle funds and flexible credit instruments.
According to Bloomberg, stablecoin payment company Rain announced the completion of a new $250 million funding round, valuing the company at $1.95 billion post-money. The round was led by ICONIQ, with participation from Sapphire Ventures, Dragonfly, Bessemer, Lightspeed, and Galaxy Ventures. This brings Rain's total funding to over $338 million.
Farooq Malik, co-founder and CEO of Rain, stated that the funds will be used to expand its operations in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, and to help the company adapt to the rapidly changing global regulatory environment. Rain currently issues stablecoin payment cards in over 150 countries through a partnership with Visa, allowing cardholders to make purchases at local merchants or withdraw cash from ATMs. The company also plans to integrate with payment systems such as the US ACH and the European SEPA through partner financial institutions. Malik mentioned that the company may pursue strategic acquisitions in the future, having already acquired rewards platform Uptop and currency conversion platform Fern in the past year.
Latin American stablecoin payment company VelaFi completes $20 million Series B funding round.
Latin American stablecoin payment infrastructure company VelaFi announced the completion of a $20 million Series B funding round, led by XVC and Ikuyo, with participation from Alibaba Investment, Planetree, and BAI Capital, bringing its total funding to over $40 million. The funds will be used to expand compliance, banking connectivity, and operations in the US and Asia. VelaFi has processed billions of dollars in transactions for hundreds of enterprise clients, providing stablecoin solutions including cross-border payments, multi-currency accounts, and asset management.
Stablecoin service provider Meld raises $7 million, led by Lightspeed Faction.
According to Fortune, stablecoin service provider Meld announced the completion of a $7 million funding round, led by Lightspeed Faction, with participation from F-Prime, Yolo Investments, and Scytale Digital. This brings the company's total funding to $15 million, with specific valuation details not yet disclosed. Meld aims to be a one-stop platform for businesses and individuals worldwide to access and convert digital assets, with the goal of becoming a "cryptocurrency version of Visa," supporting the purchase and settlement of stablecoins, Bitcoin, Ethereum, or any other type of digital asset globally.
According to official sources, Saturn, the developer of the stablecoin protocol USDat, announced the completion of an $800,000 funding round. This round was led by YZi Labs, Sora Ventures, and several angel investors in the crypto space.
The USDat protocol's revenue primarily comes from a combination of Strategy's perpetual preferred stock (STRC) and US Treasury bonds. The project team states that the protocol aims to bring institutional-grade credit to DeFi, enabling Strategy's credit to be used on-chain and providing a new model for corporate treasury in decentralized finance.
RWA project TBook announced that it has raised over $10 million in funding.
According to Chainwire, TBook, an embedded RWA liquidity layer, announced the completion of a new funding round led by SevenX Ventures, valuing the company at over $100 million. This round also attracted participation from Mask Network, a well-known family office, and existing investors, bringing TBook's total funding to over $10 million. Following this latest funding round, TBook's investors include SevenX Ventures, the Sui Foundation, KuCoin Ventures, Mask Network, HT Capital, VistaLabs, Blofin, Bonfire Union, LYVC, and GoPlus, among others.
The protocol plans to conduct a token generation event (TGE) in the first quarter of 2026. TBook is building an embedded RWA liquidity layer that intelligently connects asset issuers with qualified users through on-chain reputation infrastructure. TBook's infrastructure is built on a proprietary three-layer architecture: the identity layer (incentive passport and vSBT), the intelligence layer (WISE credit scoring), and the settlement layer (TBook Vault).
Maitong MSX adjusts RWA spot rates to "one-way fee," with zero commission on sales.
US-based cryptocurrency exchange MSX (msx.com) announced today a change to its RWA spot trading fee structure, effective immediately. The new fee structure changes the previous "two-way fee" to a "one-way fee." Specifically, the fee for buying remains at 0.3%, while the fee for selling is reduced to 0%. This means that users will experience a substantial 50% reduction in overall transaction costs when completing a full "buy + sell" trading cycle. This fee policy is now in effect across the entire MSX platform, covering all listed RWA spot trading pairs.
Insights Highlights
PANews Overview: A heated debate has erupted in the United States surrounding stablecoins, with the core conflict revolving around whether stablecoins should be further prohibited from offering users any form of return. Traditional financial institutions, represented by community banks, argue that even if stablecoin issuers don't directly pay interest, indirect returns through exchanges and other third parties, such as rewards and points, will still attract funds away from the banking system, threatening their survival. Therefore, they advocate for amending the GENIUS Act to completely close this "loophole." The crypto industry, however, strongly opposes this, arguing that such "containment" is protectionism under the guise of regulation, stifling innovation and weakening the global competitiveness of dollar-denominated stablecoins, leading to capital flows to other countries' digital currency systems and constituting a "national security trap." The essence of this debate lies in the legal definition of stablecoins as financial instruments (similar to bank deposits or a new asset class), and the deep-seated struggle within the US in the digital age to balance financial stability, traditional banking interests, technological innovation, and global monetary competitiveness.
PANews Overview: Gold RWA (Real-World Asset Tokenization) nearly tripled in market capitalization in 2025, surpassing $3 billion, and is evolving from a traditional passive safe-haven asset into an active, programmable on-chain financial infrastructure component. Its rapid growth is attributed to macroeconomic hedging demand, the demand for diversified underlying assets within the stablecoin ecosystem, and the improvement of regulatory frameworks (such as the US GENIUS Act). The market landscape has evolved from a "two-horse race" between XAUT (liquidity-driven) and PAXG (compliance-driven) to a multi-polar ecosystem encompassing payment, interest generation, and cross-chain functions. In the future, Gold RWA is expected to play key roles in the next-generation financial system, such as a neutral bridge for cross-border payments, core collateral for DeFi, and a "transitional asset" connecting traditional finance and the on-chain world. However, its development still faces core risks such as centralized custody, technological complexity, and inconsistent global regulations.
From concept to scale: RWA is becoming the "slow and steady bull market" theme in the crypto market.
PANews Overview: Real-world asset tokenization (RWA) is transitioning from a hype phase to a substantial, scalable "slow bull" growth trajectory, becoming one of the few sectors in the crypto market with certainty and sustainability. Its core logic lies in the fact that growth is driven by genuine asset demand (such as on-chain US Treasury bonds and commodities in a high-interest-rate environment) and the dominant deployments of traditional financial institutions (such as BlackRock and Franklin Templeton), rather than market sentiment. With a gradually clearer regulatory framework and a substantial link between cash flow and tokens, RWA has moved from experimentation to a scalable stage. Its development resembles a "slow bull" based on fundamentals and long-term capital inflows, and it is expected to continue reshaping the DeFi market structure.
