French AI vendor Mistral is set to spend $1.43 billion to develop digital infrastructure for AI in Sweden.
The 2023 startup’s first major investment will be to build an AI data center at local company EcoDataCenter’s site in Borlänge, central Sweden.
A statement posted on EcoDataCenter’s website confirmed Mistral will deploy large-scale compute at the Borlänge facility, enabling operation of its foundation models at scale. The data center, located around 130 miles northwest of the capital, Stockholm, is scheduled to open next year.
While an important development for Sweden, it’s arguably an even more significant one for Mistral and Europe’s AI rollout as a whole.
The Paris-based company has established itself as Europe’s leading AI vendor on the back of heavy funding, with the Netherlands’ ASML Holding NV leading a $2 billion Series C round last September that valued Mistral at $6B. However, the Borlänge project is the vendor’s first major AI infrastructure investment outside of France.
Related:Alibaba unveils RynnBrain AI model to power robots
Mistral sees the collaboration as a key moment in the effort to deliver a fully European AI stack — a scenario many on the continent think is desirable, rather than relying on American and Chinese tech, amid an uncertain geopolitical landscape.
“This investment is a concrete step toward building independent capabilities in Europe, dedicated to AI,” Arthur Mensch, CEO and co-founder of Mistral AI, said in a release. “By delivering a fully vertical offer with locally processed and stored data, we are reinforcing Europe’s strategic autonomy and competitiveness.”
He added: “This lays the foundation for a European AI cloud that can serve industries, public institutions, and researchers at scale.”
EcoDataCenter’s role will be to build and operate the infrastructure required for AI facilities in Sweden, and as the company name suggests, there will be a focus on sustainability using renewable energy and advanced cooling techniques. The Borlänge center will use Nvidia’s Vera Rubin GPUs and is said to offer significant scalability potential.
Mistral’s desire to bolster Europe’s AI autonomy follows several moves by the U.S.-based major AI players on the continent.
In July 2025, OpenAI revealed plans for a huge data center in Narvik, Norway, as part of the Stargate initiative, the $500 billion AI infrastructure project launched in January 2025 by President Donald Trump with Oracle executive chairman Larry Ellison, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
Microsoft has pledged $30 billion to develop the U.K.’s AI infrastructure — including building the country’s largest supercomputer at a site in Essex — and another $10 billion to build a data center in Portugal.
Related:AI Startup Runway Raises $315M, Pivots to World Models
Google, meanwhile, has committed to invest about $6.4 billion to boost Germany’s AI infrastructure, including the construction of a new data center near Frankfurt.
The European Union is finalizing a new package of sanctions aimed at closing loopholes that officials say have allowed Russia to use cryptocurrency to circumvent existing restrictions.
The EU is seeking to “ban all cryptocurrency transactions with Russia” as part of the upcoming 20th sanctions package, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
Unlike previous efforts targeting Russia-linked entities spun out of already sanctioned platforms, the newly proposed measures are broader and are designed to close Russia’s crypto loophole entirely.
“Any further listing of individual crypto asset service providers […] is therefore likely to result in the set-up of new ones to circumvent those listings,” according to an internal European Commission document on the proposed sanctions, cited by the FT.
Brussels seeks total shutdown of Russia-linked crypto channels
While the new sanctions package is still being finalized and is expected to be adopted on Feb. 24, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said last week that the measures would target 20 additional Russian regional banks, as well as several banks in third countries.
Among the foreign lenders, the EU has proposed sanctioning two Kyrgyz banks, Keremet and OJSC Capital Bank of Central Asia, along with banks in Laos and Tajikistan, Reuters reported on Monday. If approved, the listed institutions would be barred from transactions with EU individuals and companies.
“In order to ensure that sanctions achieve their intended effect [the EU] prohibits to engage with any crypto asset service provider, or to make use of any platform allowing the transfer and exchange of crypto assets that is established in Russia,” the Commission’s document reportedly states.
Sanctioned A7A5 emerged as one of the largest non-dollar stablecoins in 2025
The report suggests that the measures may target Russia-linked payments platform A7 and its ruble-pegged stablecoin, A7A5. The operator has denied facilitating sanctions evasion, calling such claims politicized and unsupported by evidence.
Despite facing multiple rounds of sanctions, A7A5 emerged as one of the fastest-growing non-dollar stablecoins by market value in 2025, according to data from CoinMarketCap and DefiLlama.
Top five largest non-USD stablecoins by market capitalization. Source: DefiLlama
Some analysts, however, questioned the reliability of the token’s reported activity.
Blockchain analytics company Global Ledger said it identified patterns consistent with wash trading that may have inflated A7A5’s volumes and simulated demand. Global Ledger also expressed doubts about the EU’s ability to fully restrict crypto transactions involving Russia.
Analysts question whether EU can fully enforce crypto sanctions
“The EU’s recent move to impose a blanket ban on Russian crypto activity — specifically targeting the A7A5 stablecoin — highlights a fundamental misunderstanding of decentralized liquidity,” Global Ledger co-founder and CEO Lex Fisun told Cointelegraph.
Fisun said the holders of tokens such as A7A5 can swap them into globally traded stablecoins through autonomous onchain liquidity pools, without relying on centralized intermediaries that conduct compliance checks.
Once assets move through large global exchanges and liquidity hubs, transaction histories can become increasingly difficult to trace, he said, adding:
“At this stage, distinguishing these funds from legitimate market activity becomes a technical impossibility […]. For European exchanges to enforce such a ban, they would essentially have to block all flows from major global trading hubs, a move that would paralyze the legitimate crypto market.”
Related: BitRiver CEO arrested for alleged tax concealment: Reports
While sanctions may succeed in cutting Russian entities off from regulated European platforms, Fisun said decentralized infrastructure remains resistant to direct censorship, making a complete technical blockade unlikely.
The developments come as Russia advances domestic legislation on digital assets. On Tuesday, Russian lawmakers passed a law on its third reading establishing the procedure for freezing and confiscating digital currency.
Magazine: How crypto laws changed in 2025 — and how they’ll change in 2026
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently. Read our Editorial Policy https://cointelegraph.com/editorial-policy
Bitcoin (BTC) has now retraced for three straight days, slipping below $66,000 during the New York session on Wednesday. The decline came after a failed push above $70,000, as weak buying interest allowed sellers to maintain control.
Onchain data suggest that the pullback is possibly driven by spot-led selling on Binance, while the lack of a Coinbase premium during the US market session signals muted participation from US investors.
Key takeaways:
The Coinbase premium index signals muted US investor participation at current price levels.
Cumulative volume delta (CVD) continues to trend lower, reflecting a persistent net selling pressure.
Data shows that the 30-day new money flow has flipped negative to roughly –$2.8 billion.
Coinbase premium and futures data show bears remain dominant
The Coinbase premium index measures the difference between BTC prices on Coinbase and other exchanges like Binance. A positive premium reflects strong US spot demand.
The indicator continued to exhibit a negative premium this week, suggesting limited engagement from US investors.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s cumulative volume delta (CVD) has extended to –$5.7 billion on Binance. The steady series of lower highs in CVD indicates continued market selling pressure rather than accumulation.
Given Binance’s dominant market volumes, the negative delta suggests that spot-driven sell orders may be leading the move lower.
The bid–ask ratio remained negative, showing that sell orders consistently outweighed bids during the recovery attempts. Although the ratio has turned slightly positive (around 0.14), it looks more like a short-term reaction than real spot buying support.
Bitcoin price, cumulative volume delta, open interest. Source: Hyblock Capital
Aggregated open interest has also trended downward, slipping to $17.6 billion from $20 billion on Monday. This suggests that leverage is gradually being unwound, with longs closing positions instead of building fresh exposure.
CryptoQuant data further reinforces the lack of spot demand below $70,000. The 30-day cumulative new money flow has turned negative, near -$2.8 billion, while recent daily readings remain subdued around -$239 million.
Unlike prior uptrends where price pullbacks attracted strong capital inflows, current price drops are failing to generate meaningful inflows.
Bitcoin’s new investor flow. Source: CryptoQuant
The “young supply” share (0–1 month), which tracks recently moved coins, has also cooled toward the lower end of its recent range near 13%, reflecting reduced speculative participation from traders.
Strong rallies are usually accompanied by rising young supply, increasing capital inflows, and rising open interest, all of which are currently absent.
Related: Rare Bitcoin signal flashes: Will a 220% BTC price rally follow?
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision. While we strive to provide accurate and timely information, Cointelegraph does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information in this article. This article may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Cointelegraph will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your reliance on this information.
In Peru’s diverse landscapes—from Andean highlands to coastal surf towns and Amazonian outposts—Bitcoin is quietly taking root, not through top-down mandates or corporate adoption but through grassroots efforts that blend humanitarian aid with Bitcoin’s sense of financial sovereignty.
At the forefront is Motiv Peru, a non-profit co-founded by Rich Swisher and Valentin Popescu, which has spent years equipping underserved and unbanked communities to use Bitcoin for everyday needs, education, and local trade. What began as a simple shoe donation program in 2019 has evolved into a network of about 10 active zones with hubs in Lima, Cusco, and Huanchaco and satellite programs in Tarapoto and Iquitos, among others, serving over 750 families weekly.
The Motiv team is 50 strong, plus volunteers, and is actively demonstrating Bitcoin’s potential as a tool for long-term empowerment in the developing nations rather than short-term foreign aid relief. Most profound of all, Motiv has developed a non-profit strategy that is having deep and lasting social impact, while bootstrapping Bitcoin circular economies, fulfilling an early Bitcoin vision, ‘banking the unbanked’.
What did Motiv figure out that other fiat NGO’s have not, and what does Bitcoin have to do with it?
Alpaca Socks for Bitcoin and the Genesis of Motiv
Peru has an old and curious history with Bitcoin. One of the first documented real-world uses of Bitcoin involved Peruvian alpaca socks. In early 2011, merchants like Grass Hill Alpacas accepted Bitcoin for wool socks and other goods, exported them from the South American country to the U.S., as noted in Bitcoin Wiki entries and contemporary forum discussions on Bitcointalk. This paralleled legendary moments in Bitcoin history like the famous Laszlo Hanyecz pizza purchase in May 2010.
By 2025 the Peru’s crypto landscape had grown amid regional trends, emerging as one of the largest hubs of Bitcoin adoption in the world. Chainalysis data from 2025 shows Latin America handling significant volumes, with Peru recording around $28 billion in crypto transaction value—part of a broader regional surge driven by remittances, inflation hedging, and smartphone access enabling wallets.
Motiv’s origins trace to 2019. Founded by Swisher, a retired U.S. military and police officer with experience in international business, and Valentin, a Romanian expat with experience in non-profit work and logistics, who had lived in Peru since 2007.
They met while building a playground in a remote Cusco highland village. While Valentin was approached by Jonathan, a seven-year-old orphan living in dire conditions—a mud hut with few possessions, malnourished, and isolated. His mother had passed away months earlier, and his father was the town drunk. “I carried him on my shoulders, and all the kids came around shouting ‘Jonathan, Jonathan!’ He was the star,” Valentin told Bitcoin Magazine in an exclusive interview. When offered a granola bar, Jonathan started sharing it with the other kids despite his own hunger. “This is the orphan of the village, the most looked-down-on kid… and he’s thinking about others. My mind, my heart exploded.”
Seeing the extreme need Jonathan was in, Swisher and Valentin called in some donors and managed to buy him a full outfit, a jacket, shoes, pants, and a hat, essential protection from the punishing cold of the Andes highlands. But there was a problem, seeing the gifts brought to Jonathan, the other kids were jealous, they too needed shoes and much more, in this isolated village of Peru.
Valentin promised the rest of the kids they, too, would get shoes, good shoes. In the rough terrain of the Andes, high-quality footwear is like a 4×4; for many kids, it means the difference between going to school or not, because the journey they need to make is that rough. That’s when the Happy Steps program was born, and for all intents and purposes, when Motiv found its purpose. Two months later, they returned to the village with shoes for everyone, bought with donations from Swisher’s network, establishing a yearly program to support similar villages upgrading their footwear.
As part of the program, the Motiv team and other adults who volunteer wash the children’s feet, often tattered by the elements and rough terrains. Then they give the child the new pair of shoes. Valentin’s experience in this remote village taught him an important lesson, which he shared in the interview: “I understood that the story isn’t me, a foreigner, coming to feel good about doing this. But what we are trying to do is push so that Peruvians can serve and be leaders in the community. Being a leader isn’t talking; it’s serving.”
Next year came around, and Motiv was getting ready to release another batch of shoes, but the year was 2020, and COVID-19 and the corresponding lockdowns were ravaging the country’s health and economy. Valentin called Swisher, “Look, we have this situation; we had planned this amount for shoes, so I’m going to do one thing. Why don’t you talk to the donors instead of buying shoes now? Well, we have to buy food.”
Right as Valentin might have been, non-profit donations don’t quite work that way. Swisher talked to the donors but returned with bad news. When donations are made for a specific program or purpose, you can’t just pivot at the last minute; the donors refused. But there was another option; Swisher mentioned that “he knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who has Bitcoin” that could buy shoes and food. Valentin recalled his reaction: “This isn’t the time for jokes, Rich.”
But the Bitcoin donor was serious. He would fund the shoes program this year and cover other essential supplies like food for the village, to help them survive COVID. But there was one condition. Everything had to be paid for in Bitcoin.
“I started looking for a store, but I didn’t find any. I was looking for a big store or something. ” Recalled Valentin, “eventually, I found a kiosk that accepted Bitcoin, crypto, everything. And the guy told me, ‘I don’t have many things.’ We bought some little things from him, but it wasn’t what we needed… We’re talking hundreads of people, right?” At this point, Motiv was looking to provide supplies to 50 families, a triple-digit number of people. The kiosk merchant solved the immediate food supplies mission, but he realized he was going to have to orange pill some vendors to get scale.
The second merchant was Olger the shoemaker. Olger had supplied Motiv in previous shoe donation campaigns, so a relationship already existed, but COVID had hit him hard. He lost his wife and job during the pandemic and was left with three kids to take care of alone. Olger, rather than turn to alcoholism as many did during those hard times, doubled down on his vocation and started teaching people to make shoes, while also accepting Bitcoin from Motiv and becoming a crucial partner of the Happy Steps program.
From there, Motiv began organizing a list of merchants and educating them about Bitcoin. They quickly faced negative responses, financial scams of many kinds, crypto included, had savaged the country a few times by this point, so a very simple and different approach to Bitcoin evangelism was needed. Rather than promise financial independence or preach the cypherpunk utopia, Valentin simply sold Bitcoin as a payments tool and taught these merchants to use it as they wished. From this premise, Motiv started to snowball.
Motiv Peru 2026
Fast forward a few years, and Motivn Peru is a well-oiled machine. As merchants got introduced to Bitcoin as a payment method, they began getting interested in it as a technology, and basic Bitcoin and financial literacy education programs followed, hosted at Motiv centers in major locations across Peru. Various education programs were developed to answer the questions of merchants and users alike in an organized manner.
Valentin tells us that today Motiv teaches Peruvians about Bitcoin from Monday to Saturday in 15 different locations, touching over 750 families. Motiv events in 2025 reached over 6000 people of all ages, including the Copa Bitcoin soccer tournament, a Christmas event, and various fairs and educational activities. The total number of individual bitcoin transactions made as a result of these efforts ranges between 25 and 30 thousand, with Blink as their entry level go to wallet.
Uniswap and Securitize have announced a strategic partnership with BlackRock to provide DeFi liquidity for BlackRock’s tokenized fund.
Uniswap Labs and Securitize have announced a new partnership with financial giant BlackRock to enhance DeFi liquidity for institutional investors through BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund, also known as BUIDL.
Following the announcement, the price of Uniswap’s native token, UNI, surged by 27% from around $3.30 to $4.36, before retracing to $3.81 by press time.
UNI 24-hour price chart. Source: CoinGecko
The collaboration will enable on-chain trading of BUIDL’s share on UniswapX, an auction-driven trading protocol, unlocking new liquidity options for BUIDL holders, Uniswap said in a blog post today.
Tokenization platform Securitize, for its turn, will facilitate trading for BUIDL investors who elect to participate through UniswapX’s framework.
“For the first time, institutions and whitelisted investors can access technology from a leader in the decentralized finance space to trade tokenized real-world assets like BUIDL with self-custody,” said Carlos Domingo, CEO of Securitize.
As part of the collaboration, BlackRock has also made a strategic investment within the Uniswap ecosystem, the blog post reads, though no details were given.
The collaboration comes shortly after investment management firm Franklin Templeton teamed up with Binance to launch tokenized collateral program. As The Defiant reported earlier, eligible clients can now use tokenized money market funds as off-exchange trading collateral.
This article was generated with the assistance of AI workflows.
When flying abroad for the holidays, there are lots of financial questions to consider, and even more once you touch down in a new country. Questions like “How much cash is too much?” or “Will my card even work here?” spitball in everyone’s minds, and even travel experts.
Travellers usually land overseas thinking a credit or debit card will be all they need to cover their international spending. That is, until they find themselves stranded without their Forex card.
Foreign exchange (forex) cards) give access to foreign currencies to international travelers, all while allowing anticipation of travel costs and managing travel funds while in a foreign country. Knowing the importance of a forex card before your international trip can give you peace of mind.
What are the functions of a forex card?
Before going abroad, you can add foreign money to your forex card, allowing you to make payments, buy stuff, and withdraw cash like any other debit or credit card. Since you’ve already added the money, you will not have to deal with any currency conversion while spending money.
Why carrying a forex card makes sense when flying abroad
Keeping foreign spending in check
Having a fixed amount loaded onto the card keeps you from spending outside the budget. This comes in handy when there are budgeted plans in place (like education, work assignments, family travel, etc).
Protection from frequent currency conversion
Forex cards are not subject to currency conversion on every transaction like regular cards do. With a forex card, you pre load the currency, eliminating the possibility of conversion.
International acceptance
When you have to rely on a card for foreign payments, it can be accepted in a wider range of venues like forex card payment. Hotels, airlines, stores, and in a lot of online platforms, payments can be made using a forex card. This makes it easier than relying on cash to make payments.
Access to cash
A forex card can be used to take out cash from ATMs abroad. This also prevents the need to travel from India to the foreign country with large sets of cash.
Less risk than carrying cash
It may be difficult to retrieve cash if it is lost. But if you lose a forex card, you can get it blocked from a call and it can be replaced.
Paying with cards online from abroad
A lot of businesses require a foreign card. Using a forex card makes it easy to pay for a lot of things, like book flights, subscriptions, and make other online payments.
Keeping track of spending is easier
The transactions are pre loaded, and there is less expense post foreign spending. This helps to make expense tracking easier during the travel and after the travel.
How a zero-forex card enhances travel experiences
With a zero-forex card, travelers avoid extra foreign markup currency fees. For travelers, this means they can save on every swipe, every pay, and every transaction. For a long trip, these savings add up significantly. Frequent international travelers can save on trips abroad.
Travelers have cost predictability and consistency. For imported international foreign currency trades, zero forex card travelers predict the amount they have loaded to the card and the amount already spent. It does not have fluctuating currency foreign markup fees on the balance.
Students, traveling professionals, and families with international foreign expenses often traveling abroad also have a zero-forex card.
Forex cards and competing payment methods
Cash can be risky and a forex card offers more balance and flexibility. Debit and credit cards offer convenience but can have variable foreign transaction fees and foreign currency transaction markup.
Cash can get you into risky situations. Forex cards work great and are unnecessary. Carrying cash and a wifi-enabled card gives travelers a complete travel payment solution abroad.
When a forex card is most useful
Forex cards are useful for short trips, long stays, study travel, and work assignments. They suit people who like to have predictable expenses and no surprises when their bank statement comes. They are also helpful if you travel to more than one country and depending on the currencies supported.
Conclusion
Flying abroad involves more than booking tickets and packing bags. Managing money plays a major role in how smooth the experience feels. A forex card helps you control spending, reduce conversion costs, and stay prepared for international payments. Choosing a zero forex card adds another layer of savings by cutting extra charges. Keeping a forex card in your wallet is a simple step that brings clarity, safety, and convenience to overseas travel.
Hong Kong, one of the world’s major financial hubs, has long been committed to cryptocurrency and blockchain technology — but it faces a competitive challenge from the crypto-friendly UAE.
This was a fact acknowledged by panelists Joseph Chan, under secretary for financial services and the treasury in Hong Kong, and Johnny Ng, founder of web3 investment firm Goldford Group, who spoke at Consensus Hong Kong.
“The UAE is really aggressive,” said NG, who served as a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) since 2018.
He said places such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi have established a solid regulatory framework for virtual assets, and each region has also brought this under the auspices of a single, dedicated regulatory authority. Korea, which boasts many millions of crypto users and investors, also has a particular government body responsible for crypto issues, Ng added.
“I think Hong Kong’s legislative council can recommend that the government do more, particularly by creating one position to oversee all those things,” Ng said. “As a lawmaker, I will actually help the government to connect with congressmen from other countries, for example, Korea.”
Chan of the Hong Kong Treasury said an enduring attraction of Hong Kong is that there are “no surprises” from regulators, who have shown a consistent commitment to digital assets.
“Our regulation is transparent, certain and predictable, and we have stuck to that all along,” Chan said. “This compares with some other jurisdictions, without naming any names. Be it during a crypto winter or not, Hong Kong has stood by the development of the digital asset industry. If you look at other jurisdictions, as things change and there are ups and downs, they might flip-flop.”
Under Hong Kong’s mandatory licensing regime for virtual asset trading platforms (VATPs), 11 licensees have been granted under the framework, which came into effect two and a half years ago.
Regarding the stablecoin regulatory regime that kicked off last August, Chan said the first batch of licenses is targeted for the first quarter of this year.
The license regime for digital asset dealers and custodians is next, and expected to be tabled by Hong Kong’s financial secretary later this year, Chan added, pointing to multiple consultations and bill reading that must first take place.
“It sounds like a long process, but it’s very important,” Chan said. “Because it means everyone from the industry knows what’s coming, there is enough time to raise your concerns, so there will be no surprises and everybody knows what’s going to happen next.”
Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), the country’s central bank, said on Wednesday that its Digital Asset Innovation Hub (DAIH) is piloting three regulatory sandbox programs to research and develop stablecoins and tokenized bank deposits.
BNM’s initiatives center on using ringgit stablecoins, the fiat currency of Malaysia, for cross-border settlement and developing tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), according to the announcement.
The pilot also aims to test tokenized bank deposits, with all research potentially applicable to the development of a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC), onchain fiat currency issued and managed directly by a central bank.
The benefits of asset tokenization, according to Bank Negara Malaysia. Source: BNM
Partners for the trials include banking institutions Standard Chartered Bank, CIMB Group Holding, Maybank, and investment holding company Capital A.
Malaysia’s central bank will also assess “Shariah-related considerations,” which refers to the Islamic code of law governing social, financial and political customs.
The pilot programs will “inform our policy direction in these specified areas,” according to the BNM statement, highlighting the global race among nation-states to tokenize assets, including fiat currencies, for use in the digital economy.
Related: China bans stablecoin and RWA issuance by foreign and domestic companies
Roadmap to expand digital asset footprint
In November 2025, officials in Kuala Lumpur published a three-year roadmap to test asset tokenization across several real-world sectors.
Malaysia’s central bank outlines a three-year roadmap for digital assets. Source: BNM
These real-world use cases included supply chain management, Shariah-compliant financial products, access to credit, programmable finance and 24/7 cross-border settlement, according to a BNM discussion paper.
Ismail Ibrahim, the eldest son of Malaysia’s current king, launched a ringgit-pegged stablecoin in December under the ticker symbol RMJDT.
The stablecoin was issued by Bullish Aim, a telecom company owned by Ibrahim, but is still in the regulatory sandbox testing phase and not yet open to public trading.
That same month, Standard Chartered Bank and Capital A also announced plans to explore a ringgit-pegged stablecoin for wholesale settlement.
Wholesale stablecoins and CBDCs are meant for institutional settlement between authorized parties such as nation-states or central banks and are not intended for retail use.
Magazine: Bitcoin vs stablecoins showdown looms as GENIUS Act nears
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently. Read our Editorial Policy https://cointelegraph.com/editorial-policy
Ray Dalio, billionaire hedge fund founder, warned that central bank digital currencies are gaining traction among governments not just for efficiency but for control. The End of Financial Privacy Billionaire hedge fund titan Ray Dalio has signaled that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are gaining in appeal among global policymakers, predicting that many governments will […]
Asset management giant BlackRock is making its first formal move into decentralized finance by bringing its tokenized US Treasury fund to Uniswap, marking a milestone moment for institutional adoption of DeFi.
According to a Wednesday announcement, BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) will be listed on the Uniswap decentralized exchange, allowing institutional investors to buy and sell the tokenized security.
As part of the arrangement, BlackRock is also purchasing an undisclosed amount of Uniswap’s native governance token, UNI, the announcement said.
The collaboration is being facilitated by tokenization company Securitize, which partnered with the world’s biggest asset manager on the launch of BUIDL.
According to Fortune, trading will initially be limited to a select group of eligible institutional investors and market makers before expanding more broadly.
“For the first time, institutions and whitelisted investors can access technology from a leader in the decentralized finance space to trade tokenized real-world assets like BUIDL with self-custody,” said Securitize CEO Carlos Dominigo.
Source: Securitize
BUIDL is the biggest tokenized money market fund, with more than $2.18 billion in total assets, according to data compiled by RWA.xyz. The fund is issued across multiple blockchains, including Ethereum, Solana, BNB Chain, Aptos and Avalanche.
BlackRock’s BUIDL metrics. Source: RWA.xyz
In December, BUIDL reached a key milestone, surpassing $100 million in cumulative distributions from its Treasury holdings.
Related: Avalanche tokenization hits Q4 high as BlackRock’s BUIDL expands onchain
Wall Street expands tokenized money market push amid stablecoin growth
Tokenized money market funds have gained traction on Wall Street, with several major financial institutions joining BlackRock in exploring the technology. Goldman Sachs and BNY, for example, have partnered to expand institutional access to tokenized money market products.
JPMorgan strategists have also highlighted the asset class as a potential counterweight to the rapid growth of stablecoins. While both rely on blockchain infrastructure, the GENIUS Act is widely expected to accelerate stablecoin adoption, potentially drawing liquidity away from traditional money market funds.
Tokenization could help offset that shift by allowing investors to post money market fund shares as collateral without sacrificing yield, JPMorgan strategist Teresa Ho said last year.
To be sure, the GENIUS Act could also accelerate the growth of tokenized real-world assets, according to Solomon Tesfaye, chief business officer at Aptos Labs, who previously told Cointelegraph that clearer stablecoin rules may spur broader onchain adoption.
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently. Read our Editorial Policy https://cointelegraph.com/editorial-policy
