Circle announced 11 founding validators for its Arc blockchain public mainnet launching September 16, including BlackRock, Visa, Mastercard, DTCC, and SBI Group. The company reported Q2 revenue of $701 million with USDC circulation reaching $73.3 billion.
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation processed live production trades involving tokenized stocks, ETFs, and U.S. Treasurys with nearly 40 financial firms including JPMorgan, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, and Vanguard, marking Wall Street's largest tokenization initiative to date.
US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $424.66 million in net outflows on July 13, with BlackRock's IBIT losing $186.1 million and Fidelity's FBTC shedding $246.3 million, erasing the previous week's inflows as trading activity hit cycle lows.
HM Treasury announced a wholesale digital markets taskforce including 54 firms backed by the City of London Corporation. BlackRock, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Ripple are among participants. The UK government estimates tokenized financial markets could add £33 billion ($44 billion) to annual economic output by 2035.
BlackRock has filed what appears to be the final amendment with the SEC for its iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF (BITA), a covered-call product charging 65 basis points that will trade on Nasdaq. The launch sets up a race with Goldman Sachs to bring the first major yield-paying Bitcoin ETF to market.
The SEC declared effective the Form S-4 registration statement for tokenization firm Securitize's merger with Cantor Equity Partners II, moving the BlackRock-backed company closer to a public listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, submitted a comment letter opposing a potential 20% cap on tokenized reserve assets in the GENIUS Act, which would limit products like its BUIDL fund. The firm urged the OCC to drop the cap idea and expand eligible assets.
Morgan Stanley priced its proposed spot Bitcoin ETF (MSBT) at 14 basis points, undercutting all existing competitors and potentially launching in early April. Bloomberg analysts called it a 'big move' that could drive significant inflows given the bank's 16,000 financial advisors managing $6.2 trillion in client assets.
