21 Oaks Newsletter — August 2026
August marks the month in which tokenization moved definitively into the product books of the largest asset managers: BlackRock (BLK) is launching two tokenized money market funds for stablecoin reserves and additionally opening $311 billion in European fund volume to the blockchain. Coinbase (COIN) follows with tokenized US equities on Base, while Franklin Templeton and BitGo, together with BNY Mellon, add their own onchain fund products. On the regulatory side, the SEC and CFTC are filling the vacuum left by a CLARITY Act stalled in the Senate with their own draft rules, while the OCC aims to complete GENIUS Act implementation by November. In parallel, the banking side is accelerating, as Goldman Sachs (GS) buys into the bitcoin income ETF business for $2.25 billion, Citi plans BTC custody and Charles Schwab expands its crypto offering. The capital market infrastructure of the next decade is thus increasingly being built onchain by TradFi houses themselves, no longer primarily by crypto natives.
BREAKING
- BlackRock (BLK) launches BSTBL and BRSRV, two tokenized money market funds on Ethereum, Solana and other blockchains, specifically targeting stablecoin issuers as reserve vehicles. Source
MORE
- According to Trump, the CFTC is working to bring the derivatives exchange Hyperliquid to the US market in fully regulated form. Source
- BlackRock (BLK) tokenizes share classes of European money market funds with $311 billion in volume via the Kinexys platform of JPMorgan (JPM). Source
- The SEC cancels a key crypto regulatory meeting just days after the Senate postponed the CLARITY Act. Source
- With "Regulation Crypto Assets," the SEC proposes crypto-specific offering rules for the first time, while the CFTC chairman prepares his own rules in case Congress fails to pass the CLARITY Act. Source
- At the White House crypto meeting with SEC and CFTC leadership, Trump calls on Congress to pass a "fair version" of the CLARITY Act. Source
- The OCC aims to finalize the stablecoin rules implementing the GENIUS Act by November. Source
- World Liberty Financial receives preliminary OCC approval for a national trust bank charter. Source
- Goldman Sachs (GS) acquires ETF manager NEOS Investments for up to $2.25 billion, gaining an established BTC and ETH income ETF business. Source
- Coinbase (COIN) goes live with tokenized US equities on Base, using Chainlink price feeds for market data. Source
- Bitwise launches automated portfolios of Coinbase-tokenized equities for Mag-7, AI and robotics themes on Base. Source
- The SEC allows funds of Franklin Templeton (BEN) to use the onchain BENJI system for cash management. Source
- Franklin Templeton (BEN) brings a tokenized US money market fund to Asia through a partnership with HashKey. Source
- BitGo launches the money market fund BLIQUID together with BNY Mellon (BK). Source
- Circle (CRCL) wins BlackRock (BLK), Visa (V) and the DTCC as validators for its Arc network ahead of the public mainnet launch in September. Source
- Tether completes its first full financial audit, conducted by Big Four firm KPMG. Source
- Citi (C) plans to launch BTC custody under its new Custody+ platform later this year. Source
- Charles Schwab (SCHW) adds SOL, AVAX and LINK to its crypto trading platform. Source
- JPMorgan (JPM) ends its banking relationship with Polymarket, citing regulatory risks. Source
- Anthropic signs a $9 billion cloud computing contract with bitcoin miner Riot Platforms (RIOT). Source
- Blue Owl (OWL) leads a $2.4 billion debt financing for miner Iren (IREN) to purchase Nvidia chips. Source
SPEAKERS’ CORNER
- August began on a subdued note. New momentum emerged after the US Treasury announced plans to double its buybacks of longer-dated US government bonds.
- Improved liquidity expectations supported bitcoin and other crypto assets in particular, which translated directly into rising prices.
- The market is now debating whether the "crypto winter" is nearing its end and whether bitcoin has already formed its cyclical low.
- Some of our models are now showing "bullish divergences" and thus initial indications of a possible trend reversal.
- Since not all indicators yet confirm a clear bottoming process, we continue to monitor further market developments very closely.
Translated from the German original, which is the authoritative version. Read the German version
