The Chess Pieces are Moving!

The long sideways action of the crypto market may be starting to show signs of life. While some have been distracted or even downright pessimistic, some of the largest institutional players, crypto industry participants, and worldwide governments have been in stealth mode, secretly planning the new tokenised, interoperable and decentralised economy. I wouldn’t be going too far out onto the thin branches to suggest that, more than likely, they’ve also been accumulating the assets that will power the blockchain revolution.

Let’s start with Blackrock and their co-founder, chairman and CEO Larry Fink, who heads a company whose assets under management just hit a record $11.5 trillion. Let’s jump in a time machine and revisit what Larry said in 2017/18. “Bitcoin just shows you how much demand for money laundering there is in the world” and that he “personally [didn’t] see huge demand for cryptocurrencies.”

Oh, how the tides have changed…

Being reported this week, Fink (obviously well along on an educational journey both personally and with the company Blackrock) stated the following, “We believe Bitcoin is an asset class in itself … It is an alternative to other commodities like gold… [the] conversations we’re having with institutions worldwide [are] about how they should think about digital assets, what type of asset allocation there should be.”

He went on to say, “I do believe the utilisation of digital assets is going to become more and more of a reality worldwide … Years ago, when we started the mortgage market, years ago when the high-yield market occurred, [they] started off very slow but built as we built better analytics and data … Through better analytics and data, more acceptance and a broadening of the market [occurred]. I truly believe we will see a broadening of the market of these digital assets.”

Powerful words from one of the largest custodians of assets on the planet and owners of the iSHARES Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT).

And he hasn’t stopped there, this is what he just said about Ethereum (ETH), "The role of Ethereum as a blockchain can grow dramatically", seeing Ethereum as a foundation for global financial changes with smart contracts and growing ecosystem participants.

Speaking of ETFs, leading crypto asset manager Grayscale Investments has filed an application with the U.S. SEC to convert its “Digital Large Cap Fund” into an ETF. The fund presently has several blue-chip cryptos such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, and Avalanche.

This would allow investor exposure to an already diversified selection of cryptos through a well-known market vehicle, an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) and could see significant volume and buy pressure meeting increasing investor demand.

Rounding out the ETF news, two (2) proposals, called S-1 submissions, have been submitted to the SEC from Bitwise and Canary Capital for an XRP ETF. Exciting news for the XRP Community, despite the continued cloud over it from the recent SEC Appeal.

When asked about the possibility of an XRP ETF, Tim McCourt, Senior Managing Director at CME Group, said the first major step had been taken. While speaking at Ripple Swell Miami 2024, McCourt said:

“We do have an XRP reference rate and a real-time index, which is a first step in building out this ecosystem […] We have upwards of 50 real-time prices and reference rates. That’s key for product providers like Bitwise because they can at least point to a fully regulated benchmark.”

Moving to other significant announcements, we see that world money transmitter MoneyGram CEO Alex Holmes has just announced a MoneyGram wallet allowing users to send and receive USDC (Circle USD Stablecoin) on the Stellar Network. The native token of the Stellar Network is the Stellar Lumen (XLM).

In case you are unaware, the Stellar Foundation was backed by payment platform Stripe in 2014. Stripe has since partnered with X (formally Twitter) in 2022. In 2024 Coinbase Global Inc. announced a partnership with payments processor Stripe Inc. that will enable USDC stablecoin transfers on Base, the crypto exchange’s blockchain project meant to be the centrepiece of its expansion into decentralised finance. Stripe is also adding USDC on Base to its fiat-to-crypto on-ramp, and in turn that on-ramp is being added to the Coinbase Wallet. That will enable users on either platform to instantly buy USDC with credit cards and Apple Pay.

In other massive news, coming fresh out of the Ripple Swell Event Miami, Ripple has announced that its stablecoin, RLUSD, is operationally ready to launch on both the XRP Ledger and the Ethereum Blockchain, with Axelar developing an Ethereum-compatible sidechain. Speaking at the event, Ripple Labs' president, Monica Long, said the while the token is "operationally ready" it awaits regulatory approval from the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). Notably, Adrienne Harris, Superintendent of the NYDFS, is listed as a speaker at the event.

Ripple CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, explained the motivation for launching RLUSD, citing demand from customers and partners for high-quality stablecoins to facilitate payments, tokenisation of real-world assets, and decentralised finance (DeFi). RLUSD will integrate with Ripple’s cross-border payment solutions, alongside XRP, to enhance transaction speed and reduce costs.

RLUSD is issued under a New York Trust Company Charter, ensuring regulatory compliance. An advisory board has been formed to oversee the rollout, including Sheila Bair, former FDIC Chair; David Puth, former CEO of the CENTRE Consortium; and Chris Larsen, Ripple’s co-founder and Executive Chairman. The board's goal is to ensure RLUSD’s compliance with regulations while promoting its use in modernising financial systems and bridging the gap between traditional finance and the crypto market.

Also speaking at the SWELL event is Rob DeCampos, Chief Compliance Officer at Western Union, leading to speculation within the XRP community about a potential strategic alliance between Ripple, its RLUSD stablecoin, Western Union, the XRP Ledger, and the Ethereum Blockchain, similar to the earlier partnership between MoneyGram and Stellar.

The moves in crypto are coming thick and fast. The landscape is being reimagined and redefined by some of the biggest players in the space. The U.S. financial market is a massive cog in this engine, however, it is not the only cog. The world moves on regardless of the U.S. regulatory landscape or the lack of laws passed by Congress. Is the interoperable world as efficient and inclusive as it can be? Obviously not. But with the possible reintroduction of the H.R.4766 - Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act of 2023 by Rep. Patrick McHenry, maybe the engine will start to fire on all cylinders, USA included.

The question remains, how are you positioned to capitalise on the growing crypto and blockchain solution future? The big players have set the board, and the chess pieces are moving, will you remain a pawn, or will you get in the game?