🏦 Cross-Border Tokenized Deposits, Amplify's Tokenization ETF, U.S. Tax Bill Draft and More

Summary and Key Takeaways

1. SWIFT, JPMorgan, and Deutsche Borse Pilot Tokenized Deposits

It’s the end of the year which naturally means a lighter news cycle with less huge announcements but rather great updates to close out 2025. In this case we’re talking about cross-border, cross-bank deposits transacting onchain. In November, JPMorgan announced they were working with Singapore’s DBS to bridge the gap between JPM’s deposit token and DBS’. While we haven’t seen an update there, we did see a similar initiative now in pilot with Deutsche Borse and SWIFT. The main takeaway with these initiatives is that while multiple banks are issuing their own deposit tokens it raises concern over interoperability between them (different issuers, blockchains, etc.). SWIFT remains as the connective tissue essentially enabling messaging between Kinexys and Clearstream DLT using the new Unified Deposit Bridge so the banks’ respective balances can update near real time without having to go to a public chain or wrap/bridge between their private ones. The use case here is more institutional and corporate (imagine a company’s EU subsidiary sending money to their US one or US vendor using an American bank), however it can one day expand to retail users with multiple accounts. 

This is mostly meant to focus on the transfer of value between institutional accounts but doesn’t prevent that value to go outside that ecosystem using other options. Remember that JPMD is issued on Base (public) and JPM’s work with Coinbase for example (credit card point conversions, bank account integrations, etc.). Imagine JPMD being swapped for USDC so easily to work in the Coinbase ecosystem. Tokenized cash is a great start and once this grows further it can also be repurposed for other assets like tokenized funds, equities, and more. As I’ve said, 2025 and 2026 are years of consolidation, not just M&A activity but also in infrastructure and in this case SWIFT is finding its enhanced role in this onchain economy as the natural connector between institutional silos.

2. JPM Looking at Onchain Cash Management and Crypto Trading

JPMorgan of course isn’t stopping at tokenized deposits. Cash/treasury management is a big theme many institutions are/will be looking at as a natural application post-GENIUS Act momentum. Two weeks ago JPM issued their My OnChain Net Yield Fund (MONY) on Ethereum which is where qualified investors can park money, earn some yield, and remain pretty liquid for when they need to use it. This combined with the DTCC’s No-Action letter from the SEC results in what promises to be an interesting 2026, removing dead time between transactions now that they can happen onchain (even public ones) within a controlled environment. Why? Because both the asset and cash legs will be on the same (or interoperable) ledgers unlike the archaic system we have today. Think of it as what Lynq Network is doing but at a greater scale with the DTCC keeping control. 

This isn’t expected to go live until 2H2026, however something else to keep an eye on is JPM’s willingness to open up crypto trading for institutional clients. This is something that other incumbents are also looking at with Morgan Stanley’s integration of (and investment in) zerohash, Fidelity offering it already and adding in their recent trust bank charter, and earlier this month Coinbase and PNC partnering for private client direct bitcoin trading. Crypto and tokenized securities were separated for a long time but its evident the rails are being put in place to handle both in the same environments which long-term will make for customers’ ability to seamlessly see both balances, transact them, and more easily make portfolios that consist of both. The race continues with Coinbase (and other fintechs) powering banks’ ability to service but also offering securities on their platform at some point next year as we learned about their new Coinbase Tokenize a couple weeks ago.

3. Amplify Launches ETFs with Focus on Tokenization and Stablecoins

Speaking of mixed portfolios, Amplify is following Bitwise’s footsteps in the ETF space with their own ETFs allocating into tokenization and stablecoin infrastructure. While Bitwise was first to announce this it seems Amplify beat them to market as both STBQ and TKNQ are now trading on the NYSE. As a further differentiation, Bitwise’s is one ETF deploying into cryptos and equities of infrastructure supporting both stablecoins and tokenization while Amplify separated them into two ETFs. Aside from bringing further legitimacy to the space with expected institutional flows, these ETFs also come at a great time with 2025’s IPOs and those announced for 2026, likely meaning allocations for Figure, Circle, Securitize, tZERO, Animoca Brands, and more we’d expect to also file to go public. Of course inclusion to the indices are subject to the methodologies from the index provider, MarketVector in this case, and will also be competing with incumbents working in these spaces like bank and PSP stocks but the exciting thing here is that these worlds are coming together. It’ll be interesting to see how these indices’ returns compare to traditional ones (not financial advice)!

4. U.S. Draft Tax Bill with Staking and Stablecoin Relief

Looking at regulation, GENIUS was a great first step and the industry awaits CLARITY, however there’s a new bill now introduced by Representatives Max Miller of Ohio and Steven Horsford of Nevada - the Digital Asset Protection, Accountability, Regulation, Innovation, Taxation, and Yields (PARITY) Act. This one’s looking at the tax code and how it treats digital assets, giving everyone a more clear path when doing our taxes. Some points to look at are not being taxed on small stablecoin transactions under $200, wash sale rules, deferral on staking rewards, and more. Aside from clarifying the rules, PARITY is also setting up US-licensed infrastructure for success with special treatment for stablecoins issued by federally-regulated entities (like the 5 new trust banks) and international investors using US brokers for onchain transactions. This hasn't passed yet and surely there’ll be a lot of back and forth, but it’s something to keep an eye out for throughout 2026. 

5. tZERO Expands to Stellar, XDC, and Algorand

We all know tokenization is a multi-chain endeavor and tZERO is growing its support for more beyond its current Ethereum, Avalanche, Tezos, and more recently Polymath partnership. Stellar, XDC, and Algorand are the new entrants to the tZERO ecosystem, each bringing their own value propositions for different issuers to choose from. This makes sense as different asset classes have different needs, from speed and liquidity for more nimble assets to increased security and larger DeFi application support for others. Eventually these assets will trade seamlessly between investors’ preferred networks, however the host chain does matter to an extent and tZERO is enabling more optionality for their issuers + any primary issuance platforms they’ll welcome in for secondary listing. 

This is not financial advice.

RWA Foundation & WALLY DAO Updates

Join Ray Buckton, your host of The RWA Pod, for this week’s updates and make sure to catch his latest interview with Mu Digital Co-Founder Patrick Hizon!

Think Like Herwig

Hello readers,

As you prepare to enter the new year expect a major focus of the market to be on stablecoins v deposit tokens, the CLARITY Act, Onchain equities and the role of private credit and lending in RWAs and DeFi. 

The era of laying the infrastructure has evolved to the product era where the market is defined by the size and activity, not the potential. I’m confident tokenization will grow faster than crypto and flip it altogether in size in just a few short years ahead, two maximum three tops! We can expect that 2026 will define many of the winners and leading providers in nearly all categories of onchain finance.

Happy tokenizing, 
Herwig “Happy” Konings
CEO, Security Token Group 

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Reports

RWA Tokenization: Key Trends and 2025 Market Outlook

Check out a report we contributed to: RWA Tokenization: Key Trends and 2025 Market Outlook. Led by Brickken, this report brings multiple parties together in diving into tokenization, with STM.co supporting with both data and some of the written sections.

What’s Inside?

✅ A Breakdown of Tokenization and Related Benefits
✅ Key advantages for issuers, investors, and institutions
✅ How the market is evolving and trends shaping adoption in 2025
✅ What’s next? Expert insights on regulation, DeFi integration, institutional involvement, and market growth

STM’s RWA Market Prediction for 2030

STM.co is proud to release a thorough report on our prediction on the tokenized real world asset market growth. This report explores the variety of opportunities within each asset class to capture value on-chain.

Tokenization can be applied to just about any object and asset type. Art, carbon credits, life insurance, and other sub $5 trillion asset classes weren’t even considered in estimates.

In order for STM to derive its 2030 market predictions, the following asset classes were evaluated: currency, M2/M3, real estate, commodities, public equities, private companies and funds, bonds, credit and lending markets.

This is not financial or investment advice.

Helpful Resources

• $30 Trillion by 2030 - STM

• Global Tokenized Real Estate Market Guide 2024 - STM

• TokenizeThis 2024: Highlights and Key Takeaways - STM

• TokenizeThis 2023: Highlights and Key Takeaways - STM

• State of Security Tokens 2023 - Q4 - STA

• State of Security Tokens 2023 - Q3 - STA

• State of Security Tokens 2023 - Q2 - STA

• State of Security Tokens 2023 - Q1 Extended - STA

• Real-World Asset Tokenization 2023 According to STM - STM

• Tokenizing an Asset in 3 Easy Steps - Security Token Show

• Rich Data in Private Assets - STM

• State of Security Tokens 2022 - STA

• State of Security Tokens 2023 - Institutional Edition - STA

• Tokenization for Institutions - What You Need to Know - STM, Arca (YouTube)