🚀 Robinhood's Pushback, Agora's $50M Raise, XRP Ledger Growth and More

Summary and Key Takeaways

1. Robinhood Faces Pushback Amid Tokenization Reveal

Unsurprisingly, Robinhood is facing resistance when it comes to their plans for tokenized capital markets - both public and private. The OpenAI tokenization is facing scrutiny from the Bank of Lithuania as it awaits clarifications for this regulator to become comfortable with it. And SIFMA in the US published a warning about easing on rules for tokenized stock ‘innovation’ (the term that the SEC Chair uses publicly to describe tokenization) which was met with a prompt public statement from the SEC’s Commissioner Peirce reminding issuers that the same rules apply for tokenized structures as the underlying assets it holds and that tokenization is not a work around. All of this is simply bringing more attention to the subject, which Backed’s xStocks seems to be the current biggest beneficiary from as it continues to expand to different trading venues. 

2. Agora Raises $50M for DIY Stablecoin Platform

At TokenizeThis in April we heard from Agora CEO Nick Van Eck about his view on stablecoin growth on a panel alongside S&P, Particula, & Metrika, moderated by MarketWatch.  It’s likely during this time Nick was busy talking to Paradigm and other VCs about their participation in Agora’s Series A to scale their Stablecoin-as-a-service platform. After Circle’s successful IPO, I’m sure VCs were already chomping at the bit. Agora will help bring to the masses stablecoin services that can be rolled out similar to the custom credit card era as hinted by the likes of Amazon and Walmart announcing their own stablecoins earlier this year. 

3. Japan and Dubai Look to Become Next RWA Super-Economies

Dubai has recently made headline after headline as tokenization went fully live through the Dubai Land Department’s authorized token sale, but it’s not the only place that is looking to become a dedicated hub for RWAs outside of the US. Herwig covered the rise of Japan’s RWA ecosystem as early as 2020 and, today, it stands as another economy that is already powering tokenized finance, like Gates’ recent $75M real estate-backed token offering. Dubai through government mandate and support and Japan through self-regulation by the leading investment banks, both offer a unique approach to adoption that have positioned them to become super powers in the RWA industry over the next few years.

4. Ripple’s Rapid RWA Growth: Mercado Bitcoin’s $200M Pipeline and Tenity’s Singapore Accelerator

Ripple’s XRP Ledger is quickly gaining traction, now with Mercado Bitcoin out of Brazil committing to tokenizing $200M worth of RWAs specifically on XRP Ledger. They aim to bridge South American and European markets which are complemented by the blockchain being integrated at 70+ institutions and their corresponding RLUSD stablecoin for cross-border transactions. Fast, cheap, and access to diversified assets. Ripple is also partnering with Tenity to bring more RWAs onchain through an accelerator in Singapore which offers $200K in non-equity funding. This and associated resources will add fuel to the fire Singapore already has in building markets onchain through star examples like InvestaX and IXSwap. Combined, these opportunities could catapult XRP Ledger from having $118M in tokenized assets to $3-400M having it compete with Arbitrum, Algorand, and possibly Stellar.

This is not financial advice.

RWA Foundation & WALLY DAO

Check out this new ad for RWAs created by STM in-house using AI and a weekend of messing around. The WALLY DAO website is officially live! Check it out at WALLYDAO.xyz

Monday’s Onchain: Weekly X Spaces

 Join us on Monday’s Onchain to talk about
📰 Tokenization News
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Set your reminder and see you there!

STM.co Data

Tokenized Treasury fund flows YTD show strong growth across most platforms, with BUIDL and Ondo OUSG leading at over 300% inflow growth. Hashnote stands out with negative flows, possibly as investors shift toward more transparent options or react to platform-specific concerns. This may be due to any pauses in USYC momentum during the Circle IPO.

BENJI’s steady but modest gains round out a market broadly favoring tokenized T-Bill solutions. The group has seen their combined market cap grow from $3.3B at the start of the year to $5.4B halfway through the year as demand for onchain cash management continues to grow for both individuals and institutions.

Matthew Valente, Associate

This is not financial advice.

Think Like Herwig

Hello readers,

You just love to see it, don’t you? Bitcoin skyrocketing into record territory suggests similar market forces to follow. First, BTC is sold for gains and redirected to crypto alts. Crypto alts will surely boom after. The difference this time around is that stablecoins and RWAs are finally ready to catch all the crypto cycle gains and put them to work into real investments instead of constantly risking it all.

A bull market is the best possible thing that can happen to the RWA industry as it further intensifies pressure for regulation and for VCs to raise more dry powder to deploy into tokenization startups and protocols. 

Everything is about to go hyperbolic, I hope you’re ready!

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

Follow me on X / LinkedIn

Companies of the Week

Company of the Week - Herwig: GATES, Inc.

Company of the Week - Kyle: DMZ Finance

Find out why and more every Friday live around 12pm EST on LinkedIn or X/ Twitter. Past episodes available on Youtube or your favorite podcast platform! 

STS Interviews:

We’d like to feature our interview with Yuval Rooz, CEO and Co-Founder of Digital Asset, for an inside look at their $135 million raise, the growing momentum behind Canton Network including integrating with Nasdaq Calyspo, and why privacy, composability, and real world asset tokenization as a whole are going to change global markets.

Yuval shares why institutional adoption hinges on more than flashy headlines. It's about focusing on building infrastructure that integrates with existing capital markets, enables true delivery versus payment (DVP), and unlocks native onchain finance. He also explains why tokenization today often falls short and how Canton aims to change that.

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)