Developments in decentralized finance, its applications and risks.
Democratic senators have proposed a “restricted list” for risky DeFi protocols and new KYC rules for crypto wallets, drawing widespread backlash. Critics warn the move could cripple U.S. DeFi innovation, drive developers overseas, and undo recent bipartisan progress on crypto regulation.
AlloyX has launched its Real Yield Token (RYT), a tokenized money market fund on Polygon, with custody provided by Standard Chartered Bank. Unlike Wall Street’s tokenized MMFs, RYT offers DeFi-native utility, including borrowing and looping strategies, making it a key milestone in merging traditional finance with decentralized markets.
Trump-linked WLFI burned $1.43M worth of tokens after a $1M buyback funded by DeFi fees. The move, approved by governance vote, seeks to reduce supply and boost token stability. Despite this, WLFI remains down 38% from its peak, while the Trump family’s holdings are valued at around $5B.
Ondo Finance, in partnership with Chainlink, has launched its Ondo Global Markets platform, bringing over 100 tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs onchain. The platform, live on Ethereum, is currently available to non-U.S. investors and is being promoted as “Wall Street 2.0.”
Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin predicts that Ether will eventually surpass Bitcoin as the global “monetary base,” fueled by Wall Street’s adoption of staking, DeFi, and tokenization. He calls ETH the “highest octane decentralized trust commodity,” arguing its potential is far greater than most forecasts. Institutional clients are already allocating treasury assets to ETH, while stablecoin supply on Ethereum has surged past $160 billion, doubling since January 2024. Though Bitcoin still dominates as a store of value, Ethereum’s programmability and rapid ecosystem growth could accelerate the long-awaited “flippening.”