July 3: Stablecoins Keep Winning, Tokenization Expands, and the CBDC Debate Isn't Over
Good morning everybody.
Before we get into the news, I watched a video this morning from Jaspreet Singh over at Minority Mindset called Trump Just Replaced the Dollar with Cryptocurrency. If you’ve listened to this show for a while, you already know where I stand on stablecoins, and this video reinforced a lot of what I’ve been talking about.
The CBDC debate has focused almost entirely on whether the Federal Reserve should issue a digital dollar. Congress has moved to block that idea, at least for now. But at the same time, private companies are becoming some of the largest holders of U.S. Treasuries through stablecoins, and banks are beginning to issue and manage those stablecoins on their own infrastructure.
To me, that’s where the real conversation is headed. The question isn’t simply whether we get a CBDC. It’s whether privately issued digital dollars become so embedded in the financial system that they effectively serve the same purpose, just under a different name.
Now let’s get into today’s news.
Bitcoin ETFs Finally Catch a Break
After ten straight trading days of outflows, spot Bitcoin ETFs finally posted a positive day.
According to CoinDesk, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs brought in $221.7 million on July 2, ending a streak that had seen roughly $2.7 billion leave the market. Fidelity led the day with about $66 million in inflows, followed by ARK with $91 million, while VanEck’s HODL ETF added approximately $4.4 million.
It’s encouraging to see money flowing back into Bitcoin ETFs, but one positive day doesn’t erase what happened throughout June. The market still has work to do before investors can confidently say institutional demand has returned.
Securitize Goes Public
Securitize officially began trading on the New York Stock Exchange after completing its merger with a Cantor Fitzgerald-backed SPAC. At the same time, the company launched tokenized versions of its own publicly traded shares on Solana and Avalanche, making them available to eligible investors through its platform.
What’s notable here is that these aren’t synthetic representations of the stock. They’re issuer-sponsored tokenized shares tied directly to the company’s publicly traded equity.
It’s another example of tokenization continuing to move into traditional financial markets.
Metaplanet Continues Buying Bitcoin
While Strategy has dominated headlines over the past year, Japan’s Metaplanet continues quietly building one of the largest corporate Bitcoin treasuries in the world.
The company purchased roughly 2,823 Bitcoin during the second quarter, bringing its total holdings to approximately 43,000 Bitcoin acquired for about $4.1 billion. Its average purchase price now sits around $97,117 per Bitcoin.
That’s a significant average cost basis, and it underscores just how committed the company remains to its long-term Bitcoin strategy.
The IMF Warns About Tokenization
The International Monetary Fund released new comments on tokenization, arguing that policy decisions made today will determine whether tokenized finance strengthens markets or creates new systemic risks.
The IMF identified three emerging settlement assets: tokenized bank deposits, stablecoins, and tokenized central bank reserves. While tokenization offers faster settlement and more efficient collateral movement, the organization warned that concentrating activity on a handful of platforms or infrastructure providers could create entirely new failure points.
It’s a fair concern.
As more assets move on-chain, software infrastructure becomes increasingly important. The security of that infrastructure matters just as much as the assets themselves.
Russia Moves Forward With Its Digital Ruble
Russia’s central bank says the digital ruble is ready for broader deployment.
Beginning September 1, systemically important Russian banks are expected to begin offering the CBDC to customers. Russia is also exploring stablecoins for international settlements, although officials say those would complement, rather than replace, the digital ruble.
While the digital currency itself is noteworthy, I think the larger story is what’s happening around the war in Ukraine.
The conflict has accelerated drone technology, autonomous systems, and battlefield innovation at a pace few people anticipated. Those technological advances will almost certainly influence civilian industries long after the war ends.
Prediction Markets Face A New Problem
Spotify asked both Kalshi and Polymarket to remove its branding after users allegedly manipulated streaming numbers to influence music-related prediction markets.
According to reports, more than 500,000 artificial streams boosted a song’s ranking, affecting markets that had attracted roughly $3 million in trading volume.
Prediction markets work best when the underlying data can’t easily be manipulated.
As these platforms continue growing, they’ll increasingly have to deal with attempts to influence the outcomes people are betting on.
Crypto Prices
Bitcoin (BTC): $61,850
Ethereum (ETH): $1,730
BNB: $563
XRP: $1.10
Solana (SOL): $81.22
Tron (TRX): $0.320
Hyperliquid (HYPE): $69.54
Dogecoin (DOGE): $0.075
Total Crypto Market Cap: $2.14 Trillion
Fear & Greed Index: 23 (Fear)
My Take
The stablecoin conversation continues evolving.
A year ago, the debate centered almost entirely around CBDCs.
Today, banks are integrating stablecoins, tokenization continues expanding, companies like Circle are becoming massive buyers of U.S. Treasuries, and regulators are building frameworks around privately issued digital dollars.
Whether that’s better than a government-issued CBDC is something we’ll be debating for years.
But one thing seems clear.
The future of digital money is no longer theoretical.
It’s already being built.