Wall Street's Appetite for Institutional Crypto Products Isn't Slowing Down

While the price of Bitcoin has seen better days, Wall Street’s digital asset adoption momentum has arguably never been stronger. This week, we heard from BNP Paribas and Nasdaq, both of which are working on launching exciting new digital asset products.

TL;DR

• BNP Paribas explores a public blockchain to launch its money market fund tokenization products.

• Nasdaq is partnering with Kraken to launch tokenized stocks and ETFs.  

BNP Paribas Explores a Public Blockchain for Its Money Market Fund Tokenization 👀

Asset tokenization was actually how I got into digital assets. The concept is simple: you take real-world assets like stocks or real estate and turn them into tradable, blockchain-based tokens, making them more accessible and easier to trade.

And tokenization remains a hot topic, as we have some exciting news from BNP Paribas this week. 

The French bank announced that it will explore a public blockchain infrastructure (so far on Ethereum) for its money market fund, and that it has already issued a tokenized share class for a French‑domiciled fund. 

The bank achieved this by relying exclusively on internal teams and businesses. BNP Paribas Asset Management acted as the issuer. BNP Paribas Securities Services fulfilled the roles of transfer agent and custodian, holding the private keys. Finally, BNP Paribas CIB's Asset Foundry supplied the tokenization engine, integrating all components with the Ethereum infrastructure.

I believe this is a strong signal for asset tokenization, especially coming from Europe, where institutions are sometimes slower to adopt such products than in other parts of the world. It could motivate more financial institutions to do the same. 

In the U.S., we already saw this with BlackRock, JPMorgan, and Franklin Templeton, who all also launched or experimented with similar products on Ethereum. 

But we also have another digital asset company and a big financial institution that announced a similar product in the U.S. this week. 

Nasdaq is Partnering With Kraken to Develop Tokenized Stocks and ETFs 🚀

Earlier this week, Kraken announced a partnership with Nasdaq to launch tokenized stocks and ETFs via their xStocks product, with the launch pencilled in for 2027.  

But why is this a big deal? We have seen tokenized stocks in some forms before.

Because in the past, most tokenized stocks you could trade on DeFi protocols or exchanges were actually only synthetic stocks (without the actual issuer's involvement).

That means tokenholders weren’t actually investing in the company itself. Instead, they invested in a tokenized price-tracker that tracked the underlying price of a share. This is an issue, as they don’t have any voting rights for the “shares” they hold. 

Kraken and Nasdaq are tackling this head-on by combining their strengths, allowing investors to gain exposure to real equities in the form of tradable tokens.

Kraken provides the tokenization infrastructure through its xStocks product (to put all those securities onchain), while Nasdaq contributes the regulated market infrastructure and connectivity to traditional equity markets.

With this partnership, the tokenized shares will use the same identifiers as traditional equities and are designed to carry shareholder rights, including proxy voting. 

And all of this will be visible on a public blockchain and verifiable for everyone! 

Elsewhere in Bitcoin 📖

A quick look at what else has been happening in Bitcoin: 

• A BlackRock representative says over 90% of ETF investors are accumulating

• VanEck’s Matthew Sigel claims over a dozen countries are mining BTC

• According to River, more than 50 million U.S. investors hold Bitcoin 

• BTC has traded between $10,000 and $100,000 for 5.5 years

• Bitcoin merchant adoption is growing

Your fellow stacker in sats, 

Patrick Lowry

PS: Connect with me up on X if you want to hear more of my thoughts on Bitcoin and digital assets.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this newsletter are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of any associated company. This newsletter is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment, financial, or any other professional advice. Nothing here is a solicitation, offer, or recommendation to buy or sell any asset or to use any service. Investing in cryptocurrencies is highly speculative and carries a significant risk of substantial financial loss, so you must conduct your own thorough research and consult with independent professional advisors before making any decisions.