Today in crypto: NYDIG says tokenization won’t hugely benefit crypto until assets are freed up, the OCC approved several crypto-related bank charter applications and Phantom Wallet partnered with Kalshi to bring prediction markets into its app.
Tokenization benefits ‘light at first,’ but could improve: NYDIG
The tokenization of stocks will be “light at first” and not immediately of great benefit to the crypto market, but that could change if the assets “interoperability and composability increase,” NYDIG global head of research Greg Cipolaro said on Friday.
He said the initial benefits of tokenized assets will be the transaction fees charged for using them and the hosting blockchain would see “increasing network effects,” but more favorable regulations should result in an expanded reach and access “should become more democratized.”
Cipolaro said that making interoperable tokenized assets isn’t straightforward, as they “differ greatly” and are hosted on public and non-public blockchains. Most also still need traditional financial structures to remain legal.
Tokenizing assets such as US stocks has become popular this year with major exchanges wanting to launch tokenized stock platforms. Securities and Exchange Commission chair Paul Atkins has also said that the US financial system could embrace tokenization in a “couple of years.”
Paxos, Ripple, Circle and others secure US trust bank approvals
The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has conditionally approved five national bank charter applications for companies tied to the digital assets industry.
In a Friday notice, the OCC said it had conditionally approved BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets and Paxos to convert their existing state-level trust companies into federally chartered national trust banks. In the same announcement, the regulator said it had conditionally approved new applications from Circle and Ripple for national trust bank charters.
“New entrants into the federal banking sector are good for consumers, the banking industry and the economy,” said Jonathan Gould, the Comptroller of the Currency, adding: “The OCC will continue to provide a path for both traditional and innovative approaches to financial services to ensure the federal banking system keeps pace with the evolution of finance and supports a modern economy.”
The five crypto companies are just a few of the many in the industry seeking regulatory approval from the OCC to expand their presence in the banking sector. Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase said in October it had filed an application but had “no intention of becoming a bank.”
Although the wording of each applicant’s letter was slightly different, the companies said they would utilize the charters to provide digital asset custody services to clients. Though Paxos’ application permitted the bank to issue stablecoins, Ripple’s explicitly said its charter would “not be a stablecoin issuer” for its US dollar-pegged coin, RLUSD (RLUSD).
“Paxos’ federally regulated platform will allow businesses to issue, custody, trade and settle digital assets with clarity and confidence,” said Paxos in a Friday statement.
Phantom taps Kalshi to offer regulated prediction markets in wallet
Crypto wallet application Phantom has partnered with regulated prediction market Kalshi to bring event-based trading directly into its wallet interface, signaling a deeper convergence between onchain finance and real-world outcome betting.
The companies said on Friday that the integration would allow Phantom users to discover trending events, track live odds and place bets without leaving their wallets.
A new feature called Phantom Prediction Markets will allow users to trade tokenized positions that reference Kalshi’s event markets across politics, economics, sports and culture.
“By integrating a layer of tokenized positions referencing Kalshi’s regulated event markets with Phantom, users can trade what they care about in real time,” said Phantom CEO Brandon Millman.
