Stablecoins and tokenized assets are pushing banks, exchanges and crypto companies into the same markets, from payments to stocks and ETFs.
The line between crypto companies and traditional finance is blurring. Binance is buying a $100 million stake in Circle, Canada’s six largest banks are exploring tokenized deposits and the New York Stock Exchange is working with Blockchain.com to bring US stocks and ETFs onchain.
Crypto companies want a bigger role in payments and traditional assets, while banks and exchanges are bringing those markets onchain without giving up their place at the center of the financial system.
This week’s Crypto Biz highlights how stablecoins and tokenized assets put crypto companies and traditional finance on increasingly overlapping turf, with both sides vying for control over how money and assets move.
Binance is deepening its ties to Circle with a $100 million investment in the stablecoin issuer and a five-year agreement to expand USDC adoption across the exchange.
According to a Tuesday filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Circle issued Binance 1,237,011 shares of Class A common stock at $80.84 apiece in a Sept. 17 private placement. The purchase price was below Circle’s market price before the deal closed. CRCL shares rose following the announcement.
The investment comes with a broader commercial agreement around USDC. Circle will pay Binance a monthly incentive fee based on the amount of USDC held through the exchange’s Modular Smart Contract Wallet infrastructure.
Binance is restricted from selling, transferring, pledging or otherwise disposing of the Circle shares for up to two years, although the lockup can end earlier under certain termination provisions. Binance retains voting rights on the shares during that period.
Canada’s six largest banks are jointly exploring tokenized Canadian dollar deposits, a potential new payment rail that would allow digital representations of bank deposits to move between financial institutions.
The initiative brings together Bank of Montreal, CIBC, National Bank of Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank and TD Bank Group. The first phase will focus on transfers between participating banks, with the system potentially connecting to other digital asset networks later.
The project comes after Canada’s Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions clarified on Sept. 10 that tokenized deposits are “not legally distinct from traditional deposits,” meaning the use of blockchain or other technology does not change their underlying legal treatment.
Unlike fiat-backed stablecoins, tokenized deposits remain liabilities of the banks that issue them. The participating banks say the model could enable faster, programmable payments, with other deposit-taking institutions potentially joining in the future.
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