From Wall Street (US) to Seoul (South Korea) and decentralized protocols, major
financial institutions are deploying digital asset products and securing infrastructure.
Morgan Stanley launched Ethereum and Solana funds, Circle acquired IBM’s blockchain
patent portfolio, and Mirae Asset acquired Korbit. Meanwhile, Uniswap built permissioned
trading pools, and U.S. lawmakers face tight deadlines on federal crypto legislation.
Morgan Stanley Expands Crypto Offerings with Ethereum and Solana Trusts
Morgan Stanley Investment Management launched the Morgan Stanley Ethereum Trust
(MSSE) and the Morgan Stanley Solana Trust (MSOL) on NYSE Arca. These new
exchange-traded products track the spot prices of ether and SOL while generating
additional yield by staking a portion of their underlying digital asset holdings. Both funds
feature an expense ratio of 0.14% and utilize CoinDesk Benchmark 4PM NY Settlement
Rates as their pricing benchmarks. Approximately 95% of the earned staking rewards
are distributed to shareholders, with the remaining portion covering institutional
validator fees. The expansion follows the earlier launch of the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin
Trust (MSBT), which was the first cryptocurrency ETP offered by a U.S. bank-affiliated
asset manager. Morgan Stanley distributes these digital asset products through its
network of 16,000 wealth advisors and its E*TRADE brokerage platform
Circle Acquires IBM Blockchain Patent Portfolio to Support USDC and Onchain Products.
Stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group, Inc. has acquired a blockchain patent portfolio
from IBM comprising over 680 patent families and nearly 1,000 issued patents
worldwide. The acquired assets cover foundational blockchain technology, banking,
financial services, insurance, enterprise infrastructure, supply chain verification, and
secure cloud operations. With this acquisition, Circle becomes the leading holder of
blockchain patents in the United States. The expanded intellectual property portfolio
directly supports Circle’s infrastructure for products including the USDC stablecoin, the
Circle Payments Network, Arc, and a suite of onchain products and agentic financial
tools. According to Sarah Wilson, General Counsel at Circle, intellectual property is
critical to advancing the adoption of global, internet-native financial infrastructure.
Circle and IBM also plan to explore additional commercial opportunities together.
Mirae Asset Completes Korbit Takeover to Build Digital X Platform for Stablecoins
& Tokenized Assets
Mirae Asset Consulting has completed its acquisition of a 97.15% stake in South Korean
cryptocurrency exchange Korbit following approval from South Korea’s Fair Trade
Commission. Under the group’s “Mirae Asset 3.0” strategy, the exchange is rebrandingto
Digital X to integrate traditional financial services with digital asset infrastructure.
Founder Park Hyeon-joo stated that Digital X will focus on developing products centered
on stablecoins, real-world asset tokenization, and security token offerings. The
company confirmed that existing Korbit trading services, account operations, and
segregated customer assets will remain unchanged under South Korea’s Virtual Asset
User Protection Act. Management instructed employees to maintain strict adherence to
compliance, anti-money laundering, and know-your-customer regulations across all
platform operations. The transaction marks the first acquisition of a Korean
cryptocurrency exchange by an affiliate of a traditional financial group.
Uniswap v4 Introduces Permissioned Pools for Compliant On-Chain Asset Trading
Uniswap Labs unveiled Permissioned Pools on Uniswap v4, an open-source standard
enabling issuers to restrict trading of regulated on-chain assets within automated
market maker (AMM) pools. The architecture utilizes Uniswap v4 hooks to execute
allowlist verification directly at the protocol level rather than through a frontend
interface. Asset issuers retain full control over their respective allowlists, while standard
Uniswap v4 pools remain permissionless and unchanged. Launch partners Superstate,
Securitize, and Dowgo contributed to the standard by integrating compliance
frameworks, including the DS Protocol and the ERC-3643 token standard. Industry
projections estimate the tokenized asset market could reach $11 trillion by 2030,
compared to approximately $34 billion reported in May 2026. This infrastructure
provides a compliant pathway for regulated tokens, equities, and funds to access
automated liquidity while maintaining smart-contract transfer restrictions.
Legislative Progress and Roadblocks Surrounding the U.S. CLARITY Act and Stablecoin Regulation
The Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act passed the Senate Banking Committee with a 15–
9 vote on May 14 to establish a federal regulatory framework and clarify oversight
boundaries between the SEC and CFTC for digital assets. This effort follows the prior
passage of the GENIUS Act in July 2025, which enacted a comprehensive U.S.
regulatory framework for fiat-pegged stablecoins after passing the Senate 68–30. While
the House approved its version of the CLARITY Act in July 2025 by a 294–134 vote, the
Senate version has remained unvoted on the floor since June 1.
Passage of the Senate draft requires 60 votes, but the bill faces two immediate
roadblocks that threaten its momentum. First, seven Democratic senators who
previously backed the GENIUS Act now oppose the text over ethics provisions regarding
presidential cryptocurrency revenues. Second, the bill faces an unforgiving calendar
window, with August 7 marking the final Senate workday before the summer recess,
leaving minimal working days ahead of the November midterm elections.
With thanks to Aviv & Dean for their continued input.
