Stripe's $53B PayPal bid, Wall Street goes onchain — Thu 16 Jul

Wall Street stopped debating tokenization today and just did it — DTCC ran live trades with JPMorgan, Goldman and BlackRock, while Cantor and Securitize pushed it straight into the IPO process. Meanwhile Japan and South Korea both rewrote their crypto rulebooks in the same week, and Stripe just bid $53 billion to own PayPal outright.

Some of the stories in today's edition:

💎 Wall Street runs its first live tokenized-securities trades
💎 Japan reclassifies crypto as a financial asset — Asia's regulatory pivot accelerates 💎 Stripe and Advent bid $53 billion for PayPal
💎 Linux Foundation launches the x402 Foundation to standardize AI-agent payments
💎 BlackRock's Fink: bitcoin has "more stability at these levels"

— Morten

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The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. conducted its first limited production trades of tokenized stocks and Treasurys on Wednesday, with JPMorgan tokenizing part of its Invesco QQQ Trust holdings while retaining the ability to convert back to traditional shares. Microsoft, Circle, SPY and iShares Treasury ETF shares were also among the first assets tokenized, with Goldman Sachs and Vanguard participating alongside almost 40 firms. A full commercial launch is planned for October.

Why it matters: DTCC processed $4.7 quadrillion in securities transactions in 2025 — when infrastructure at that scale runs live blockchain trades, tokenization stops being a talking point and becomes settlement plumbing.

Source: DTCC begins first tokenized stock and Treasury production trades involving JPMorgan, BlackRock and Goldman — The Block

Cantor Fitzgerald and Securitize announced a partnership to let public companies conduct IPOs and follow-on offerings using blockchain-based infrastructure, with tokens representing the actual security rather than a wrapper or synthetic exposure. Cantor contributes its equity capital markets and trading capabilities — it ranked #1 in U.S. IPOs in 2025 — while Securitize supplies the tokenization infrastructure through its SEC-registered broker-dealer.

Why it matters: Most tokenized-stock efforts retrofit blockchain onto shares after they're already issued; this pushes tokenization into the moment of capital raising itself.

Source: Cantor and Securitize collaborate on blockchain-based IPOs — CoinDesk

Tokenization platform Tradable plans to migrate up to $1 billion in private credit assets to Stellar, after tokenizing $1.7 billion in similar assets on ZKsync last year. Stellar has already won tokenization business from Franklin Templeton, WisdomTree and MoneyGram, and is positioning itself as the network institutions choose for real-world assets at scale.

Why it matters: Private credit is a multi-trillion-dollar market long criticized as illiquid and opaque — moving it onchain at this size tests whether tokenization can actually fix that.

Source: Tokenization startup Tradable plans to bring $1 billion worth of private credit assets to Stellar — The Block

Japan's parliament passed an amendment moving bitcoin, ether and XRP out of the Payment Services Act and into the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act — the same law governing stocks and bonds. The reform clears a path for spot crypto ETFs, targeted for fiscal 2027, and cuts the top tax rate on crypto gains from 55% to a flat 20% starting in 2028.

Why it matters: Japan is choosing tighter securities-style rules in exchange for institutional access — a trade-off the U.S. is still fighting over in the CLARITY Act and the EU is still absorbing under MiCA.

Source: Japan reclassifies crypto as a financial asset, paves way for tax cuts — CoinDesk

South Korea's Ministry of Economy and Finance unveiled a National Asset Basic Act that replaces the 1950 State Property Act, formally bringing crypto and IP under the government's asset management system — a portfolio worth roughly 1,400 trillion won ($940 billion). It governs assets the state already owns, including seized crypto; the separate Digital Asset Basic Act, which would regulate the private crypto industry, is still pending.

Why it matters: This is a bookkeeping law, not a strategic bitcoin reserve — but it lands the same week South Korea pushes forward stablecoin rules and a spot ETF framework, signaling a broader institutional build-out.

Source: South Korea writes crypto into its state asset rulebook after 76 years — Disruption Banking

Stripe and private equity firm Advent International have offered $60.50 per share for PayPal — a 28% premium, backed by roughly $50 billion in bank financing, with the two set to co-own the company equally. The logic, per Kriaris: Stripe controls payment infrastructure but lacks PayPal's consumer identity at checkout — combined, it would control both ends of the payment chain. PayPal has shown little appetite to engage at this price.

Why it matters: Combined, the two would process roughly $3.7 trillion in annual payment volume and merge two of the largest regulated stablecoin operations — PYUSD and Stripe's Bridge — under one owner.

Source: Stripe Aims to Control the Payment Chain with Bid for PayPal — Kaupr

The Linux Foundation announced the operational launch of the x402 Foundation to govern x402, an open protocol contributed by Coinbase that lets AI agents and applications pay for services directly over HTTP using cards or stablecoins. Forty organizations have joined as members, including premier members Visa, Mastercard, Ripple, Stripe, Circle, Google and Amazon Web Services.

Why it matters: Every major card network now backs a shared, vendor-neutral standard for machine-to-machine payments — a sign the agentic economy's payment layer is being built as open infrastructure rather than contested turf.

Source: Linux Foundation Announces Operational Launch of x402 Foundation to Standardize Internet-Native Payments for AI Agents and Applications — Linux Foundation

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink told CNBC he is "very bullish on the markets over the next 12 months," pointing to technology-driven margin expansion, and said bitcoin and crypto have become more stable after a leverage-driven washout of speculative positions. He added that isolated pockets of leverage risk could still surface, even as overall conditions remain far below financial-crisis levels.

Why it matters: Coming from a former bitcoin skeptic who now runs the world's largest bitcoin ETF, the comment reads as much as a market signal as a personal one.

Source: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink: I'm very bullish on the markets over the next 12 months — CNBC

BitMine Immersion Technologies reported that Ethereum staking generated $45.7 million in its fiscal third quarter — 98% of total revenue, up from just $2.05 million a year earlier. The company has staked 4.9 million ETH, 85% of its holdings, with Chairman Tom Lee projecting $284 million in annualized rewards once fully deployed.

Why it matters: Staking has become BitMine's core business almost overnight, though a $92.1 million loss on ETH derivatives the same quarter is a reminder that leveraged treasury strategies carry real downside alongside the yield.

Source: Bitmine says ETH staking generated $45.7 million, accounting for 98% of quarterly revenue — The Block

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Wishing you a great Thursday — and welcome back tomorrow morning for the next edition of Kaupr Today.

Best regards Morten Myrstad Founder & Editor