134: Goldman invests in Layer 1

Hey, it’s Marc.

Everyone’s hyping Robinhood’s “OpenAI” and “SpaceX” tokens. Let’s cut through the noise: These tokens aren’t shares. Users don’t get legal ownership and no legal protection. We’ll unpack it below.

Also, this week:

• U.S. approved Dinari as the first tokenised stocks platform
• Goldman, Citadel, DRW and others invest $135M in Layer 1 blockchain
• Kraken launched U.S. tokenised equities trading on Solana.
• Peter Thiel invested in a crypto bank
• Coinbase acquired Liquifi

And much more.

Last call: We're going to drop our biggest stablecoin report yet together with Fintech Blueprint. Want to reach 200k+ fintech leaders? Reach out.

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Top Boardroom Reads This Week

Digital Assets

• Crypto’s Audacious Bid to Rebuild Stock Market on the Blockchain (Bloomberg)
• How the GENIUS Act Brings Stablecoins Mainstream (Bankless)
• Robots On-Chain: Crypto Powering the Physical-AI Era (Pantera)

AI

• The 300 Page AI Report (51)
• The Monster Inside ChatGPT (WSJ)
• Business, Meet Agentic AI (Capgemini)
• Google Search is Dead (51)
• Extracting value from AI in banking: Rewiring the enterprise (McKinsey)

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Goldman, DTCC, Citadel, DRW invest $135M in Layer 1

Canton Network raised $135M from the top names in finance: Goldman Sachs, Tradeweb, DRW, BNP Paribas, Citadel, DTCC, Circle, & more. It is a privacy-first blockchain already powering assets like bonds, repos, insurance, and funds that is designed for compliant RWA tokenisation with institutional-grade privacy. Nearly 400 institutions are already on board, and trillions of RWAs already onchain. ~$4T in total, including $1.5T+ in tokenized UST repo. [RELEASE] [ANALYSIS]

So what? A few years ago, a public blockchain with this level of institutional backing was unthinkable. Here's what they bet on:

Canton solves the privacy problem that's kept institutions on the sidelines for years.

Every other blockchain forces a choice:

• Public transparency (but no privacy)
• Private networks (but no interoperability)

Canton gives you both.

• Privacy + interoperability is the new baseline.
• Compliance-first design wins over speed and decentralisation for big money.
• RWAs are next—we started with stablecoins, but the real unlock is $4T+ in bonds, repos, insurance, and funds.

Robinhood tokenizes US stock market – there’s a catch

Robinhood launched 200+ US stock & ETF tokens in the EU—zero commission, 24/5 access, and dividend-backed. Tokens are live on Arbitrum, but Robinhood is building its own Layer 2 blockchain, The Robinhood Chain, to power RWA tokenisation, including private companies like SpaceX and OpenAI. [RELEASE]

So what? Robinhood has 25M customers and $200B in assets—plus a US broker-dealer license that Coinbase and Kraken lack. With 50+ global licenses and full tokenization underway, they’re not just outpacing crypto exchanges, they’re pressuring traditional brokers to adopt blockchain too, if this passes the consumer adoption test.

Here’s the catch: Users are not buying equity – they’re buying a synthetic IOU that 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴 a guess at the company’s valuation.

• These tokens aren’t shares.
• You don’t get legal ownership or voting rights.
• No legal protections, no disclosures, no audits.
• No transparent price discovery, no market
• You’re not buying equity – you’re buying a synthetic IOU that 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴 a guess at the company’s valuation.

Robinhood is running regulatory arbitrage. They launched in Europe because it's illegal in the U.S.

Kraken’s xStock launch this week on Solana has actually a much better structure:

• Asset Backing:

  • 1:1 backing by real stocks held at regulated custodians (Alpaca Securities, InCore Bank, Maerki Baumann)

  • Proof-of-reserve with Chainlink oracles for transparency

  • Direct ownership claims to underlying assets, not SPV derivatives

• Legal Protection:

  • Stocks held by regulated financial institutions

  • EU compliance with ISIN numbers and oversight

  • If custodian fails, potential for traditional brokerage protections

[ANALYSIS]

👉 We are going to release our flagship report on the “Digital Asset Strategies.” Want to partner & expose yourself to 200k+ digital asset leaders? Reach out.

Coinbase Bought the Cap Table for Tokens

Coinbase acquired Liquifi in its 4th acquisition in 6 months. Liquifi is a token operations platform used by Uniswap, Zora, and OP Labs to manage vesting, cap tables, and compliance. [ANNOUNCEMENT]

So what? This is the biggest crypto consolidation wave in history, just hit $7B+ in 6 months. Every major player is rushing to control:

1. Token creation (issuance)
2. Where they trade (exchanges & derivatives)
3. How they move (payments & settlement)
4. How they’re stored (custody & wallets)

See top acquisitions in 2025

BitGo + Dinari: The Brokerage Killer?

BitGo and Dinari launched a unified API that gives fintechs regulated access to BTC, USDC, and tokenised U.S. equities like AAPL and TSLA — all in one integration. Instead of cobbling together 3+ vendors to support stocks, crypto, and stablecoins, platforms can now plug into a single stack — custody, settlement, and compliance included. [RELEASE]

So what? Dinari becomes the first U.S.-approved platform to offer tokenised public stocks. The timing’s strategic: tokenised equities are accelerating (Dinari’s dShares™ catalog has over 100 stocks), and with U.S. stablecoin rules now live, compliance bottlenecks are no longer a blocker. Dinari is already in 60+ global markets, and together with BitGo, it is leading the move from legacy brokers to crypto-native infra.

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News Flash

• Centrifuge brings S&P 500 onchain in tokenized fund launch. Link
• Tom Lee leads $250M investment to make Ethereum a primary treasury asset for BitMine. Link
• Deutsche Bank to launch crypto custody in 2026 via Bitpanda partnership. Link
• Solana now supports 24/7 trading of 55+ tokenised U.S. stocks. Link
• Peter Thiel backs Erebor, a new bank for AI and crypto startups. Link
• OKX is exploring the US IPO post Circle’s success. Link
• MiniPay and Noah debut seamless global-to-local stablecoin payments for 8M wallets across 50+ countries. Link

That’s all for now, folks.

Take care

– Marc & Team

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