The HIMS token is designed to track shares of the teleheath company Hims & Hers, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). On Robinhood Chain, traders can buy and sell the tokenized stock alongside other crypto assets like memecoins.

And that’s what happened with BONER.

The deliberately ridiculous memecoin was paired with HIMS in a liquidity pool, where traders could swap between the two tokens.

At one point, the pool contained 31,198 HIMS tokens, which is more than half of the 58,714 tokenized HIMS shares that were in circulation. That imbalance briefly sent the HIMS token on Robinhood to $132.64, more than four times the $28.84 closing price of the real HIMS shares on the NYSE.

It is a bizarre glimpse of what can happen when real-world assets are put onchain and made usable in crypto markets. As Thomas Probst, a research analyst at Kaiko, tells Magazine:

“A listed stock effectively becomes a composable DeFi asset at an unprecedented scale, in the same way Ether did.”

But why would anyone want to trade a memecoin against a tokenized healthcare stock in the first place? And what happens when onchain markets make even more bizarre pairings possible?

Onchain finance is for the ‘crazy ones’

Cast your mind back to summer 2020, when DeFi pioneers were busy farming for yield, deconstructing legacy finance and trying not to get rugged in the process. As Mike Dudas, co-founder of 6th Man Ventures, puts it:

“Onchain finance is for the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in square holes.”

Robinhood Chain seems to be the next iteration of this phenomenon, finding new uses for tokenized stocks no one had even considered until now. In less than three months after it launched, traders on Robinhood have created some wild crypto-native pairings like BONER/HIMS, AI/NVIDIA and SPACEHOOD/SPCX.

Stock tokens where they are the quote asset. Source: DeFi Prime

The basic idea is simple: instead of buying and holding a tokenized stock on its own, users can put it into a decentralized liquidity pool alongside pretty much any other token, and traders can swap between the two, creating a market around the pair.

Related: Robinhood Chain nears $1B TVL as Uniswap drives liquidity: Standard Chartered

One of the launchpads behind the trend, LONG, says its stock-paired markets generated more than $425 million in trading volume over a 24-hour period on Sept. 2, with almost $12 million locked in stock-token liquidity.

Sergej Kunz, co-founder of DeFi aggregator 1inch, tells Magazine:

“The opportunity tokenized equities present is much bigger than assets appearing onchain. […] this is not just about changing the venue. It is about creating an asset that can plug into an open financial system.”

Angelo Aspris, a finance academic at the University of Sydney, notes that this creates an array of new opportunities. 

“Once equity exposure becomes programmable, it can be used as a quote asset, collateral, loanable inventory or margin for derivatives.”

In other words, once a stock becomes a token, it doesn’t have to remain just a stock; it can become one of the building blocks of entirely new DeFi markets.

So, is this actually a new market?

Looking under the hood, there’s nothing particularly revolutionary about the plumbing. The markets are built using automated market makers (AMMs), a type of DEX mechanism that uses liquidity pools and algorithms to set prices and which let traders swap one token for another without a traditional order book or a matching buyer on the other side.

What is new is what those markets can contain. In a traditional stock market, stocks trade against currencies or other conventional financial instruments. In the wacky world of onchain finance, a tokenized stock can become one half of a market with almost anything else that has sufficient liquidity. 

Reid Noch, vice president of US equity market structure and electronic trading at TD Securities, says AMMs remain “very novel when compared to traditional markets.” 

While he finds the idea of making a stock part of the quote and liquidity for another market “interesting,” he says it’s a use case could make institutional adoption a harder sell. He tells Magazine:

“As long as they are primarily used to drive liquidity in memecoins, it will be challenging for more traditional players to take them seriously.”

Stock-paired markets generated more than $425 million in trading in 24 hours. Source: longdotxyz

It may sound like a strange use for a stock token, but there is a logic to it from a DeFi point of view. Traders don’t really need a reason to pair two assets beyond having a market where they can swap between them. 

Related: Robinhood takes stakes in Crypto.com, OG.com in prediction markets deal

And the more important experiment is whether tokenized stocks can become reusable financial building blocks rather than simply digital versions of traditional shares.

Does it actually work?

The BONER/HIMS episode shows that unconventional pairings can have unconventional results. 

Aspris says the extreme divergence between the tokenized HIMS price and the underlying stock was largely a consequence of “thin reserves” and “temporarily restricted issuance,” warning: 

“This creates the conditions for these events and increases the potential for strategic exploitation or manipulation.”

Arbitrage would normally pull the tokenized stock price back to the price of the real stock, but that link can break when liquidity is thin or the real-world market is closed, as Probst explains:

“Arbitrage relies here on a single actor rather than a continuous competitive mechanism like the one seen in traditional stock markets. These pools can therefore produce unreliable price signals, without any real transmission to the reference market.”

Memecoin / stock token pairings are succeeding at scale. Source: @howdymary

Noch is similarly skeptical that these pools will become the primary venue for discovering the price of tokenized stocks:

“I still see price discovery happening more in traditional markets, and AMMs being used [by] arbitrageurs to keep the market in line. […] I struggle with how these markets will drive price discovery given their low volumes compared to traditional markets.”

Maybe price discovery isn’t the point

Memecoin/stock pools may be able to trade around the clock, but these markets are immature and isolated from traditional markets….for now.

That said, they’re already generating real demand for tokenized stocks and testing how those assets behave when plugged into DeFi, says Kunz.

“Memecoin pairs might not be the number one case for tokenized equities, but are yet another source of demand, volume and liquidity for those assets.”

Memecoins may also be just the beginning. If tokenized stocks become established DeFi building blocks, there’s no obvious reason they have to be paired with other stocks or cryptocurrencies. Why not use them against tokenized real estate, commodities, artworks or even tokenized farts? (It’s a thing, look it up).

Of course, that doesn’t mean those markets will emerge, or that they would be popular or make economic sense. But the BONER/HIMS experiment shows that once real-world assets become composable onchain, markets can emerge around all kinds of combinations that TradFi would never have dreamed of. Aspris notes we are just at the beginning of this experiment, however:

“The experiment is useful and the direction is clear, but calling tokenized equities a finished DeFi primitive would be ahead of the facts.”

Magazine: Token buybacks are booming. But are they good for crypto projects?

Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich said the Japanese Bitcoin treasury company will further amend its Series 10 stock acquisition rights amid shareholder backlash over dilution concerns.

Metaplanet will reduce the number of potential shares underlying the rights by 131.3 million, from 319.464 million to 188.19 million, by resetting the conversion ratio from 1:696 to 1:410, the level before its September 2025 international share offering, Gerovich announced in a Friday X post.

Shares already delivered through prior exercises will not be returned or canceled. The reduction applies to the number available through future exercises.

The change will extinguish more than $220 million in warrant value and increase the company’s Bitcoin per fully diluted share by about 8.8%, according to Gerovich.

Metaplanet will withdraw its plans to transfer up to 90,000 rights to a long-term officer and employee incentive vehicle and develop a new compensation program with a leading global compensation consultant. Under the amended terms, all unvested rights will face additional exercise restrictions, with one-third becoming exercisable in each of 2029, 2030 and 2031.

The change follows shareholder criticism of the option pool’s expansion from 46 million shares to 319.5 million. Metaplanet said it fixed the pool at 319.5 million shares on Aug. 18, but some shareholders called on it to cancel the 273 million additional potential shares created by the expansion.

In a Friday X post, VanEck’s head of digital asset research, Matthew Sigel, called the adjustment a “meaningful concession” that better aligns management with shareholders.

On Aug. 31, Metaplanet disclosed that Gerovich exercised rights to acquire 92,000 shares under the Series 10 pool. Gerovich said he recused himself from the board’s deliberations and vote on the adjustment because he is a Series 10 holder.

On Aug. 18, the company acknowledged that expanding the pool “amplifies the dilution borne by existing shareholders.” 

Related: Metaplanet buys 2,823 BTC, surpasses 43,000 in Bitcoin holdings 

Metaplanet plans Hong Kong asset management subsidiary

Metaplanet also announced Friday plans to establish Metaplanet Asset Management Asia Limited in Hong Kong with $1 million in initial capital later in September.

The subsidiary will conduct trading in Bitcoin, equities and credit products during Asian market hours.

The new entity is part of Metaplanet’s “Project Nova,” which aims to build a Bitcoin-centered platform spanning asset management, securities, capital markets and other financial services.

In June, Metaplanet agreed to acquire Siiibo Securities in a 2.1 billion yen ($13.1 million) deal to form a securities arm.

Metaplanet stock price, 5-day chart. Source: Yahoo Finance

Metaplanet shares fell 3.8% on Friday, bringing their five-day decline to 15%, according to Yahoo Finance.

Magazine: Bitcoin adoption metrics say one thing, price action says another

To prepare, Garfield began with the rhythms Ploughman would know. “It’s a man that lives in a very, very different time and in a very, very different rhythm to me,” he says. “Connection to the earth and connection to nature, that felt very, very important.” He researched the seasons, harvests, clothing, daily labor, and the habits of the ox. Before filming, he spent time in Ploughman’s hut with the animal, learning the terms of a household in which the ox slept indoors through winter to provide warmth. “Connection to his ox, that was the primary relationship in the story,” Garfield says. The animal is at once Ploughman’s companion, source of heat, and fellow laborer.

His wife and children are dead before the film begins, but Garfield imagined the life Ploughman lost so he could carry that grief across the film. He developed their history and their absence until they became, as he puts it, the “kind of invisible visible spirit characters that are there throughout the story.” Their absence helps explain why the character continues to seek justice, even after the uprising begins to lose its way. “They are the characters that are drawing him forward throughout the action of the film,” Garfield says.

India and Russia have begun working on a digital currency settlement mechanism for bilateral trade as their central banks examine how state-issued currencies could be used for cross-border payments.

Sberbank Chief Executive Officer Herman Gref said the Bank of Russia and the Reserve Bank of India are working on the mechanism, with Russia’s largest lender supporting the effort as the two countries look for new ways to settle their expanding trade.

“Now it’s only beginning, but we see huge opportunity for digital currency for all settlements between the countries,” Gref told reporters in New Delhi on Friday, where India is hosting the annual BRICS summit.

Gref said demand for digital currencies could grow as the technology becomes available for international settlements. Russia launched the national rollout of its digital ruble on Sept. 1, while India has been testing its own central bank digital currency since 2022.

“The Russian central bank and the central bank of India are working on this very precisely and we have tried to support them because we need this kind of instrument,” Gref said.

The Reserve Bank of India had not commented on Gref’s remarks at the time of the report.

India and Russia explore digital currency trade payments

Talks between the two central banks follow several years of work on using CBDCs for international payments. The RBI has previously examined both bilateral and multilateral arrangements that could allow the digital rupee to settle transactions across borders.

In May 2025, crypto.news previously reported that the RBI was exploring cross-border CBDC pilots with international partners as part of the next phase of the digital rupee program.

India launched its wholesale digital rupee pilot in November 2022 and followed with a retail pilot the next month. The RBI said in its 2024-25 annual report that it planned to test more functions and cross-border applications after gaining experience from the domestic pilots.

The value of the digital rupee in circulation had climbed from 234.04 crore rupees in fiscal 2024 to 1,016.46 crore rupees in fiscal 2025, while the central bank continued looking at practical uses for the CBDC.

Russia has moved further into nationwide deployment. Its digital ruble entered a wider rollout on Sept. 1, requiring systemically important banks to provide digital ruble services and large merchants to begin supporting payments.

Major Russian telecom companies including MTS, Rostelecom and MegaFon prepared to accept the CBDC from the same date. Large retailers with annual revenue above 120 million rubles came under the first stage of mandatory acceptance, with requirements scheduled to extend to more banks and merchants in later phases.

The digital ruble operates alongside cash and existing non-cash rubles. Users can access digital ruble wallets through participating banking applications connected to the Bank of Russia’s platform.

BRICS members discuss linking CBDC payment systems

The India-Russia discussions sit within a separate BRICS effort to connect national payment systems for trade and other cross-border transactions.

The Kremlin said on Thursday that digital currency settlements would be discussed with BRICS members and partner countries during the New Delhi summit. India has backed work on CBDC-based settlement during its BRICS chairmanship this year.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi favors the use of central bank digital currencies for bilateral trade and cross-border payments between members, without presenting the plan as an attempt to challenge the U.S. dollar.

Earlier this year, the RBI proposed linking BRICS CBDCs to support direct settlements between participating countries. The proposal included currencies such as India’s e-rupee and other CBDCs developed by BRICS economies.

Such a network would require participating central banks to establish common technical standards and settlement rules. The RBI had considered bilateral foreign exchange swap arrangements as one possible method for dealing with trade imbalances between countries using their national digital currencies.

Discussions around a BRICS digital payment network predate India’s 2026 chairmanship. Russia had previously pushed for an independent BRICS payment system using blockchain and digital currencies, while officials have considered ways to connect the payment infrastructure of member countries.

The work gained more attention after major Russian banks lost access to the SWIFT financial messaging network following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Moscow has since pursued several alternative channels for international payments as Western sanctions restricted access to parts of the traditional financial system.

Digital ruble rollout gives Russia a working CBDC rail

Russia’s Sept. 1 rollout has given the country a live domestic CBDC system while discussions with India continue.

The digital ruble became available through 12 systemically important banks during the first stage of the rollout. The Bank of Russia plans to expand participation in phases, eventually requiring the rest of the banking sector and more merchants to support the CBDC.

The launch came on the same day Russia’s regulated crypto market framework took effect, creating separate rules for cryptocurrency trading, custody and international settlements.

Under the crypto framework, eligible digital assets can be used for regulated cross-border commercial transactions, while cryptocurrency payments for goods and services remain restricted inside Russia. Non-qualified retail investors can buy up to 300,000 rubles of eligible cryptocurrencies annually through each intermediary after passing a suitability test, while qualified investors face fewer purchase restrictions.

Bitcoin, Ether and USDT were among the assets proposed by the Bank of Russia for regulated trading.

The digital ruble remains separate from those privately issued or decentralized digital assets because it is a direct liability of Russia’s central bank.

Rupee accumulation is no longer a major trade problem, Gref says

Payment arrangements between India and Russia have received particular attention since bilateral trade rose sharply after 2022, driven largely by Indian purchases of Russian oil.

Russia accumulated billions of dollars worth of rupees through trade as Indian imports from the country outpaced exports in the opposite direction. Some of the money was held in vostro accounts maintained by foreign banks with Indian lenders for rupee-based trade settlement.

Gref said the accumulation was no longer a significant obstacle because Russian companies had found ways to use the funds.

“Now it’s not the problem in our trade and we try to increase the trade between the countries,” he said.

Some excess rupees have been invested in Indian federal government securities, according to Gref, although he did not provide a figure.

The RBI had introduced rules allowing accumulated rupee balances to be invested in Indian projects and securities or used to pay for future purchases of goods and services, giving Russian companies more options for deploying funds generated through bilateral trade.

India and Russia have ranked among each other’s five largest trading partners since India increased purchases of Russian oil following the invasion of Ukraine. Bilateral trade reached nearly $60 billion in India’s fiscal 2026, with Russian energy shipments accounting for much of India’s imports.

The two countries are targeting $100 billion in bilateral trade by the end of the decade, but the flow remains heavily weighted toward Russian exports.

Gref said the imbalance exceeds $50 billion and called for more Indian goods to reach the Russian market.

“We need to bring more Indian exports and more opportunities to the Russian market and this is our goal,” he said.