Beyond new revenue opportunities, the model gives FIFA more visibility into who ultimately attends its events. In the traditional ticketing ecosystem, much of that information is controlled by secondary marketplaces.

“The actual administrator of those tickets, FIFA, has no idea who the people are buying,” Carbonaro said. “That data sits with SeatGeek, StubHub, Ticketmaster, Vivid Seats.” He argued that FIFA Collect’s RTB and RTT system gives FIFA greater insight into how ticket rights change hands within its own ecosystem, rather than relying on third-party platforms that typically control the customer relationship.

With RTBs and RTTs, FIFA can better track how fans move through the ticketing process while keeping personal information offchain and using blockchain records as a verification mechanism.

That data component may ultimately prove as valuable as the ticketing functionality itself. Sports organizations increasingly view direct fan relationships as strategic assets, particularly as AI tools make first-party data more valuable.

Whether FIFA’s ticketing model becomes a template for future tournaments remains to be seen. Critics could argue that introducing tradable purchase rights simply creates another layer between fans and tickets.

Either way, the World Cup offers a glimpse of where blockchain adoption may be heading next. Instead of asking consumers to embrace crypto, projects like FIFA Collect are attempting to hide it altogether. And for Avalanche, that may be the most important test of all.

Blockchain.com is widening its tokenized real-world assets lineup through a partnership with Ondo Finance, adding 173 tokenized stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to its marketplace. The expansion takes Blockchain.com’s catalog of tokenized traditional assets to more than 430 offerings spanning Ethereum, Solana and BNB Chain.

In a Wednesday announcement, Blockchain.com said the newly listed products include tokenized exposure to private-company shares, actively managed ETFs, US Treasury-related offerings, and covered-call income strategies—highlighting SpaceX’s SPCX token among the additions. It also added themed baskets linked to areas such as AI infrastructure, energy, robotics, autonomous vehicles and quantum computing, alongside income-focused products from Global X and other issuers.

Key takeaways

• Blockchain.com expanded its tokenized stocks and ETF catalog by 173 items via Ondo Finance, bringing total offerings to 430+ across Ethereum, Solana and BNB Chain.
• The new list ranges from private-company shares and active ETFs to Treasuries and covered-call strategies, with SpaceX’s SPCX token called out by name.
• Blockchain.com says the assets are available immediately, using Ondo’s routing and liquidity infrastructure to support trading across all 173 listings at launch.
• Tokenized equities have accelerated this year: RWA.xyz data cited by the company shows distributed value is up to about $1.57 billion, roughly fivefold from around $330 million a year ago.
• Regulatory momentum for DeFi-style access to US equities has become a focal point after a US SEC proposal was described by Galaxy’s Alex Thorn as a potential “unlock” for tokenized stock trading.

Blockchain.com’s Ondo partnership grows across major chains

Blockchain.com’s latest move reinforces its strategy of bringing institutional-style market access into crypto rails. The firm positioned the onboarding as an “immediate” availability update, stating that Ondo’s routing and liquidity infrastructure supports trading across all 173 new tokenized assets from the time of launch.

Ondo is described by market-data provider RWA.xyz as one of the larger tokenization platforms by asset value. According to RWA.xyz figures cited in the announcement, Ondo has roughly $3.8 billion in distributed assets across 267 tokenized products. While those figures are platform-level totals rather than limited to equities, they underscore the scale of the infrastructure now being leveraged for broad catalog expansion.

What’s new in the 173-token slate

While tokenized equities have largely focused on making public-company shares transferable on-chain, Blockchain.com’s additions widen the scope of what investors can hold in token form. Among the specific categories it highlighted are:

• Private company shares, offering on-chain exposure beyond traditional publicly listed equities.
• Active ETF exposure, indicating continued demand for tokenized access to strategies managed by ETF issuers.
• US Treasury products, bringing fixed-income exposure into the same trading ecosystem.
• Covered-call strategies, which aim to generate income by holding an underlying asset while selling call options.
• Themed baskets tied to sectors such as AI infrastructure, energy, robotics, autonomous vehicles and quantum computing.

Blockchain.com singled out SpaceX’s SPCX token as one of the additions. That comes as tokenized SpaceX-related products have already drawn significant retail and institutional attention, even as the sector has encountered execution problems in some launches.

Tokenized equities keep climbing—though competition is intensifying

RWA.xyz data cited alongside Blockchain.com’s announcement suggests the tokenized equities segment has been gaining traction. The report referenced by the article places tokenized equities at approximately $1.57 billion in distributed value, up nearly fivefold from about $330 million a year ago.

The same data set referenced the variety of assets now circulating on-chain, including tokenized shares of public companies, ETFs, and private-firm equity. It also mentioned several large holdings by value, naming Strategy, Circle, Nvidia and Exodus shares as examples.

That growth has also attracted more rivals. Earlier this month, Exodus launched a marketplace for more than 200 tokenized stocks, ETFs and other real-world assets, also through a partnership with Ondo Finance—illustrating how Ondo-linked distribution is becoming a common foundation for new onchain “tradfi-like” trading experiences.

Beyond dedicated tokenized stock platforms, mainstream crypto venues have also pursued high-profile tokenized equity themes. Binance, for instance, said its tokenized IPO offering tied to SpaceX drew more than $557 million in USDC deposits from users seeking exposure to the listing.

SpaceX hype meets real-world frictions—and regulatory change could matter

Alongside growing interest, the SpaceX IPO storyline revealed operational and allocation challenges that have periodically constrained tokenized offerings. According to the earlier coverage referenced in the article, several exchanges—including Binance, Bybit, Bitget Wallet and MEXC—were reported to have canceled tokenized SpaceX offerings and refunded users after failing to secure share allocations. Those products, the article notes, relied on Kraken-owned xStocks for distribution and settlement infrastructure.

The reporting also pointed to the IPO’s reported oversubscription, citing Reuters coverage that demand for a $75 billion offering had reportedly reached more than four times that level and attracted more than $250 billion in investor demand. For tokenization firms and their partners, these dynamics highlight a recurring tension: onchain distribution can be fast, but underlying access to shares can remain constrained by traditional market mechanics.

At the same time, regulatory discussions may shape how these products evolve. The article references a US Securities and Exchange Commission proposal described by Galaxy head of research Alex Thorn as “one of the biggest unlocks yet for tokenized stocks.” Thorn’s comments were tied to the SEC’s proposal to rescind two National Market System rules, which he argued would remove “one of the biggest structural barriers to tokenized US equities trading in DeFi.” The linked SEC proposal appears to frame the issue as a rule change within market structure regulation, though the ultimate impact for onchain trading will depend on how the SEC proceeds and what replacement frameworks—if any—follow.

For investors using onchain equities platforms, the immediate practical takeaway is straightforward: more tokenized stock and ETF listings are now arriving through established infrastructure, but the sector’s next test will be whether liquidity, settlement reliability and regulatory clarity can keep pace with demand. Watch for how exchanges and wallet providers handle upcoming high-profile offerings—especially those that require constrained allocations—and for any follow-through from the SEC proposals that could expand the ways tokenized equities can be integrated into DeFi trading.

The GENIUS Act, signed into law last year, established the first federal framework for payment stablecoins in the United States. Among other requirements, issuers must hold reserves in cash, short-term Treasury securities and certain government money market funds.

The legislation has created an opportunity for traditional asset managers to offer regulated vehicles that stablecoin issuers can use to manage those reserves while generating yield.

Fidelity’s fund will invest in U.S. Treasury bills, notes and bonds with maturities of 93 days or less, cash, overnight repurchase agreements backed by Treasuries and other government money market funds that comply with the law.

“Fidelity has a longstanding history in fixed income and money markets, making us uniquely positioned to offer a money market fund for stablecoin issuers that is compliant with the new GENIUS-Act legislation,” said Robin Foley, Fidelity’s head of fixed income, in a statement.

While Fidelity’s announcement focused on reserve management, State Street framed its launch as part of a broader push into tokenized finance through partnerships with crypto firms such as Anchorage Digital and products designed for onchain liquidity management.

The distinction matters. Wrapped bitcoin products such as WBTC, Coinbase’s cbBTC and Circle’s recently announced synthetic bitcoin product already allow BTC to circulate in DeFi. But Tse said many bitcoin holders dislike giving up custody in exchange for synthetic tokens.

“Most users, many users, do not like it,” he said. “They don’t want to give up title, they don’t want to give up custody.”

Bitcoin layer-2s

Orkun Mahir Kılıç, co-founder and CEO of Chainway Labs, developer of Citrea, offered a blunter critique of the sector’s earlier ambitions.

“Trying to do the same things as Solana the day you launch doesn’t make any sense,” he said.

Bitcoin layer-2s should stop pitching themselves as general-purpose blockchains, he added. The market already has mature ecosystems for trading, lending, consumer applications and perpetual futures.

Instead, Kılıç said, Bitcoin layer-2s should focus on products “uniquely enabled by Bitcoin security and settlement.”

There are still things that wait to be solved on the Bitcoin layer-2 markets,” he said. “But definitely general-purpose ecosystem focus, like trying to compete with Ethereum applications on your day one, is a little bit hard to achieve.”

Diego Gutierrez Zaldivar, CEO and co-founder of Rootstock Labs, said Botanix’s closure reflects another lesson: building a blockchain ecosystem is much harder than solving the technical problem.

Coinbase’s (COIN) latest product launch event may not have changed Wall Street’s near-term earnings forecasts, but it reinforced a growing belief among analysts that the crypto exchange is steadily transforming itself into a broader financial platform with revenue streams that extend beyond bitcoin’s price cycles.

At Tuesday’s System Update event in New York, Coinbase unveiled products spanning derivatives, tokenized stocks, stablecoin payments, lending and artificial intelligence. While the announcements covered a wide range of businesses, analysts focused less on the individual products and more on what they reveal about the company’s long-term strategy.

For years, Coinbase’s fortunes have been closely tied to crypto trading activity. When bitcoin BTC$64,187.13 rallies and retail investors return to the market, trading revenue tends to surge. During slower periods, that revenue can fall sharply. Analysts increasingly view Coinbase’s product expansion as an effort to reduce that dependence.

“The new features are aligned with the company’s effort to become the ‘everything’ exchange,” Barclays analyst Benjamin Budish wrote following the event, adding that the company is seeking to capture a larger share of customers’ financial activity as crypto trading volumes remain relatively subdued.

Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Ramsey El-Assal struck a similar tone. While acknowledging softer conditions across crypto markets, he said Coinbase’s “innovation engine hasn’t skipped a beat” and argued that the company is positioning itself to benefit from a future where consumers manage investing, spending and borrowing through a single app or wallet.

‘The prize’

What stood out to analysts among Coinbase’s myriad new product launches was derivatives.

Coinbase has hit back at claims that it doxxed a customer who made use of the exchange’s first crypto-backed mortgage.

During a June 16 event, at which Coinbase unveiled 21 new products, the company shared a photo of the house apparently backed by the mortgage, describing the owner as someone who owns a lot of bitcoin (BTC).

However, a critic soon claimed to have pulled up the buyer’s Zillow listing — not ideal, given that BTC’s parabolic price increase over the past 17 years and the fact that keys instantly confer ownership make owners appealing targets for thieves.

Attempting to downplay any fears, a Coinbase spokesperson told Protos, “During the exciting process of closing on the home, Coinbase and Better worked closely with the homeowner on a mindful way to share the news while maintaining their privacy.

“We received a picture of the house, taken by the homeowner, and took steps to anonymize the house by removing and changing key identifiers and features.

“We then received their express permission to use the altered image in both Better’s press release and Coinbase’s recent showcase.”

Despite these steps, Protos staff was able to determine the address of the house, which we will withhold out of respect for the owner’s privacy.

Two US senators—one Republican and one Democrat—are pushing back against any attempt by former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to secure executive clemency from President Donald Trump. Senator Cynthia Lummis and Senator Rubén Gallego plan to introduce a non-binding resolution stating that under no circumstances should Bankman-Fried receive a pardon or commutation.

The lawmakers say the aim is to protect the integrity of the sentencing outcome and deterrence for large-scale financial fraud. The resolution argues that the 25-year sentence imposed on Bankman-Fried reflects the “extraordinary scale and deliberateness” of his crimes, his lack of remorse, and the harm inflicted on millions of victims.

Key takeaways

• Senators Cynthia Lummis (R) and Rubén Gallego (D) will introduce a non-binding resolution opposing any presidential pardon or commutation for Sam Bankman-Fried.
• The resolution emphasizes that Bankman-Fried’s 25-year sentence reflects the “extraordinary scale” and “deliberateness” of his offenses and the widespread impact on victims.
• Bankman-Fried’s remaining legal options are limited to a presidential pardon or further review by the US Supreme Court after a federal appeals court upheld his conviction and sentence.
• The senators warn that granting clemency would “erase” the conviction, weaken deterrence, and send a “damaging message” that perpetrators of major financial fraud can avoid permanent accountability.

What the Senate resolution would do

According to the text of the resolution to be introduced Wednesday, Lummis and Gallego would effectively register the Senate’s position that President Trump should not grant clemency “under no circumstances,” including a pardon or commutation for Bankman-Fried.

The senators note that a presidential pardon is a constitutional power, meaning any Senate action of this type is not legally binding. Even so, the resolution is intended to create political and legislative pressure by explicitly tying clemency to deterrence and accountability concerns.

The measure further states that the Senate affirms the duration of Bankman-Fried’s sentence and frames that punishment as consistent with justice and the case’s specific circumstances, including the scope of wrongdoing and the consequences for victims.

The resolution is provided through a document published on Gallego’s official website: MEE26050.pdf.

Bankman-Fried’s clemency bid follows an appeals loss

The resolution arrives after Bankman-Fried formally applied for a presidential pardon related to his conviction on seven felony counts connected to the misuse of FTX user funds. Earlier coverage from Cointelegraph detailed that application and the broader push for clemency: SBF clemency bid.

In the latest procedural turn, a federal appeals court upheld Bankman-Fried’s conviction and 25-year sentence, leaving his path forward narrowed to either seeking a pardon or pursuing review by the US Supreme Court. Cointelegraph previously reported on the appeals court decision here: Bankman-Fried loses appeal.

Because the appeals court decision sustained both the conviction and the length of the prison term, clemency would function as the main mechanism for any outcome short of further litigation—an issue the senators appear to be targeting directly with their “no pardon, no commutation” language.

Why deterrence is at the center of the lawmakers’ argument

Lummis and Gallego’s resolution focuses not on the details of the original sentencing alone, but on what they argue would happen if the conviction were undone at the executive level. In their framing, a pardon would “erase” the conviction and, more importantly, could weaken deterrence for future financial crimes.

The lawmakers also portray clemency as a broader signal to the public: that individuals accused and convicted of large-scale financial fraud may escape permanent accountability even after a lengthy federal sentence.

This deterrence theme matters in the context of the FTX collapse, which triggered one of the most significant blowups in the crypto sector’s modern history. Bankman-Fried was convicted in November 2023 following FTX’s collapse in 2022, and he was later sentenced to 25 years in prison. Cointelegraph noted the conviction and sentencing background in its reporting.

The senators’ argument effectively tries to connect executive discretion to market and regulatory confidence—suggesting that the aftermath of high-profile fraud cases influences how seriously deterrence is treated across the financial system.

Other FTX defendants remain in the criminal system

The resolution discussion also sits alongside the continued legal fallout from the FTX collapse. Even as Bankman-Fried seeks clemency, other figures from the broader FTX and Alameda orbit have faced sentencing outcomes ranging from prison terms to time served in exchange for cooperation.

According to the article’s summary of court outcomes, Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, received a two-year sentence in 2024 and was granted early release in January after serving 14 months. Meanwhile, Nishad Singh, the former engineering director at FTX, and Gary Wang, a co-founder, were both sentenced to time served, with their testimony offered against Bankman-Fried during trial.

Another defendant, Ryan Salame, the former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, was sentenced to 90 months in prison tied to unlawful political contributions and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business.

The article also notes that Salame’s wife, Michelle Bond, was indicted in connection with charges tied to her 2022 run for Congress, with allegations that campaign funds were financed with illegal contributions linked to the crypto exchange. This was reported by Courthouse News Service in coverage referenced by Cointelegraph: indicted.

That broader slate of cases underscores an important point for investors and observers: even if one individual’s sentence is subject to presidential clemency, the overall accountability process tied to FTX and related conduct has not ended.

Going forward, readers should watch whether the White House signals any openness to clemency despite the appeals court ruling—and whether the Senate resolution gains additional support in a way that could influence the political calculus surrounding executive action.