The United Kingdom could add as much as 33 billion British pounds ($44 billion) to its annual economic output by 2035 by becoming a leader in tokenized financial markets, according to a government-backed industry task force. 

The estimate appears in the first report from Wholesale Digital Markets Champion Chris Woolard, who was appointed by HM Treasury to help implement the government’s digital markets strategy. 

Developed with an industry task force, the report sets out a 12-month plan to test blockchain in a financial transaction where securities are used to borrow cash. It also calls for the UK to issue its first tokenized government bond by the first quarter of 2027.

The industry task force brings together more than 50 companies from traditional finance and crypto, including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, HSBC, UBS, Coinbase, Circle, Ripple, Kraken, DTCC and Euroclear.

The roadmap attempts to move UK tokenization beyond isolated pilots and into live markets where securities can be traded, settled and used as collateral. The report said the task was now to move “from pilots to scale” and “from ambition to action.”

Ripple, which is listed among the task force’s industry members, backed the initiative on Monday. “Onchain funds, bonds and repo aren’t experiments,” the company said, adding that such instruments are already proving “cheaper, better and faster than their legacy equivalents.”

UK builds on digital gilt and settlement initiatives

The digital government bond, or gilt, itself is not a new proposal. The UK first announced the Digital Gilt Instrument pilot in November 2024.

This was followed by a July 2025 update outlining plans for onchain settlement, over-the-counter trading and secondary-market development. On Feb. 12, the government appointed HSBC’s Orion platform to support the pilot.

The new report adds a timetable and expands the intended role for the financial instrument. Beyond calling for issuance, the report seeks subsequent digital-gilt offerings, live secondary-market trading and eligibility for use as central bank collateral. 

The report said tokenized securities have limited value unless they can be traded or used to raise cash, and urged the Bank of England to accept digital gilts as collateral. 

Related: UK politicians mull permanent crypto donation ban in wake of Nigel Farage scandal

The UK also has a blockchain-based wholesale payment infrastructure that could support such markets. In December 2023, London-based Fnality launched a sterling-denominated payment system tied to central bank reserves, designed to support real-time repo, tokenized securities settlement and cross-currency payments.

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Japanese asset giant SBI Holdings’ (8473) blockchain initiative is turning to Solana for its stablecoin and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization efforts.

SBI Solana Global, previously SBI R3 Japan, aims to use the network to connect Japan’s domestic market to global liquidity, according to a Monday post on its website.

The SBI Solana Global joint venture, which also counts Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) among its shareholders, now includes the Solana Foundation, the Zug, Switzerland-based organization that oversees the layer-1 network.

“By creating a new market for Japan-originated digital assets, the collaboration aims to establish Japan as a core hub for onchain finance in Asia,” SBI Holdings said in the statement.

SBI Holdings lists supporting the issuance and distribution of stablecoins, supporting the structuring and distribution of tokenized RWAs and developing payment infrastructure for AI agents among the venture’s functions.

The blockchain initiative previously centered around Corda, the permissioned blockchain developed by R3.

SBI Holdings has been active in expanding its digital asset business in recent months, agreeing to buy Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Bitbank last month for around $289 million.

The XRP community is marking July 13 as “XRP Victory Day,” three years after Judge Analisa Torres issued a split summary judgment in the SEC’s case against Ripple. 

The 2023 order rejected the regulator’s claim that every XRP transaction followed the same legal pattern. It also gave public exchange sales a different outcome from direct institutional deals. The SEC had accused Ripple and two executives of conducting unregistered securities offerings through years of XRP sales and distributions across several channels.

The court did not issue a blanket ruling that every future XRP sale falls outside securities law. Torres wrote that XRP, as a token, was not “in and of itself” an investment contract. She then examined how Ripple offered and sold the asset in separate transaction categories under the Howey test.

Exchange and institutional sales received different outcomes

Ripple’s programmatic sales on exchanges did not qualify as investment contracts, the court found. Those trades used blind bid-and-ask systems. Buyers did not know whether Ripple or another holder sold the XRP. The record therefore failed to show that those buyers reasonably expected profits from Ripple’s work.

The decision went the other way for about $728.9 million in institutional sales. Ripple sold those tokens through written agreements to sophisticated buyers. The court found that the contracts, marketing and use of proceeds created an expectation that Ripple’s work could raise XRP’s value. It ruled that those sales violated registration rules.

Ripple says the lawsuit nearly forced a shutdown

Recent comments from Ripple executives have added new detail about the pressure surrounding the case. Chief executive Brad Garlinghouse said the company “almost decided to shut down” after the SEC filed its complaint in December 2020. He described the government’s resources as a major concern during internal talks.

Ripple co-founder David Schwartz said some lawyers considered the company “unsavable” and advised executives to seek personal settlements. Those comments describe private discussions and legal advice; they do not prove the SEC intended to close Ripple. As crypto.news reported, Ripple instead continued operating and spent about $150 million on its defense.

Final judgment stayed in place after appeals ended

The July 2023 order did not end the lawsuit. The court later imposed a $125.04 million civil penalty and a permanent injunction tied to future unregistered institutional sales. That amount was far below the SEC’s requested remedies, but it confirmed that Ripple had violated federal securities law in one part of its XRP business.

Ripple and the SEC tried to reduce the penalty to $50 million and remove the injunction in 2025. Torres rejected their joint request, saying they had not shown grounds to change the final judgment. Both sides later dismissed their appeals, and the case formally ended in August 2025.

As previously reported, the final outcome left a transaction-based framework. Public exchange sales received more favorable treatment, while direct institutional sales remained restricted. The decision also removed the pending personal claims against Garlinghouse and executive chairman Chris Larsen after the SEC dismissed them in 2023.

Solana price has remained below the $80 psychological barrier after renewed macro pressure and weakening risk appetite pushed buyers into a wait-and-see mode despite an emerging bullish chart pattern.

According to data from crypto.news, Solana (SOL) price traded near $76.3 on July 13 after slipping almost 1% over the previous 24 hours. The token has spent the past several sessions consolidating as rising U.S. Treasury yields and persistent expectations that interest rates could stay higher for longer continued to pressure high-beta crypto assets.

Bitcoin held close to $64,000 during the same period, but institutional demand remained concentrated in larger-cap assets, limiting Solana’s ability to reclaim the $80 level.

Network activity has nevertheless remained resilient. Active addresses have stayed near yearly highs while transaction throughput continues to benefit from speculative meme coin trading and recent network upgrades. Yet those on-chain gains have not translated into sustained price appreciation as capital has largely circulated within the ecosystem instead of attracting fresh external inflows.

Combined with softer institutional appetite following a difficult second quarter for digital asset investment products, the imbalance has left SOL struggling to establish a fresh uptrend.

Commenting on the latest price structure, analyst Eliz argued that the recent pullback should not necessarily be viewed as bearish.

“$SOL is showing an orderly bearish consolidation following the rally. This type of price action is often a positive sign: the market is shaking off excesses without compromising the bullish structure.”

The analyst added that, “As long as the outlook remains unchanged, I continue to expect the upward trend to continue.”

Falling wedge keeps breakout hopes alive despite weakening momentum

The 4-hour chart shows Solana carving out a falling wedge after rejecting the early July high above $83. The pattern has compressed price action between descending trendlines, with support holding near the Fibonacci 100% retracement around $75.4 while resistance has gradually fallen toward $78.5.

A decisive move above the upper boundary would expose the 61.8% Fibonacci level near $78.6, followed by $79.6, before bringing the key $80 psychological barrier back into focus. A successful breakout could then open the path toward $81.8 and the recent swing high near $83.7.

Momentum indicators, however, remain mixed. The 4-hour RSI sits just below the neutral 50 level at around 40, leaving buyers without clear momentum. Meanwhile, the MACD remains below its signal line with only a modest improvement in histogram bars, suggesting bearish momentum has slowed but has not yet reversed.

The daily chart presents a similar picture. SOL continues to trade above the major Murrey Math support level at $75 while Chaikin Money Flow has recovered into positive territory near 0.10, showing that capital has continued to enter the asset despite the recent consolidation.

Still, the market has repeatedly rejected advances toward the 5/8 Murrey resistance near $81.25, reinforcing the importance of the $80-$81 region.

Derivatives positioning also identifies nearby trigger zones. CoinGlass liquidation data shows one of the largest short liquidation clusters sitting around $79.5-$80, with another concentration extending above $81.

A strong breakout through those levels could force leveraged short positions to close, adding fuel to an upside move. On the downside, notable long liquidation pockets have accumulated around $75 and just below $74.5, making those areas important support if selling pressure intensifies.

Macro headwinds continue to threaten the bullish setup

Any bullish breakout remains dependent on improving macro conditions. Rising Treasury yields have increased the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets, prompting institutions to reduce exposure to more volatile layer-1 tokens such as Solana. Upcoming U.S. inflation data and Federal Reserve policy expectations are therefore likely to remain major catalysts for the crypto market over the coming weeks.

The bullish wedge thesis would weaken if SOL closes decisively below the $75 support zone, as that would invalidate the current pattern and expose the Murrey support near $68.75. A deeper correction could then bring the $62.5 pivot region back into play.

Conversely, sustained buying above $80 would break both the falling wedge and a multi-session resistance zone, increasing the probability of a move toward $83-$84 where the next significant supply cluster awaits.

Japanese retail and payments firms are taking the next step toward real-world stablecoin usage, with two separate developments aimed at easing the gap between crypto rails and everyday checkout flows.

Lawson will test yen-denominated stablecoin payments at a convenience-store location in Tokyo in August, while Netstars has launched a merchant service that lets businesses accept multiple stablecoins and settle in yen using existing terminals in many cases.

Key takeaways

• Lawson’s August trial with HashPort and KDDI targets in-store stablecoin checkout—designed to limit merchant operational burden.
• HashPort will provide a non-custodial wallet, with the store handling payment processing through its point-of-sale system.
• Netstars’ new Stablecoin Pay supports USDC, USDT, and JPYC initially, operating on Solana and Polygon with MetaMask.
• Netstars sets its merchant fee at 0.98% and says the service helps businesses settle in yen without managing exchange-rate complexity.

Lawson and HashPort set up a stablecoin trial inside Japan’s convenience-store flow

HashPort said on Monday that it has signed an agreement with Lawson and telecom group KDDI to run a pilot at the Lawson Takanawa Gateway City store in Tokyo. The test will evaluate whether stablecoin payments can be integrated into a typical convenience-store checkout workflow.

According to HashPort, participants will use the company’s non-custodial wallet. At the same time, the store will process transactions through HashPort’s point-of-sale integration, with the intent of avoiding the need for the merchant to open or manage crypto wallets directly.

The stated goal of the pilot is practical: to examine the requirements for integration, how the checkout process behaves under real retail conditions, payment processing time, and whether the wallet experience is usable for participants.

For investors and builders, the emphasis on checkout operations matters. Many stablecoin pilots fail to progress because merchants see payment acceptance as adding new staff workflows, extra systems to manage, or operational uncertainty around settlement and verification. By focusing on how stablecoin payments behave at a standard POS checkout, the companies are effectively testing whether stablecoin payments can fit within existing retail infrastructure rather than replacing it.

Netstars launches Stablecoin Pay for merchants accepting multiple stablecoins

In a separate push, Netstars launched Stablecoin Pay on Monday and opened applications for merchants that want to offer stablecoins as payment options. Netstars positions the service as a way to broaden stablecoin acceptance beyond single-asset pilots and toward ongoing merchant operations.

Per Netstars, the initial rollout supports three stablecoins: USDC, USDT, and JPYC. The service will run over both the Solana and Polygon networks, and MetaMask is listed as the supported wallet for the payment flow.

Netstars set the merchant payment fee at 0.98% and said it plans to expand wallet and blockchain support over time.

A key part of Netstars’ pitch is how merchants handle pricing and records. The company says merchants can use existing payment terminals in most cases and manage product pricing, sales records, and settlement in yen even if customers pay with dollar-denominated stablecoins. Netstars also claims this reduces the need for merchants to hold crypto or actively manage exchange-rate mechanics.

From pilots to merchant services under Japan’s regulated stablecoin framework

Netstars’ product launch follows earlier trials carried out in Japan. The company previously tested in-store USDC payments at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport from January to February, and later conducted trials at a trading-card store in Himeji starting in April. The move from limited testing environments to a merchant-facing service suggests Netstars believes operational learnings from those pilots are now mature enough to support broader commercial deployment.

These developments arrive as Japan’s stablecoin ecosystem continues to take shape under a dedicated regulatory approach. On June 1, 2023, Japan introduced a specific framework for stablecoins after amendments to the Payment Services Act and related laws took effect. The framework created regulatory categories for fiat-linked stablecoins and requires intermediaries to register with the Financial Services Agency.

The regulatory pathway has continued to expand: Cointelegraph previously reported regulatory approval for USDC distribution in March 2025. Separately, Cointelegraph noted JPYC’s registration as a fund transfer service provider in August of the same year—before JPYC launched in October, according to the reporting.

Against that backdrop, Lawson’s planned yen-stablecoin payment trial and Netstars’ multi-stablecoin merchant service reflect a broader pattern: Japanese firms are not only experimenting with stablecoin payments, but also aligning them with existing retail systems and the compliance expectations created by Japan’s framework.

What to watch next

In the near term, the most important details will be how smoothly each trial handles real checkout conditions—especially payment processing time, the usability of non-custodial wallets in a retail setting, and whether merchants can keep yen settlement workflows simple as stablecoins diversify. Readers should also watch how Netstars expands wallet and network support after the initial USDC, USDT, and JPYC rollout.

HashPort announcement on the Lawson-KDDI stablecoin trial

Netstars announcement on Stablecoin Pay

Japan Financial Services Agency: stablecoin framework introduction (June 1, 2023)

Related Cointelegraph coverage (as referenced in the source)

Bitcoin is hovering near $63,000 after falling more than 1% since midnight UTC amid a wider wave of risk-off sentiment following the U.S. and Iran mutual airstrikes over the weekend.

Brent crude futures rose more than 3% to approach $79 a barrel as the renewed fighting raised concerns over shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil passageway. Higher energy prices add inflationary pressure and reduce the scope for easier monetary policy, a link that weighed on bitcoin during earlier oil shocks.

“This week, crypto markets will experience a ‘tug-of-war’ between macro and geopolitics,” Taran Dhillon, head of digital assets at Kula, told CoinDesk.

U.S. inflation data coming this week will shape interest-rate expectations, Dhillon said.

Still, spot bitcoin and ether ETFs just broke eight-week streaks of outflows, a sign of growing demand for the two largest cryptocurrencies.

Regulatory clarity may add further tailwinds, Dhillon noted, as the Clarity Act advances. While ethics provisions are still being discussed, “even incremental progress matters,” he said.

OKX will temporarily suspend USDC deposits and withdrawals on the Solana network on July 14 while it completes scheduled wallet maintenance. 

The pause will begin at 14:30 UTC+8, equal to 06:30 UTC and 09:30 East Africa Time. OKX published the notice on July 13 and did not provide a fixed completion time. The exchange said it will restore the two services after the work ends.

The change applies only to deposits and withdrawals of USDC through Solana. OKX said users who already hold the token in their accounts do not need to take action. Trading for related assets will continue during the maintenance period. Other supported USDC networks were not included in the notice, so the announcement does not describe a platform-wide USDC suspension.

OKX also advised traders to consider risks in margin and derivatives markets and add margin early where needed. That guidance matters for users who move USDC through Solana to fund positions. The notice does not promise that deposit networks will remain available in every region, so customers should rely on the options shown in their accounts.

Users should avoid transfers during the pause

OKX asked customers not to send or withdraw Solana-based USDC after the maintenance window opens. The exchange warned that transfers made during the pause could create a risk of lost funds. Users should check the selected network before confirming any transaction, because USDC exists on several blockchains and each network uses a different deposit route.

Users should allow time for blockchain confirmations before the cutoff, since a transfer initiated earlier may arrive after the suspension begins.

The company described the work only as “wallet maintenance.” It did not report a hack, a Solana network outage, or a problem with USDC. OKX also said “trading will not be affected,” although that statement covers exchange trading rather than external transfers. The exchange did not explain whether pending transactions submitted before the cutoff could face delays.

Solana remains a major USDC settlement network

USDC on Solana is a native version of Circle’s dollar-backed stablecoin rather than a wrapped token issued by another bridge provider. Circle lists Solana among the networks where it directly issues USDC. Its cross-chain tools can also burn native USDC on one supported network and mint the same amount on another, without using wrapped copies or outside liquidity pools.

As crypto.news reported earlier in 2026, Circle minted more than $10.5 billion in USDC on Solana within roughly one month. The same coverage cited about $650 billion in Solana stablecoin settlement volume during February. Those figures show the network’s large role in dollar-denominated transfers, but they do not indicate that OKX’s maintenance pause resulted from higher usage.

Exchange notice does not signal a Solana shutdown

Solana has also attracted more payment and financial infrastructure. As previously reported, the Solana Foundation launched an institutional developer platform with Mastercard, Western Union and Worldpay as early users. The tools cover stablecoin issuance, payments and trading services. That expansion increases the need for exchanges and custodians to maintain reliable wallet systems as transaction routes grow.

The OKX notice remains an exchange-level service update, not a suspension of USDC on the Solana blockchain. Users can still trade supported assets inside OKX, but they should avoid Solana USDC deposits and withdrawals until the exchange restores access. 

OKX said it may resume the services without another announcement, making the platform’s deposit page and status tools the main places to check before sending funds.