XRP ETF inflows surpass $1.5 billion as investors explore alternative digital asset strategies, including cloud mining and DeFi yield platforms.

The XRP-backed ETF has just surpassed a significant milestone in inflows, further boosting institutional investor confidence. Simultaneously, a growing number of investors are turning their attention to ex-DeFi, hoping to explore more long-term yield opportunities beyond simply waiting for XRP prices to rise.

The continued inflows into the XRP ETF further demonstrate the growing demand for XRP from institutional investors. While retail investors remain cautious due to market volatility and price uncertainty, institutional funds continue to allocate XRP through regulated financial products, keeping it one of the most watched mainstream digital assets in the market.

As the regulatory environment and funding conditions continue to improve, many investors are beginning to consider a practical question: are there more efficient and sustainable ways to participate in the long-term returns of XRP besides waiting for prices to rise?

The milestone of XRP ETF inflows surpassing $1.5 billion is significant.

As of the closing on July 29, the XRP spot ETF market has reached a significant milestone. According to data released by the analytics platform uToday, driven by continuous net inflows, XRP-related exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have seen cumulative inflows exceeding $1.5 billion.

Meanwhile, the overall market liquidity has continued to improve. Although secondary market trading activity has slowed somewhat, and retail investor sentiment remains relatively cautious, institutional investor allocation demand has remained stable, resulting in net inflows on most trading days.

A new option for XRP investors: The yield growth path of EX DeFi

In light of this trend, more and more XRP investors are turning their attention to EX DeFi, exploring more stable and sustainable yield models through cloud mining and yield aggregation mechanisms.

Compared to more volatile futures trading or ETF investment, EX DeFi offers a more intuitive and convenient way to participate in digital assets, helping users improve the efficiency of digital asset utilization while participating in the development of the XRP ecosystem. For users with a certain amount of capital, this model is expected to offer higher daily return potential.

About EX DeFi

EX DeFi is headquartered in the UK and operates within European regulatory frameworks such as MiCA and MiFID II, continuously improving its transparency, operational standards, and user protection mechanisms.

The platform employs a multi-layered security architecture, including:

• PwC’s annual financial and security compliance audit;
• Lloyd’s of London digital asset custody insurance;
• Cloudflare enterprise-grade network protection and McAfee® security system;
• Multi-layered encryption architecture, AI-powered intelligent risk control, and 2FA verification protection.

Currently, EX DeFi supports multiple mainstream digital assets such as XRP, BTC, ETH, USDT, USDC, DOGE, LTC, and SOL, providing users with a more flexible and convenient digital asset service experience.

Start earning daily yields easily in just three steps:

1. Register an account

Visit the EX DeFi official website and register using an email address to receive a $17 trial bonus.

2. Choose a Mining Package

Based on a person’s budget and needs, choose a cloud mining contract that suits their needs and start mining with one click.

3. Start Earning Profits

After the contract is activated, the system will automatically allocate computing power, and profits will be automatically settled 24 hours a day. Users can withdraw profits at any time or continue participating as needed, achieving long-term asset compounding.

Example DeFi Popular Contracts

BTC (Beginner Trial Contract): Investment of $100, Term: 2 days, Daily Yield: $4, Total Profit: $100 + $8

DOGE (Golden Shell Mini Dogecoin Pro): Investment of $500, Term: 6 days, Daily Yield: $6.5, Total Profit: $500 + $39

BTC (Canaan-Avalon-A1466): Investment of $1000, Term: 10 days, Daily Yield: $13.4, Total Profit: $1000 + $134

LTC (Bitmain Antminer L7): Investment of $5,000, Term: 20 days, Daily Yield: $73.5, Total Profit: $5,000 + $1,470

BTC (Bitmain S19K-Pro): Investment of $10,000, Term: 30 days, Daily Yield: $161, Total Profit: $10,000 USD + $4,830

For more details on the program, please visit the EX DeFi official website.

Summary

The continued inflow of funds into the XRP ETF, coupled with the improving regulatory environment, further reflects XRP’s gradual integration into the mainstream financial system. EX DeFi provides XRP investors with more diversified participation methods, shifting from “simply relying on price fluctuations” to “price growth and yield generation in parallel.”

As a new market cycle develops, investors are no longer just focused on price increases and decreases, but are paying more attention to stable and sustainable asset management strategies. This trend also reflects the maturing development of digital asset investment.

Still hesitating? Join EX DeFi now and earn daily passive income from digital assets.

A study from the Bank of Italy has challenged a common argument for crypto payments: that stablecoin-based remittances automatically deliver lower costs and faster settlement than traditional money transfer rails. After testing remittances funded and settled with USDC across multiple corridors, the researchers found that most of the expense and delay came from fiat conversion and payment-rail frictions—factors that blockchain networks alone do not control.

The findings are based on experiments moving 200 USDC across 10 bidirectional corridors connecting Italy with Brazil, Argentina, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, and South Africa. The study compared the end-to-end cost and settlement time to traditional remittance services, concluding that crypto network fees made up only a small portion of overall costs.

Key takeaways

• Fiat on- and off-ramp frictions dominated remittance costs: exchange fees and currency conversion accounted for most expenses, while blockchain transaction fees were comparatively minor.
• Speed depended on local payment rails: transfers settled in under 20 minutes where instant payment systems were available, but took one to two business days when they weren’t.
• Cost advantages were corridor-specific: total costs across stablecoin remittances ranged from 0.3% to nearly 9%, with savings versus some benchmarks not universal.
• Regulatory design influenced user behavior and efficiency: overly restrictive rules increased operational complexity, while prohibitionist approaches pushed users toward offshore and unregulated options.

Stablecoins don’t eliminate the biggest frictions

The Bank of Italy’s experiment was designed to isolate where the money-transfer pipeline spends time and money. Researchers reported that, across the stablecoin remittances tested, exchange fees and currency conversion were the primary cost drivers. By contrast, blockchain transaction fees were only a small share of total costs—meaning the core bottlenecks for cross-border transfers largely sit outside the chain.

In practical terms, the corridor matters because stablecoin remittances often still require converting value into local currency at the sending and receiving ends. Even when the transfer occurs on-chain, users may face fees and processing delays at the interfaces where fiat enters or leaves the system.

Costs and settlement times vary by corridor

According to the study, total costs for the stablecoin remittances ranged from 0.3% to nearly 9%, depending on the corridor. This wide spread underscores that stablecoin-based transfers are not a single “set it and forget it” alternative to traditional remittances; rather, they are shaped by the quality and pricing of the surrounding payment infrastructure.

Settlement times showed an even clearer relationship with local payment systems. The researchers found transfers were typically completed in less than 20 minutes when instant payment networks were available. Where those systems were not in place, settlement stretched to one to two business days.

To frame the results against a broader global benchmark, the study used the World Bank’s reported global average remittance cost of 6.65%. On that basis, stablecoin transfers were cheaper in most corridors examined. However, they were less expensive than Wise in only three of seven corridors where direct comparisons were possible—suggesting that established digital remittance providers can still outperform stablecoin routes in certain environments.

Why infrastructure investment matters more than token choice

The Bank of Italy argues that improving the competitiveness of stablecoin-based cross-border payments depends heavily on payment-rail upgrades—particularly domestic instant payment infrastructure. In other words, the study’s central implication is that stablecoin settlement can be fast only if the start and end points of the transfer process are equally efficient.

The authors also emphasized an important structural point: the potential benefits expand if stablecoins can be used in the real economy without repeated reconversion into local fiat. They wrote that:

If stablecoins could be spent directly in the real economy, for goods and services, rents, or school fees, without reconversion into local fiat currency, the economic advantages of stablecoin-based transfers would be substantially higher.

This framing highlights a key asymmetry in many cross-border use cases today. Even if blockchain rails reduce settlement friction, remittance economics can remain constrained when end users ultimately need local currency access and the process requires multiple conversions.

Regulation can either enable or complicate real-world use

The study also found that regulatory design plays a decisive role in shaping remittance efficiency. According to the authors, prohibitionist regimes have not fully eliminated stablecoin demand; instead, they can push users toward offshore platforms and other unregulated channels. Conversely, overly restrictive frameworks may increase operational complexity for retail users.

The analysis arrives as policy frameworks for crypto assets and stablecoins are taking shape in major jurisdictions. The European Union has implemented the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework, while the United States has enacted the GENIUS Act, which governs crypto assets and payment stablecoins, respectively.

In terms of broader market momentum, the stablecoin market has grown to about $307 billion, up roughly 16% over the past year, according to DefiLlama data on stablecoins.

That growth provides context for why regulators and payment operators are increasingly focused on remittance and tokenized payments. But the Bank of Italy’s results suggest that the route to efficiency is not purely about allowing stablecoin settlement—it’s also about aligning regulatory expectations with workable payment flows and infrastructure.

What readers should watch next

The study implies that the next meaningful improvements in stablecoin remittances will likely come from upgrades to instant payment rails and from reducing the need for repeated fiat conversion at either end of the transfer. Investors and builders should monitor how policy changes under MiCA in Europe and the GENIUS framework in the US translate into compliant on- and off-ramp experiences—because, according to the Bank of Italy, that’s where most of the cost and delay still lives.

Robinhood stock recovered more than 2% on Thursday after Bernstein maintained its $160 target, betting that tokenization and prediction markets can offset weaker crypto trading.

Robinhood stock rebounds from $83.68

Robinhood Markets shares traded at $88.55 on Friday, up approximately 2.25% after moving between $83.68 and $89.48 during the session. Despite the rebound, HOOD remained about 26% below its July high near $120.

HOOD had closed Wednesday at $89.84 before coming under renewed selling pressure. Thursday’s recovery kept the stock above its 200-day simple moving average at approximately $86.52, a level that could determine whether the recent decline develops into a deeper correction.

Bernstein maintained its Outperform rating and $160 price target following Robinhood’s second-quarter results. From Thursday’s closing price, the target represents potential upside of about 81%.

Goldman Sachs also retained a Buy rating but reduced its 12-month target from $137 to $118. The revised target still implies more than 33% upside, though it reflects a more cautious outlook for near-term growth.

Robinhood reported second-quarter net revenue of $1.31 billion, up 32% from $989 million a year earlier. The result exceeded analysts’ consensus estimate of approximately $1.26 billion.

Prediction markets overtake crypto revenue

Bernstein’s bullish case rests partly on Robinhood’s expansion beyond conventional stock and cryptocurrency trading. The brokerage identified prediction markets, tokenized stocks and blockchain infrastructure as longer-term revenue drivers.

Robinhood’s Rothera exchange went live in June and has processed more than 3.5 billion contracts. Around 2.1 billion contracts changed hands during the second quarter, generating $17 million in revenue.

Total event-contract revenue reached $156 million during the quarter, exceeding the $100 million generated by crypto trading. Bernstein described Rothera as the third-largest U.S. exchange in its category.

The figures show that prediction markets are becoming a larger part of Robinhood’s business as weaker digital-asset activity weighs on transaction revenue. Bernstein cut its estimate for Robinhood’s 2026 crypto trading revenue by 49% to reflect lower market volumes.

Commenting on how Rothera could develop, Bernstein analysts said:

“Management expects a greater share of prediction market flow to migrate to Rothera over time, while continuing to distribute event contracts from third-party exchanges and retaining the longer-term optionality to offer Rothera as a B2B platform for other FCMs.”

That strategy would allow Robinhood to earn revenue from its own exchange while continuing to distribute contracts supplied by outside venues. A future business-to-business offering could also provide access to other futures commission merchants, though that remains a longer-term option rather than a confirmed source of revenue.

Tokenization becomes a second growth pillar

Bernstein also pointed to Robinhood Chain, Bitstamp, Robinhood Earn and tokenized stocks as evidence that the company is developing infrastructure beyond its retail brokerage.

Robinhood Chain has recorded more than $12 billion in decentralized exchange volume and processed over 150 million transactions since its launch. Robinhood Earn has attracted more than $200 million in deposits.

Stock Tokens are available through Robinhood Wallet in more than 120 countries, extending the company’s tokenization business outside the United States. The service gives eligible international users blockchain-based exposure to listed securities, while U.S. investors continue to access conventional shares through Robinhood’s regulated brokerage platform.

Robinhood has also opened its Agentic Trading platform to its full customer base. The system lets customers connect artificial intelligence agents through Robinhood’s Model Context Protocol server and assign specific investing tasks.

These products widen Robinhood’s addressable market, but they also introduce execution and regulatory risks. Tokenized securities can face different ownership, disclosure, and investor-protection rules across jurisdictions, while prediction markets remain under scrutiny from U.S. federal and state authorities.

HOOD must reclaim $96 to strengthen recovery

Robinhood’s daily chart remains technically weak despite Thursday’s rebound. HOOD is trading below its 20-day moving average at $103.79, its 50-day average at $96.67, and its 100-day average at $99.30.

The cluster between $96.67 and $103.79 creates a broad resistance area. A close above the 50-day average would be the first sign that buyers are regaining control, while a move above $103.79 could reopen a path toward the July range between $110 and $120.

Bear-bull power stood at minus 20.01, showing that sellers still hold the near-term advantage. Negative bars have also expanded during the latest retreat, suggesting that Thursday’s bounce has not yet reversed the broader loss of momentum.

On the downside, the 200-day moving average near $86.52 provides immediate support. HOOD briefly traded below that level before recovering, making the $83.68 intraday low the next level to watch if selling resumes.

A sustained break below $83.68 could expose the June consolidation area around $75 to $80. Conversely, holding above the 200-day average and reclaiming $96.67 would improve the technical outlook.

Bernstein’s $160 target depends on Robinhood converting newer products into durable revenue as crypto trading slows. For U.S. investors, the next test will be whether prediction markets and tokenization can continue expanding without tighter regulation limiting their contribution.

Ken Griffin’s Citadel reportedly bought a large proportion of the public stock portfolio of Situational Awareness, the hedge fund founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner.

The Financial Times first reported Thursday that Citadel bought the portfolio holdings after heavy losses during July’s artificial intelligence stock market rout. 

The transaction followed Aschenbrenner’s fund falling about 67% in July, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing a person who saw a letter sent to investors. The letter said the fund remained up about 80% for the year. The Financial Times previously reported the fund was up 439% through June.

Those reports suggested Situational had approached existing investors and lenders for fresh capital and offered some investors the option to buy portfolio assets. The Journal also reported Situational needed cash to meet margin calls from its lenders and that the fund agreed late Wednesday to sell $3.5 billion of Anthropic shares to a group led by Greenoaks and Sequoia Capital before withdrawing from the deal Thursday morning.

Reuters separately reported the leveraged portfolio detail but said it could not determine whether formal margin calls had been issued before the sale. Reuters said Situational retained roughly $10 billion in stocks and private investments, including Anthropic. Situational had grown to about $24 billion in assets in under two years before the reversal, according to the FT’s follow-up profile.

AI holdings suffered steep July falls

Several stocks linked to the fund suffered sharp declines in July. Sandisk remained down about 44% for the month even after closing Thursday up 26%. CoreWeave fell nearly 26% in July, while Bloom Energy was down around 32%, Yahoo Finance data shows.

Related: Former OpenAI researcher foresees AGI reality in 2027

Situational’s US Securities and Exchange Commission filing showed direct share positions in all three companies as of March 31.

The same filing showed about $1.11 billion in shares of seven Bitcoin (BTC) mining companies, including Iren, Core Scientific, Riot Platforms and CleanSpark. Cointelegraph previously reported that the positions gave Situational exposure to miners expanding into AI and high-performance computing by repurposing their power supplies and data center sites.

It remains unclear what stocks were part of the transaction between Citadel and Situational or whether the fund retained any of its Bitcoin miner positions.

Related: Bitcoin miner Core Scientific shifts to AI with 1.5GW data center push

Aschenbrenner’s fund takes its name from his 2024 essay series, “Situational Awareness: The Decade Ahead,” which argued that artificial general intelligence could arrive by 2027 and drive enormous demand for computing power and electricity.

Before joining OpenAI, Aschenbrenner was a member of the FTX Future Fund’s five-person team and signed its November 2022 resignation notice as FTX collapsed.

Cointelegraph contacted Situational Awareness and Citadel for comment but had not received a response by publication.

Magazine: The 100x obsession: Fundamentals grow in importance as crypto matures

Japan’s central bank held interest rates steady at 1.0% on Friday after a reported major intervention in the yen.

Key points:

• Japan holds interest rates at 1.0%, following market expectations.
• Both Japan and South Korea’s central banks reportedly engage in currency interventions, as the JPY briefly gains 3.5% overnight.
• Bank of Japan warns of incoming CPI inflation headwinds in the second half of the year.

Yen rises up to 3.5% as Korea joins intervention

In its latest statement, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) revealed broad consensus among officials for holding rates at current levels — an outcome that markets had anticipated in advance.

“The Bank will encourage the uncollateralized overnight call rate to remain at around 1.0 percent,” it confirmed.

Eight out of nine members of the bank’s Policy Board voted for the outcome, with only Hajime Takata proposing a 0.25% rate hike.

Japan benchmark interest rate (screenshot). Source: BoJ

Japan’s benchmark rate remains at its highest levels since 1995, with the BoJ meeting result coming just hours after the yen saw snap volatility. Against the US dollar, the currency rose by as much as 3.5% on Thursday, per data from TradingView, in a move that has widely been attributed to central bank intervention

JPY/USD one-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The BoJ did not officially comment on the latest moves, which coincided with a significant rebound in the South Korean stock market after days of heavy selling concentrated on semiconductor stocks. The Korean won was up by around 1% at the time of writing amid reports of a joint intervention between the BoJ and Korea’s central bank. Analysts referenced “tightly aligned” mutual interests of the two countries as facilitating the joint move.

“The interests of each country aligned. For Korea-Japan cooperation, the won and the yen are so tightly coupled that a joint intervention could double the impact,” Lee Min-hyuk, an analyst at KB Kookmin Bank, commented to local media outlet Straits Times.

The Nikkei newspaper earlier noted that the US had engaged in rate checks — a form of soft intervention which can precede a more pronounced operation — during Thursday’s trading session, resulting in speculation over a three-way coordinated move.

“The key signal from last night’s move is that MOF remains uncomfortable with excessive yen weakness. The line in the sand is probably better viewed as a zone around 162-165 rather than a specific level,” Masahiko Loo, senior fixed income strategist at asset manager State Street Investment Management, told CNBC.

BoJ sees CPI inflation headwinds increasing in 2026

As the yen came off its highest levels against the dollar since 1986, the BoJ warned of future upside in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation.

Related: Rate path still divides investors: Five things to know in Bitcoin this week

“The year-on-year rate of increase in the consumer price index […] is likely to accelerate to a level clearly above 2 percent from the second half of fiscal 2026,” it stated in its latest quarterly Outlook for Economic Activity and Prices report.

In addition to rising prices of durable goods, the report referenced “waning of the effects of high crude oil prices” due to the ongoing US-Iran war and closure of the Strait of Hormuz oil-transit route.

Gyrations in the yen have remained an important consideration in crypto trading circles ever since the “unwinding” of the yen carry trade sparked major Bitcoin and altcoin downside pressure in August 2024.

Earlier this year, Arthur Hayes, former CEO of crypto exchange BitMEX, suggested that the combination of a weak yen and rising Japanese bond yields may cause investors to move away from low-yielding US bond allocations. He linked central bank liquidity interventions to positive moves in crypto markets.

“This discussion of Japanese financial markets is important because for Bitcoin to exit its sideways funk, it needs a healthy dose of money printing,” he wrote in a blog post.

In December 2025, Hayes predicted that USD/JPY could rise as high as 200.

CLARITY Act passage odds have fallen to 25% as the White House reviews a bipartisan ethics proposal that could determine whether the Senate takes up the crypto market structure bill before its August recess.

Scaramucci expects Trump to approve ethics deal

SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci said he expects Trump to accept the revised ethics language negotiated by Republican Sen. Thom Tillis and Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego.

“If POTUS ultimately signs off, which I think he will, who will stand in the way of Clarity?” Scaramucci wrote on X. “If Dems (or GOPs in the pocket of bank lobby) stand in the way, they will regret it in November.”

Scaramucci’s statement represents his assessment of the negotiations. Neither Trump nor the White House has publicly confirmed acceptance of the proposal.

Tillis and Gallego reportedly sent the counterproposal to the White House on Thursday. The text has not been released publicly, but crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett reported that it would give state attorneys general a role in enforcing restrictions on federal officials’ digital-asset activities. Terrett’s report said the full scope of those state powers remained unclear.

Scaramucci also claimed in a now-deleted post that Trump’s children supported the compromise. That assertion has not been independently confirmed.

Ethics dispute remains central to CLARITY Act talks

Senate Democrats objected to an earlier Republican-backed ethics proposal because it reportedly placed enforcement authority solely with federal prosecutors.

The disputed language would restrict the president, vice president and other federal officials from issuing or sponsoring digital assets while in office. Democrats have sought stronger enforcement mechanisms and broader protections addressing conflicts of interest linked to officials’ crypto businesses.

Giving state attorneys general enforcement authority could help attract Democratic votes. It could also address concerns raised by Tillis, who had withheld support without changes to the ethics section.

However, an agreement on ethics would not guarantee passage. Senators remain divided over other provisions involving stablecoin rewards, protections for blockchain developers, and the division of regulatory authority between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The House passed its version of the CLARITY Act by a 294–134 vote in July 2025, with 78 Democrats supporting it. Any amended Senate version would still need approval from both chambers before reaching Trump’s desk.

CLARITY Act odds fall to record-low 25%

Polymarket traders now assign a 25% probability that Trump will sign the CLARITY Act into law before the end of 2026, down from 30% earlier this week. The decline reflects uncertainty over both the remaining negotiations and the limited Senate calendar.

Prediction-market probabilities represent traders’ positions rather than a formal legislative forecast. The odds can change quickly if the White House accepts the ethics compromise or Senate Majority Leader John Thune schedules floor proceedings.

Industry groups are also pressing lawmakers to act. Digital Currency Group, the parent company of Grayscale, sent a letter to Thune and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer requesting a vote before the recess. The company argued that continued regulatory uncertainty was driving US crypto investment and jobs overseas.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent issued a similar call this week, saying the Senate needed to vote on the legislation “now.”

Senate timetable remains uncertain

Sen. Cynthia Lummis said Thune has reserved space for the CLARITY Act on the Senate agenda and still intends to begin considering it before lawmakers leave Washington.

“Senator Thune has kept a place for the Clarity Act on the agenda before the August recess for many, many weeks now,” Lummis said. “I believe he does intend to go through with it.”

Still, no floor schedule has been confirmed. Nominations, government funding negotiations and votes concerning Iran and Russia-Ukraine sanctions are competing for the Senate’s remaining time. Lummis’ comments indicate that proceedings could begin within days, but they do not guarantee a final passage vote before the recess. Crypto.news previously reported that amendments and procedural votes could push final action into the post-recess calendar.

For US crypto companies and investors, the outcome will determine whether Congress advances a federal division of SEC and CFTC oversight this summer or leaves the regulatory framework unresolved heading into the November elections.

The largest tokenized securities platform cleared its SEC probe, secured FINRA authorization, and put BlackRock’s IVV onchain. Now it is shopping for a target worth up to half a billion dollars while the market it helped build outgrows it.

Ondo Finance spent the first half of 2026 clearing every regulatory hurdle that has historically killed tokenization platforms. It closed an SEC investigation without charges. It secured FINRA authorization for tokenized equities. It put BlackRock’s flagship ETF onchain under a framework the SEC itself endorsed. And now, with $2.5 billion in assets under management and a market that has tripled in eighteen months, it is looking to spend up to half a billion dollars on an acquisition that would transform it from a tokenization protocol into something closer to a financial conglomerate.

The acquisition report, first published by CoinDesk on July 30, described Ondo as exploring targets in wealthtech and adjacent sectors valued between $250 million and $500 million. The company’s response was carefully calibrated: “We are not in conversations with any party at this time.” The denial did not say the exploration was not happening. It said no specific target had been engaged. The ONDO token rose approximately 6% on the news, a move that valued the company’s circulating supply at roughly $1.5 billion.

The timing is not coincidental. Ondo has spent two years building infrastructure that most tokenization platforms never get close to completing. It has an SEC-registered broker-dealer. It has FINRA authorization. It has a custodial model that the SEC endorsed through formal guidance. What it does not have is the distribution network, advisory relationships, and client assets that a wealthtech acquisition would provide. The $250 million to $500 million price range suggests Ondo is looking at established platforms with existing customer bases, not early stage startups.

The regulatory clearance that changed everything

The most important development in Ondo’s 2026 was not a product launch. It was the closing of an SEC investigation that had been running since October 2023.

The probe, opened during Gary Gensler’s chairmanship, examined whether Ondo’s tokenized securities products constituted unregistered securities offerings. Under Chair Paul Atkins, the investigation was closed without enforcement action. The closure removed the single largest existential risk facing the company and cleared the path for everything that followed.

Within weeks of the probe closing, Ondo’s SEC-registered broker-dealer subsidiary, Oasis Pro Markets, received additional FINRA authorizations covering tokenized corporate equities, ETFs, and other investment products. The authorization expanded Oasis Pro’s permissions beyond its original scope, which had been limited to digital asset securities under Regulation D and Regulation S exemptions.

The FINRA authorization is significant because it addresses the distribution problem that has constrained every tokenization platform to date. Tokenizing a security is technically straightforward. Distributing that tokenized security to investors through regulated channels requires broker-dealer infrastructure that most crypto companies do not possess. Ondo now has that infrastructure at a level that only Securitize among its direct competitors can match.

The regulatory sequence matters. The SEC probe closure came first, establishing that Ondo’s existing products did not violate federal securities law. The FINRA authorization came second, expanding what Ondo could offer through regulated channels. The BlackRock IVV tokenization came third, providing the marquee product that validated the regulatory framework. Each step depended on the one before it. A company still under SEC investigation could not have received expanded FINRA authorization. A company without expanded authorization could not have tokenized a major ETF under the SEC’s endorsed model. The entire 2026 regulatory sequence was sequential by necessity, and Ondo executed it faster than any competitor.

Ondo also filed a confidential registration statement with the SEC for Ondo Global Markets, providing issuer-level disclosures for all investors. The confidential filing is a precursor to full public registration, a step that would make Ondo Global Markets subject to the same reporting requirements as traditional securities exchanges. No other tokenization platform has progressed this far toward full SEC registration for a tokenized securities marketplace.

On July 1, 2026, Ondo debuted what may be the most consequential product in the tokenization industry’s short history. It put BlackRock’s IVV ETF and Micron shares onchain under the SEC’s third-party custodial tokenization model. This was not an offshore workaround. It was not a synthetic exposure product. It was the actual security, tokenized under a framework the SEC had formally described in its January 2026 guidance. BlackRock’s IVV became the first major ETF to exist simultaneously in traditional brokerage accounts and on a blockchain, with identical investor protections and ownership rights in both formats.

Uniswap has launched Earn, a self-custodial lending product that allows users to deposit USDC, USDT, and ETH into Morpho vaults without leaving its app.

Uniswap Earn supports USDC, USDT and ETH

Earn is available through the Uniswap Web App and Wallet, extending the platform beyond token swaps and liquidity provision into onchain lending.

Users can select a supported asset, choose an amount and authorize the deposit with one signature. Deposits then earn interest paid by borrowers across lending markets selected by the underlying vault.

USDC, USDT and ETH are supported at launch, with all three vaults operating on Ethereum mainnet. Users can withdraw at any time because the product has no mandatory lockup or cooldown period, according to Uniswap’s launch announcement.

Uniswap does not charge a separate fee for using Earn. However, depositors remain responsible for standard Ethereum transaction costs, which can make smaller positions less economical when network fees rise.

Deposits appear alongside users’ other assets in the Uniswap portfolio interface. The dashboard displays the amount deposited, the current yield rate and total earnings, while recording deposits and withdrawals in the account’s activity history.

Morpho and Gauntlet manage the lending infrastructure

Morpho supplies the permissionless lending infrastructure behind Earn, while Gauntlet curates the vaults and determines how deposits are distributed across eligible markets.

Vault curation can reduce the need for depositors to compare individual lending pools, collateral types, and utilization rates. Gauntlet can set exposure limits and rebalance capital as market conditions change, but depositors still carry the risks associated with those allocation decisions.

Morpho currently reports about $11.79 billion in deposits and $4.15 billion in active loans across its network. The protocol previously said deposits increased from $5 billion at the beginning of 2025 to $13 billion by the end of that year’s third quarter.

Active loans rose from $1.9 billion to $4.5 billion over the same period. Annualized interest paid to Morpho lenders reached $227 million in 2025, representing a 400% increase from 2024, according to Morpho’s annual review.

Earn broadens Uniswap beyond token swaps

Earn gives Uniswap another way to retain users between trades. Instead of transferring unused stablecoins or ETH to a separate lending protocol, users can now access lending vaults through the same interface used for swaps and portfolio tracking.

The integration places Uniswap in closer competition with established lending platforms such as Aave and Compound. Its main distribution advantage is an existing base of traders who can move from swapping to lending without navigating to another application.

For US users, Earn is an onchain lending service rather than a bank savings account. Deposits do not carry FDIC insurance, and self-custody does not remove smart contract, collateral, liquidity, or stablecoin risks.

Vault yields are also variable. Rates can fall when lender deposits grow faster than borrowing demand, meaning the displayed annual percentage yield is not guaranteed for the duration of a deposit.

UNI price shows limited reaction to Earn launch

UNI traded near $4.30 at the time of writing, declining approximately 2.8% over the previous 24 hours. The token remained up about 12% over seven days.

Its market capitalization stood near $2.68 billion, while 24-hour trading volume reached roughly $376 million. The latest move does not establish a direct link between the Earn announcement and UNI’s price performance.

Adoption will depend on the yields offered by the Gauntlet-curated vaults, Ethereum transaction costs, and users’ willingness to accept lending-market risks. Uniswap has not announced that Earn revenue will flow directly to UNI holders, making deposits and user retention the main metrics to watch initially.