134: Goldman invests in Layer 1
Hey, it’s Marc.
Everyone’s hyping Robinhood’s “OpenAI” and “SpaceX” tokens. Let’s cut through the noise: These tokens aren’t shares. Users don’t get legal ownership and no legal protection. We’ll unpack it below.
Also, this week:
U.S. approved Dinari as the first tokenised stocks platform
Goldman, Citadel, DRW and others invest $135M in Layer 1 blockchain
Kraken launched U.S. tokenised equities trading on Solana.
Peter Thiel invested in a crypto bank
Coinbase acquired Liquifi
And much more.
Last call: We're going to drop our biggest stablecoin report yet together with Fintech Blueprint. Want to reach 200k+ fintech leaders? Reach out.
Top Boardroom Reads This Week
Digital Assets
Crypto’s Audacious Bid to Rebuild Stock Market on the Blockchain (Bloomberg)
Robots On-Chain: Crypto Powering the Physical-AI Era (Pantera)
AI
Business, Meet Agentic AI (Capgemini)
Extracting value from AI in banking: Rewiring the enterprise (McKinsey)
👉 Get your brand in front of 35,000+ decision-makers — book your ad spot now.
Goldman, DTCC, Citadel, DRW invest $135M in Layer 1
Canton Network raised $135M from the top names in finance: Goldman Sachs, Tradeweb, DRW, BNP Paribas, Citadel, DTCC, Circle, & more. It is a privacy-first blockchain already powering assets like bonds, repos, insurance, and funds that is designed for compliant RWA tokenisation with institutional-grade privacy. Nearly 400 institutions are already on board, and trillions of RWAs already onchain. ~$4T in total, including $1.5T+ in tokenized UST repo. [RELEASE] [ANALYSIS]
So what? A few years ago, a public blockchain with this level of institutional backing was unthinkable. Here's what they bet on:
Canton solves the privacy problem that's kept institutions on the sidelines for years.
Every other blockchain forces a choice:
Public transparency (but no privacy)
Private networks (but no interoperability)
Canton gives you both.
Privacy + interoperability is the new baseline.
Compliance-first design wins over speed and decentralisation for big money.
RWAs are next—we started with stablecoins, but the real unlock is $4T+ in bonds, repos, insurance, and funds.
Robinhood tokenizes US stock market – there’s a catch
Robinhood launched 200+ US stock & ETF tokens in the EU—zero commission, 24/5 access, and dividend-backed. Tokens are live on Arbitrum, but Robinhood is building its own Layer 2 blockchain, The Robinhood Chain, to power RWA tokenisation, including private companies like SpaceX and OpenAI. [RELEASE]
So what? Robinhood has 25M customers and $200B in assets—plus a US broker-dealer license that Coinbase and Kraken lack. With 50+ global licenses and full tokenization underway, they’re not just outpacing crypto exchanges, they’re pressuring traditional brokers to adopt blockchain too, if this passes the consumer adoption test.
Here’s the catch: Users are not buying equity – they’re buying a synthetic IOU that 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴 a guess at the company’s valuation.
These tokens aren’t shares.
You don’t get legal ownership or voting rights.
No legal protections, no disclosures, no audits.
No transparent price discovery, no market
You’re not buying equity – you’re buying a synthetic IOU that 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴 a guess at the company’s valuation.
Robinhood is running regulatory arbitrage. They launched in Europe because it's illegal in the U.S.
Kraken’s xStock launch this week on Solana has actually a much better structure:
Asset Backing:
1:1 backing by real stocks held at regulated custodians (Alpaca Securities, InCore Bank, Maerki Baumann)
Proof-of-reserve with Chainlink oracles for transparency
Direct ownership claims to underlying assets, not SPV derivatives
Legal Protection:
Stocks held by regulated financial institutions
EU compliance with ISIN numbers and oversight
If custodian fails, potential for traditional brokerage protections
[ANALYSIS]
👉 We are going to release our flagship report on the “Digital Asset Strategies.” Want to partner & expose yourself to 200k+ digital asset leaders? Reach out.
Coinbase Bought the Cap Table for Tokens
Coinbase acquired Liquifi in its 4th acquisition in 6 months. Liquifi is a token operations platform used by Uniswap, Zora, and OP Labs to manage vesting, cap tables, and compliance. [ANNOUNCEMENT]
So what? This is the biggest crypto consolidation wave in history, just hit $7B+ in 6 months. Every major player is rushing to control:
Token creation (issuance)
Where they trade (exchanges & derivatives)
How they move (payments & settlement)
How they’re stored (custody & wallets)
BitGo + Dinari: The Brokerage Killer?
BitGo and Dinari launched a unified API that gives fintechs regulated access to BTC, USDC, and tokenised U.S. equities like AAPL and TSLA — all in one integration. Instead of cobbling together 3+ vendors to support stocks, crypto, and stablecoins, platforms can now plug into a single stack — custody, settlement, and compliance included. [RELEASE]
So what? Dinari becomes the first U.S.-approved platform to offer tokenised public stocks. The timing’s strategic: tokenised equities are accelerating (Dinari’s dShares™ catalog has over 100 stocks), and with U.S. stablecoin rules now live, compliance bottlenecks are no longer a blocker. Dinari is already in 60+ global markets, and together with BitGo, it is leading the move from legacy brokers to crypto-native infra.
We help teams like Avalanche, Near, and MoonPay drive awareness, institutional credibility, and deal flow. We’re not a marketing agency. We are native industry veterans and operators with 10+ years in the space.
News Flash
Centrifuge brings S&P 500 onchain in tokenized fund launch. Link
Tom Lee leads $250M investment to make Ethereum a primary treasury asset for BitMine. Link
Deutsche Bank to launch crypto custody in 2026 via Bitpanda partnership. Link
Solana now supports 24/7 trading of 55+ tokenised U.S. stocks. Link
Peter Thiel backs Erebor, a new bank for AI and crypto startups. Link
OKX is exploring the US IPO post Circle’s success. Link
MiniPay and Noah debut seamless global-to-local stablecoin payments for 8M wallets across 50+ countries. Link
That’s all for now, folks.
Take care
– Marc & Team