A weekly research-driven brief tracking how onchain systems actually work — focused on structure, adoption, and what lasts beyond the hype.
On July 29, BNY launched its Digital Transfer Agency, making blockchain the authoritative books and records for a fund servicing business that keeps the ledger for $8.6 trillion across 7.6 million accounts.
RWA perps out-traded every crypto category on Hyperliquid for the first time, and Ondo shelved its blockchain plans to launch a TEE execution network where tokenized stocks serve as margin. The Open Money read: perps are the machinery converting tokenization into live capital.
On July 15, Jesse Pollak said Base's bet on onchain social had 'disintegrated completely,' handed the consumer Base App to Cobie, and refocused the chain on trading, payments, and AI agents.
Vitalik Buterin published the Lean Ethereum strawmap, a three-to-four-year plan to replace almost every major piece of the protocol: verification instead of re-execution, privacy, quantum-safe cryptography, and a tiered state model that could cut token fees.
On July 1, Robinhood launched the public mainnet of an Arbitrum-based L2 carrying 95 tokenized stocks into DeFi in 120+ countries. Days later, DTCC, the utility that custodies $114 trillion in securities, began limited production trades of tokenized Russell 1000 stocks, ETFs, and Treasuries.
140+ firms including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe and BlackRock backed Open USD, a zero-fee stablecoin that returns reserve yield to partners and governs by board. The float was the business. Now it's the incentive.