Welcome back. 👋 Each week we cut through the noise and explain what’s driving crypto. This week: the world’s largest financial firms expand tokenization efforts, Square completes its first Bitcoin payment pilot, Stablecoin moves more money than Visa and Mastercard now, and more in this week’s edition.

- Validator Digital

Crypto traded mostly sideways as the market settled after the “Black Friday” event on October 10. Flows were negative on the week, and macro jitters like shutdown and China trade tensions added a mild headwind to the recovery. Overall, the week looked more like consolidation than a trend as volatility stayed relatively consistent.

The crypto market is shifting from speculative assets to infrastructure. In the past week, some of the largest names in asset management, banking, and payments made concrete moves to build on public blockchains.

Recent Development
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, is expanding beyond its BUIDL fund, aiming to bring more traditional investment products on chain. Citi, active in 180 countries, said it will offer institutional crypto custody by 2026. Ant Group, parent of Alipay and its 1.4 billion users in Asia, launched Jovay, an Ethereum Layer 2 (🧩 101 Alert: What is a Layer 2?) designed for tokenizing and settling real world assets. Sony Bank, an online bank under Sony Group, pursued a U.S. national trust charter to issue a USD stablecoin and provide custody, while Japan’s three megabanks, MUFG, SMFG, and Mizuho, are jointly piloting bank issued stablecoins for corporate payments in Japan. Meanwhile, Ethereum now records more than one million weekly stablecoin senders, evidence that usage is broadening beyond trading.

Strategic Significance
A decade ago, crypto rails were built by outsiders trying to disrupt banks. Now the banks and asset managers are building the rails themselves. BlackRock brings tokenized products, Citi brings regulated custody, and Alipay scale makes distribution practical. Japan’s megabanks add real payment settlement and interoperability. The pieces are coming together, from how assets are issued to how they’re held and paid for, turning tokenization from a pilot project into part of everyday finance.

Structural Shift
Rules are catching up to the technology. Japan has enabled bank issued stablecoins, the EU’s MiCA is live, and the U.S. GENIUS Act sets a federal path for payment stablecoins. With clearer frameworks, incumbents have room to execute.

The Bottom Line
2026 is shaping up to be the first year that banks and asset managers settle meaningful volumes directly on chain. At that point, tokenization becomes a market structure story rather than a crypto niche, as transactions move across digital settlement networks.

Q3 Stablecoin Volume on Ethereum Tops Visa and Mastercard
Stablecoins on Ethereum moved over $5 trillion in Q3 2025, an all time high. That single quarter outpaced what Visa or Mastercard processed individually, a strong signal that blockchain payment infrastructure is moving value at global scale. It is not a perfect apples to apples comparison, but the direction is clear.

If a block is a page in the record book, a transaction is a single line on that page, the moment something happens, like moving money, transferring an item, or signing a digital agreement.

Like Venmo or Zelle, it records who sent, who received, what changed, and a small fee rewarding validators for their verification. Before it is written, the sender signs with a digital signature that proves it is really them without revealing private details.

Every blockchain runs on a protocol, its built-in rulebook. The network checks that the sender has funds, the signature matches the sender’s key, the funds are not already spent, and the format and fee are valid. If any check fails, the transaction is rejected. If it passes, validators add it to a block and it becomes permanent and visible.

How is this different from a bank transfer? A bank updates its private ledger. On a blockchain, many independent computers keep identical ledgers and agree together on every update.

So how does the network know it is you? Your wallet holds the keys that let you sign and prove what is yours.

Next Week in 101: What is a Wallet?

Last Week in 101: What is Proof of Stake?

Thanks for reading this week.

😍 Enjoyed the newsletter? Send it to a friend!

📥 Want to weigh in? Reply to this email with your questions, comments or hot takes. It may be featured next time.

See you next week,

Don’t speculate, validate.
- Validator Digital

Disclaimer: Individuals have unique circumstances, goals, and risk tolerances, so you should consult a certified investment professional and/or do your own diligence before making investment decisions. The author is not an investment advisor and may hold positions in the assets covered. Certified professionals can provide individualized investment advice tailored to your unique situation. This newsletter is for general educational purposes only, is not individualized, and as such should not be construed as investment advice.