Wall Street firms are building strategies, eyeing finance-focused blockchains

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Provenance Blockchain dives deeper into financial services as it passes $13B in RWA TVL

As the layer-1 blockchain (L1) space continues to grow, some chains are honing in on a specific niche to gain market share. For example, Provenance is an L1 focused on financial services applications and bringing the sector onchain.

“If it’s a good, public blockchain use case, we’re all for it,” Anthony Moro, CEO of the Provenance Blockchain Foundation and ProvLabs said on Talking Tokens podcast. (Listen to the episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.)

“There’s a lot of markets with a lot of intermediaries that are really messy from a security-servicing perspective and that’s what we’re targeting first.”

Provenance is an open-sourced blockchain has over $13 billion in real-world financial assets value locked onchain under its administration, according to its website. It also has supported over $30 billion in transactions across areas like lending and securitization.

The company also recently announced ProvLabs, a SaaS and blockchain development company, that provides financial institutions, service providers, platforms and DeFi apps the ability to power their operations on Provenance. 

Blockchain technology can take out intermediary expenses and make things cheaper, faster and safer for investors, Moro said. “I don’t think public equities will be a killer use case any time soon. I think the first asset class disrupted by blockchain is [home credit line equity space].”

“Blockchain done right is the future of financial services,” Moro said. “The rest of Wall Street is actively looking and trying to see what this is all about.”

Check out the next section for more details and the full episode.

The latest Talking Tokens podcast 🎙️

For this week’s Tuesday episode, I talked with Anthony Moro, CEO of the Provenance Blockchain Foundation and ProvLabs.

We talk about his career shift from TradFi to the blockchain world, how institutions are looking at blockchain technology, the launch of its SaaS and blockchain development company ProvLabs and the future of tokenization and use cases onchain.

Talking Tokens episodes are released on Spotify and Apple Podcasts at 6AM EST or YouTube at 10AM EST every Tuesday and Thursday. Listen in!

Make sure to subscribe to keep up with the latest episodes. Feel free to leave a review and tell us your thoughts.

Monitoring blockchains

Looking at some of the biggest developments onchain.

• Tether is discontinuing its support for EOS and Algorand, ending USDT minting on both blockchains

  • Redemptions on both chains will continue for the next 12 months

• NBC Universal has agreed to a long-term relationship with Aptos Labs to continue building fan experience and games

• Light Protocol and Helius Labs launched ZK Compression on Solana

Taking on the tokens 

The total crypto market cap increased about 1% in the past 24-hours to $2.26 trillion. It is down 3.8% over a 7-day period.

As for the largest cryptocurrencies by market cap…

These metrics were taken prior to publication Tuesday morning.

Other numbers we’re eyeing…

• $4,000 - the price that some traders are buying large numbers of ether call options at that strike level for September expiry

Money and people moves

Latest updates on crypto startups that secured funding and industry players who are starting something new.

1. Jump Crypto president Kanav Kariya departs role after six years

2. Bitcoin miner Hut 8 lands $150M investment amid AI boom (Cointelegraph)

3. Verida raises $5 million to protect user data amid rise in generative AI (The Block)

Talking points for the road 

Here’s some headlines and topics that you can talk about at your next dinner party, crypto event or on a first date to look smart (results may vary.) 

1. Don't Tell Anyone, but Private Blockchains Handle Over $1.5T of Securities Financing a Month (CoinDesk)

2. Investor interest surges for bitcoin miners following Core Scientific AI hosting deal: JP Morgan (The Block)

3. Crypto ‘Altcoin’ Winter Comes Early as Unlocks Spur Exits by Some Investors (Bloomberg)

4. CoinShares says 'true correction' underway after $544 million outflow from spot Bitcoin ETFs last week (The Block)

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Please note that this content is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Any views shared should not be considered financial advice, nor should it be used to make investment decisions. Cryptocurrencies are high risk and you should consult a financial professional before making any financial decisions. Make sure you do your own research. We may have a direct or indirect financial interest in content mentioned in this newsletter.