Highlights of this issue
This weekly statistical period covers October 17-23, 2025. This week, the RWA market continued to grow, driven by institutional dominance. The total on-chain market capitalization exceeded $34.5 billion, an 11.45% increase month-over-month. However, the number of issuers only saw a slight increase, further highlighting the trend of market concentration. Stablecoin transfer volume jumped significantly by 37.42%, and the number of active addresses also rebounded, indicating that the market has shifted from a slow equilibrium to an efficiency-driven phase, with significantly accelerated capital turnover. On the regulatory front, the UK and South Korea are preparing to further clarify their stablecoin regulatory frameworks, aiming to align with those of the US. At the project level, BlackRock's BUIDL Fund invested another $500 million in Aptos. Robinhood and Kraken, two major players, saw significant growth in both the total number of tokenized assets and trading volume. Ant and JD.com, among others, have temporarily suspended their plans to issue stablecoins in Hong Kong, reflecting the strategic adjustments and compliance trade-offs faced by issuers in different markets.
Pivot
Panoramic view of RWA track
According to the latest data from RWA.xyz, as of October 24, 2025, the total market capitalization of the RWA chain reached US$34.52 billion, an increase of 11.45% from the same period last month, maintaining a double-digit growth trend; the total number of asset holders increased to 494,300, up 6.75% from the same period last month; the total number of asset issuers was only 227, indicating that market expansion is still dominated by existing institutions and new participants are entering the market slowly.
Stablecoin market
The total market capitalization of stablecoins reached $296.51 billion, up 3.24% month-over-month, with the growth rate continuing to slow. Monthly transfer volume soared to $4.29 trillion, a significant increase of 37.42% month-over-month. The total number of monthly active addresses rebounded to 30.32 million, up 13.04% month-over-month. The total number of holders reached approximately 198 million, a slight increase of 2.45% month-over-month. These two factors together confirm a recovery in market activity and liquidity. This data indicates that the market has moved from a "slow-speed equilibrium" phase to efficiency-driven growth. The growth rate of transfer volume far outpaced the growth rate of market value, reflecting a significant improvement in the efficiency of existing capital turnover. The rebound in active addresses suggests a partial recovery in retail trading interest. The leading stablecoins are USDT, USDC, and USDe. USDT's market capitalization increased by 4.79% month-over-month; USDC's market capitalization increased slightly by 2.81% month-over-month; and USDe's market capitalization continued its downward trend, plummeting by 20.78% month-over-month.
Regulatory News
According to Jinshi.com, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) expressed its support for market-driven regulatory compliance at a seminar hosted by the Hong Kong and Greater Bay Area Fund Administrators Association (HBAA) last week. The seminar aimed to enhance industry awareness of regulatory compliance standards in the rapidly evolving digital asset industry. Dr. Yip Chi-hang, Executive Director of the SFC's Intermediaries Department, delivered a keynote speech at the seminar. At the seminar, the HBAA discussed various risk management and oversight measures to support the management of digital asset and tokenized funds.
Notably, the discussion emphasized the importance of collaboration within the fund industry to enhance the adoption of innovative technologies in fund management while also improving technical and regulatory compliance capabilities related to digital assets. Dr. Ye stated, "The SFC is committed to promoting professional standards and fostering trust in the digital asset market. By supporting industry players in their continued commitment to complying with regulatory requirements for managing digital asset funds and tokenized funds, we hope to build a safe, reliable, sustainable, and competitive digital asset fund ecosystem, based on robust risk management and investor protection."
The UK plans to develop stablecoin rules by the end of 2026, which may be synchronized with US rules
According to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, the UK plans to develop stablecoin rules by the end of 2026 and launch consultations on stablecoin regulation on November 10. People familiar with the matter said that given the tensions between the Bank of England and the government on the issue, the Bank of England believes that its framework will be synchronized with the implementation of US rules.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Lee E-won, chairman of the Financial Services Commission of South Korea, said during the National Assembly's national policy inspection on October 20 that in principle, payment-type stablecoins are not allowed to generate interest payments due to holding or using them.
Lee Yi-yuan stated that South Korea will follow the principles of the US Genius Act and prohibit such practices. He also stated that South Korea will explore a bank-led alliance model, restricting fintech companies to technology partnerships only, and prohibiting virtual asset exchanges from independently issuing stablecoins. Regarding the second phase of the virtual asset bill, he confirmed that it will be submitted this year and is currently in the final coordination stage. He also noted the potential overseas demand for stablecoins in areas such as virtual asset trading, payment settlement, and cross-border remittances, and plans to expand their application and prepare for related work in advance.
EU imposes sanctions on A7A5 stablecoin pegged to the Russian ruble
According to Interfax.RU, the European Union has imposed sanctions on the A7A5 stablecoin, which is pegged to the Russian ruble. The 19th round of sanctions against Russia, announced Thursday, prohibits transactions with A7A5 starting November 25th of this year. The A7A5 ruble stablecoin, issued by A7 and backed by VTB Bank (VTB), was launched in Kyrgyzstan in February 2025. Backed by deposits with VTB, it is pegged 1:1 to the Russian ruble. The United States imposed sanctions on A7 and several related companies in August.
Local News
Insider: Ant, JD.com and others suspend plans to issue stablecoins in Hong Kong
According to Lianhe Zaobao, citing sources familiar with the matter, Chinese tech companies, including Alibaba's Ant Group and e-commerce giant JD.com, have suspended their plans to issue stablecoins in Hong Kong. Hong Kong passed the Hong Kong Stablecoin Bill in May of this year, which officially came into effect on August 1st. As of the end of September, 36 institutions had submitted applications for stablecoin licenses. Ant Group announced in June that it would participate in Hong Kong's stablecoin pilot program, and JD.com also stated that it would join the pilot program.
Project Progress
As Cointelegraph reported, Robinhood has expanded its tokenization efforts on the Arbitrum blockchain, deploying 80 new equity tokens over the past few days, bringing the total number of tokenized assets to nearly 500. According to Dune Analytics, Robinhood has tokenized 493 assets with a total value exceeding $8.5 million. Cumulative issuance exceeded $19.3 million, but this was offset by approximately $11.5 million in burn activity, indicating active and growing market activity. Equities accounted for nearly 70% of all deployed tokens, followed by ETFs at approximately 24%, with smaller allocations to commodities, cryptocurrency ETFs, and US Treasuries.
Research analyst Tom Wan said the latest batch of tokenized assets include Galaxy (GLXY), Webull (BULL), and Synopsys (SNPS). He noted, “Thanks to tokenization, Robinhood’s EU users now have access to a wider range of U.S. stocks, equities, and ETFs.”
BlackRock's BUIDL deploys another $500 million to Aptos, bringing its total RWA to over $1.2 billion
Aptos tweeted that BlackRock's BUIDL has deployed an additional $500 million to Aptos. This has returned Aptos to the top three in RWA, with over $1.2 billion in tokenized assets on-chain, and ranks second in BUIDL adoption.
Kraken's US tokenized stock trading volume exceeds $5 billion
According to The Block, Kraken said that its "xStocks" tokenized US stocks (for non-US users) launched in cooperation with Backed have accumulated trading volume exceeding US$5 billion, with on-chain transaction volume exceeding US$1 billion, covering more than 160 countries, with more than 37,000 unique holders, and collaborating with Bybit, Phantom, OKX Wallet, and Telegram.
According to Nikkei, Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, and Mizuho Bank will jointly issue a stablecoin pegged to the value of the Japanese yen and the US dollar. Initially, the stablecoin will be used for Mitsubishi Corporation's fund settlements, with the issuer using collateral such as bank deposits to guarantee its value.
The stablecoin protocol STBL announced on the X platform that it will mint 100 million USST stablecoins in the fourth quarter of this year. The relevant work will be launched in phases, and the initial minting of USST stablecoins worth $2 million has been completed.
Stablecoin payment provider Cybrid completes $10 million Series A funding
According to Axios, Cybrid, a company that provides infrastructure for stablecoin and fiat currency payments, has raised $10 million in Series A funding, its CEO Avinash Chidambaram revealed.
Payments firm Modern Treasury acquires stablecoin startup Beam for $40 million
Modern Treasury, a payments infrastructure company valued at $2.1 billion, has acquired stablecoin startup Beam, according to Fortune magazine. Sources revealed the acquisition was an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $40 million. As part of the deal, Beam's founder will join Modern Treasury and help lead the company's expansion into the stablecoin payments space.
Founded in 2022, Beam provides software for banks and other businesses to send and receive stablecoins. Modern Treasury initially joined the Y Combinator incubator in the summer of 2018, positioning itself as a one-stop service provider for businesses to handle capital flows.
Swedish bank SEB joins consortium to launch euro-denominated stablecoin
Swedish bank SEB said it has joined a consortium of nine major European banks to launch a euro-denominated stablecoin. It continues to develop artificial intelligence solutions in several new areas, including risk management and transaction monitoring.
According to CoinDesk, Plasma, a blockchain company specializing in stablecoin networks, announced a significant expansion into Europe to provide regulated payment services. The company announced Thursday that it has acquired an entity in Italy that holds a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license, enabling it to legally process cryptocurrency transactions and provide custody of assets in the region. As part of its EU expansion plans, the company will open a new office in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and has appointed a Chief Compliance Officer and an Anti-Money Laundering Reporting Officer. Plasma did not disclose the name of the acquired entity, and a spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The company also plans to apply for Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) status under the EU's new Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, as well as an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license. These initiatives will allow Plasma to operate an asset exchange, issue cards, and hold customer funds under regulatory safeguards. Plasma stated that its goal is to use these licenses to support its new stablecoin-based bank, Plasma One.
Insight Highlights
300 Trillion PYUSD Mistakenly Minted: The Stablecoin Governance Crisis Behind Paxos’ “Fat Finger”
PANews Overview: In October 2025, Paxos, a well-known stablecoin issuer, accidentally minted 300 trillion PYUSD during an internal operation due to a simple parameter input error (commonly known as a "fat finger"). This amount was 110,000 times the circulating supply and even exceeded the total global GDP. Although Paxos quickly destroyed the mis-minted coins after the incident, preventing a market crash, this "blunder" deeply exposed a fatal weakness of centralized stablecoins: even if the issuer has sufficient asset reserves and is subject to strict supervision, its technical systems and internal processes may still have significant vulnerabilities. A single human error can be infinitely amplified through the "God power" (the power to mint and destroy coins at will), thereby threatening the stability of the entire crypto ecosystem. This serves as a wake-up call for all stablecoin issuers: they must establish stricter risk control measures (such as setting transaction amount limits and introducing multi-signature approvals) to minimize the risk of human intervention while maintaining the ability to intervene quickly.
The End of RWA 3.0: When TradFi collides with Crypto, when will a new financial species be born?
PANews Overview: The tokenization of RWAs (Real World Assets) has entered its 3.0 phase. Its core is the deep integration of traditional finance and crypto-finance, marked by the tokenization and on-chaining of core traditional financial assets like stocks and ETFs. This goes beyond simply "moving" assets onto the blockchain; rather, it leverages the composability of blockchain to create entirely new financial assets. For example, stock tokens can be combined with cryptocurrencies to create hybrid assets, or equity can be used as collateral for lending in DeFi, enabling 24/7 trading and other capabilities unattainable in traditional finance. However, this integration could also bring about changes in the landscape. The large-scale on-chain adoption of assets with "certainty" such as US stocks could squeeze the market for high-risk native crypto assets, prompting investors to turn to more stable and transparent assets. Despite regulatory challenges, RWAs ultimately aim to build a unified and efficient global financial infrastructure, representing a critical turning point in blockchain's journey into the mainstream economy.
PANews Overview: This article primarily discusses how stablecoin QR payments, combined with localized unified QR code systems (such as Vietnam's VietQR, Brazil's PIX, Thailand's Tourist DigiPay, and Singapore's SGQR), can bridge the "last mile" between cryptocurrencies and real-world payments. The article notes that this payment method has demonstrated diverse application scenarios across Southeast Asia and South America. Vietnam and the Philippines focus on financial inclusion, enabling unbanked individuals to use stablecoins (such as USDT and USDC) for daily payments. The system automatically converts the stablecoins into local currency, eliminating the need for merchants to access cryptocurrencies. Brazil, primarily to combat inflation and attract international crypto funds, is integrating stablecoins into its regulated payment system. Thailand, focusing on the tourism economy, allows tourists to pay directly with stablecoins, avoiding the high fees and opaque exchange rates associated with traditional foreign exchange. Singapore demonstrates how to implement stablecoin payments in a compliant and regulatory environment, enhancing the legitimacy and stability of payments. Overall, this model uses a unified QR code as the entrance, stablecoins as the source of funds, and converts cryptocurrencies into fiat currency in real time through an intermediate clearing layer to pay merchants. It not only retains the supervisory capabilities of regulators, but also improves the convenience and liquidity of payments, allowing crypto assets to gradually integrate into daily economic activities.
