Information current as at 7 August 2025

This newsletter features a carefully curated range of timely news stories and significant industry updates from across the institutional digital asset ecosystem. Our opening selection draws directly from Thomas Murray’s proprietary market intelligence, curated exclusively for clients as part of our comprehensive monitoring solutions. The following highlights are selected industry developments, providing wider market context and actionable insights we consider valuable for industry professionals. 

Thomas Murray's Generated Insights

In a significant boost to the US digital asset sector, recent regulatory progress is set to unlock post-trade benefits. The passing of the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act in July 2025 aims to provide transparency on digital asset classification and oversight, whilst establishing a federal framework for stablecoins.  

Additionally, the repeal of SEC's SAB 121 and the Special Purpose Broker Dealer (SPBD) framework is expected to make custody commercially viable and open up crypto custody to broker-dealers. SAB 121 required entities holding crypto assets on behalf of clients to recognise a liability and corresponding asset on their balance sheets. The SPBD framework was a regulatory path that allowed broker-dealers to operate with fewer traditional market intermediaries for certain digital assets, requiring specific operational and disclosure standards to avoid strict Customer Protection Rule requirements.  

These developments are poised to increase competition and innovation in digital payments, ultimately benefiting financial institutions, cryptocurrency exchanges, digital asset custodians and other B2B operators.  

With standardised terminology and clear jurisdiction, the US is taking a positive step towards a more robust and supportive regulatory environment for digital assets, paving the way for greater adoption and growth. Furthermore, The House of Representatives passing the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act in July 2025 is expected to safeguard individual privacy rights, preventing the misuse of central bank digital currencies for surveillance. 

In a move to further shape the US regulatory landscape for digital assets, Senator Cynthia Lummis and colleagues have released a market structure discussion draft, seeking input from stakeholders.  

The discussion draft focuses on creating a more comprehensive and coordinated approach to regulating digital assets. By soliciting feedback from industry experts and stakeholders, lawmakers aim to ensure that the US market structure is well-equipped to support the growth and innovation of digital assets, while maintaining investor protection and market integrity. This effort, combined with the measures previously mentioned demonstrates a concerted effort to establish a clear and supportive regulatory environment for the US’ burgeoning digital assets sector. 

Read more on these developments on our dedicated insight.  

A recent report from the ECSDA highlights the importance of Central Securities Depositories (CSDs) in enabling innovation in capital markets. According to the report, CSDs can play a key role in supporting the development of digital asset markets. 

As strategic entities within the financial system, CSDs are embracing cutting-edge innovation as part of their digital transformation process within the post-trading market.  

The report highlights the potential benefits that digital technologies can bring to the post trade landscape through improved efficiency and settlement security.  

The report also emphasises the need for regulatory clarity and guidance to provide investors with confidence. This in turn supports the development of digital asset markets and the role of CSDs in this context. It highlights the importance of collaboration and standards in supporting innovation in capital markets, particularly in the area of digital assets. 

Earlier in 2025, the UK government launched a procurement process to explore how distributed ledger technology (DLT) can be applied across the lifecycle of the UK sovereign debt issuance process. 

The DIGIT pilot represents a significant step in applying DLT to sovereign bond markets, with direct implications for post-trade digital asset operations.  

Issued within the FCA and Bank of England’s Digital Securities Sandbox, DIGIT will test end-to-end on-chain settlement. This includes OTC trading executed and settled via smart contracts as well as the cash leg in central bank money.  

The pilot also emphasises interoperability between DLT platforms and incumbent market infrastructure, mitigating fragmentation risk and ensuring accessibility for traditional participants.  

DIGIT supports enhanced ownership transparency, automated lifecycle management, and reduced settlement risk through atomic delivery-versus-payment. It also aligns with the UK’s Wholesale Financial Markets Digital Strategy, which prioritises digital asset infrastructure and collateral mobility.  

For custodians, market operators, and post-trade utilities, DIGIT represents a live test of integrating tokenised sovereign instruments into regulated workflows, potentially reshaping settlement, asset servicing, and liquidity management across digital and conventional rails. 

 

Additional Noteworthy Market Developments

The international banking giant recently launched a fully integrated service for institutional clients to trade digital assets. As the first Global Systemically Important Bank (G‑SIB) to offer deliverable spot crypto asset trading, institutional clients including corporates, investors and asset managers can now spot trade Bitcoin (XBT/USD) and Ether (XET/USD) through its UK branch. They will also soon be introducing non-deliverable forwards (NDFs) trading, which offer additional risk management tools such as hedging price exposure without physical settlement. 

Clients can use the existing trading platforms offered by Standard Chartered, and settle to their choice of custodian, offering flexibility in how post‑trade settlement is managed. This flexibility includes choice of jurisdiction, security model, and integration with existing systems.  

Blockchain technology provider Ripple has continued its expansion in the Middle East through an innovative partnership with Ctrl Alt, a UAE tokenisation company. This project is in conjunction with the Dubai Land Department’s (DLD) Real Estate Tokenization Project, who are modernising Dubai’s property market by facilitating fractional asset ownership.  

This project should enable faster and more efficient clearing and settlement of trades, reduces counterparty risk, and increases transparency and reporting. It aims to reduce costs and increases efficiency in post-trade processing, while blockchain technology enhances custody and safekeeping. 

Ripple’s custody technology is used to store tokenised assets in a secure and scalable manner, while Ctrl Alt’s financial engineering and digital infrastructure expertise provides custody of assets at the end of the asset lifecycle through to the end-to-end tokenisation. 

This marks the first instance of a government real estate registry in the Middle East tokenising assets on a public blockchain, with this project involving the digitisation of property title deeds on the XRP Ledger (XRPL). Ripple, who now holds more than 60 global regulatory licenses, also has a globally distributed custody network.  

Russia’s largest state-owned bank, Sberbank, previously opposed to cryptocurrencies, has applied to offer regulated custody services for Russian cryptocurrency assets. This moves aims to position Sberbank to treat digital holdings akin to traditional bank deposits. This move reflects Russia’s easing stance on crypto, driven by cross-border trade needs and sanctions pressure.  

For market participants, Sberbank’s entry signals a shift towards domestically anchored, regulated custodianship, reducing reliance on offshore providers and associated jurisdictional risks.  

Its proposed model emphasises token security, transaction integrity, and the legal ability to freeze assets. This directly supports robust monitoring and stronger audit trails for institutional flows.  

By integrating custody within a regulated banking framework, counterparties could benefit from lower operational risk, aligned compliance protocols, and enhanced control over digital asset governance. 

Following the series of pro-crypto and digital finance laws that President Trump has signed, five prominent US banking associations (namely ABA, CBA, NBA, ICBA, America’s Credit Unions) have opposed granting national trust bank licenses to crypto custody firms.  

In a joint letter to the OCC, they argued that crypto custody does not meet the fiduciary standards required for trust charters, warning of operational and systemic risks if non-traditional entities gain such licenses. 

They also criticised the lack of public transparency on applications from firms like Ripple, Fidelity Digital Assets, and First National Digital Currency Bank, calling for extended comment periods before any approvals. 

This opposition comes despite recent OCC guidance affirming that national banks can engage in crypto custody and related activities under proper risk controls. 

In a further sign of growing institutional acceptance and an evolving regulatory environment, JPMorgan Chase is exploring the possibility of lending directly against clients’ cryptocurrency holdings.  

While their CEO, Jamie Dimon had previously decried Bitcoin, JP Morgan has already made plans to lend against holdings in crypto exchange traded funds.  

This latest development could mean that crypto would formally enter traditional collateral and lending ecosystems, requiring new custody models (likely third-party or segregated wallets). As such, post-trade teams will need systems that can value, track, and margin crypto collateral in real time. This represents a major shift from the end-of-day batch processing common in traditional markets. 

One of the major challenges of JPMorgan’s approach highlights the operational need for third-party crypto custody to manage seized collateral, given banks cannot hold crypto directly on balance sheet. This shift underscores a growing reliance on specialist custodians for rehypothecation, liquidation, and integration of digital assets into secured lending workflows. 

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