[███░░░░]: Clarity Compromise and AI-Washed Layoffs

Welcome to the TAC's Progress Bar, where we combed through 739 relevant tokenization news stories from the week, analyzed the key stories on our weekly podcast, then distilled what you need to know into a few hundred words in this newsletter. Delivered to your inbox in time for Friday happy hour in NYC (usually).

Number of the week? 69.

That's the percentage likelihood CLARITY passes by year end according to Polymarket. Up from around 40% just a couple months ago. Fingers crossed we get an independence day we can really celebrate this year with CLARITY being signed into law (just like GENIUS was last year). Coinbase also announced a 14% reduction in force, citing AI as (one of) the reasons. Bullish and Kraken announced acquisitions and Securitize continued on its unimpeachably glorious tear (seriously, no notes guys).

We spent the bulk of the time on the Podcast this week trying to answer the question: is AI coming for your crypto job?

Tokenized Asset Coalition recently teamed up with the Digital Securities Initiative to solve what we believe is final piece to unleash tokenized assets. The Global Access Protocol officially has a home here where you can learn more.

Now let's get into the numbers.

Market KPIs (brought to you by RWA.xyz):
📈 RWA market cap was up 1.1% WoW to $31.2 billion
🏆 Biggest RWA winner: WisdomTree's WTGXX added $100M in money market fund assets
🏆 Biggest network winner: Plume added $300M in RWA value

📈 Stablecoin market cap was up ~0.1% WoW to $300.3 billion
🏆 Biggest stablecoin winner: USDC added $900M
🏆 Biggest network winner: Tron added $1.1B

📈 Onchain risk free rates:
Short term treasuries (1m): 3.6% (SOFR)
Aave / DeFi: 3.9% (down from 5.3% due to KelpDAO fallout)

Stories we're tracking this week

• Senators Tom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks reached a compromise on stablecoin yield rules, allowing stablecoin issuers to partner with exchanges for rewards through membership programs rather than direct interest payments. Polymarket immediately swung from 40% to 69% odds of Clarity passage by year end. The White House is reportedly targeting July 4th for signing, which would make two years running of Independence Day crypto legislation.
• Brian Armstrong announced a 14% workforce reduction at Coinbase, cutting 700 employees while citing AI-first transformation. The real story is in their 10K: revenue from Circle's USDC yield sharing now represents such a significant portion of revenue that it's disclosed as a concentration risk. Net income decreased despite revenue growth, likely due to the $4.3B Deribit integration and over-hiring during COVID.
• Securitize received FINRA approval for tokenized securities custody and onchain IPO infrastructure, becoming the first US broker-dealer authorized to custody tokenized securities. They can now act as underwriter, selling group participant, and custodian for both initial and secondary tokenized securities offerings.
• Securitize partnered with Jupiter exchange and Jump Trading to combine their ATS with Jupiter's Solana DEX aggregator front end and Jump as market maker. Jupiter serves as the pure front end while Jump provides liquidity through prop AMM infrastructure, creating composable onchain secondary markets.
• Coinbase took an equity stake in Centrifuge and tapped them as their preferred tokenization backend. This continues the trend of major exchanges building out tokenization infrastructure through strategic partnerships rather than building in-house.
• Kraken acquired REAP for $600 million, adding stablecoin payments infrastructure to their platform. The acquisition fits the broader trend of exchanges building out stablecoin and payments capabilities as the space matures.
• Bullish acquired transfer agent Equiniti for several billion dollars, adding critical tokenized securities infrastructure. Transfer agents work directly for issuers and maintain share ownership records, making them crucial for legitimate tokenized equity offerings.

Tweet of the week

"This is an email I sent earlier today to all employees at Coinbase: Team, Today I've made the difficult decision to reduce the size of Coinbase by ~14%. I want to walk you through why we're doing this now, what it means for those affected, and how this positions us for the"
-- @brian_armstrong (Brian Armstrong)

AI is coming for your crypto job?

Coinbase announced a 14% workforce cut wrapped in "AI-first" language, but the 10K tells a different story. Subscriptions and services went from 4% to 41% of net revenue, with the lion's share coming from the Circle USDC revenue share, now disclosed as a concentration risk. Net income declined year over year. We pulled the financials apart and walked through what's actually going on, plus why those 700 people are about to be the most sought-after talent in tokenization.

Securitize had the biggest week of any infrastructure player this year. FINRA approval for tokenized securities custody and onchain IPO underwriting. A partnership pairing their ATS with Jupiter as the front end and Jump Trading as market maker. Combined with last week's Computer Share deal, this is the closest thing to a full-stack onchain capital markets platform that exists today. We get into why this could be the Wolf of Wall Street moment for tokenized IPOs.

Stay ahead of the curve

Be sure to follow us on X, LinkedIn, and Spotify for real-time updates, behind-the-scenes insights, and the occasional hot take that didn't make it into the Progress Bar or the First Trillion podcast episode or summary.

Until next week,

The TAC Team