Real-world asset markets kept expanding in the latest weekly review covering Aug. 28 to Sept. 4, 2026, with on-chain RWA market value rising to $38.76 billion and the number of asset holders reaching 3.298 million, according to RWA.xyz data cited by PANews. Stablecoins also continued to grow, with aggregate market capitalization climbing to $303.21 billion and monthly transfer volume surging 48.83% from a month earlier to $7.17 trillion. On the policy side, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposed an overhaul of transfer agent rules that have seen little change since the late 1970s, aiming to address blockchain-based recordkeeping and tokenized securities. In Singapore, the Monetary Authority of Singapore opened a consultation on changes to the Payment Services Act that would create a formal stablecoin framework, including limits on interest payments and a path for limited cross-border recognition. South Korea’s Financial Services Commission, meanwhile, set out a three-stage roadmap for tokenized assets centered on Korea Exchange-led pilots. Corporate activity remained broad. Intercontinental Exchange took a stake in tZERO, the London Stock Exchange said it is working on tokenized UK shares with Payward, and 21 global financial institutions said they plan to form a stablecoin joint venture. Funding announcements also pointed to continued investment in settlement rails, remittances, and new collateral models tied to AI infrastructure.

Twenty-one global financial giants, including Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America, and Fidelity Investments, have announced a joint venture to issue a stablecoin backed by 1:1 reserves, targeting a 2027 launch. The consortium will establish a new company in the second half of 2026 to issue bank-grade stablecoins, starting with a USD-denominated token and expanding to euro and other G7 currencies. The alliance aims to compete with Tether and Circle by leveraging full compliance with U.S. GENIUS Act and EU MiCA regulations. The 21 institutions span North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, with Fidelity and WisdomTree bringing existing stablecoin expertise. The move signals a major push by traditional finance into digital asset settlement and cross-border payments.

Foresight News has published its August 2026 ranking of featured column creators. The selection was based on a combination of monthly article readership, content quality and publishing volume. The list includes a Top 5 popularity ranking, a No. 1 “workhorse” ranking and a No. 1 newcomer ranking, with recommended articles listed for each selected column. IOSG Ventures took the top spot in the popularity ranking, followed by Xinhuo Group, BlockSec, Zeuspace and JamesX. The recommended pieces cover on-chain privacy, Bitcoin’s early bull-market characteristics, the code quality of Hong Kong’s first licensed Hong Kong-dollar stablecoin HKDAP, the increasingly segmented pricing logic for Bitcoin, stablecoins, RWA and meme coins, and the gap between protocol revenue and token-holder returns. imToken was named the top workhorse creator, with a recommended article on staking and the fact that 34% of ETH is staked. Stablehunter ranked first among newcomers. Its recommended article reviews Stripe’s 16-year history, from seven lines of code to a valuation of hundreds of billions of dollars, and examines the future of economic infrastructure in the Agent era.

Standard Chartered, Xinglu Technology and Yunfeng Securities have been named authorized distributors for the Hong Kong dollar stablecoin HKDAP this week, joining HashKey and OSL Group to bring the total to five.

HashKey Holding released its interim results for the first half of 2026 on Aug. 27, posting higher revenue, narrower adjusted losses and a bigger institutional trading mix despite a broad contraction in the global crypto market. Total revenue reached HK$343 million, up 20.6% from a year earlier, while gross profit rose 12.5% to HK$208 million and gross margin improved to 60.6% on a sequential basis. Adjusted loss narrowed from HK$398 million in the same period last year to HK$315 million, a 21% reduction. The exchange facilitation business remained the biggest contributor, generating HK$268 million in revenue, up 38.6%. Platform trading volume climbed 31.8% to HK$282.2 billion, with institutional clients accounting for HK$231.5 billion, up 58.8% year over year and representing 82% of the total. The report also highlighted growth in tokenization and on-chain services, where total on-chain RWA value reached HK$2.68 billion, up 167.8%, including what it described as Hong Kong’s first real-estate RWA and first regulated silver RWA token. Alongside the financial results, HashKey disclosed a string of expansion moves spanning Singapore, Vietnam, Dubai and Bermuda, as well as partnerships with JPMorgan, DBS Bank, Canton and Morpho.

Standard Chartered has become the first bank in Hong Kong authorized to support the circulation of HKDAP, according to an Odaily report citing Cointelegraph. HKDAP is described as Hong Kong’s first regulated stablecoin backed by the Hong Kong dollar. The update centers on the bank’s authorization status and the positioning of HKDAP within Hong Kong’s regulated digital asset framework. No additional operational details were disclosed in the brief report.

South Korea’s Jeonbuk Bank has partnered with Ripple to roll out cross-border payments for business clients, adding another institutional banking use case for blockchain-based settlement in Asia. The service is aimed at import-export firms, tech startups and online content creators, with Ripple saying it can lower costs and speed up transfers compared with conventional remittances routed through intermediary banks on SWIFT. Elsewhere in the region, South Korean lawmakers moved to expand the Financial Intelligence Unit’s powers over unregistered crypto firms, while authorities also took aim at Polymarket and advanced new market and enforcement initiatives. Japan saw a fresh crypto exchange approval for Nomura-backed Laser Digital, a $68 million fundraising round for Fasset led by SBI Group, and new tokenized bond access for retail investors through Toyota Finance. Across broader Asia and the Middle East, Pakistan opened its licensing portal for exchanges and other VASPs, Singapore unveiled tax incentives to compete with Hong Kong for fund business, and several companies disclosed new moves tied to AI infrastructure, spot crypto access and regulated stablecoin distribution.

Standard Chartered Hong Kong has become the first bank distributor for HKDAP, the Hong Kong dollar stablecoin issued by Anchorpoint Financial, adding a banking channel to a product that had previously relied on virtual asset exchanges for distribution. According to a report by Hong Kong 01 cited in the source article, the bank is aiming as early as the fourth quarter this year to work with asset managers on a tokenized money market fund service that would let institutional clients complete subscriptions and settlement on-chain. Standard Chartered has also outlined two other use cases for HKDAP: internal group settlement and cross-border payments. Still, most of the announced plans remain at the research or planning stage, and access is limited to qualified institutional clients and professional investors. Retail customers are not yet able to subscribe to HKDAP through the bank. The move expands HKDAP’s reach beyond exchange-native users and into the client base served by a traditional bank, a segment that includes corporate treasury teams handling routine funding and payment schedules.