Real-world asset markets kept expanding in the week covering July 24 to July 31, 2026, even as stablecoin settlement activity remained weak. Data from RWA.xyz showed on-chain RWA market capitalization reached $36.82 billion as of July 31, up 2.43% from a month earlier, while the number of holders climbed to 1.4469 million, a 40.81% monthly increase and the largest monthly gain on record. In stablecoins, total market capitalization was largely unchanged at $296.63 billion, but monthly transfer volume dropped 29.29% to $5.07 trillion, extending a sharp slowdown in on-chain settlement demand. Regulation also moved across several jurisdictions. South Korea advanced work on a comprehensive digital asset bill that would cover stablecoin issuance and exchange standards, while lawmakers are also set to review an opposition proposal to scrap a crypto tax scheduled for 2027. Kenya lowered the minimum paid-up capital requirement for stablecoin issuers by 40% to about $2.32 million, and Zimbabwe approved seven crypto and tokenization projects for its regulatory sandbox. On the industry side, the Bank for International Settlements-led Project Agorá completed a live cross-border payment test worth about $1 million across six currencies with five central banks and 28 commercial banks. In Europe, 10 financial institutions formed the Regulated Layer One cooperative, or RL1, to build tokenized asset infrastructure for regulated markets. Ondo Finance also introduced Ondo Network, a new execution layer that replaces the prior Ondo Chain direction.

Corporate use of stablecoins and blockchain rails is moving well past small-scale crypto experiments and into payment operations, collateral management and debt issuance. The article contrasts that shift with a much older form of financial engineering: in the 1970s, U.S. companies exploited check-clearing delays to keep cash on their books for a few extra days when interest rates were above 10%. Today, the same underlying corporate goal — freeing trapped liquidity and speeding settlement — is being pursued with tokenized money and digital ledgers instead of distant bank branches and mailed checks. The piece points to several examples. Siemens first issued a €60 million bond on Polygon in February 2023 with a two-day settlement period, then completed a €300 million issuance in September 2024 via SWIAT and settled it in minutes using the Bundesbank’s trigger solution. Deel, which handles payroll for more than 40,000 companies and 1.5 million workers across more than 150 countries and territories, now lets firms use stablecoin treasuries for payroll and has introduced DLUSD. JPMorgan’s Kinexys processes roughly $5 billion a day and has cleared $3 trillion in total, while Tether generated $10.09 billion in profit in 2025 with a team of about 300. The central argument is that automation can remove operational friction in moving cash, collateral and securities, but it does not erase the cost of judging counterparties. Credit assessment, KYC, fraud reviews and margin calls still require people, even as the pipes become faster.

Three developments that surfaced on July 28 point to the same structural shift in institutional crypto infrastructure. Ondo Finance, a major tokenized real-world asset issuer, moved away from the idea of using a public blockchain as the core venue for institutional trade execution and instead backed a model that splits execution from settlement. In Europe, 10 founding banks launched RL1, a regulated and permissioned DLT network organized as a cooperative in Luxembourg, with equal governance rights for members. In the US, CME Group challenged the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in court over its decision to allow Kalshi and Coinbase to list crypto perpetual futures. Taken together, the cases suggest that institutions are not rejecting blockchain technology. They are narrowing where and how they want to use it. Execution is moving toward private or permissioned systems built for speed, privacy, and control. Governance remains with regulated entities, cooperatives, or incumbent exchange operators. Public blockchains, in this framework, are increasingly treated as settlement infrastructure rather than full-stack financial rails. According to the article, this has consequences for RWA issuers, trading venues, public L1 and L2 networks, and regional competition in Asia. The report, citing EXIO Research, argues that the long-running narrative that institutions would migrate directly onto public chains now faces a serious challenge.

Ten European financial institutions have jointly formed Regulated Layer One, or RL1, a blockchain cooperative built to serve regulated financial markets and tokenized assets. The founding group includes ING, Spain’s Cecabank, France’s Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale, Germany’s DekaBank, DZ BANK and LBBW, France’s Natixis CIB, Standard Chartered’s SC Ventures, and Seturion, according to BlockBeats. RL1 has been set up in Luxembourg as a European cooperative, with each member holding equal governance rights. The project runs on a private permissioned blockchain based on infrastructure developed by German fintech firm SWIAT. SWIAT has transferred ownership of the network to the cooperative. RL1 is intended to support institutional use cases including digital currencies, tokenized bonds, collateral, and blockchain-based settlement, with the stated goal of reducing the fragmentation created when financial institutions operate separate distributed ledger systems.

Ten European financial institutions have formally launched RL1, short for Regulated Layer One, as a blockchain cooperative in Luxembourg to build shared infrastructure for regulated financial markets and tokenized assets. According to RL1’s official announcement, the founding members are ABN AMRO, DekaBank, Natixis CIB, Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale, Cecabank, DZ BANK, LBBW, Chartered Investment, SC Ventures and Seturion. The group said each member has equal decision-making rights over network governance and development. The infrastructure originated from German fintech firm Secure Worldwide Interbank Asset Transfer, or SWIAT, which has now transferred ownership of the network to the cooperative. SWIAT said the platform has processed more than 50 transactions in a live production environment over three years, with a total value exceeding €700 million, or about $808 million. RL1 is described as a private, permissioned network built for institutional use cases including digital money, tokenized bonds, collateral and blockchain settlement. The cooperative said the shared model is designed to reduce fragmentation caused by financial institutions operating separate distributed ledger systems, and added that it is in talks with more institutions, including NatWest, about joining the network.

Ten European financial institutions have jointly launched Regulated Layer One, or RL1, a private permissioned blockchain network aimed at regulated financial markets and tokenized assets. The network has been established in Luxembourg as a European cooperative and is already in operation. Founding members are ABN AMRO, Cecabank, Chartered Investment, Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale, DekaBank, DZ BANK, LBBW, Natixis CIB, SC Ventures, and Seturion. RL1 said each member holds equal decision-making rights over governance and development. The network is built on infrastructure developed by German fintech company Secure Worldwide Interbank Asset Transfer, or SWIAT, which has transferred ownership of the network to the cooperative. SWIAT said the platform processed more than 50 transactions worth over 700 million euros during three years of production use. RL1 is intended for digital currencies, tokenized bonds, collateral, and blockchain-based settlement. The initiative will be led by former SWIAT Managing Director Henning Vollbehr. KfW and L-Bank will continue to support the project, while RL1 is also in talks with additional institutions including NatWest about joining the network.