RWA

Stablecoin appchain Noble plans a standalone EVM Layer 1, departing its Cosmos SDK stack. People familiar with the upgrade say mainnet is slated for March 18, while the team maintains short‑term Cosmos support. The new network targets sub‑second finality for stablecoin and FX use cases, after processing over $22 billion across 50 chains since 2023.

An official Ethereum update on January 19 said adoption by major institutions has accelerated, with 35 firms — including BlackRock, JPMorgan, and Fidelity — launching products on the network. Recent releases span tokenized stocks, money market funds, stablecoins, and bank deposits, alongside activity by JPMorgan, Societe Generale, Stripe, SoFi, and Google.

The combined stablecoin market cap has climbed to a record $307.7 billion, while tokenized funds and other RWAs are also at all-time highs. At the same time, Bitcoin's market cap has dropped faster than stablecoin supply, driving the Stablecoin Supply Ratio sharply lower and signaling unusually large sidelined buying power. This pattern has historically appeared near local market bottoms, with on-chain liquidity waiting for clearer risk conditions before rotating back into volatile assets.

At a closed-door World Economic Forum workshop in Davos, Hong Kong Finance Secretary Paul Chan reaffirmed the city's "same activity, same risk, same regulation" framework for digital assets and called for guardrails to match financial innovation. He highlighted Hong Kong's licensing regime for virtual asset trading platforms, upcoming stablecoin licenses in the first quarter and the issuance of $2.1 billion in tokenized green bonds since 2023.

Chainlink announced on Tuesday that it is rolling out 24/5 U.S. Equities Streams to supply onchain market data for tokenized stocks and ETFs. The solution, tied to the Chainlink Data Standard integrated with 40 blockchains, will be adopted by platforms such as Lighter and BitMEX to extend trading beyond regular hours.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong unveiled a policy blueprint to expand tokenized access to capital markets, aiming at roughly 4 billion adults excluded from equities and bonds. On January 16, 2026, Coinbase began rolling out stock trading to select users, aligning with his "everything exchange" vision.

On January 20, 2026, Chainlink introduced 24/5 U.S. Equities Streams to deliver stock and ETF market data across more than 40 blockchains. The feeds include bid/ask prices and volumes, mid and last trade, staleness checks, and status flags, enabling DeFi protocols to build equity perps, prediction markets, and other products beyond standard U.S. trading hours.

DUSK slid below $0.20, falling more than 35% in the last 24 hours after climbing to $0.32 on Monday with a 150% weekly gain. According to CoinGlass, futures open interest reached a record $47.94 million Monday and hovered near $39 million Tuesday, while Santiment reported volume peaking at $298.43 million before easing to $264.16 million.

On January 20, 2026, the New York Stock Exchange announced plans to build a tokenized securities platform designed for 24/7 trading and instant settlement. The initiative also contemplates stablecoin-based funding, while immediate reactions from industry and regulators were not noted.

Binance founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao has welcomed the New York Stock Exchange's plan to build a blockchain-based venue for trading tokenized stocks and ETFs around the clock with instant settlement. The NYSE intends to use its existing matching engine together with private blockchains, support stablecoin funding and multi-chain post-trade, while industry figures like Ripple's Reece Merrick and Galaxy Digital's Alex Thorn say the initiative could significantly reshape crypto-linked equity markets.