Ondo Finance said on March 25 it partnered with Franklin Templeton to offer tokenized exposure to five ETFs through Ondo Global Markets, with Franklin Templeton continuing to manage the underlying funds. The setup issues wallet-held tokens that mirror ETF share ownership, enabling continuous trading outside traditional market hours and potential use in DeFi. The five ETFs span growth equities, large-cap stocks, gold, high-yield corporate bonds, and income-focused equities.

Ripple said on March 25 it joined the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) BLOOM initiative, bringing XRP Ledger (XRPL) infrastructure and Ripple USD (RLUSD) into programmable settlement models. The pilot with supply chain finance firm Unloq will test conditional payment triggers for trade settlement in a regulated environment.

The White House said on March 25 that President Donald J. Trump appointed the first members to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), created by executive order to guide U.S. science and technology strategy. The roster includes Marc Andreessen, Sergey Brin, Safra Catz, Michael Dell, Fred Ehrsam, Larry Ellison, Jensen Huang, Lisa Su, Mark Zuckerberg and others, with David Sacks and Michael Kratsios set to co-chair. The council’s remit includes emerging-tech impacts on the workforce and economy, and the structure includes a Special Advisor for AI & crypto as a standing member and co-chair.

On March 24, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said Chairman Michael S. Selig created an Innovation Task Force to help define oversight for new products emerging in U.S. derivatives markets. The agency said the initiative will focus on building a clearer framework for innovators working on crypto assets and blockchain, artificial intelligence and autonomous systems, and prediction markets and event contracts. The CFTC also pointed to cross-agency coordination, including a March 17 joint interpretation with the SEC on applying federal securities laws to certain crypto assets and related activities such as staking, airdrops, and protocol mining.

SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins said on March 24 in New York that the agency is sharpening how it determines when a token falls under federal securities laws. He described a five-category model—four categories deemed not to be securities—and said the approach is meant to clarify when fundraising around a crypto asset can trigger securities compliance obligations.