On Dec. 4, Crane Data published a "Link of the Day," "Irish Funds Post Tokenization Paper," which quoted from a press release on the paper, "Mind the Gap: Operational Considerations for the Tokenisation of Irish-Domiciled Funds." Today, we quote from the full piece, which says, "Ireland is a leading EU domicile for fund products notably in the money market funds (MMFs) space, in private asset strategies and has been at the forefront of innovation for exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Ireland offers a robust regulatory framework, global distribution reach, and operational expertise. Tokenisation, through the use of DLT, presents a transformative opportunity for funds by enabling faster settlement, enhanced transparency, and unlocking innovative and new functionality opportunities.... MMFs may benefit from real-time cash management and automated compliance."
Irish Funds states, "Tokenised fund offerings have gained momentum in recent years, evolving from pilots and proofs of concept to actual market adoption. In 2025, global tokenised real world assets (RWA) exceeded $36 billion, up from near-zero just a few years prior. This growth was driven by major asset managers launching tokenised products, primarily MMFs. Boston Consulting Group ('BCG') estimates that tokenised fund assets under management (AUM) could reach 1% of global mutual funds and ETF AUM in just seven years. This would imply an AUM of more than US$600 billion by 2030."
They tell us, "Ireland has emerged as an active participant in this trend. BlackRock and Fidelity International piloted projects in the tokenisation of their Irish domiciled MMFs for the use of collateral on JP Morgan's Kinexys (previously Onyx) platform. Digital Platforms such as Archax, which offer tokenised access to Irish domiciled MMFs from firms such as BlackRock, State Street, Fidelity International, Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) and Federated Hermes have made these products available to professional and institutional investors."
The paper says, "Tokenisation activity spans multiple regions. Franklin Templeton launched its first European tokenised MMF. Firms have partnered with FinTech platforms to bring funds onto distributed ledger infrastructure in Asia, US and Europe. Global banks and custodians were also engaged, supporting tokenisation services and distribution via proprietary networks. The broader tokenised RWA market grew an estimated 85% year-over-year. Despite this momentum, tokenised fund AUM remains a small fraction of the $7 trillion U.S. money fund sector, underscoring its early but rapidly evolving stage of adoption."
Discussing "Some of the most promising areas: The use of tokenised MMFs (TMMF) as collateral needed in derivatives positions or for security lending," they comment, "Principally composed of HQLA, using TMMFs would reduce the amount of churn in the system and particular would be useful in market stress events such as the LDI crisis in the UK, where additional sell pressure on underlying government securities could be reduced."
They add, "Global Digital Finance has recently published 'The Case for Collateral Mobility in Europe & The UK using Money Market Funds' to which Irish Funds contributed. This paper outlines the value proposition that TMMFs offer qualities that are hard to replicate with other kinds of assets in the collateral use case (e.g., cash and stablecoins). Unlike cash, they accrue yield making them a more attractive form of posted collateral, particularly in a high-interest rate environment."
In other news, Yahoo Finance published an article from Decrypt titled, "From Tether to the Trump-Backed USD1: The 7 Fastest-Moving Stablecoins of 2025." It explains, "This was a defining year for stablecoins, with the signing of the GENIUS Act, a high-flying IPO for Circle, and a handful of tokens outpacing the rest. Since the start of January, the overall U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoin supply has increased by more than $100 billion, to $314 billion total. But that doesn't mean all boats have risen at the same rate."
The piece says, "To measure stablecoin performance, Decrypt calculated velocity using historical data from crypto price aggregator CoinGecko from January through December 15. Velocity divides total volume by average supply, resulting in a calculation of how many times each coin has, on average, changed hands. As former Commodities and Futures Trading Commission Chairman Timothy Massad explained to Decrypt, measuring velocity beats rankings that rely only on total supply."
It continues, "Tether tops the list with a velocity of 166 because it's long been a workhorse for global crypto trading. It can't claim the crown as the first-ever stablecoin -- that belongs to BitUSD. But it launched the same year, in 2014, and became the first widely used one. Tether boasts a market capitalization of $186 billion after increasing 35% since the start of the year, according to CoinGecko data. The bulk of Tether tokens get traded on Ethereum (46.3%) and Tron (41.4%), according to DeFi Llama data."
Yahoo Finance states, "Ripple Labs' stablecoin, RLUSD, swiped the second spot with a velocity of 71. That means, on average, every RLUSD token has changed hands 71 times since the start of the year. In most stablecoin lineups, Circle's USDC would hold this spot because its $78 billion market capitalization trumps that of RLUSD's $1.3 billion. But as Massad pointed out, stablecoin performance has more to do with being able to move money efficiently than its total supply. Ripple was provisionally approved for a national banking charter by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, or OCC, in December."
On Circle, they write, "USDC saw its velocity reach 56 in 2025, while its market capitalization climbed 78% to $78.4 billion by December 15. Perhaps more than any of its competitors, Circle benefitted massively from the passage of the GENIUS Act. Its operating model already resembled the federally regulated framework that's now become U.S. law. That's given Circle a head start on compliance and investor confidence -- and investors took note.... Circle was also one of several stablecoin issuers -- including Ripple, Paxos and BitGo -- which got a provisional approval for its national banking charter and will be looking to expand into broader financial services."
Finally, the piece mentions, "USD1 is an outlier because it launched in April, and therefore doesn't have nearly a full year's worth of data.... Issued by World Liberty Financial -- the crypto-focused firm co-founded by Donald Trump Jr. and partners -- USD1 was designed from the outset to be a highly liquid transactional stablecoin. The token reached a $1 billion market cap in April, less than a month after its launch, according to data from CoinGecko.... PayPal USD's velocity of 18 lands it in fifth place on this list. Its 2023 debut made big waves because it was the first time an established payments platform made a bid at issuing a stablecoin -- years before there was a regulatory framework in the U.S."
