Over the weekend, The Wall Street Journal wrote, "A Winter for Stablecoins Would Signal Crypto Deep Freeze." The article tells us, "Bitcoin's price drop has certainly put a chill on the market for crypto companies. But as the digital-asset realm evolves, the real deep freeze would be if there were an extended drop in the value of stablecoins in circulation. Stablecoins aren't designed for speculation. Their price is meant to be fixed to a fiat currency, typically the U.S. dollar. That shouldn't rise or fall with demand or sentiment." (Note: Please join us for our upcoming Bond Fund Symposium, which is March 19-20 in Boston. We hope to see you next month!)
The piece explains, "But stablecoins can be created or redeemed, depending on how much demand there is to hold them. If they are overall shrinking, that could be a sign investors are souring on not only bitcoin but perhaps also the broader digital-asset ecosystem. The total market value of the seven largest U.S. dollar stablecoins currently tracked by CoinGecko has declined almost 2% from its peak in December. That isn't a huge drop. But it follows a steady surge in stablecoin value over the past year, helped by passage of the Genius Act, which is aimed at regulating these coins in the U.S."
They write, "And it is just one more reason why market pressure is building across digital-asset companies.... At Coinbase Global bitcoin is responsible for the largest share of transaction revenue of any particular token or coin. Coinbase also holds bitcoin in its own investment portfolio. The price of bitcoin is down about 25% this year. Yet Coinbase shares are down almost 40% so far in 2026."
The Journal says, "Coinbase has made stablecoins a key cog in its business, in part to help make its revenue less correlated to crypto-price volatility. Through an arrangement with Circle Internet Group, issuer of the stablecoin known as USDC, Coinbase gets revenue from USDC held on its own platform, as well as from off-platform USDC. That revenue hit an all-time high in 2025, which Coinbase reported Thursday."
They add, "Beyond coins and tokens, players are increasingly introducing lots of other tokenized assets to buy with this digital money. That includes versions of staid money-market funds managed by the likes of BlackRock or Franklin Templeton. Coinbase is aiming to add more asset classes, like stocks and prediction contracts, as well as tools to tokenize assets, as part of its 'Everything Exchange' strategy."
Finally, the WSJ states, "On some platforms, including Coinbase, customers holding USDC can earn rewards in the form of an annual percentage of more coins. These rewards are a big enough potential draw for stablecoins that the move of banks to lobby against them -- arguing they are a threat to deposits -- has helped delay legislation regarding crypto-market structure. But when people are selling cryptocurrency or other digital assets, and then taking their money out of the digital-money ecosystem entirely, they can redeem their stablecoins for regular old bank-account money."
In other news, a press release titled, "Aviva Investors seeks to tokenise products on the XRP Ledger in collaboration with Ripple," states, "Aviva Investors, the global asset management business of Aviva plc, and Ripple, a financial technology company that offers crypto solutions for businesses, have ... announced a partnership with the intention of tokenising traditional fund structures."
It says, "Ripple will support Aviva Investors with the initiative as part of its broader effort to bring traditional financial assets with real utility to the XRP Ledger – a decentralized open-source public blockchain that is designed for fast and efficient global financial transactions. The collaboration is Ripple's first with an investment management business based in Europe, building upon the firm's significant experience working with financial institutions in other regions."
The release tells us, "The initiative is also the first of its kind for Aviva Investors, as they seek to incorporate tokenised solutions into their existing product offering. The collaboration is anchored in a shared long-term vision, with both parties set to work together closely over 2026 and beyond to bring tokenised funds to the XRP Ledger. The XRPL enables Aviva Investors to reliably issue and manage its tokenised funds using fast, secure, low-cost blockchain transactions, with the lack of mining required to settle transactions expected to support energy efficiency. It offers a set of features, including compliance capabilities, designed to support financial institutions operating in regulated markets. Since 2012, the network has processed more than 4 billion transactions, supports over 7 million active wallets, and is maintained by 120 independent validators."
Jill Barber, Chief Distribution Officer at Aviva Investors, comments, "We're really delighted to announce our collaboration with Ripple, and we look forward to working closely with the team to explore tokenising solutions. We believe there are many benefits that tokenisation can bring to investors, including improvements in terms of both time and cost efficiency. As the investment arm of the UK's leading insurer, we have a long track record with regards to innovation. We are committed to adopting technological advancements that we believe can bring about positive change for our business, and we think tokenised funds can be hugely beneficial to our clients."
Ripple's Vice President of Trading and Markets Nigel Khakoo adds, "Tokenization is now moving from experimentation to large-scale production. Institutions like Aviva Investors are now focused on how to deploy regulated financial assets at scale. The development of tokenised fund structures is one that we believe can bring huge technological efficiencies to the investment sector, and we expect this to take full effect over the next decade. With its built-in compliance tools, near-instant settlement, and native liquidity, the XRPL provides the secure and scalable infrastructure required to support the next generation of institutional assets."
