# Institutional Briefing

> An executive briefing on the big stories and trends driving tokenization and the institutional adoption of digital assets. Every Thursday.

This file provides information about Institutional Briefing to help large language models understand and reference this publication's content.

## Posts
- [South Korea Drafts Rules to Bring Its Capital Markets Onchain](https://www.institutional.blockstories.io/p/south-korea-drafts-rules-to-bring-its-capital-markets-onchain): South Korea's banks remain barred from crypto, but from February they can issue and trade tokenized securities through a system built around the national securities depository. Seoul has yet to decide whether stablecoins, deposit tokens or central bank money will settle those trades.
- [UK’s Biggest Banks Complete First Live Trials Using Tokenized Deposits](https://www.institutional.blockstories.io/p/uks-biggest-banks-complete-first-live-customer-transactions-using-tokenized-deposits): Its seven participating banks, including Barclays, HSBC UK, Lloyds and NatWest, ran two remortgages and one peer-to-peer consumer payment. The initiative is coordinated by UK Finance, the UK’s banking and finance trade body.
- [Absa Becomes First African Bank to Launch Digital Asset Custody Service](https://www.institutional.blockstories.io/p/absa-becomes-first-african-bank-to-launch-digital-asset-custody-service): As one of Africa’s largest banks, Absa operates across ten African markets and serves over twelve million customers. Its new service runs on Ripple’s custody technology and initially supports bitcoin, XRP, USDC and RLUSD.
- [Pontes Goes Live on Monday: What You Need to Know](https://www.institutional.blockstories.io/p/pontes-goes-live-on-monday-what-you-need-to-know): On 21 September the Eurosystem starts settling tokenized assets in central bank money. What the service does, where its limits lie, and what the operators plan for the first year.
- [BNP Paribas and ABN AMRO Join Europe’s Deposit Token Network](https://www.institutional.blockstories.io/p/bnp-paribas-and-abn-amro-join-europes-deposit-token-network): The German-born CBMT project is expanding into a broader European network as banks look beyond stablecoins to programmable commercial bank money.
- [NYSE Selects tZERO as Second Partner for Its Tokenization Platform](https://www.institutional.blockstories.io/p/nyse-selects-tzero-as-second-partner-for-its-tokenization-platform): The exchange is pursuing two routes onchain at once, and the separate venue is the one that needs partners built around it.
- [FASB Proposes Guidance on Treating Stablecoins as Cash Equivalents in the U.S.](https://www.institutional.blockstories.io/p/fasb-proposes-guidance-on-treating-stablecoins-as-cash-equivalents-in-the-u-s): The proposal would clear an accounting barrier to stablecoins in corporate treasury. It would not touch the prudential one.
- [SEC Opens BENJI to Franklin Templeton’s Own Funds](https://www.institutional.blockstories.io/p/sec-opens-benji-to-franklin-templetons-own-funds): The no-action letter lets Franklin's mutual funds and ETFs park cash in its $726 million tokenized money market fund, and sets the first template for blockchain-based fund ownership under the 1940 Act.
- [Visa Launches Stablecoin Platform for Financial Institutions](https://www.institutional.blockstories.io/p/visa-launches-stablecoin-platform-for-financial-institutions): Last week, payments giant Visa introduced its Visa Stablecoin Platform (VSP), designed to help financial institutions and enterprises hold, move, and manage stablecoins through a single Visa-managed environment. The platform will initially support Open USD (OUSD) and launch in beta to a limited group of customers.
- [Swift Opens Its Shared Ledger to Initial Use With 17 Banks](https://www.institutional.blockstories.io/p/swift-opens-its-shared-ledger-to-initial-use-with-17-banks): Swift said its blockchain-based ledger is ready for initial use, with 17 banks preparing live pilots for tokenised deposit payments. The ledger coordinates what banks owe each other, but leaves final settlement on existing rails.
- [UK FCA Finalizes Long-Awaited Crypto Rules](https://www.institutional.blockstories.io/p/uk-fca-finalizes-long-awaited-crypto-rules): Last week, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published its final rules for regulating crypto-assets and stablecoins. The regime covers trading platforms, custody, and stablecoin issuance, while rules for systemic stablecoin issuers are still being finalized separately and will fall under Bank of England supervision. The full framework will take effect in October 2027.
- [Exclusive: CACEIS in Talks to Acquire Crypto Investment Platform Meria](https://www.institutional.blockstories.io/p/exclusive-caceis-in-talks-to-acquire-crypto-investment-platform-meria): According to Blockstories' information, CACEIS, the custodian bank of Crédit Agricole, is in exclusive negotiations to acquire Meria, a French crypto investment platform co-founded by Owen Simonin, better known as Hasheur, France's most popular crypto influencer.
- [Citigroup Rolls Out Tokenization Service for Private Company Shares](https://www.institutional.blockstories.io/p/citigroup-rolls-out-tokenization-service-for-private-company-shares): Citigroup unveiled a new service to tokenize Digital Depositary Receipts (DRs) for private shares, with a listing on SIX’s permissioned blockchain network. The first transaction involved a Citi portfolio company and Kaleido, a tokenization platform that works with SWIFT, HSBC, and the BIS.
- [Inside Eur.Bank: How Bancomat Brings Card-Scheme Rules to Stablecoins](https://www.institutional.blockstories.io/p/inside-eur-bank-how-bancomat-brings-card-scheme-rules-to-stablecoins): What sets Bancomat apart from other banking initiatives is its ambition to position stablecoins as a scheme-based payment instrument, supported by a common rulebook, bank-led distribution, dispute resolution mechanisms, and reserves custodied on a pro rata basis across participating banks.