It’s the first big exclamation mark for Tempo. On Tuesday, BNPL giant Klarna announced the launch of KlarnaUSD on Stripe’s new Layer 1 initiative, swiping away the narrative that Stripe would struggle to lure major fintechs onto its co-founded chain.

Contrary to PayPal’s PYUSD, KlarnaUSD isn’t trying to compete in the crowded market for crypto trading pairs. Its first job? Quietly cut treasury costs, before it later expands into merchant and consumer settlement.

And while Klarna’s stablecoin is making its debut, the Croesus is taking heat. Just yesterday, S&P downgraded Tether to “weak”, citing disclosure gaps and high-risk assets in its reserves. The advice for Klarna and peers: don’t let Bitcoin near your backing.

Today, we also talk about:

• SocGen enters U.S. market with tokenized bond

• SWIAT secures crypto securities registrar license from BaFin

• Canada gets its first compliant CAD-stablecoin

Société Générale Enters U.S. Market With First Tokenized Bond Issuance

U.S. expansion: Last week, Société Générale carried out its first issuance of a tokenized U.S. bond via its blockchain subsidiary SG-Forge. The move underscores the bank’s broader global push into asset tokenization, as well as its growing strategic focus on the U.S. market.

• “Our goal was to demonstrate that we have the capabilities and expertise to execute this type of transaction under U.S. law and reach a new market, while partnering with leading American players for this first issuance,” explained Jean-Marc Stenger, CEO of SG-Forge, to Blockstories.

Why it matters: SG-Forge has previously engaged in tokenization efforts in Europe, including a repo operation with the Banque de France and a refinancing transaction with MakerDAO. Now, the firm is extending its activity to the U.S., supported by the recent launch of its USD-stablecoin USDCV, which complements its euro stablecoin and currently has $27.5 million in circulation.

Local execution approach: To carry out the issuance in a U.S. regulatory context, SG-Forge partnered with established domestic players. The transaction was executed on the Canton Network, with DRW acting as the buyer and Broadridge providing infrastructure services.

• “Entering a market like this necessarily requires co-creating an ecosystem with local partners. It’s essential to envision broader tokenization of securities,” explained a source close to the bank.

A simple product to start: In order to align the product with existing U.S. investor familiarity and operational standards, SG-Forge deliberately selected a short-term floating-rate note for this first issuance.

• “It’s a standard and liquid financial instrument, making it easy for investors to understand and use,” explained Jean-Marc Stenger. “There have been very few natively tokenized debt issuances in the United States, which makes this operation all the more pioneering. It was essential to master these new forms of securities under U.S. law to be ready to meet growing client demand.”

A call from the CEO: It is also worth noting that the move aligns with priorities set by Slawomir Krupa, who became CEO of Société Générale in 2023 after previously leading the group’s Americas division.

• “If you want adoption, Société Générale needs the U.S.,” a source told us.

SWIAT Secures Crypto Securities Registrar BaFin License to Scale Its DLT Network

BaFin approval: On Friday, SWIAT received its crypto-securities registrar license from BaFin. The milestone enables the German startup to offer a regulated issuance service on its upcoming Regulated Layer 1 (RL1), a shared ledger governed by ten European financial institutions, including ABN AMRO, DekaBank, Natixis CIB, and NatWest, that is scheduled to launch in Q2 2026.

• Why it matters: RL1 builds on the existing SWIAT network, which processed more than $600 million in tokenized securities across 40 participants in 2024. With registrar capabilities added, SWIAT brings in a second regulated operator that can in turn draw more issuers, reinforcing one of Europe’s most advanced private-sector DLT networks.

eWpG explained: Under Germany’s eWpG, securities can be issued natively on a blockchain, but only if a regulated registrar maintains the binding ownership record and validates transfers and entitlements. That makes the registrar function essential for any institution wanting to issue legally enforceable digital securities.

Rising demand: Until now, that role in the SWIAT ecosystem was held only by DekaBank. Yet institutions asked SWIAT for a neutral alternative.

• “The feedback from customers was very clear: they liked the technology, but they didn’t want to go for the license themselves. They preferred to get everything from one provider. Considering the competitive landscape of the industry and given that SWIAT is not competing with other financial institutions, we serve as neutral registrar within the ecosystem,” explained Jonathan Leßmann, Chief Marketing Officer at SWIAT, in an interview with Blockstories.

Software-first strategy: That emphasis on neutrality is also behind the move to transition the SWIAT network into RL1, which will no longer be operated by SWIAT. Instead, the German company will reposition itself as an independent software provider, offering tokenization tools, registry services, and connectivity modules across the ecosystem.

• “With the license, SWIAT now has an offering across all four layers of the ASAP model, so institutions can approach us, set up their use case, or choose only the components they need,” Leßmann added.

Outlook: When asked whether new issuers are already lined up, Leßmann declined to share details.

• “I can’t promise specific issuances, but we now have the permission to run this business and are approaching the market. Regarding our registry services, we have seen that issuers from all over the world use the German Electronic Securities Framework to issue digital securities and leverage the clear framework that the German jurisdiction provides.”

On Tuesday, the Canadian stablecoin startup Stablecorp, whose shareholders include Coinbase and Circle, announced that its prospectus to issue the QCAD stablecoin had been approved by Canadian regulators, making it the first CAD-denominated stablecoin fully compliant with the country’s regulatory framework.

We spoke with Jean Desgagne, Chair of Stablecorp and a former executive at UBS and TD, to learn more about their expansion plans and to get his perspective on the state of stablecoin adoption in Canada.

1. Central Bank Exploration of Tokenized Reserves (IMF) — A note outlining why and how central banks are experimenting with tokenized reserves, covering policy objectives, implementation models, monetary-policy implications, and comparisons with alternative settlement solutions.

2. Competing Digital Monies (BIS) — A paper comparing bank deposits, platform tokens and CBDCs through a two-sided-market model, showing how fast-payment systems or CBDCs can eliminate walled gardens, boost financial inclusion and raise welfare.

3. Permissionless Stablecoins & Payments (New York Fed) — A paper arguing that stablecoins’ real advantage isn’t their cash-like nature but their transfer on global, open, permissionless blockchains, offering borderless, programmable, composable payments.

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