OpenUSD, Swift Ledger, Agorá: Who Wins Settlement? | Monthly Briefing

OpenUSD, Swift Ledger, Agorá: Who Wins Settlement? | Monthly Briefing

The stablecoin infrastructure wars officially begin. July 2026 offered further evidence that blockchain-based finance is moving beyond experimentation. Stablecoins are entering banking relationships, tokenized deposits are gaining transaction volume, and established market infrastructures are preparing for production. In this monthly briefing episode of Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock ’n’ Roll, Michael Blaschke and Manuel Klein are joined by Nadine Wilke, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer at Particula, to examine the month’s most consequential developments in institutional DLT. The discussion begins with a subdued crypto market. Bitcoin remained within a narrow trading range, while Ethereum faced greater volatility amid restructuring at the Ethereum Foundation. Strategy’s latest Bitcoin sale also challenged one of the market’s most persistent narratives: that the company would never sell its holdings. Attention then turns to stablecoins. The launch of OpenUSD introduces an issuer-agnostic model backed by a consortium of more than 140 companies. Circle, meanwhile, is pursuing two routes into mainstream finance: deeper integration with banks through Standard Chartered and greater independence through its US national trust bank approval. UBS, Visa, Ramp and Merge illustrate how stablecoins are gradually becoming infrastructure for corporate treasury, cross-border settlement and business payments. Tokenized deposits are developing along several competing paths. JPMorgan’s Kinexys has added five Asia-Pacific currencies and reports billions of dollars in daily transaction volume. Swift plans to position its new ledger above bank-issued deposit tokens, while Project Agorá brings commercial and central banks together for cross-border settlement. The US-based Carrington network is developing another shared model for community banks. Capital-market infrastructure is progressing as well. DTCC has completed a major tokenization exercise ahead of a planned production launch, while Clearstream has issued DLT-native commercial paper that was subsequently mobilized as Eurosystem collateral. The episode also examines the digital euro, the stalled US CLARITY Act, Robinhood’s tokenized stock offering, Morgan Stanley’s entry into crypto spot trading and the changing design of China’s e-CNY. Together, these developments reveal an industry replacing broad promises with regulated access, interoperable infrastructure and production-grade financial services. Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Website [https://www.bfrr.de/] Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Telegram Channel [https://t.me/+jA3nMkERPtc5YjQ0] Knowledge Bite Michael: How Agentic AI Will Reshape Payments [https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/imf-notes/2026/english/insea2026004.pdf] Knowledge Bite Manuel: The Shift in China's CBDC (Digital Yuan) Policy and Key Implications [https://www.jri.co.jp/en/MediaLibrary/file/english/periodical/jrirj/2026/13/katsurada.pdf] Knowledge Bite Manuel: China’s Central Bank Digital Currency 2.0 and the Future of Digital Finance [https://www.cigionline.org/static/documents/Paper_No_hY016rp.358_He.pdf] Knowledge Bite Nadine: Tokenization's $140 Trillion Problem [https://research.tacoalition.org/tokenizations-140-trillion-problem/] Knowledge Bite Nadine: Who is actually buying RWAs? [https://x.com/ArrakisFinance/status/2080324870450425964?s=48] Value4Value Podcast Streaming: Support our podcast by listening to our episodes on the Fountain Podcast App. This way, if you wish, you can support us "Value4Value" while listening to the podcast. You can find us on the Fountain Podcast App here: Click here [https://fountain.fm/show/wNv0vSPWzu8Gh7bZTorB] Disclaimer: The content of this podcast reflects the private opinions of the hosts, serves exclusively for general information purposes and does not constitute investment advice. Always remember: Do your own research—inform yourself before making any investment decisions, such as buying Bitcoin. First try to understand what Bitcoin is and how to store it. This podcast does not provide financial advice. Note that the co-hosts might be invested in crypto assets. Read more on our website: Click here [https://www.bfrr.de/disclaimer/] ---------------------------------------- All links marked with "*" are affiliate links. If you use these links for purchase, the podcast receives a small share of the revenue without any additional costs to you. On the contrary, affiliate links often include discount promotions, so you can even save money. We would appreciate it if you use these links to support us. Thank you very much!

Europe’s Neutral Layer Goes Live: RL1’s Inaugural Week with SWIAT CTO Ivica Aračić

The go-live moment: can competitors actually organize around shared neutral infrastructure? In this episode of Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll, co-host Michael Blaschke and guest host Stefan speak with Ivica Aracic, CTO at SWIAT, about Regulated Layer One, or RL1: a market-neutral, Ethereum-based network designed for Europe’s regulated financial sector. RL1 enters a market that has spent years testing digital bonds, repo transactions and digital money, yet still lacks a common platform on which these instruments can interact at scale. Aračić explains why public permissionless networks remain difficult for major regulated institutions to depend on, while private and corporate chains can restrict openness and neutrality. RL1 seeks a middle ground: a thin permissioning layer, identifiable responsibilities and institutional controls, combined with an open platform on which regulated participants can build their own assets and services. The discussion examines RL1’s cooperative governance, SWIAT’s role as a replaceable technical operator, and the separation between the platform and the services built above it. It also confronts the central challenge: persuading major institutions to join a shared utility when many have strong incentives to protect their own systems. The guests place RL1 within the Eurosystem’s Pontes and Appia initiatives. Pontes could connect market DLTs with central bank money in TARGET Services, while Appia is developing a longer-term blueprint. Aračić distinguishes confirmed work from ambition: Pontes integration belongs at the service layer, and any future role for RL1 in hosting tokenised wholesale central bank money remains a proposition rather than an ECB commitment. Can RL1 become the “crystallization point” where tokenised securities, commercial bank money, stablecoins and wholesale central bank money meet? Or will network effects accrue to corporate chains and international rivals such as Canton? This episode offers a candid assessment of one of Europe’s most consequential digital-finance experiments. Ivica Aračić at LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivicaa/] Ivica Aračić’s Newsletter [https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7160391757283684352/] Regulated Layer One Website [https://www.rl1.network/] ASAP: A Conceptual Model for Digital Asset Platforms [https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2024/02/02/asap-a-conceptual-model-for-digital-asset-platforms-544387] SWIAT Research [https://www.swiat.io/solutions/research/] Previous BFRR Episode with Ivica Aračić on “Architecting DLT Financial Infrastructures” [https://open.spotify.com/episode/0M7lFnBRJJ9HQYyyQgfmvO] Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Website [https://www.bfrr.de/] Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Telegram Channel [https://t.me/+jA3nMkERPtc5YjQ0] ---------------------------------------- Relai*: Buy Bitcoin with Relai—you can do a one-time purchase or savings plan: Click here [https://relai.ch/rock/]. Use the referral code "ROCK" to reduce transaction fees by 0.1% while supporting Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll. Value4Value Podcast Streaming: Support our podcast by listening to our episodes on the Fountain Podcast App. This way, if you wish, you can support us "Value4Value" while listening to the podcast. You can find us on the Fountain Podcast App here: Click here [https://fountain.fm/show/wNv0vSPWzu8Gh7bZTorB] Disclaimer: The content of this podcast reflects the private opinions of the hosts, serves exclusively for general information purposes and does not constitute investment advice. Always remember: Do your own research—inform yourself before making any investment decisions, such as buying Bitcoin. First try to understand what Bitcoin is and how to store it. This podcast does not provide financial advice. Note that the co-hosts might be invested in crypto assets. Read more on our website: Click here [https://www.bfrr.de/disclaimer/] ---------------------------------------- All links marked with "*" are affiliate links. If you use these links for purchase, the podcast receives a small share of the revenue without any additional costs to you. On the contrary, affiliate links often include discount promotions, so you can even save money. We would appreciate it if you use these links to support us. Thank you very much!

From MiCA to GENIUS: Joey Garcia on the Global Stablecoin Race & Bitcoin Banking

Xapo Bank's Joey Garcia on Libra's legacy, OpenUSD and the global race to regulate stablecoins What does effective regulation look like when technology evolves faster than the institutions governing it? In this episode of Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll, Jonas Gross and guest host Jonathan Knoll speak with Joey Garcia, Executive Director and Chief Strategy, Policy and Regulatory Affairs Officer at Xapo Bank. A pioneer in digital asset regulation, Garcia has helped shape Gibraltar’s blockchain framework, represented Xapo in the Libra/Diem Association and advised the United Nations on global blockchain and cryptocurrency standards. Garcia traces his journey back to 2014, when discussing Bitcoin with regulators could attract police officers rather than policy experts. His central argument remains highly relevant: the technology itself should not be the primary regulatory target. Policymakers should instead establish secure rules for the access points through which consumers and institutions interact with it. The conversation revisits Libra and the regulatory backlash triggered by its proposed synthetic currency and Facebook-led governance structure. Garcia argues that the project did not fail because of its technology or ambition. Its concentration of power and perceived challenge to monetary sovereignty created a political obstacle it could not overcome. Yet Libra accelerated regulatory initiatives that continue to shape today’s market. Open USD now revives parts of the consortium model under very different conditions. More than 140 participating companies could distribute the stablecoin through existing customer networks, while sharing reserve income rather than leaving it solely with the issuer. Garcia examines the strength of this incentive structure alongside possible tensions with the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act. The episode also explores Xapo Bank’s distinctive position between banking and crypto. Customers can transfer USDC or USDT into a US-dollar bank account, earn interest on their deposits and receive that interest in Bitcoin—an architecture designed to combine regulated banking safeguards with crypto-native functionality. Finally, Garcia compares the innovation-oriented US approach with more restrictive frameworks in the EU and UK, discusses the unresolved treatment of DeFi under MiCA and explains why self-custodial wallets must remain connected to the regulated financial system. Joey Garcia LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeygarcia/] Xapo Bank Website [https://www.xapobank.com/en] Previous BFRR Episode with Christian Catalini [https://bfrr.info/from-libra-to-agi-christian-catalini-on-the-future-of-money/] Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Website [https://www.bfrr.de/] Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Telegram Channel [https://t.me/+jA3nMkERPtc5YjQ0] ---------------------------------------- Relai*: Buy Bitcoin with Relai—you can do a one-time purchase or savings plan: Click here [https://relai.ch/rock/]. Use the referral code "ROCK" to reduce transaction fees by 0.1% while supporting Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll. Value4Value Podcast Streaming: Support our podcast by listening to our episodes on the Fountain Podcast App. This way, if you wish, you can support us "Value4Value" while listening to the podcast. You can find us on the Fountain Podcast App here: Click here [https://fountain.fm/show/wNv0vSPWzu8Gh7bZTorB] Disclaimer: The content of this podcast reflects the private opinions of the hosts, serves exclusively for general information purposes and does not constitute investment advice. Always remember: Do your own research—inform yourself before making any investment decisions, such as buying Bitcoin. First try to understand what Bitcoin is and how to store it. This podcast does not provide financial advice. Note that the co-hosts might be invested in crypto assets. Read more on our website: Click here [https://www.bfrr.de/disclaimer/] ---------------------------------------- All links marked with "*" are affiliate links. If you use these links for purchase, the podcast receives a small share of the revenue without any additional costs to you. On the contrary, affiliate links often include discount promotions, so you can even save money. We would appreciate it if you use these links to support us. Thank you very much!

We Won. Now What? Fireblocks' Goldi On Stablecoins' Next Phase

Fireblock’s Ran Goldi Goldstein on OpenUSD, stablecoins, agentic commerce and the future of financial infrastructure with Fireblocks What happens after stablecoins move from fringe experiment to core financial infrastructure? In this episode of Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll, hosts Jonas Gross and Jonathan Knoll speak with Ran “Goldi” Goldstein, SVP of Payments and Network at Fireblocks, about blockchain payments, stablecoins and the work still required to bring digital money into the financial mainstream. Goldi reflects on his journey from ad tech and algorithmic trading into blockchain payments, explaining how inefficient global settlement convinced him that digital assets could reshape financial infrastructure. He also shares his perspective on the OpenUSD initiative, backed by more than 140 companies, and discusses why distribution, governance, regulation and liquidity will determine whether such projects succeed. The conversation then turns to a broader question: has the digital asset industry already won? Goldi argues that the industry has largely won the debate over why blockchain-based infrastructure matters. Banks and payment providers are no longer asking whether they should engage. The challenge is how to implement these systems in ways that create real value. The episode explores Fireblocks’ role as an infrastructure layer for wallets, tokenization and stablecoin payments, as well as the need for technical expertise inside financial institutions. Goldi explains why wallets remain the foundation of most digital asset use cases and why stablecoins are faster, but not necessarily cheaper, than traditional payment methods. Finally, the discussion looks ahead to agentic commerce, delegated wallet access and machine-initiated payments. Goldi offers a grounded view: AI agents may generate huge transaction volumes, but today the market remains experimental. In the lightning round, he identifies identity as one of the most underhyped topics in digital finance and explains how the Open Transaction Layer could add coordination, compliance and messaging for on-chain payments. Ran “Goldi” Goldshtein LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/rangoldi/] Fireblocks Website [https://www.fireblocks.com/] OTL Network [https://www.otl.network/] Previous BFRR Episode with Christian Catalini [https://bfrr.info/from-libra-to-agi-christian-catalini-on-the-future-of-money/] Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Website [https://www.bfrr.de/] Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Telegram Channel [https://t.me/+jA3nMkERPtc5YjQ0] ---------------------------------------- Relai*: Buy Bitcoin with Relai—you can do a one-time purchase or savings plan: Click here [https://relai.ch/rock/]. Use the referral code "ROCK" to reduce transaction fees by 0.1% while supporting Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll. Value4Value Podcast Streaming: Support our podcast by listening to our episodes on the Fountain Podcast App. This way, if you wish, you can support us "Value4Value" while listening to the podcast. You can find us on the Fountain Podcast App here: Click here [https://fountain.fm/show/wNv0vSPWzu8Gh7bZTorB] Disclaimer: The content of this podcast reflects the private opinions of the hosts, serves exclusively for general information purposes and does not constitute investment advice. Always remember: Do your own research—inform yourself before making any investment decisions, such as buying Bitcoin. First try to understand what Bitcoin is and how to store it. This podcast does not provide financial advice. Note that the co-hosts might be invested in crypto assets. Read more on our website: Click here [https://www.bfrr.de/disclaimer/] ---------------------------------------- All links marked with "*" are affiliate links. If you use these links for purchase, the podcast receives a small share of the revenue without any additional costs to you. On the contrary, affiliate links often include discount promotions, so you can even save money. We would appreciate it if you use these links to support us. Thank you very much!

Episode 400 Jubilee: Our 7-Year Journey and Live Insights from PZF 2026

Seven years, 400 hours, and 15 voices from Point Zero Forum on what comes next. 400 episodes. Seven years. One podcast tracking the transformation of money from the front row. In this milestone episode of Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll, Michael Blaschke, Manuel Klein, Jonas Gross, Stefan Grasmann and Jonathan Knoll look back on a journey that began in 2019 as a German-language experiment and evolved into a global platform for digital money, tokenization, institutional DLT and the architecture of finance. The team reflects on the guests, debates and turning points that shaped BFRR: from Libra and the rise of CBDCs to MiCA, stablecoins, tokenized deposits, DeFi and the move from experimentation toward institutional adoption. They revisit memorable conversations, discuss what they got right—and where timing proved harder to predict—and share what seven years of weekly publishing have taught them about technology, regulation and financial infrastructure. The second half takes listeners to the Point Zero Forum 2026 in Zurich, where BFRR served as an official media partner. The team shares its takeaways and brings together voices from finance, technology and policy around three questions: What was the most important idea at the conference? What surprised people or changed their minds? And what crucial topic is still missing from the conversation? The answers reveal an industry entering a new phase. Interoperability is increasingly a governance challenge, not merely a technical one. Stablecoins, tokenized deposits and central bank money may coexist rather than compete. Agentic payments are raising urgent questions around liability and identity. Post-quantum security is moving from a distant concern to a concrete deadline. Across the board, the focus is shifting from proofs of concept to production, scale and real economic use cases. Episode 400 is both a celebration and a reality check: progress has been slower than many expected, but the direction of travel is clearer than ever. The debate is no longer whether institutions will adopt digital assets and DLT, but how fast, on which infrastructure and under whose rules. Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Website [https://www.bfrr.de/] Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Telegram Channel [https://t.me/+jA3nMkERPtc5YjQ0] Inside the ECB’ s Digital Euro Project and Stablecoins with Ulrich Bindseil [https://open.spotify.com/episode/2zT2BiUAb01rWKcJDHeeP3?si=gs1MR_5iRmGbsVtZ4TLy2w] From Libra to Legitimacy: Circle’s Stablecoin R(e)volution [https://open.spotify.com/episode/7cTAqQGmTUVZlsAHZtjzeU?si=Emd1shxHRl-MRTR5hJyD3w] From Citi Bank to Stablecoins: Tony McLaughlin's Bold Pivot [https://open.spotify.com/episode/1yhY39wD9cXQL31ZJt1ewH?si=WywzGN_zT4ug2BjkTMrRBw] Reclaiming Digital Sovereignty in Europe - and the Role of the Digital Euro [https://open.spotify.com/episode/3bJwyxoVsrRhZregjiiOTT?si=DnCpM_14S0arPmhysRS8CQ] Permissionless blockchains for financial services [https://open.spotify.com/episode/0rPtrXHR9buM0PqRngdV73?si=oouli3ygRD-jaJReehURqw] A journey through the era of digital money with Rod Garratt [https://open.spotify.com/episode/2oZnoTBXlvypr1L8R0LSwT?si=zo0AdYtTRV2yy7y9r0rZ-Q] [US vs EU: The Stablecoin Policy Divide]x(https://open.spotify.com/episode/7D5r1pOxLf31tQDocCiTQi?si=kEZ1yZ7IRIm-bZWh0dx3LA) [https://open.spotify.com/episode/7D5r1pOxLf31tQDocCiTQi?si=kEZ1yZ7IRIm-bZWh0dx3LA]) ---------------------------------------- Relai*: Buy Bitcoin with Relai—you can do a one-time purchase or savings plan: Click here [https://relai.ch/rock/]. Use the referral code "ROCK" to reduce transaction fees by 0.1% while supporting Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll. Value4Value Podcast Streaming: Support our podcast by listening to our episodes on the Fountain Podcast App. This way, if you wish, you can support us "Value4Value" while listening to the podcast. You can find us on the Fountain Podcast App here: Click here [https://fountain.fm/show/wNv0vSPWzu8Gh7bZTorB] Disclaimer: The content of this podcast reflects the private opinions of the hosts, serves exclusively for general information purposes and does not constitute investment advice. Always remember: Do your own research—inform yourself before making any investment decisions, such as buying Bitcoin. First try to understand what Bitcoin is and how to store it. This podcast does not provide financial advice. Note that the co-hosts might be invested in crypto assets. Read more on our website: Click here [https://www.bfrr.de/disclaimer/] ---------------------------------------- All links marked with "*" are affiliate links. If you use these links for purchase, the podcast receives a small share of the revenue without any additional costs to you. On the contrary, affiliate links often include discount promotions, so you can even save money. We would appreciate it if you use these links to support us. Thank you very much!