WuBlockchain Weekly: US Real Estate Accepts Cryptocurrency-Backed Mortgages, Australia's Hostplus Plan to Allocate Digital Assets, etc

1. Clarity Act Draft Proposes Restrictions on Stablecoin Yields, Allowing Only User Activity-Based Rewards link A new draft of the Clarity Act proposes restrictions on stablecoin yields, including a ban on paying returns for holding stablecoin balances. It also requires that incentive structures not resemble bank deposit interest in form or effect, and only activity-based rewards would be permitted - though the exact mechanisms remain unclear. This provision is a compromise reached after negotiations between the crypto industry and the banking sector, with the latter pushing to prevent stablecoins from competing with bank deposits. Shares of CRCL plummeted 20% on Tuesday, marking its largest single-day drop since listing, wiping out $5 billion in market value overnight. Trading volume reached 56.4 million shares, nearly four times its 90-day average. The primary catalyst is widely seen as the new Clarity Act draft, which is expected to eliminate passive stablecoin yields. 2. UK to Ban Cryptocurrency Political Donations and Restrict Overseas Voter Contributions link The UK government has announced a ban on the use of cryptocurrency for political donations until relevant regulatory frameworks are deemed sufficiently robust. Concurrently, it will impose an annual cap of £100,000 on political contributions from overseas electors, which will also cover regulated transactions such as loans of equivalent value. These measures will be implemented through amendments to the Representation of the People Act and will apply retrospectively. Upon the law's enactment, political entities must return any non-compliant donations within 30 days. The reforms are based on recommendations from the Rycroft Review, aimed at addressing the risks of foreign financial interference and untraceable funds in politics. 3. Venezuela's Foreign Exchange Shortage Worsens, Forcing SMEs to Raise Prices and Switch to Cryptocurrency Settlements link Affected by U.S. sanctions and exclusion from the official foreign exchange allocation system, small and medium-sized enterprises in Venezuela are facing a severe U.S. dollar shortage crisis. More than half of the surveyed companies said the lack of foreign exchange has severely hindered production. Amid a 13% year-on-year drop in foreign exchange auction volumes at the start of the year, most dollar quotas are monopolized by large multinational corporations. To sustain production, numerous local pharmaceutical and chemical companies have been forced to turn to unofficial markets or use cryptocurrencies for cross-border raw material procurement and settlement. This has led to a surge in local prices and pushed inflation up to 600%. 4. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae First Accept Cryptocurrencies as Mortgage Asset Review Criteria link Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director William Pulte has ordered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to prepare proposals allowing cryptocurrency to be treated as reserve assets in the risk assessment of single-family residential mortgages. The directive marks the first time the two government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) will directly recognize the value of digital assets without requiring borrowers to first convert cryptocurrency into U.S. dollars. Under the requirements, eligible crypto assets must be proven to be held on U.S.-regulated centralized exchanges. 5. RBA: Asset Tokenization Could Generate AUD 24 Billion in Annual Gains, Focus Shifts to Implementation Pathways link The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) stated that asset and currency tokenization is expected to generate approximately AUD 24 billion (around USD 16.7 billion) in annual efficiency gains for the Australian economy, and has shifted its focus from "whether to proceed" to "how to implement". In the Project Acacia report, Assistant Governor Brad Jones noted that stablecoins and bank deposit tokens would play complementary roles in the tokenization system, with stablecoins suitable for smaller emerging markets and bank deposit tokens holding a more important position in large markets. The project tested a total of 20 use cases including government bonds, corporate bonds, repurchase agreements and investment funds, adopting four settlement methods: wholesale CBDC, transaction settlement account balances, stablecoins and deposit tokens. The RBA also disclosed that it will launch a digital financial market infrastructure sandbox, establish a regulatory and industry tokenization advisory panel, and expand the deposit token working group to address issues such as legal and regulatory uncertainty, network effects and insufficient coordination, while pointing out that a wholesale CBDC "may be helpful but not essential". Sponsored by FinTax 6. Australia's Hundred-Billion Pension Fund Hostplus to Allow Members to Allocate BTC and Other Digital Assets via Choiceplus link Hostplus, one of Australia's largest pension funds, is considering including cryptocurrency in its investment options. Hostplus manages over AUD 150 billion (approximately USD 105 billion) in assets. Its Chief Investment Officer Sam Sicilia stated that the fund is exploring offering members exposure to BTC and other digital assets through its Choiceplus investment option. Choiceplus allows members to self-manage their retirement savings portfolios, and assets under this option currently account for around 1% of the fund's total size. 7. Stablecoin Issuer Tether Announces Partnership Agreement with a Big Four Accounting Firm link Stablecoin issuer Tether has announced it has signed a cooperation agreement with a Big Four accounting firm to conduct its first full independent financial audit. Tether stated the audit will cover its digital asset reserves, traditional financial assets and tokenized liabilities, providing greater transparency over whether USDT is fully reserved. USDT currently has a market cap of approximately $184 billion and a user base of over 550 million. Tether said the move is aimed at improving transparency and regulatory compliance. Stablecoin issuer Tether has temporarily put on hold its planned fundraising of up to $20 billion, and the company will wait for the results of its first comprehensive financial audit before deciding whether to restart the fundraising. People familiar with the matter said potential investors and banks had been pressing Tether to improve financial transparency during the fundraising process. Earlier reports said Tether launched the fundraising last year, targeting $15 billion to $20 billion at a valuation of around $500 billion, which would have made it one of the world's most valuable private companies if completed. Tether has selected KPMG to conduct a full audit of its US dollar-pegged stablecoin USDT reserves, which are worth approximately $185 billion, and has hired PwC to prepare internal systems for the audit. This marks a key step toward a complete financial audit. The company previously announced a formal partnership with a Big Four accounting firm but did not disclose the specific firm. The audit is progressing as Tether prepares for its U.S. expansion and seeks $15 billion to $20 billion in funding, amid investor concerns over valuation and regulatory risks. The full financial statement audit will go beyond the current monthly attestation services provided by BDO Italia, covering assets, liabilities, internal controls and reporting systems. 8. Morgan Stanley Bitcoin ETF Receives NYSE Listing Notice, Expected to Launch Soon link Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas stated that Morgan Stanley's Bitcoin ETF (MSBT) has received an official listing announcement from the New York Stock Exchange, which typically signals the product's imminent launch. He also noted that the ETF's fee rate is worth watching, with an expected rate of around 0.24%, slightly lower than that of IBIT. 9. Coinbase: A 'Second Wave' of Institutional Capital Is Entering the Crypto Market link Brett Tejpaul, head of institutional business at Coinbase, stated that institutional investors are shifting from simply betting on price increases to generating stable yields around their existing BTC and ETH holdings, adding that "a second wave of institutional capital is underway." This trend has spurred the emergence of more on-chain yield products resembling traditional cash and bonds. He noted that institutional interest in stablecoins, asset tokenization, and 24/7 near-real-time settlement is rising. Amid gradually clarifying U.S. regulatory frameworks, more traditional financial institutions are evaluating blockchain to improve cross-border payment and capital efficiency. 10. Analysis: Tokenized Private Credit Surges from $25 Million to $6.01 Billion in 12 Months link According to crypto analyst YashasEdu, tokenized private credit has surged from $25 million to $6.01 billion in 12 months. These funds are used as collateral in lending protocols, for mortgage loans, and integrated into DeFi yield strategies. However, such capital may pose contagion risks due to collateral quality risks, centralization risks, and mismatches between legal timelines and on-chain timelines. YashasEdu stated that tokenized private credit has several vulnerabilities, including a lack of standardized on-chain credit ratings, widely varying redemption mechanisms, and illiquid underlying loans, and predicted that this could lead to a significant on-chain credit default event in the future. Fundraising Tazapay has announced the completion of a $36 million extended Series B financing round, led by Circle Ventures. link Startale has raised $63 million in a Series A financing round to develop stablecoin and RWA infrastructure. link Payy, a stablecoin startup, has secured $6 million in seed funding. link Eureka Labs, an Ethereum block builder, has completed a $6.7 million seed financing round. link Core Scientific has announced an additional $500 million financing commitment from JPMorgan Chase. link XFX, a stablecoin trading platform, has raised $17 million in a Series A financing round, led by Castle Island Ventures. link Learn more, check out crypto-fundraising.info. Follow us Twitter: https://twitter.com/WuBlockchain Telegram: https://t.me/wublockchainenglish Source: https://wublock.substack.com/p/wublockchain-weekly-us-real-estate