● Stablecoins scaling 4.8x faster than Visa ● MicroStrategy owns 61% of treasuries ● US employers cut 1M jobs ● XRP ETFs $1.2B inflows, 1 month ● Lightning users hit 900 million ● The top 100 public companies control over 5% of BTCs supply
Bitcoin's Role in National Finance
The Strategic Reserve
The U.S. authorized a formal national Bitcoin reserve, halting all government-held BTC sales to initiate a strategic stockpile.
Institutional Standard
New legislation paved the way for pension funds and public companies to treat Bitcoin as a standard reserve asset.
Scaling via Lightning
The network reached 900 million users and 5,411 BTC in capacity, transforming into an enterprise-grade payment tool.
Scaling Velocity
Stablecoins reached the $10 trillion volume milestone in just 10 years, 4.8x faster than Visa
Global Settlement
Stablecoins have evolved from niche tools into the primary settlement layer for global commerce with a market cap over 290 billion.
Instant Finality
Modern stablecoin rails offer 24/7 instant global settlement, removing traditional banking intermediaries and high fees.
Stablecoins Outpace Visa
Layer 1 Rivals On The Rise
Solana's Retail Surge
Solana now leads with 4 million active USDC senders, representing over 1/3 of the monthly stablecoin market.
The Speed Advantage
Solana-based USDT supply doubled in 2025 as it gained traction in consumer-facing applications and high-frequency trading.
Active Sender Base
High-performance rails like Solana and Base have expanded their active sender base by 10x since late 2023.
Yield-Bearing Collateral
DeFi protocols are increasingly using tokenized money market funds as yield-bearing collateral.
Institutional Integration
Roughly 90% of leading financial firms integrated crypto trading and custody, moving DeFi into the mainstream business stack.
Onchain Revenue
Stablecoin issuers like Circle and Tether generated billions in 2025 revenue by focusing on transaction utility and ecosystem activity.
DeFi's New Investor Appeal
Tokenization's Expansion in Private Credit
RWA Market Cap
The Real World Asset market reached a 400B+ valuation, with 372.7B sitting on private institutional networks like Canton.
Treasury Tokenization
Tokenized money market funds grew tenfold to nearly 9 billion, bridging traditional finance with DeFi infrastructure.
Liquidity Unlocked
Blockchain records are now officially recognized as valid proof of ownership, allowing for live, compliant settlement of tokenized instruments.
The "Great Pivot"
U.S. policy shifted from regulatory aggression to strategic federal frameworks like the GENIUS and CLARITY Acts.
Global Standard
Markets moved from ambiguous classifications to explicit tokenized security regulations, unlocking massive institutional participation.
Retirement Inflows
A February 2026 policy shift is expected to unlock a potential 93 billion from the U.S. 401(k) asset pool.
Crypto Clarity Unfolds
Crypto and AI
Autonomous Rails
Agentic AI is increasingly using crypto rails for high-speed, autonomous payments and streamed APIs.
Infrastructure Boom
AI infrastructure investment reached historic levels in 2025, accounting for 25% of total U.S. market capital expenditure
Convergence Funding
Prediction markets saw a 3.7B capital influx as they transitioned into essential sentiment trackers for AI and macro forecasting.
