21 Oaks Newsletter — May 2026
May marks a regulatory turning point: the CLARITY Act clears the Senate Banking Committee, the Federal Reserve opens limited master accounts to crypto firms, and the Bank of England revises its restrictive stablecoin regime. In parallel, institutional tokenization is visibly moving from pilots into production: JPMorgan (JPM), BlackRock (BLK) and Fidelity deliver live money market funds onchain, Moody's assigns its first AAA-mf ratings, and DTCC builds its collateral management on Chainlink (LINK). TradFi distribution is catching up rapidly: Charles Schwab (SCHW), Morgan Stanley (MS) via E*TRADE, and the Japanese houses SBI and Rakuten are opening spot crypto to retail, while Mastercard (MA) secures the New York BitLicense. The strategic implication is clear: the dividing line between crypto-native and TradFi infrastructure is dissolving, and the regulatory architecture of the coming decade is being cast this summer.
BREAKING
- Senate Banking Committee passes the CLARITY Act, establishing the first clear market-structure framework for Bitcoin and Coinbase (COIN) staking. Source
MORE
- Federal Reserve proposes limited master accounts for crypto firms after Trump directed the Fed by executive order to review access. Source
- SEC delays the planned Innovation Exemption for tokenized US equities after exchanges and market participants raise concerns about third-party tokens. Source
- Bank of England softens its stablecoin regime, criticized as "overly conservative," following industry pressure and announces a joint framework with the FCA for tokenization in wholesale markets. Source
- US Treasury sanctions a cash-to-crypto network tied to the Sinaloa cartel, extending OFAC action against on-/off-ramps. Source
- JPMorgan (JPM) files for its second tokenized money market fund on Ethereum, specifically targeting stablecoin issuers as clients. Source
- Ondo, JPMorgan (JPM), Mastercard (MA) and Ripple complete the first cross-border tokenized treasury settlement pilot on the XRP Ledger. Source
- Fidelity and BlackRock (BLK) receive the highest Moody's AAA-mf rating for their tokenized money market funds; Fidelity International also launches a tokenized fund on Chainlink (LINK). Source
- Franklin Templeton (BEN) and Kraken parent Payward jointly develop a suite of tokenized yield products for onchain investors. Source
- CME and Nasdaq (NDAQ) launch joint crypto index futures tracking BTC, ETH, SOL and XRP. Source
- DTCC integrates Chainlink (LINK) to operate a 24/7 collateral management network across global markets and blockchains. Source
- Mastercard (MA) obtains the New York BitLicense to expand its stablecoin and digital payment infrastructure. Source
- Amazon (AMZN) launches a USDC payment platform for AI agents on AWS together with Coinbase (COIN) and Stripe. Source
- Charles Schwab (SCHW) introduces spot trading for BTC and ETH for retail clients in the US. Source
- Morgan Stanley (MS) launches a crypto trading pilot program via E-TRADE** with an aggressive low-price structure, competing directly with Coinbase (COIN) and **Robinhood (HOOD). Source
- Kraken parent Payward applies for an OCC national trust bank charter, following Ripple and Coinbase (COIN). Source
- Elliptic raises $120 million, backed by Nasdaq (NDAQ) and Deutsche Bank (DBK), as AI reshapes the crypto security landscape. Source
- Hut 8 (HUT) closes a $9.8 billion AI data center deal built to NVIDIA (NVDA) specifications and gains more than 30% in pre-market trading. Source
- Jamie Dimon publicly attacks Coinbase (COIN) CEO Brian Armstrong and announces he will lobby against the CLARITY Act. Source
SPEAKERS’ CORNER
- May was an exceptionally strong month, particularly for some lesser-known crypto protocols such as Hyperliquid, NEAR and ONDO — and this despite a rather subdued market environment.
- Many of these projects are closely tied to the forward-looking themes of artificial intelligence and tokenization.
- Thanks to our early positioning in the protocols mentioned above, our funds were able to benefit from this development.
- This is also reflected in the "Bankhaus Bauer x 21 Oaks AI & Blockchain Innovation Fund," which reached a new all-time high in May at a unit price of €163.13.
- For us, this development underscores once again why active management can make a decisive difference, especially in a young and dynamic asset class like crypto.
Translated from the German original, which is the authoritative version. Read the German version
