What has been happening this week in the world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies? Current events and background reports in our weekly review.
Selected articles of the week:
The world’s largest banks no longer want to leave the stablecoin market to crypto firms. Therefore, 21 institutions announced a joint company this week. Among them are Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank and UBS. The dollar token should launch in the first half of 2027. In addition, the group plans an expansion to further G7 currencies, starting with the euro. The move hardly comes as a surprise, because Tether and Circle still dominate the field almost unchallenged. However, key questions remain open. Neither the name nor the blockchain, custodian or redemption terms are known. Moreover, the company itself will only take shape this year. At least the GENIUS Act has set a framework since 2025, which takes full effect in early 2027. The group’s pace stands out: in October 2025 it counted only ten members. Meanwhile, 37 further institutions work on a euro stablecoin under the name Qivalis.
21 institutions, among them Goldman Sachs, UBS and Deutsche Bank, want to issue a bank-owned dollar stablecoin in the first half of 2027.
Goldman Sachs steps back in after the XRP crash
Goldman Sachs is not only driving the bank consortium forward, but also buying crypto funds. The US bank is now the largest known holder of spot XRP ETFs. That emerges from Bloomberg Intelligence’s analysis of quarterly filings. They show USD 87.4 million across five funds from Bitwise, Franklin Templeton, Grayscale, 21Shares and Canary Capital. Goldman therefore holds more than five times as much as runner-up Jane Street. The timing is notable, because in the previous quarter the bank had cut its holdings almost entirely. Afterwards the XRP price fell to its lowest level since late 2024, and Goldman stepped back in. However, the filing works only partly as a signal. A 13F shows one reporting date, not intentions. Moreover, shorts and hedges are missing, and client business cannot be separated from proprietary trading. Since their launch in November 2025, the XRP funds have taken in roughly USD 1.8 billion.
The Q2 2026 13F filings show USD 87.4 million in XRP ETFs at Goldman Sachs, after the bank had exited almost entirely in the prior quarter.
Strategy ends its selling phase with an expensive buyback
Large addresses are buying again in the bitcoin market too. Strategy bought 4,603 bitcoin for USD 369.7 million in the last week of August. That ends a roughly two month phase of selling by the company itself. Holdings rise to 845,050 BTC, therefore more than 4% of maximum supply. Behind this stands the preferred share STRC, whose price fell below its par value of USD 100 in June. As a result, a capital source disappeared, and the board allowed targeted bitcoin sales. Between May and August the group therefore sold 6,948 BTC at an average of USD 62,250. The buyback now turned out roughly 29% more expensive. On balance, Strategy holds 2,345 BTC fewer than before, although about USD 63 million remained as cash. The money came entirely from sales of its own shares. In addition, the group holds reserves of USD 6.71 billion. Net debt still stands at 0.0%.
Strategy buys 4,603 Bitcoin for USD 369.7 million and ends the first selling phase in its history, lifting holdings to 845,050 BTC.
Sberbank expects the new rulebook to cover only a fifth of the market
While Western banks work on stablecoins, Russia is opening its crypto market by law. Since early September a framework applies there for exchanges, custodians, brokers and miners. Sberbank’s research arm expects regulated trading of up to USD 46.4 billion in the first year. However, that would be only about a fifth of the activity already running in the country. The finance ministry estimates daily turnover at roughly USD 650 million. Consequently, the rest looks set to stay outside supervision. The requirements point the same way: retail investors may commit at most USD 3,700 per year per provider. In addition, they must pass a suitability test and stick to bitcoin, ether and USDT for now. Sberbank itself plans a wallet in its apps by December. Loans against crypto collateral should follow later, provided the central bank agrees. Domestic payments, however, remain banned. Meanwhile, Western sanctions continue to apply unchanged.
Sberbank expects regulated crypto trading of up to USD 46.4 billion in the first year of Russia’s new crypto law, about a fifth of current activity.
A memecoin swallows half of the tokenized Hims shares
In addition: on the Robinhood Chain, memecoins have distorted tokenized stock prices. The memecoin BONER’s pool at times tied up around 53% of all tokenized Hims & Hers shares. On Sunday the on-chain price therefore climbed to USD 132.64, or 4.5 times Friday’s close. The mechanics explain it: only an authorized participant mints new stock tokens, and only during US trading hours. Trading on the chain, by contrast, runs around the clock. On Monday roughly 4,000 new tokens arrived, after which the price fell back to about USD 29. Meanwhile, the real share traded at USD 29.41. Moreover, the pattern repeats with other names, among them MicroStrategy and AMC. Memecoin pairs now account for more than half of stock token volume. Legally these tokens are not shares, but debt instruments without voting rights. Interest is growing nonetheless, because Coinbase also launched its own stock tokens in late August.
Memecoins on Robinhood Chain lock up tokenized stock floats, and one pool drove the HIMS wrapper to 4.5 times its NYSE price.
