Latest news with #FabianDori
Crypto Insight
3 days ago
- Business
- Crypto Insight
GENIUS Act to spark wave of ‘killer apps' and new payment services: Sygnum
The GENIUS Act is poised to change the stablecoin landscape by steering issuers away from yield-based models and toward payment-focused use cases, according to Sygnum chief investment officer Fabian Dori. 'The GENIUS Act was recently amended to create a clear separation between interest/yield-bearing stablecoins and those used for payments,' Dori told Cointelegraph. He said this brings the US framework closer to the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, laying the foundation for 'global consensus.' Dori added that the real impact of the GENIUS Act goes beyond regulation. 'By providing long-sought-after clarity, it gives confidence to organizations and issuers to develop original, innovative 'killer apps' that don't just serve their customers' current needs, but create demand for entirely new services, including payments,' he said. That confidence appears to be translating into growing demand. Giants like Mastercard and PayPal have laid the groundwork for compliant stablecoin use, and companies such as Amazon and Walmart are exploring applications in payroll and cross-border settlements. He noted that tokenized money market funds are the better fit for investors chasing returns. These funds, which offer a stable value and daily liquidity, are currently yielding 4–5% in US Treasury-backed products, without blurring the lines between investment and utility. Stablecoin issuers pivot to utility With interest-bearing stablecoins now restricted, issuers are expected to lean into features like real-time settlement, low transaction costs and programmable capabilities that integrate into payment and trading systems, Dori said. 'Utility beats yield now,' Jason Lau, chief innovation officer at OKX, said. He argued that in an increasingly competitive space, issuers will continue to pursue innovative models to drive adoption and new use cases. Lau also said that the benefits of stablecoin settlement and cross-border efficiency are poised to drive adoption in real-world commerce, with interest from payment giants like PayPal and Stripe signaling just the beginning. Meanwhile, Aishwary Gupta, global head of payment and fintech at Polygon Labs, said the shift toward utility was already 'underway' even before the passage of GENIUS Act. Gupta said Polygon has observed significant growth in payment-focused stablecoin usage, with their micropayment volume rising 67% from February to June, reaching $110 million. He said: 'Regulatory compliance helps, but more important is how it meets real market demand. Payment use cases offer immediate utility and solve actual problems for users, like in cross-border transfers and everyday commerce.' Retail adoption remains key Despite the shift, retail adoption remains a critical factor. 'It's not fintechs that move the needle, but consumer adoption,' Dori said, emphasizing that user-friendly platforms will determine the pace of stablecoin integration. Gupta also highlighted the importance of retail adoption, noting that Polygon is prioritizing stablecoin infrastructure that supports real-world applications, from enabling sub-cent transaction fees for micropayments to scaling performance for enterprise-grade deployments capable of handling over 100,000 transactions per second. The company is also seeing growing momentum in retail and B2B payment integrations. It is currently working with a firm operating 185 million phones across Africa to facilitate cross-border B2B payments. 'We have enterprises with 7-8 million wallets ready to go live,' he said. 'Small payment volumes ($100-$1,000) on Polygon grew 190% to over $563M from February to June. We expect this trend to accelerate in the coming months.' Meanwhile, Lau said DeFi protocols might be one of the biggest beneficiaries of this clarity, as stablecoins already anchor a tremendous amount of activity onchain. 'While there will be some focus on synthetic yields and governance tokens, the opportunity to offer compelling and unique use cases will capture stablecoin demand,' he said. Passed this month with more than 300 House votes, including support from 102 Democrats, the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act establishes the first federal framework for stablecoins. Source:
Yahoo
18-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How high will bitcoin rise if Mag 7 start buying
In this episode of Yahoo Finance Future Focus, our host Brian McGleenon speaks with Fabian Dori, Chief Investment Officer at Swiss digital asset bank Sygnum, about the growing interest among major tech companies, known as the Magnificent Seven, in bitcoin as a potential treasury asset. Dori reveals that while only Tesla has officially disclosed bitcoin holdings, several of these firms have considered it as a way to diversify their corporate treasuries. He explains that the combination of rising shareholder interest, bitcoin's fixed supply, and increasing regulatory clarity could make digital assets more attractive to cash-rich tech giants like Apple, Microsoft, and Alphabet. Dori also outlines why institutional investors are taking a renewed interest in bitcoin and ether. He points to bitcoin's scarcity-driven appeal as a hedge and store of value, while highlighting ether's dual identity as both a yield-generating asset and foundational Web3 infrastructure. With institutional flows picking up and ETF access making crypto more approachable for traditional finance, Dori says we may be witnessing a pivotal shift in how leading firms think about digital assets, not just as speculative instruments, but as strategic financial tools. Related videos 'My girlfriend is a millionaire, but I live on the breadline' These 4 FTSE 100 stocks are currently yielding more than 8%! Could this trigger a stock market crash? The FTSE 100 sits at a record high. But some stocks still look dirt cheap! Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Crypto for Advisors: Crypto Universe
In today's Crypto for Advisors, Fabian Dori, Chief Investment Officer at Sygnum Bank, explores why crypto is more than just an asset class and looks at the institutional adoption of decentralized finance. Then, Abhishek Pingle, co-founder of Theo, answers questions about how risk-adverse investors can approach decentralized finance and what to look for in Ask an Expert. – Unknown block type "divider", specify a component for it in the ` option Moody's recently warned that public blockchains pose a risk to institutional investors. At the same time, U.S. bitcoin ETFs are drawing billions in inflows. We're seeing the start of a long-awaited shift in institutional adoption. But crypto's real potential lies far beyond passive bitcoin exposure. It's not just an asset class — it's an asset universe, spanning yield-generating strategies, directional plays, and hedge fund-style alpha. Most institutions are only scratching the surface of what's possible. Institutional investors may enhance their risk-return profile by moving beyond a monolithic view of crypto and recognizing three distinct segments: yield-generating strategies, directional investments, and alternative strategies. Like traditional fixed income, yield-generating strategies offer limited market risk with low volatility. Typical strategies range from tokenized money market funds that earn traditional yields to approaches engaging with the decentralized crypto finance ecosystem, which deliver attractive returns without traditional duration or credit risk. These crypto yield strategies may boast attractive Sharpe ratios, rivalling high-yield bonds' risk premia but with different mechanics. For example, returns can be earned from protocol participation, lending and borrowing activities, funding rate arbitrage strategies, and liquidity provisioning. Unlike bonds that face principal erosion in rising rate environments, many crypto yield strategies function largely independently of central bank policy and provide genuine portfolio diversification precisely when it's most needed. However, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Crypto yield strategies entail risks, mainly centered around the maturity and security of the protocols and platforms a strategy engages with. The path to institutional adoption typically follows three distinct approaches aligned with different investor profiles: Risk-averse institutions begin with yield-generating strategies that limit direct market exposure while capturing attractive returns. These entry points enable traditional investors to benefit from the unique yields available in the crypto ecosystem without incurring the volatility associated with directional exposure. Mainstream institutions often adopt a bitcoin-first approach before gradually diversifying into other assets. Starting with bitcoin provides a familiar narrative and established regulatory clarity before expanding into more complex strategies and assets. Sophisticated players like family offices and specialized asset managers explore the entire crypto ecosystem from the outset and build comprehensive strategies that leverage the full range of opportunities across the risk spectrum. Contrary to early industry predictions, tokenization is progressing from liquid assets like stablecoins and money market funds upward, driven by liquidity and familiarity, not promises of democratizing illiquid assets. More complex assets are following suit, revealing a pragmatic adoption curve. Moody's caution about protocol risk exceeding traditional counterparty risk deserves scrutiny. This narrative may deter institutions from crypto's yield layer, yet it highlights only one side of the coin. While blockchain-based assets introduce technical risks, these risks are often transparent and auditable, unlike the potentially opaque risk profiles of counterparties in traditional finance. Smart contracts, for example, offer new levels of transparency. Their code can be audited, stress-tested, and verified independently. This means risk assessment can be conducted with fewer assumptions and greater precision than financial institutions with off-balance-sheet exposures. Major decentralized finance platforms now undergo multiple independent audits and maintain significant insurance reserves. They have, at least partially, mitigated risks in the public blockchain environment that Moody's warned against. While tokenization doesn't eliminate the inherent counterparty risk associated with the underlying assets, blockchain technology provides a more efficient and resilient infrastructure for accessing them. Ultimately, institutional investors should apply traditional investment principles to these novel asset classes while acknowledging the vast array of opportunities within digital assets. The question isn't whether to allocate to crypto but rather which specific segments of the crypto asset universe align with particular portfolio objectives and risk tolerances. Institutional investors are well-positioned to develop tailored allocation strategies that leverage the unique characteristics of different segments of the crypto ecosystem. - Unknown block type "divider", specify a component for it in the ` option Q: What yield-generating strategies are institutions using on-chain today? A: The most promising strategies are delta-neutral, meaning they are neutral to price movements. This includes arbitrage between centralized and decentralized exchanges, capturing funding rates, and short-term lending across fragmented liquidity pools. These generate net yields of 7–15% without wider market exposure. Q: What structural features of DeFi enable more efficient capital deployment compared to traditional finance? A: We like to think of decentralized finance (DeFi) as 'on-chain markets'. On-chain markets unlock capital efficiency by removing intermediaries, enabling programmable strategies, and offering real-time access to on-chain data. Unlike traditional finance, where capital often sits idle due to batch processing, counterparty delays, or opaque systems, on-chain markets provide a world where liquidity can be routed dynamically across protocols based on quantifiable risk and return metrics. Features like composability and permissionless access enable assets to be deployed, rebalanced, or withdrawn in real-time, often with automated safeguards. This architecture supports strategies that are both agile and transparent, particularly important for institutions that optimize across fragmented liquidity pools or manage volatility exposure. Q: How should a risk-averse institution approach yield on-chain? A: Many institutions exploring DeFi take a cautious first step by evaluating stablecoin-based, non-directional strategies, as explained above, that aim to offer consistent yields with limited market exposure. These approaches are often framed around capital preservation and transparency, with infrastructure that supports on-chain risk monitoring, customizable guardrails, and secure custody. For firms seeking yield diversification without the duration risk of traditional fixed income, these strategies are gaining traction as a conservative entry point into on-chain markets. - Abhishek Pingle, co-founder, Theo Unknown block type "divider", specify a component for it in the ` option Bitcoin reached a new all-time high of $111,878 last week. Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Bill passed the legislature and advances to the governor's desk for signature. U.S. Whitehouse Crypto Czar David Sacks said regulation is coming in the crypto space in August.
