Bitcoin is on track to buck its historically poor September performance as a wave of interest rate cuts by central banks across the world has helped BTC surge over 10% so far this month.

Guggenheim Treasury Services, a subsidiary of financial services giant Guggenheim Partners, has announced through its partner Zeconomy, a blockchain platform, that it has issued $20 million in tokenized commercial paper on the Ethereum blockchain.

The entity behind the decentralized stablecoin protocol Ethena, Ethena Labs, has revealed it’s working on a new stablecoin backed by BlackRock’s tokenized BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL).

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Bitcoin on Track to Register one of its Best Septembers Yet
• Guggenheim Treasury Services Issues $20M in Tokenized Commercial Paper on Ethereum
• Ethena Labs to Launch Stablecoin Backed by BlackRock's Tokenized Fund
• Binance Becomes First Centralized Exchange to Surpass $100 Trillion Volume

Bitcoin on Track to Register One of its Best Septembers On Record

Bitcoin is on track to buck its historically poor September performance as a wave of interest rate cuts by central banks throughout the world has been helping BTC surge over 10% so far this month.

The cryptocurrency’s performance in September from 2010 to 2023, according to CCData, has been an average drop of 4.51%, making it its worst-performing month on record. In contrast, April and November typically show the highest average returns.

The Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, and People's Bank of China all lowered borrowing costs in September to stimulate economic growth, a move that was met with a positive response from investors who bid up stocks, gold, and other assets.

Bitcoin has risen significantly this week to now stand above $65,500, a level that could prove to be “sticky” over the expiry of a large number of options contracts today, September 27, according to Orbit Markets co-founder Caroline Mauron.

Guggenheim Treasury Services Issues $20M in Tokenized Commercial Paper on Ethereum

Guggenheim Treasury Services, a subsidiary of financial services giant Guggenheim Partners, has announced through its partner Zeconomy, a blockchain platform, that it has issued $20 million in tokenized commercial paper on the Ethereum blockchain.

The transaction comes weeks after German industrial giant Siemens issued commercial paper via JPMorgan’s Onyx and blockchain platform SWIAT. Tokenized financial instruments on the blockchain are often referred to as real-world assets (RWA), and have been a growing trend in the space.

According to research firm RWA.XYZ, real-world assets on the blockchain have already reached a $12 billion market capitalization, including $2 billion in tokenized U.S. government securities.

The commercial paper issued by Guggenheim received a P-1 rating from Moody's Investors Service, the highest credit rating available for such short-term, unsecured corporate debt instruments.

While this foray into RWA tokenization marks a new direction for Guggenheim, it's not their first toe-dip into the crypto ecosystem. The firm's Macro Opportunities Funds have held authorization for years to invest up to 10% of their portfolio in the former Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), which recently converted into one of the first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF).

Ethena Labs to Launch Stablecoin Backed by BlackRock's Tokenized Fund

The entity behind the decentralized stablecoin protocol Ethena, Ethena Labs, has revealed it’s working on a new stablecoin backed by BlackRock’s tokenized BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL).

Ethena Labs’ new stablecoin, UStb (USTB) is set to be built in partnership with the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock and digital securities platform Securitize and be backed by BUIDL tokens, which is pegged to the price of the U.S. dollar.

The upcoming UStb stablecoin will serve as a distinct stablecoin product alongside Ethena's existing synthetic dollar stablecoin, USDe, which was launched in February. The announcement detailed that UStb could help USDe during “periods of weak funding conditions.”

Ethena Labs noted that it could close hedging positions to re-allocate backing assets to UStb if the project’s governance deems it appropriate to do so, which could reduce the risk associated with negative funding rate environments.

Binance Becomes First Centralized Exchange to Surpass $100 Trillion Volume

Leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance has become the first centralized exchange to surpass $100 trillion in combined spot and derivatives trading volumes, marking a significant historical milestone.

It’s followed by OKX in lifetime trading volume at $25 trillion, while Bybit, Bitget, and HTX follow suit as the next largest exchanges. Despite collapsing in November 2022, FTX is still the sixth-largest exchange in all-time volume.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

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