Citi Tokenizes Private Company Shares (MC 6/11)
PLUS: Ep 35: Stablecoins Change the Math on Building Neobanks w/ Ryan Bozarth (Dakota)
Welcome to another edition of the Money Code newsletter (fka The Weekly Stable), the essential source of stablecoin news coverage for global fintech professionals, brought to you by This Week in Fintech and Stablecon.
This week we cover:
Citigroup tokenizes private company shares
MUFG, Mizuho and SMBC move toward a shared stablecoin framework
JPMorgan, Citi and other major banks push tokenized deposits into the digital dollar fight
Ep 35: Stablecoins Change the Math on Building Neobanks w/ Ryan Bozarth (Dakota)
Product launches, partnerships and funding news from Digital Asset, Morpho, Securitize, Neura, Coinbase, Cross River, Figure, Crossmint, Mastercard and Visa and more.
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🏆 Top Stories
Citi Tokenizes Private Company Shares
Citigroup launched Digital Depositary Receipts, a blockchain-based structure that gives wealthy and institutional clients exposure to private-company shares through bank-issued securities. Citi acts as issuer and custodian, SIX operates the blockchain infrastructure, and the first transaction involved Kaleido, an institutional tokenization platform. Citi released the product as tokenized equities gain attention through SpaceX-linked xStocks products and a reported $5.5 billion tokenized-stock market.
Why it matters:
Private-market access is one of the clearest commercial wedges for tokenization. Investors, especially those residing outside the US, want exposure to companies like SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic before they go public. Citi's version puts that demand inside bank infrastructure, with Citi controlling issuance and custody. The product still depends on the legal claim underneath (tokenized exposure is only as good as the issuer, custody model, investor rights, liquidity terms and jurisdiction behind it), but Citi is betting their trust and brand will provide their institutional investors with comfort.
Japan's Megabanks Move Toward a Shared Stablecoin Framework
MUFG, Mizuho and SMBC plan to conduct commercial transactions using a shared stablecoin structure during Japan's fiscal year ending March 2027. The proposed model uses a trust arrangement, with the banks as joint settlors and a trust bank or similar institution as trustee. The earlier proof of concept included Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking, Progmat and Japan's Financial Services Agency Payment Innovation Project.
Why it matters:
Three megabanks are working on a common issuance and governance framework that can support corporate settlement, cross-border treasury and institutional yen liquidity. It is another example of bank consortiums, such as Qivalis in Europe, forming to capture the benefits of stablecoins inside institutions that are already trusted to issue money and already have distribution. That trust and distribution gives corporate users a credible reason to move flows onto these rails, and corporate B2B flows are where the volume is.
Banks Push Tokenized Deposits Into The Digital Dollar Fight
JPMorgan, Citi, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and other large banks are backing a proposed tokenized deposit network reportedly operated by The Clearing House, with a target launch in the first half of 2027. The intended users are large corporates that need real-time liquidity, programmable treasury, 24/7 settlement and cross-border payments. Regulators are now defining the perimeter around the same market, including how FDIC treatment applies to tokenized deposits.
Why it matters:
Banks are trying to keep digital money inside the deposit system. Tokenized deposits give them a way to offer programmable settlement while preserving the legal character of bank liabilities, deposit insurance treatment and balance-sheet relationships with corporate clients. That makes the policy fight as important as the network itself. If regulators treat tokenized deposits as insured bank deposits while stablecoin reserve deposits receive narrower treatment, banks gain a perceived structural advantage over nonbank issuers.
📺 Money Code Podcast
Ep 35: Stablecoins Change the Math on Building Neobanks w/ Ryan Bozarth (Dakota)
Building a neobank used to mean years, millions, and a sponsor-bank maze. Stablecoin infrastructure is turning that into something founders can test in weeks.
Ryan Bozarth built the neobank first, scaled Dakota across 130 geographies and 700 businesses, then turned the hard parts into infrastructure for other builders. That operator path raises the real question: when financial experimentation gets this cheap, who knows the market well enough to build the right thing?
We decode
The new build math: how 12-18 months and millions became weeks and tens of thousands, and how that changes which markets are worth serving
Compliance as code: how Dakota's own onboarding pain shaped the infrastructure it now sells
Distribution is still king: why domain experts, marketplaces, and overlooked offline niches may be the real winners
Give it a listen and share your feedback by sending me a DM or replying to this email.
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Read on for a roundup of this week's news:
📊 Market Trends
Tokenized equities reach $5.5 billion market cap as SpaceX IPO access and exchange expansion drive growth (read more)
💸 Fundraises and M&A
a16z crypto leads $355 million raise for Canton developer Digital Asset (read more)
Apollo, Bpifrance and SBI join $175 million raise for DeFi lender Morpho (read more)
Securitize clears SEC registration statement, setting path to NYSE listing as SECZ (read more)
Tether leads up to $1.4 billion round in robotics firm Neura with crypto wallet integration planned (read more)
🚀 Product Announcements & Partnerships
3Jane opens public access and USD3 minting with JANE liquidity incentives (read more)
Bybit follows Kraken in offering tokenized SpaceX IPO access via xStocks (read more)
Citigroup rolls out tokenized shares of private companies (read more)
Coinbase and Cardless unveil credit card backed by stablecoins (read more)
Cross River commits $250 million to support Figure crypto-backed loans (read more)
Crossmint joins Mastercard ecosystem to support agent payments (read more)
Crossmint and Paga partner to bring multi-chain stablecoin infrastructure to Africa (read more)
Ethena partners with Centrifuge to integrate Janus Henderson CLO strategy into USDe (read more)
JPMorgan and Citigroup-backed consortium plans tokenized deposit network for early 2027 (read more)
Movement rebrands around cross-border payments, remittances and stablecoin yield products (read more)
MUFG, Mizuho and SMBC aim for joint stablecoin issue by March (read more)
Triple-A puts multicurrency accounts on stablecoin rails (read more)
Visa and Brale test private stablecoin settlement on Canton Network (read more)
⚖️ Regulatory Developments
Coinbase, Ripple and 200 crypto groups urge Senate CLARITY Act vote (read more)
ECB urges EU tokenized deposit rules to avoid fragmentation (read more)
EU proposes expanded sanctions on Russia-linked crypto platforms (read more)
Hong Kong taps JPMorgan and HSBC for tokenized bond expert group (read more)
New York aims to keep stablecoin issuers under state rulebook (read more)
State regulators object to Treasury imposing OCC stablecoin rules on states (read more)
US banks push FDIC to lock in deposit insurance for tokenized deposits (read more)
Zodia Custody secures Luxembourg payment institution license to expand EU stablecoin services (read more)
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