In the Arena | August 1, 2025

“3 observations and a chart” on the latest in the digital assets sector

August 2025: Traditional Finance Melding with Crypto

US passes major crypto legislation – “perhaps the greatest revolution in financial technology”

In mid July, President Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law, the first major piece of legislation regulating the digital assets sector in the United States. Passing both the House and Senate with broad bipartisan support (308-122 and 68-30, respectively), the act establishes a clear regulatory framework for dollar-backed stablecoins. The law mandates that stablecoin issuers hold 1:1 reserves in short-term US government debt or equivalent assets, under federal or state oversight. It was celebrated by President Trump as “perhaps the greatest revolution in financial technology since the birth of the internet,” and by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as a catalyst for US leadership in digital currency innovation. Investor sentiment surged—especially across Ethereum-based stablecoins—with Coinbase shares hitting record highs and Circle gaining 25% during the week. We highlight a major step in mainstreaming crypto within US financial infrastructure.

Robinhood and Kraken each launch tokenized equities platform for global investors 

Robinhood launched a trading platform with over 200 tokenized US stock and ETF tokens for its users in the EU. The tokenized stocks will trade on the Arbitrum blockchain 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. Similarly, Kraken, the second-largest US crypto exchange, is preparing to launch “xStocks,” a tokenized equities platform enabling non-US investors to trade over 50 stocks and ETFs—including Nvidia, Apple, Tesla, S&P 500, and gold trackers—on the Solana blockchain. The platform will offer 24/7/365 trading, lower fees, and instant settlement, bypassing traditional brokerage barriers. Tokenized equities will also integrate with DeFi protocols for more efficient capital management. We highlight continuing adoption of blockchain technology and tokenized securities underpinning the next generation of financial markets.

PNC Bank to offer clients access to crypto services in partnership with Coinbase

PNC Bank, the seventh largest bank in the US with ~$550 billion of assets, announced a strategic partnership with Coinbase to allow banking clients and institutional investors to buy, sell, and hold digital assets —such as Bitcoin and Ethereum—without leaving the familiar interface of their existing bank account. The integration marks a significant step in bringing regulated crypto exposure to mainstream retail banking, blending traditional finance with digital asset access. By leveraging Coinbase’s infrastructure and compliance capabilities, PNC can provide secure, FDIC-linked access to crypto markets while maintaining a high standard of user experience, marking one of the first such offerings by a major US bank. We highlight yet another sign that US banks are beginning to consider digital assets mainstream assets and integrating crypto into traditional financial services. 

Chart of the Month 1 – Protect dollar based assets with Bitcoin

Chart of the Month 2 – Visualization of Massive Growth of BTC ETFs – IBIT is fastest ETF to exceed $80 billion and 21st biggest ETF overall

Arena Digital Capital Partners is a liquid evergreen fund open to monthly subscriptions. We are always happy to discuss further with you or investors you think may have an interest in the sector. Please reach out to Bill Cline at williamc@arenadigital.capital.

Sincerely,

The Arena Digital Capital Management Team

Michael Schwartz, Michael Prober & William Cline

www.arenadigital.capital

Arena Digital Capital Management was founded in January 2022 by three experienced traditional finance hedge fund professionals who have been deploying personal capital in the digital asset ecosystem since 2018. The team has managed billions of dollars of capital for high net worth individuals, family offices, and institutions ranging from pension plans and endowments to sovereign wealth funds. We have worked closely with institutional consultants, RIAs, and other advisors in serving their clients.

In May 2022 we launched Arena Digital Capital Partners, with the goal of providing a multi-strategy investment vehicle to access the digital asset ecosystem. Our mandate is to offer broad exposure across the growing digital asset and blockchain sector with an appropriate level of diversification, professional oversight, and manager selection. Our collection of skill sets and our history in the business allows us to understand, assess, and engage with the practitioners of this nascent asset class with a level of diligence required to be responsible stewards of capital. We are happy to periodically share our observations with you.

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