Appold Market Watch - Week ending 11 July 2025
Market Update & Industry News - Week ending 11 July 2025
🔷 NRW.BANK, the state-owned development bank of Germany’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, has issued a €100 million fully digital bond on the Polygon blockchain. The two-year bond marks NRW.BANK’s first-ever digital asset security and attracted institutional investors, with Deutsche Bank, DZ BANK AG, and DekaBank serving as joint lead managers.
Appold View: While blockchain-based bonds still represent a small share of the overall bond market, this issuance by NRW.BANK signals that the infrastructure and regulatory environment are steadily maturing.
🔷 The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s chief supervisor for Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) Regulation, has scrutinised Malta's digital asset licensing regime. ESMA criticised the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) for deficiencies in its authorisation of an unnamed crypto asset service provider (CASP) and issued several recommendations for MFSA to address.
Appold View: Any laxity in one member state risks undermining the integrity of the entire MiCA framework. This incident reinforces the need for robustness and consistency in the authorisation process.
🔷 Japanese real estate investment firm GATES Inc. announced plans to tokenise $75 million of income-generating properties in central Tokyo using the Oasys blockchain. GATES, which claims to be the first major Japanese company to deploy large-scale property tokenisation, has plans to tokenise more than $200 billion in assets.
Appold View: By placing property ownership records on the blockchain, GATES aims to attract foreign buyers by reducing the legal complexity, regulatory friction, and language barriers often encountered in Japan’s real estate market when dealing with local intermediaries.
🔷 The UK’s His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will require users in the UK to provide key personal information to digital asset service providers from 1 January 2026 or face potential fines. The obligation applies to any users interacting with digital asset service providers, including exchanges, wallet apps, and NFT marketplaces.
Appold View: Whilst HMRC will hope this curbs tax evasion and improves transparency, it may deter privacy-focused users from using centralised, KYC-compliant service providers.
#Marketwatch #Blockchain #Investments
