Progmat, tokenization and Japan’s blockchain strategy

plus, a newsletter update

“It’s not what’s under the Christmas tree that matters, it’s who’s around it.” – Charles M. Schulz ||

Hello everyone! I hope you’re all getting into the festive mood. Family has descended on our household, bringing fun, chaos and plenty of distractions.

So, I’m not going to do a market diagnosis today – as I type, crypto prices are falling as more leverage gets flushed out of the system. There could be more choppiness into year-end as portfolios rebalance. But the tailwinds I’ve been talking about for the past few months are getting, if anything, stronger.

Instead, I dust off something I’ve been looking into for a while, that reflects how blockchain is more than a more efficient way to issue assets. More specifically, I dive into an intriguing tokenization project and what it says about Japan’s approach to new technologies.

I also share a newsletter update, I recognize it’s been a while!

Programming note: As of Monday, Crypto is Macro Now will be taking a week off for the holidays – back in your inboxes on Monday, December 30! I confess I’m intensely looking forward to a few days of shopping and cooking and eating and drinking and watching terrible Christmas movies and curling up with new books.

IN THIS NEWSLETTER:

• Progmat, tokenization and Japan’s blockchain strategy

• Newsletter stuff

If you’re not a premium subscriber, I hope you’ll consider becoming one! You get ~daily commentary on markets, tokenization, regulation and other signs that crypto IS impacting the macro landscape. As well as audio, relevant links and music recommendations ‘cos why not.

WHAT I’M WATCHING:

Progmat, tokenization and Japan’s blockchain strategy

The flag bearer among large economies when it comes to digital asset regulation is not Europe, as many expect, and it certainly isn’t the United States, at least not yet. No, it’s Japan, which as far back as 2020 amended existing securities laws to include tokenized securities. It passed stablecoin legislation back in June 2022, more than a year before the EU, with the rules going live 12 months later. So, it’s not surprising that Japan’s crypto ecosystem leads in terms of complexity and reach. Many jurisdictions are trialling fiat-backed token projects, several have forged ahead with actual but limited issuance, some even support stablecoin issuance in legal frameworks. Japan, however, so far seems to be winning when it comes to ambition.

One of the manifestations of this ambition is the Progmat project, which has been building out tokenized security issuance as well as some intriguing stablecoin exploration.

But before I talk about that, let’s dive into why Progmat itself is an intriguing glimpse of what a local ecosystem with the support of large institutions, traditional market infrastructure and regulators could look like.