Blockchain has spent years building the channels for tokenized trade. Now, Artificial Intelligence promises to bring people to them.

Blockchain today is missing its most important element: the people.

For every friend, family member, or colleague who has ventured into crypto, many more have deliberately avoided it. Their reasoning is understandable. Wallets remain intimidating. Bridges, exchanges, and protocols introduce unfamiliar risks. Hacks and industry blowups have repeatedly reminded newcomers that a mistake can be expensive and even irreversible.

Real problems are being solved through blockchain technology. But our industry has seldom made those solutions easily accessible to those hesitant to navigate the learning curve. That may be where AI matters most: it could become the layer between the infrastructure the industry has spent years building and the people who still do not know how — or why — to use it, rather than it giving blockchain simply another narrative to chase.

That distinction is worth making now, because predictions about AI are advancing beyond reasonable expectations.

Those predictions promise: Billions of agents. Millions of transactions per second. Autonomous software buying goods, managing portfolios, negotiating contracts, and moving money without human intervention.

Perhaps. But we can only work with the facts and experiences we have today.

And today, we must acknowledge that blockchain has yet to fulfill many of its largest promises. The industry has spent years pontificating about onboarding trillions of dollars in tokenized assets. The amount of real-world value moving on-chain continues to grow, but adoption remains far short of the scale envisioned. And while the technology has advanced considerably, the user experience has not always kept pace.

In other words, a lot has changed — and one stubborn problem has not. People still have to show up.

Improve Don’t Replace

Technology and crypto cycles are unusually good at producing distractions. In blockchain, the focus has shifted from ICOs to NFTs, gaming, DePIN, real-world assets, and now AI. Each new cycle arrives with a prediction that this will finally be the use case that brings the next billion users on-chain.

The mistake is treating those developments as replacements for what came before, and abandoning long-term progress in lieu of the next hot trend. Gaming can be a route to adoption. DePIN can be a route to adoption. Tokenized assets can be a route to adoption. AI can be one too.

What matters is whether a network bends its entire strategy toward each new narrative or uses new technology to strengthen the work of the many distributed participants who have shepherded the growth of a fully functioning ecosystem.

For XDC Network, that distinction matters. XDC leadership and its global community, enterprise and otherwise, have spent years focused on trade finance and the infrastructure required to move real-world value on-chain. The ambition is substantial: help modernize a market still burdened by paper, fragmented systems, limited access to financing, and a trade finance gap measured in trillions of dollars.

That work has naturally expanded into real-world asset tokenization, stablecoins, DeFi, digital asset infrastructure, and the broader convergence between traditional and decentralized finance. AI will not require abandoning any of it.

The more useful question is, what can AI do for the systems already being built? How does it improve trade finance? How does it make tokenized assets easier to access? How does it help people navigate DeFi without requiring them to understand every protocol underneath it?

And if autonomous agents eventually manage real money, how do we know which agents deserve that authority?

Those questions are less dramatic than predictions about billions of autonomous machines transacting with one another. They also ask us to contemplate ideas related to work and execution to deliver on the promises of this technology.

Before Agents May Act, They Have to Be Trusted

The AI industry contains people who have been building for years and others who arrived months ago. The same is true of companies now attaching AI to financial products. That makes trust the first real problem. An agent capable of trading, spending, or moving assets may be useful. An agent capable of doing those things without meaningful controls is a liability.

This is why the emerging idea of Know Your Agent, or KYA, requires serious attention.

The concept is straightforward. Before people or institutions give software meaningful economic authority, they need ways to understand what that software is permitted to do, who created it, how it behaves, what risks it can take, and how its access can be limited or revoked.

We already understand this principle when people participate in financial markets. Identity, permissions, risk controls, and accountability matter. Software will not make those requirements disappear. If anything, autonomy makes them more important.

There are promising examples of AI systems outperforming humans at specific financial or analytical tasks. There are also demonstrations in which agents identify threats or avoid mistakes a person might miss. But a controlled proof of concept is very different from deploying autonomous systems at institutional scale. Before an agent is trusted with meaningful capital, the question will not simply be whether it can make money.

The question will be whether it can be trusted not to lose control of it.

The Adoption Layer — where AI could make its most immediate contribution

Crypto still asks too much of the average user. A newcomer who wants to put ordinary currency on-chain may have to choose an exchange, open an account, move money, buy an asset, select a network, create a wallet, secure a recovery phrase, understand gas, evaluate protocols, compare yields, assess smart-contract risk, and determine whether any of the opportunities in front of them are legitimate.

Blockchain has created an extraordinary range of choices. It has also created paralysis by analysis. AI can compress that decision set. Every additional decision creates another opportunity to stop progressing. Instead of asking a person to understand every network, tokenization platform, staking product, lending market, and DeFi protocol, an agent can begin with a much simpler question:

What are you trying to accomplish?

A user might want to earn a reasonable return without taking substantial risk. They might want to move money internationally or gain exposure to a tokenized asset. They may want to finance an invoice, purchase a product, or compare a group of investment opportunities.

The user does not necessarily need to know which blockchain, protocol, stablecoin, bridge, wallet, or application sits underneath the answer. The agent can search the available options, evaluate them against the user’s constraints, explain the tradeoffs, and eventually execute within permissions established in advance.

Some people are research-oriented and take on risks. Some institutions are innovators and trailblazers. But those are the participants who got involved in crypto years ago.

We need to bring in those participants, who have yet to invest intellectually, as well as conservative enterprises that can’t ignore the opportunity.

There’s another dimension to why these participants may be reluctant to enter this space. In order to self-custody crypto assets, users must not only make informed decisions but also assume responsibilities, such as managing seed words, passphrases, and device security. The consequences of misplacing or improperly storing them can be dire.

Crypto has always treated that responsibility as a feature, and it’s what originally attracted people to the space. The ability to “be your own bank” defined the industry. But today, most people don’t actually want the responsibility of being their own bank. They want control over their money, but without the risk associated with self-custody. Traditional finance has been built around people and businesses delegating those responsibilities to the institutions they trust. For the masses, handing off some responsibility to a trusted party may not be a compromise, but a necessity. In a way, AI can bridge that gap.

AI can provide a fundamentally different user experience for these participants and a clear outline of the risks, which may not be as intimidating as imagined. With the right system in place, a person or enterprise can interact with their goal. The agent will deal with the machinery.

If blockchain is going to reach a wide range of participants who have no interest in becoming crypto experts, that separation may prove essential.

Where AI is a Natural Fit

Trade finance offers a useful example here because its complexity is not theoretical.

A single trade finance transaction can involve invoices, certificates, shipping documents, compliance records, banks, exporters, importers, insurers, logistics companies, and counterparties that may never have worked together before. Blockchain provides a common settlement and verification layer. AI helps people and institutions actually navigate it.

An intelligent system can read documents, reconcile information, identify inconsistencies, and flag unusual activity across a volume of paperwork that would be difficult to review manually. Connected to XDC’s settlement infrastructure, those capabilities can shorten the path from a traditional paper workflow to a verifiable on-chain transaction.

The same logic extends to enterprises that have never developed a blockchain department. AI tools can help review smart contracts, identify vulnerabilities, convert business requirements into EVM-compatible code, and monitor live applications for behavior that deviates from their intended design. Again, the underlying value is not that AI replaces blockchain. Instead, it makes blockchain easier to use.

As the network expands, that function becomes more valuable. More tokenized assets, applications, liquidity pools, validators, and financial products create more opportunity — but also more complexity. AI will help participants make sense of that complexity.

AI will help users find relevant opportunities and help developers locate infrastructure and liquidity. It will help institutions monitor activity across a network they may otherwise find difficult to navigate. Eventually, agents may do more than make recommendations.

They may negotiate transactions, rebalance portfolios, execute settlements, secure financing, and transfer funds when authenticated information indicates that certain conditions have been met. A network built around trade finance, real-world assets, fast settlement, and predictable costs gives those agents something useful to do.

But the order is important. First, we require trustworthy infrastructure. Then, we need intelligence capable of navigating it. If both work, adoption becomes easier.

The Missing Link

AI does not solve blockchain’s problems simply by adding a layer of functionality. It does not convert insufficient infrastructure into a quality system. It does not make an unsafe protocol trustworthy. AI does not remove the need for security, compliance, privacy, or reliable settlement. Blockchain still has to do what it was designed to do.

What AI will change is the distance between that infrastructure and the person trying to use it. That may prove more consequential than many of the dramatic predictions being made today. The crypto industry has spent years asking people to come to blockchain: learn the terminology, download the wallet, understand the network, compare the protocols, and accept the risk.

AI renegotiates that relationship, making it much easier to onboard. Blockchain can now present itself to the user. An agent can understand the objective, navigate the infrastructure, assess the available choices, and act within boundaries the user has already established.

For XDC Network, that does not mean leaving trade finance, real-world assets, or enterprise settlement behind in pursuit of the newest technology cycle. It means continuing to build on a solid foundation and carry forward years of momentum in established fields.

It’s a call to the entire ecosystem to continue developing purposeful infrastructure. It’s a call to those in trade finance to keep expanding the markets blockchain can serve. It’s a call to the innovators to keep reducing the friction between traditional and decentralized finance.

With AI, we can make it easier to reach all of our key participants. The blockchain industry may not need AI to fulfill its next promise. It may benefit from AI by helping to deliver on the promises already made.

About the Author: Billy Sebell is the Executive Director of XDC Foundation, an organization he helped form in 2021 to support the growth, development, and adoption of the XDC Network. Follow Billy on his X account — https://x.com/XinfinUSA.

Read more about XDC Network on our News & Insights page.

The XDC mainnet launched on June 1, 2019. Over the past seven years, a guiding vision — one of modernizing trade finance infrastructure through decentralized technologies — has guided the XDC Network’s evolution into a fully operational, institutionally-focused ecosystem. Today, the network is powering real-world financial applications at scale. Important developments are underway and will soon become more visible to everyone.

In the past year alone, participants have witnessed many exceptional milestones. Here are seven that stand out:

• USDC & CCTP V2 launched on XDC Network, enabling fast, affordable stablecoin payments, RWA tokenization, and crosschain transfers for developers and institutions.
• 21shares XDC Network ETP launched alongside a showcase for XDC’s role in blockchain trade.
• CoinDesk reported that Brazil’s VERT Capital announced a plan to tokenize $1B in Real-World Assets on XDC Network.
• Curve Finance announced full DEX deployment on the XDC Network, expanding into institutional and real-world asset markets.
• The accelerator partnership with Plug and Play and XDC Foundation has advanced the XDC ecosystem through real-world initiatives, including tokenized vault infrastructure with Raze, the cacao trade tokenization workflow with Brickken and Blockticity, and cohort 3’s focus on expanding XDC’s DeFi ecosystem.
• The MiCA Crypto Alliance announced the publishing of the XDC MiCA White Paper in accordance with MiCAR — a milestone marking another step toward responsible token access and compliance under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (#MiCA) Regulation.

Republic and Clearpool joined XDC Network as institutional validators, alongside SBI VC and Deutsche Telekom. Alexander Ebeling of Telekom MMS notes: “It’s not the best technology that wins, it’s the adoption of use cases and of the ecosystem.”

A community of builders, institutions, developers, and advocates spanning continents and industries workare at the core of much of this growth.

This diversity of perspective empowers the network to solve real-world financial challenges with practical, region-specific solutions — while contributing to a shared, global infrastructure.

Now, the network has a firm foothold as a foundational layer in finance, including:

• Expanded tokenized debt markets in Brazil
• Integrated institutional-grade compliance through global leaders like Elliptic
• Native USDC settlement rails
• Next-generation DeFi platforms like Raze
• AI agent credit scoring and risk infrastructure through Bond.Credit

These seven milestones and seven years of XDC mainnet show more than just growth and longevity — they are a testament to execution, alignment with real-world needs, and a sustained commitment to building solutions where blockchain can make a lasting difference.

The XDC Network has always taken a distinguished path.

While much of the blockchain industry pursued speculative or isolated use cases, leadership on XDC directed efforts towards integrating the network with existing financial systems — aligning with institutional requirements, regulatory frameworks, and global trade standards.

Over time, this foundation has enabled XDC to transition from infrastructure to active financial rails, supporting use cases such as:

• Trade finance digitization
• Real-world asset tokenization
• Cross-border payments and settlement
• Structured credit and debt issuance

Today, XDC is not just a novel application of blockchain technology — it is a fully functioning layer of financial infrastructure.

Adoption in theory is now turning into real-world use.

A defining characteristic of the XDC Network is its ability to integrate directly with institutional workflows. Expanding on one of the aforementioned milestones, in 2025, Mercado Bitcoin leveraged XDC infrastructure to expand its tokenized investment offerings, including fixed-income products backed by corporate debt.

Around the same time, VERT Capital announced plans to tokenize up to $1 billion in debt and receivables on the network.

These developments signal a broader shift:

• Traditional financial institutions are issuing assets on-chain.
• Regulated structures are increasingly maintained within blockchain environments.
• Transparency and auditability are embedded by design.

Real-world asset tokenization has become one of the most important narratives in crypto — but on XDC, the pursuit of tokenizing entire industries has been active for years.

The network has enabled the tokenization of:

• Corporate debt instruments
• Agribusiness receivables
• Trade finance assets
• Structured credit products

Platforms like Raze Finance are extending these capabilities further, enabling users and institutions to access compliant, yield-generating tokenized products backed by real-world assets.

All these developments make XDC a leader in real-world asset tokenization, not just a follower of the trend.

Stablecoins and Settlement: Compliance and Trust

A major inflection point in XDC’s evolution has been the introduction of USDC and cross-chain settlement infrastructure.

With stablecoin capabilities on XDC, institutions and other users can:

• Settle transactions in near real time
• Reduce reliance on intermediaries
• Improve capital efficiency
• Enable programmable financial flows

Institutional adoption depends on more than performance. It requires trust, transparency, and compliance. In order for blockchain to evolve from conceptual infrastructure into functioning financial rails, an ecosystem must develop.

USDC on the XDC Network helps establish a trusted ecosystem essential for onboarding the next generation of DeFi practitioners, especially those transitioning from TradFi, seeking liquidity, and aiming to expand their user base through the XDC ecosystem.

Access becomes as easy as an internet connection, and now diverse forms of liquidity can move freely on chain.

Adding Elliptic to the XDC ecosystem brings advanced AML monitoring, transaction screening, and risk analysis. This helps institutions operate confidently in regulated environments.

This strengthens the network’s reputation as a blockchain with premier compliance solutions and shows alignment with global financial standards.

Accelerating the next generation of tokenization.

The Plug and Play RWA and DeFi accelerators have become important catalysts for innovation within the XDC ecosystem, bringing together startups, institutions, and infrastructure providers focused on the future of tokenized finance. Across three cohorts to date, the program has evolved beyond mentorship into a collaborative network where participants actively build alongside one another on XDC Network infrastructure.

This momentum is already leading to real results. Projects like Blockticity and Brickken have shown how tokenization and supply chain verification can converge, as seen in the cacao trade case study on XDC. At the same time, platforms like Raze Finance are making yield-bearing real-world assets more accessible, which further strengthens the network’s growing RWA ecosystem.

As accelerator participants continue forming partnerships across cohorts, the program is helping transform isolated innovation into an interconnected ecosystem — one that reflects XDC Network’s broader vision of globally collaborative, institution-ready financial infrastructure.

The growth of XDC Network is ultimately a story of people.

XDC Network contribution has grown significantly over the last two years with many milestones resulting from numerous independent contributors working toward a shared goal. This progress is driven by a distributed community of financial professionals, technologists, and entrepreneurs who bring experience and expertise from both traditional finance and Web3. By working together, they accelerate the design and deployment of solutions that resonate across markets, bridging the gap between legacy systems and decentralized innovation.

From developers building decentralized applications to institutions deploying tokenized assets, this globally connected ecosystem enables XDC Network to evolve in step with real-world financial needs.

Supported by XDC Foundation and a rapidly expanding community, the network continues to grow across regions, industries, and use cases.

Quantum resilience: address it before it’s needed.

The risk posed by quantum computing has begun to loom large in fintech circles. The XDC protocol team launched the Post-Quantum Initiative in March 2026. Hear from XDC Network Co-founder, Ritesh Kakkad, in this World Quantum Day focused article. The initiative includes three working fronts:

• Working code. XDC already has a functioning prototype of Falcon in the development codebase.
• Standards authorship. XDC is co-developing XDSS-PQ, a quantum-safe trade document signing standard, with the International Trade and Forfaiting Association, the International Chamber of Commerce, and TradeTrust.
• Compliance alignment. XDC node operators face hard deadlines. China mandates post-quantum migration by 2027; the EU by December 2030; the US by 2035.

A four-phase migration plan built around the deadlines set by the EU and the US National Institute of Standards and Technology is already in place.

The next stage of blockchain adoption will focus on large-scale implementation, not just experimentation.

As RWA tokenization accelerates and institutions deepen their engagement with blockchain, networks like XDC will play an increasingly prominent role. The network already sits at the intersection of:

• Tokenized real-world assets
• Stablecoin-based settlement
• Institutional financial infrastructure

Through successful integrations, growing adoption, and a global ecosystem, XDC Network demonstrates how blockchain can serve as core financial infrastructure. The foundation is established. Today, many institutions and participants have chosen to make the network their home.

Seven years ago, the XDC Network launched with a bold vision: to modernize global finance through blockchain.

With every step we take together, our community brings this vision to life.

Read the 2025 mainnet anniversary article here.

XDC Foundation strives to cover relevant developments on the XDC Network. Our coverage includes reports from third-party sources and is intended to showcase the growth of the XDC Network. It should not be interpreted as an endorsement of any third-party products; always consult qualified advisors before making financial decisions.

The Opportunity

Tokenization has matured rapidly over the past several years, but the momentum has been concentrated in a familiar place — traditional financial instruments. Tokenized funds, treasuries, and credit products dominate the conversation because their underlying assets are already structured, verified, and widely trusted. The plumbing for moving such instruments on-chain has improved dramatically.

What remains less developed is the foundation beneath tokenized assets, particularly when those assets originate in the physical economy. Commodities, shipments, and receivables are defined by documents, provenance, and multi-party verification. A bag of cacao does not

become a tokenized receivable simply because someone says it does. It becomes one when the farm that grew it, the shipment that carries it, the contract that sells it, and the buyer that receives it can all be traced and trusted.

Substantial progress has been made digitizing trade documents themselves. The unresolved gap, however, lies in connecting those documents to tokenized financial products in a way that is verifiable, trusted, and usable in real trade finance workflows. This straightforward but consequential observation became the focus of the pilot described below.

Participants

The pilot brought together four organizations, each contributing a distinct layer of the workflow. Together they form a stack in which physical provenance, commercial activity, financial structuring, and on-chain settlement are linked rather than siloed.

Process, Flows, and Outcomes

The workflow began at the ground level. Blockticity issued farm-level Certificates of Authenticity (COAs) for the licensed cacao farms supplying the crop. These COAs established an on-chain record of the upstream production sources behind the shipment — an auditable foothold tying the eventual financial instrument back to specific, verified producers.

After Seedcore sourced and consolidated cacao from those verified farms, Blockticity issued a shipment-level COA for the export batch. That shipment COA referenced the underlying farm COAs and linked the cacao consignment to its origin, supplier, buyer, contract details, and related trade documentation. The result was a single on-chain record that resolved cleanly from farmer to export shipment.

In parallel, XDC Foundation worked with Brickken to establish the financial layer. The authenticated COA and supporting trade documents were uploaded to Brickken’s platform as part of the offering setup, and the required onboarding and compliance steps were completed there so the offering could be created and tested. From there, a tokenized receivable was deployed on the XDC Network, supported by the authenticated documentation tied to the underlying cacao shipment. Investors onboard to the Brickken platform, which also manages the lifecycle of the tokenized asset.

The Connection That Mattered

The defining feature of the pilot was the relationship between the two layers. Rather than duplicating data or bridging assets directly, the tokenized asset on XDC referenced authenticated records created by Blockticity. This allowed participants to review and verify the link between the financial instrument and the underlying cacao shipment before participating — a meaningful shift from the typical pattern, in which investors must take provenance largely on faith.

The Workflow, Step by Step

To make the orchestration easier to follow, the pilot can be viewed as a sequence of connected steps. Each participant played a specific role in moving the process from verified cacao provenance to a tokenized trade finance asset on XDC Network.

1. Verifying cacao farms. Blockticity issued farm-level COAs for the licensed cacao farms that supplied the crop.
2. Shipment formation. Seedcore sourced cacao from those verified farms and consolidated it into an export shipment.
3. Shipment-level COA. Blockticity created a shipment-level COA that referenced the farmCOAs and connected the shipment to its origin, supplier, and supporting trade documents.
4. Issuer onboarding. Seedcore onboarded to the Brickken platform as an asset issuer and completed the required compliance steps.
5. Tokenized receivable on XDC. Certificates of Authenticity and receivables documents were used to deploy the tokenized asset on XDC.
6. Investor verification. Participants could review the authenticated records and verify the connection between the financial instrument and the underlying cacao shipment.

Conclusion

For years, real-world asset tokenization has been held back by an unspoken assumption: that the gap between paper-based, multi-party trade processes and on-chain financial instruments is too messy to bridge in any reproducible way. This pilot demonstrates otherwise.

Three outcomes stand out. First, provenance and finance were joined without being conflated. Blockticity’s COAs did not become the receivable; they grounded it. The tokenized asset on XDC referenced authenticated records rather than re-creating them, preserving the integrity of each layer while making the link verifiable to anyone. Second, the workflow was navigable for every participant. A Philippine cacao exporter, an authenticity provider, a tokenization platform, and a Layer 1 network operated through their existing tools and obligations — including ASTM and EUDR-aligned authentication and platform-level compliance — rather than reorganizing around new ones. Third, the value proposition for the upstream economy is direct. When a smallholder farm’s licensed status is anchored on-chain, and a shipment built from those farms backs a verifiable receivable, capital can move toward producers with materially less friction and materially more trust.

What the pilot proves is that the missing layer in real-world asset tokenization is not better tokens or faster chains, but verifiable connective tissue between physical commodities and the financial instruments that represent them. Brickken structures the offering, Seedcore anchors the commercial reality, and Blockticity certifies the underlying truth. XDC Network makes that connectivity load-bearing — a trade-finance-optimized Layer 1 where provenance records and financial instruments can reference each other natively, without translation.

The blueprint extends well beyond cacao. Coffee, cocoa, coconut, timber, fisheries, agricultural receivables, and shipment-backed credit all share the same foundational requirement — and now share a working pattern for meeting it.

For more XDC Network news and insights, visit XDC.org.

As USDC stablecoin adoption continues to accelerate, institutional participants face a clear challenge: deploying large-scale stablecoin liquidity into compliant, asset-backed yield opportunities rather than speculative protocols. RAZE on XDC (Raze) addresses this need directly and serves as a critical yield and distribution layer for on-chain capital markets.

The XDC Network already provides institutions with fast finality, low transaction costs, and enterprise-ready reliability. With Raze now fully integrated with XDC Network, USDC holders gain access to a core platform designed to generate real yield from real-world assets.

Through its Vault-as-a-Service offering, Raze enables asset owners and issuers to launch stablecoin-denominated vaults backed by private credit, structured debt, and commodities — while removing the complexity of tokenization, compliance, onboarding, and lifecycle management.

The Raze integration unlocks immediate XDC ecosystem value.

XDC Network has seen more than $100 million in USDC liquidity move on-chain. That liquidity now has another leading destination to earn yield. Through Raze, asset issuers gain access to global, stablecoin-native capital, while investors benefit from transparent exposure to asset-backed yield on a purpose-built enterprise blockchain.

XDC Foundation developed a strategic alliance with Raze Finance to bring RAZE on XDC to market. Director Matthew Weisenthal provides further insight, stating that “building a liquid on-chain economy through RWA tokenization has long been a focus for XDC Foundation. Through RAZE on XDC, capital market flow will nourish this economy for new and existing XDC ecosystem participants.”

The real assets, real liquidity, and real yield provided through RAZE on XDC are vital components to the further adoption of on-chain trade finance. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have yearned for this type of solution since the dawn of blockchain technology.

The launch of RAZE on XDC signals compelling progress for the industry.

XDC Foundation strives to cover relevant developments on the XDC Network. Our coverage is intended as a bold and unequivocal endorsement of the network and never as an endorsement of any third party’s products; always consult qualified advisors before making financial decisions.

For more XDC Network news and insights, visit XDC.org.

In 2025, an entire nation — one with an indispensable role in the global economy — embraced blockchain with open arms. Despite a wall of worry and muted retail interest, advancements in and around the crypto industry have quietly laid the foundation for blockchain adoption to accelerate at its greatest pace yet in 2026.

A look back

This year’s demand for real-world asset applications drove significant innovation across the XDC ecosystem. Perhaps best exemplified by the integration of USDC and CCTP V2, the XDC Network welcomed new use cases and industry-leading liquidity.

Through its blockchain industry partnerships and participation in global regulatory discussions, the XDC Network not only witnessed a burgeoning digital economy develop on chain but also saw leaders on the network play a role in shaping the industry’s direction as a whole.

In ten countries on four continents, leadership, participants, and users of the XDC Network shepherded the use of blockchain, especially in trade finance, where there remains such a dire need for it. In lockstep, the XDC Network’s financial sector partnerships grew massively as it continues to move to solve the $2.5 trillion trade finance gap.

As we wrap 2025, long-standing initiatives and emerging developments position the XDC Network for its greatest increase in adoption since inception.

If 2024 promised a regulatory framework in the U.S., 2025 delivered it.

This year’s passage of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act) provided the long-awaited rails governing stablecoin issuance and usage in the U.S. It offers consumer protections through strong reserve requirements and provides a safe passage for institutions longing to enter the digital asset space. In the process, the GENIUS Act strengthens the U.S. dollar’s reserve currency status. It also provides the blueprint for more regulatory advancements.

XDC Network’s interests were represented well at important regulatory discussions, best exemplified by the following:

• Digital Economy Council of Australia’s (DECA) Annual Policy Forum in Sydney, alongside Ripple, Binance AU, CoinSpot, and other industry players.
• The Digital Chamber’s efforts surrounding blockchain regulation, especially in the U.S.
• The Canadian Blockchain Consortium’s legislative discussions in Canada.
• Ongoing efforts by the MiCA Crypto Alliance helped to foster regulatory clarity, compliance, and long-term trust in Europe’s evolving digital landscape.

Representative of making inroads with the traditional financial industry, XDC Network’s Ziv Keinan rang the bell at the SIX Swiss Exchange in Zurich on the momentous occasion of the listing of the first-ever 21Shares XDC Network Exchange-Traded Product (ETP), which allows investors to benefit from XDC’s role in global commerce.¹ The ETP is denominated in both EUR and USD, and is fully collateralized by underlying XDC assets, which are held securely in cold storage.

On separate visits, Fintech.TV interviewed XDC Network co-founders Atul Khekade and Ritesh Kakkad on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

As the regulatory landscape evolves to bring long-awaited benefits to blockchain, the XDC Network made noteworthy moves through partnerships, integrations, and acquisitions — particularly in the payments and trade finance sectors.

Circle launched native USDC and cross-chain transfer protocol (CCTP V2) on the XDC Network, adding another pillar to the network’s position in the evolving tokenization landscape. This positions the network to expand its DeFi ecosystem and drive broader adoption.

The fully-reserved stablecoin provides almost instantaneous on-chain settlement, featuring advanced security and scalable, low-cost transactions. This increased liquidity, reduced counterparty risk, and seamless settlement will benefit trade finance and institutional applications, in particular. Meanwhile, the Circle Cross Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP V2) provides the rails for USDC to move easily across supported blockchains.

This year, XDC Ventures, an investment arm within the XDC ecosystem, acquired Contour Network. Contour is a blockchain-based platform for digitized letters of credit, bolstering its status as the premier blockchain in trade finance.

Additionally, the XDC Network integrated institutional-grade compliance into its blockchain through a collaboration with CRYMBO, bringing native support for key compliance features such as the FATF Travel Rule and KYC/AML.

In 2025, XDC Network, along with Archax, Verseprop, Spitfire Group and Daizun, successfully tokenized a commercial real estate finance transaction on-chain. This marked a milestone in the tokenization of real world assets on the XDC Network.

Other Key Blockchain Integrations:

• Mercado Bitcoin will utilize the XDC Network infrastructure to expand its digital investment products. The initial phase of the project foresees the issuance of $15MM in fixed-income RWA tokens backed by corporate debt securities of Brazilian companies.
• Brazilian securitization firm VERT Capital announced plans to tokenize up to $1 billion in debt and receivables on the XDC Network, expanding the use of blockchain for structured finance. The first issuance for $75MM tokenized an Agribusiness Receivables Certificate (CRA). It spans four series with maturities up to six years and is now fully trackable on a public blockchain, offering daily transparency, lifecycle auditability, and regulatory compliance.
• XDC was integrated with Stargate’s Hydra network, connecting the ecosystem to a unified composable liquidity layer and unlocking seamless, scalable, and low-cost access from 50+ blockchains.
• Through its LayerZero integration, the network unlocks true omnichain functionality, connecting developers, enterprises, and users to over 125 blockchains.
• Blockchain analytics leader Elliptic integrated the network, allowing institutions to meet the gold standard in crypto compliance while tokenizing assets as diverse as treasuries, commodities, and trade instruments.

XDC Network and its representatives joined industry events around the world, doing its part to cultivate both its community and the broader blockchain ecosystem.

• In North America, XDC Network had a presence at Crypto Week DC and the Silicon Valley June Summit, where Atul Khekade delivered the keynote address. “Look, this is the future,” said the XDC Network co-founder. “There was a time when there was a little bit of regulatory uncertainty around the space, but I think it’s all going mainstream.” Meanwhile, XDC Foundation’s Billy Sebell delivered the keynote address at the Boston Blockchain Summit. XDC Foundation hosted the Institutional RWA mixer as part of its presence as a sponsor at Consensus Toronto.
• On the Asian continent, the network had a presence at ETHDubai, Token 49 in Singapore, RWA Gulf Week in Dubai, and Indian Blockchain Week in Bengaluru. SBI XDC, a joint venture between financial services conglomerate SBI Holdings and TradeFinex, was a sponsor of WebX, the largest web3 conference in Japan.
• In Europe, XDC Network cofounder Atul Khekade attended and participated in a gong ceremony at Euronext Amsterdam, while the network had a presence at SIBOS 2025 in Frankfurt, Germany.

XDC community and ecosystem growth flourished in 2025.

XDC’s community and ecosystem participants continued to cultivate growth and engagement on the network this year:

• XDC Foundation led the second Plug and Play RWA Accelerator through a competitive selection process, which progressed into multiple integrations by high-performing startups. These integrations kicked off an ongoing initiative to unlock new pathways for onboarding RWA projects, deepen liquidity, and drive real on-chain demand on XDC. There’s also active collaboration between projects from the first and second cohorts, working together to introduce new RWA opportunities and use cases. Toknar, Brickken, Investbay, Raze Finance and Compute Labs have become integrated ecosystem participants from Cohort 2.
• XDC Foundation hosted an RWA Institutional Mixer in Toronto during Consensus kicking off the first of many institutional events in North America.
• RWA Night in New York City allowed people interested or involved in real world asset tokenization to the XDC Network.
• Also in New York, T3: Tokenization, Trade, and Treasury hosted a full-day program and rooftop mixer in New York, bringing together leaders across decentralized finance.
• The XDC Innovation Lab hosted DeFi on XDC: The Next Frontier, an event exploring how real-world DeFi is evolving across stablecoins, institutional-grade solutions, and practical on-chain utility. Speakers from TradeFi Network, Prime Numbers, and XDC Network shared insights on how DeFi on XDC is driving meaningful adoption beyond speculation.
• In the fourth quarter of this year, the XDC Network is running XDC Surge, which has allocated $1.25 million in WXDC to boost liquidity across major DeFi platforms, including Curve Finance, XSwap Protocol, and Oku.
• The XDC Network partnered in 2025 with DAO Maker, which increases access to investment capital by allowing XDC-native projects to raise funds through the platform.
• The XDC Engagement Hub launched as an innovative platform that transforms how blockchain communities interact and grow together. It creates a unified space for community members to participate, contribute, and receive transparent blockchain-based rewards.
• The XDC Outpost platform, created by one of our most active community members, offers multiple tools for XDC Network developers to assist with tasks, including mobile alerts for node operators, a dynamic repair robot for RPC endpoint issues, PDF receipts for network payments, and a shopbot for selling digital products and collecting payment, to name a few.

Throughout the year, XDC Network and its ecosystem participants communicated with the broader blockchain movement through podcasts — Inside XDC, XDC APAC, and XDC MENA. The XDC MENA Podcast received over 650,000 views on YouTube alone for its 17 episodes in 2025.

Looking forward, several areas of growth will build on 2025’s momentum.

Moving into 2025, the UK’s first FCA-regulated digital securities exchange, Archax, integrated with XDC Network with the specific focus of enabling financial institutions to access tokenized RWAs more efficiently and broadening the adoption rate in global financial markets in the process.

Major US exchange listings, including Kraken and Binance US, now provide access points to the XDC Network and support growing transaction activity.

As mentioned, having native USDC on the network, as well as Circle’s CCTP V2 for cross-chain transfers, was central to network growth this year and will provide opportunities for more enterprise adoption. XDC Network is quickly climbing the ranks of USDC-integrated networks, with $125.2M officially issued at the time of writing, per usdc.cool.

More exchanges will begin to support USDC on XDC Network. Beginning in Q1 of 2026, there will also be more institutional participation in digital assets through regulated platforms offering safe onboarding and yield-earning opportunities.

From discussions with current and potential partners, it is clear that native USDC has made the XDC Network more attractive to real-world asset and trade finance participants. It is only the beginning of native USDC on XDC Network, and we look forward to onboarding more partners who handle asset purchases, settlement, and yields using the stablecoin.

Blockchain’s role is poised to rise to the challenges of 2026 and beyond.

During a year when both the promises and concerns regarding artificial intelligence took center stage, privacy has become increasingly pertinent, and secure blockchain networks with historical performance like XDC Network remain even more critical than ever.

A realist and believer in community building, XDC Foundation Executive Director Billy Sebell reflected on 2025 from his unique vantage point — celebrating the wins while reminding the community that there is still so much work to be done.

“Rails are continuously being built, and USDC, as an on-ramp, delivers a major step forward for the network,” said Sebell. “We now have a bevy of tokenization platforms coming together on-chain that will be the foundation for institutional adoption. This only means the work and community contributions must continue, at an even greater pace. Yes, there is more work to do, each and every day. Nothing happens overnight, but the process is there. We must not lose sight of the road ahead as we build for the network and the community, determined to accomplish something meaningful. That is who we are.”

¹ XDC Foundation strives to cover relevant developments on the XDC Network. Our coverage is intended as a bold and unequivocal endorsement of the network and never as an endorsement of any third party’s products; always consult qualified advisors before making financial decisions.

Get more XDC Network news and insights.

Through integrations with Tier 1 exchanges, affiliations with large, multinational blockchain organizations, and the launch of native USDC, XDC Network has created significant inroads in the continent that boasts the highest GDP per capita, positioning it for further growth and development in the region and beyond.

XDC Network will support the next generation of payments for the world’s largest remittance corridor, between the U.S. and Mexico.

XDC Network was built for trade finance and RWA tokenization, and its robust infrastructure is also ideal for the payments industry. In early 2025, the network integrated Bitso, LATAM’s largest cryptocurrency platform, which surpassed $12 billion in transactions in 2024. The well-established Bitso platform includes a suite of enterprise-grade APIs and regulatory access across Latin America. Together with XDC Network’s ISO-20022 readiness, its low-cost, near instant settlements, and its state-of-the-art security, this integration provides solid rails for the future of cross-border remittances.

In addition to the Bitso integration, global trade in the region got a major boost with the opening of Mexico’s Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (CIIT), which seeks to provide an alternative to the long wait periods associated with Panama Canal transits. The CIIT utilizes a rail system to shuttle full-size cargo ships between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Its anchor towns, Salina Cruz and Coatzacoalcos, are located in the south of Mexico. Including loading times, the one-way transport takes 6.5 hours. XDC Network’s growth in the region is well-timed with global trade breakthroughs like the CIIT.

Circle’s USDC and CCTP V2 are both now live on XDC Mainnet.

U.S.-based Circle recently integrated the XDC Network for its native USDC stablecoin and its cross-chain transfer protocol (CCTP V2). The public announcement was one of the global XDC community’s most celebrated launches in recent months. Backed 1:1 by highly liquid cash and cash-equivalent assets, native USDC affords network users more opportunities to inject liquidity into their projects. Circle held an initial public offering in June and listed on the NYSE, joining a small but growing number of crypto companies to list in the U.S.

USDC will enable increased liquidity on the XDC Network and unlock working capital, which liquidity providers can deploy within the XDC ecosystem. Its capital efficiency will also help address the trade finance gap, as on-chain trade finance projects — which historically face funding challenges — have new forms of liquidity available. The stablecoin on XDC Network will open corridors for small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing economies, for example.

Together with XDC Network’s scalable enterprise infrastructure, USDC will also open access to the trade finance secondary market, one that has previously been reserved for larger financial institutions.

CCTP V2 provides network users with a seamless crosschain transfer mechanism across supported blockchains that does not rely on bridged or wrapped assets. There are 25+ supported blockchains — including Ethereum, Arbitrum, and XRP Ledger — and the list continues to grow.

XDC Foundation became a member of The Digital Chamber; several members are actively participating in the Stablecoin and Asset Tokenization Working Groups.

U.S. regulatory advancements are underway after remaining static for most of crypto’s lifecycle. The GENIUS Act was signed into U.S. law in 2025 and creates the first-ever federal regulatory system for stablecoins. The law ensures their stability and trust through 100% liquid reserve requirements, providing consumer protections through strict marketing guidelines for issuers. Further, this legislation intends to strengthen the U.S. dollar’s global reserve currency status.

Membership and participation in The Digital Chamber provide XDC Network a seat at the table as digital asset policy, like the GENIUS Act, is shaped and has led to strong networking opportunities within the nation’s capital, including with members of the Securities and Exchange Commission and prominent industry leaders.

XDC Foundation also joined the Canadian Blockchain Consortium (CBC) this year. CBC was founded in Canada — a nation that seeks to expand its digital presence — to unite blockchain-oriented businesses and other stakeholders. Its members follow policy priorities for trust, innovation, and global leadership in blockchain and digital assets as outlined in the From Chaos to Clarity whitepaper.

It is great to see XDC Network’s footprint expand across North America, states Billy Sebell, Executive Director of XDC Foundation. This region has always been important to the growth of the network. Whether we are integrating important remittance platforms in Mexico or lending our voices to the regulatory efforts in the United States and Canada, the XDC Network will continue to have a strong presence here.

Other meaningful milestones in the region include:

• Kraken and Binance.US bring tier 1 exchange access to the U.S. market. Both Kraken and Binance.US integrated the network and listed the XDC coin this year.
• Diversity and liquidity headline XDC Network’s second RWA accelerator hosted by Plug and Play. Working with Silicon Valley’s Plug and Play Tech Center, XDC Foundation launched two accelerators this year, focusing on RWA tokenization projects and liquidity. The second cohort, specifically, will expand on the first by including projects that bring diverse ways to interface with RWAs, enhanced liquidity, and a collaborative approach to work within the broader XDC and Plug and Play ecosystems. Notably, some projects bring compute and AI competencies to the network, while others provide unique platforms for origination or funding. Both of these accelerators provide momentum to XDC Network’s trade finance and RWA tokenization growth.
• XDC Network’s physical presence expands in the U.S. XDC Network’s Co-founders Atul Khekade and Ritesh Kakkad have been in the U.S. recently to highlight network activities. Atul gave the digital asset keynote address in June at the Plug and Play summit in Silicon Valley, while Ritesh was a featured guest on the Crypto Mondays podcast in NYC. Ritesh also witnessed the ringing of the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange and appeared on Fintech.TV. XDC Network teams now host office space in Manhattan, increasing the network’s global representation throughout North America.

As XDC strengthens in North America, there is more to come on the continent.

With a firm foothold in North America, the XDC Network should benefit from these early efforts to penetrate traditional and decentralized finance in the region. Institutional DeFi presents unique opportunities and is a natural area for growth as the network’s enterprise and trade finance ecosystems continue to strengthen. The USDC integration will support these efforts.

Also, regulatory guidelines continue to evolve, and network representatives will have meaningful input into those policies. An upcoming initiative — based on the Global Markets Advisory Council for Digital Asset Markets’ 2024 recommendations — involves the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) seeking input on potential regulatory amendments to collateral management frameworks, among other requests. This request specifically addresses tokenized collateral, including stablecoins, in derivatives markets. XDC representatives will have a material contribution to The Digital Chamber’s response to the CFTC on this and other emerging topics.

From educational opportunities with leading universities to market expansion and legislative involvement, XDC Network is well-positioned to continue its growth in North America and across the world.

READ more XDC Network news and insights.

With its 1:1 capital efficiency, USDC is used globally to settle transactions, provide liquidity, and service many other use cases. CCTP V2 enables seamless crosschain transfers across supported blockchains without reliance on bridged or wrapped assets.

Circle Mint² accounts are available for eligible businesses to exchange USD for USDC, providing institutional on-ramps and direct access to the stablecoin’s utility.

All XDC Network users can easily integrate USDC into their applications and benefit from the following:

• Regulated, dollar-pegged liquidity to power the next generation of trade finance and RWA tokenization.
• Enterprise-grade stablecoin infrastructure for tokenization, payments and DeFi.
• Ultra-low fees and high performance from XDC Network’s delegated proof-of-stake network, capable of near instant transactions and near-zero gas costs.

As one of the world’s leading Layer 1 blockchains for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) and trade finance, XDC Network is positioned for further growth in its DeFi ecosystem. USDC also continues to grow — with over $72.5B in circulation as of September 16th.

¹ USDC is issued by regulated affiliates of Circle. A list of Circle’s regulatory authorizations can be found here.

² Circle Mint and money transmission services are provided by Circle Internet Financial, LLC. Circle Internet Financial, LLC, NMLS # 1201441, is a licensed provider of money transmission services. A full list of Circle’s licenses can be found here. [link] Circle Mint is currently available only to institutions and is not available to individuals.

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Circle will soon launch USDC on the XDC Network, adding another marker to XDC’s progress in the rapidly evolving tokenization landscape. USDC positions the network for growth within its DeFi ecosystem and for broader network adoption.

The fully-reserved stablecoin provides near-instant settlement on a blockchain that already employs advanced security and scalable, low-cost benefits. Trade finance and institutional applications can benefit through improved liquidity, reduced counterparty risk, and a widely-adopted, yet seamless settlement process.

With a market capitalization that currently exceeds $68B, the amount of USDC in circulation has more than doubled since August 2024. The dollar-pegged stablecoin, with its broad usage and acceptance, gives XDC-based decentralized exchanges, lending platforms, and payment applications a platform to scale faster, while appealing to users, developers, and institutions seeking a stablecoin designed to maintain a stable value.

Circle Cross Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) V2 provides the rails for USDC to move natively across multiple supported blockchains with 1:1 capital efficiency and no reliance on bridged or wrapped assets. USDC is issued through regulated affiliates of Circle Internet Group, Inc. (“Circle”) the global financial technology firm and eligible businesses can exchange USD for USDC by applying for a Circle Mint(2) account.

(1) USDC is issued by regulated affiliates of Circle. A list of Circle’s regulatory authorizations can be found here.

(2) Circle Mint and money transmission services are provided by Circle Internet Financial, LLC. Circle Internet Financial, LLC, NMLS # 1201441, is a licensed provider of money transmission services. A full list of Circle’s licenses can be found here. Circle Mint is currently available only to institutions and is not available to individuals.

Get more XDC Network news here.

Did you know you can use MetaMask as your XDC wallet? If you’re not already, it may be worth considering. With more than 30 million users and growing, MetaMask is a versatile and widely used cryptocurrency wallet for Ethereum and EVM-compatible networks, like XDC Network.

The reliability and ease-of-use offered by MetaMask are some of its most redeeming features. Also, as a non-custodial cryptocurrency wallet, your MetaMask private keys are held and controlled solely by you, not by a third party or exchange.

Setup Steps

Whether you are looking to store your XDC or use MetaMask for development and testing, setting it up is straightforward. Here’s how you can get started:

• Download the MetaMask app to your mobile device, or add the MetaMask extension to your Chrome, Firefox, or Edge browser. You can also use the MetaMask portfolio dashboard if you prefer managing your assets through a web interface. New to MetaMask? Check out their in-depth tutorial.

Please Note: Be cautious and always verify that the MetaMask app or extension you’re using is authentic. Look for official links directly from MetaMask’s website or your trusted app store.

The next step will be to add XDC Network to your MetaMask wallet and configure your XDC address to MetaMask standards. This is only required for the initial setup.

• MetaMask will default to the Ethereum network upon first use. If you have used MetaMask before, it may show a different EVM-compatible network. To switch to the XDC Network:
• Click the network dropdown at the top left of your MetaMask wallet.
• Select “Add Network”, then choose “Add a network manually” and input the following:
• Network Name = XDC Network
• RPC URL = https://erpc.xinfin.network
• Chain ID = 50
• Symbol = XDC
• Block Explorer URL = https://xdcscan.com

After inputting this information, click Save. You will now see XDC Network as your active network, which should look like this:

MetaMask and the 0x prefix

MetaMask utilizes only a 0x address prefix. This means your MetaMask wallet address will display with 0x (zero-x) instead of xdc. However, the XDC Network recognizes both the 0x and xdc prefix.

Sending TO your MetaMask wallet: Any XDC sent to your MetaMask address will be properly displayed in your MetaMask wallet, regardless of whether the xdc or 0x prefix was used. The XDC Network will recognize your address and process transactions successfully regardless of the prefix, as long as everything after the prefix matches.

Sending FROM your MetaMask wallet: XDC transactions initiated from your MetaMask wallet require the outbound address to start with the 0x prefix. Users will need to change the xdc prefix to 0x for outbound transactions. This change is made manually by deleting the xdc prefix and typing 0x in its place.

Though it may feel awkward at first, this minor adjustment allows for seamless interaction with EVM-compatible tools like MetaMask. If this is your first time amending a wallet address (and even if you’ve done it many times), it is recommended that you send a small test transaction to confirm the address.

When completed, your screen should look similar to this one:

You are now ready to send, receive or swap your XDC.

Troubleshooting

While the ultimate goal in using MetaMask is to achieve a comfortable XDC wallet experience, there may be an occasional issue with its setup or function. Following are some common types of issues, inherent to any wallet, and their solutions on MetaMask:

• RPC URL not working or not available — The RPC (remote procedure call) URL is used to call functions and information from the XDC Network. Should there be a temporary issue with the RPC in your setup, there are other RPCs to choose from. Chainlist.org offers multiple RPC server options. Just click on the dropdown below the Connect Wallet button and select another RPC.

Note: If an RPC is down, you may see a zero balance in your account. Do not panic. This issue simply means the RPC is not pulling data from the network. Your assets remain secure on the blockchain.

• Not enough XDC to cover gas fees — Be mindful to hold some XDC coins in your wallet for gas fees. For example, if your wallet balance is 1,000 XDC, and you want to send 1,000 XDC to another wallet, the transaction will fail due to insufficient balance for the outstanding gas fees. The good news is that XDC gas fees are very low, and just 1 XDC token should be plenty to cover the gas fee for any transaction.

The benefits of using MetaMask provide assurances in your day-to-day crypto transactions and storage.

• Compatibility: The 0x prefix is widely used and works well with EVM-based dApps.
• Reliability: As a trusted and widely adopted wallet, MetaMask is regularly updated to meet the latest security and usability standards.
• Familiarity: MetaMask is one of the most widely used wallets for EVM-compatible networks. Users familiar with MetaMask don’t need to learn a new interface or process when using it with XDC Network, making the transition seamless.
• Control. You control your MetaMask wallet’s private keys, not a third party or exchange. Please note, this also means the responsibility of safeguarding your private key(s) falls entirely on you. If the key is lost or compromised, your funds may be too — no one can recover it for you.

MetaMask offers security, convenience, and versatility for managing your XDC Network-based tokens. By following the simple steps above, you can quickly set up and start using XDC Network on MetaMask.

Visit our Community page for more XDC Network news and insights.

Saturday, June 1, marked five years since XinFin Fintech (XinFin) launched the XDC Network mainnet — a blockchain specifically developed to support trade finance and the tokenization of real world assets (RWAs).

Since then, the entire blockchain industry has become intensely focused on bringing RWAs on chain, affirming what the XinFin founders knew five years ago — blockchain’s promise lies in digitizing finance and revolutionizing legacy financial processes through tokenization.

Tokenization

Tokenization is a choice. Organizations and enterprises are only willing to make that choice with proof that blockchain can reduce finance’s inefficiencies. In a Coindesk article focusing on the “tokenization boom,” Nils Behling, COO of Tradeteq, a company building on XDC, was quoted calling trade finance “the last frontier in finance.”

Coindesk referred to trade finance as the “arcane world of invoices and receivables” and reported that “companies like Tradeteq are working to tokenize these invoices, which brings more liquidity to the market, gives more borrowing options for small businesses, and provides yet another asset class for investors.”

At XDC Foundation, we believe trade finance is the industry most ripe for blockchain transformation. Behling agrees. He thinks the trade finance market alone is worth over $1 trillion.

Like other businesses, his company is quickly learning that tokenization can address inefficiencies inherent in traditional origination and distribution while increasing access to a traditionally inaccessible asset class.

Over the years, XDC Network has remained the destination for this type of financial innovation, validating XinFin’s initial vision. However, many milestones have occurred along the way, eroding our long-standing expectations of how finance operates and paving the way for true transformation.

Year 1

In year one of the XDC Network, XinFin worked to prepare the blockchain for enterprise usage, establishing proof points that showcased how the network can be utilized to streamline legacy financial processes while simultaneously creating on-ramps for community usage and broad, decentralized participation.

Year 2

During year two, the network found its real foothold in trade finance. It became, and remains, the first and only Layer 1 blockchain to join the International Trade and Forfaiting Association (IFTA). To further support the enterprise use case, the network began working on a bridge to R3’s Corda Network that would start many stages of interoperability within the blockchain industry. This work culminated in the recently completed proof of concept with SBI Group that saw multi-company instant settlement trade transactions across two separate digital ledger technologies — XDC Network and R3 Corda.

Year 3

In year three, the XDC Foundation was established as an independent organization to encourage development within the XDC ecosystem and foster awareness of the XDC Network as a blockchain technology solution.

Furthermore, the XDC Network became the first Layer 1 blockchain — and only, to date — selected as a member of the Trade Finance Distribution Initiative (TFDi), a consortium of trade originators, credit issuers, and institutional funders. A few months later, the network joined the DNI Initiative, an ITFA project to promote the digitization of negotiable instruments in trade finance. At this point, the network was (and still is) firmly positioned within the trade finance industry as the leading blockchain provider.

Year 4

Building on year three’s developments and affiliations, year four brought the world’s first trade finance-based NFT — which featured the tokenization of off-chain real-world trade finance assets in a single token — to the XDC Network. Following this, the trade finance security token, TRADA, launched on the network as an innovation in security token offerings or STOs — a type of RWA tokenization. World Economic Forum member and private credit marketplace Tradeteq orchestrated both transactions and declared the XDC Network their blockchain of choice.

Year four saw steeper increases in network adoption, a broader community commitment to the XDC Network, and deeper patterns of RWA tokenization, particularly in trade finance.

• A group of XDC Foundation members and community contributors founded XDC Community to promote further network decentralization. Since then, alongside XDC Foundation, XDC Community has conducted multiple successful hackathons, grant programs, and workshops through various portals like Discord and XDC.dev and on-site events such as ETHDenver and ETHToronto.

Notably, Japan’s SBI Group (SBI) announced its commitment to the XDC Network. Through its subsidiary, SBI VC Trade, SBI partnered with TradeFinex, became a supporter of XDC Network in Japan, and now offers diverse XDC-related opportunities to its customer base. This relationship with SBI VC Trade and TradeFinex brings the XDC Network’s innovative use cases to the Asia-Pacific region, focusing on trade finance and cross-border payments. As noted below, year five saw further expansion of the SBI-XDC collaboration.

Year 5

Recently, the TradeFinex launch has proven to be a significant milestone in the trade finance sector. It established a marketplace for tokenized assets that showcases invoice receivables, letters of credit, guarantees, and electronic bills of lading (eBL). TradeFinex has a firm footing as a global trade finance asset platform.

Also, the network saw an all-time high in social engagements and expanded its community through various educational seminars, meet-and-greet events, and participation in major crypto and fintech conferences. The XDC community is one of the strongest in crypto, with consistently high rankings on Lunar Crush for social media engagement.

Another community initiative has been the establishment of DAOFIN (now called XDCDAO), which will further democratize XDC Network’s governance process. From its earliest days, the network’s co-founders have committed to a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) as part of its long-term sustainability.

Other year four initiatives included:

• TradeTrust integration — the Singapore IMDA platform for connecting governments and businesses
• XDC Trade Network — the MLETR compliance and interoperability platform for trade documents
• XDC The Stream — the XDC Foundation podcast for broad blockchain conversations
• XDC.org — the home of Success Depends on Your Network and all things XDC Network

Year five saw further increases in developer growth on XDC Network and included major integrations, notably:

Securitize — the pioneer in digitization of private market securities on the blockchain. XDC Network remains one of only four blockchains integrated onto the BlackRock-backed platform.

Securitize is also proud to announce our support for the XDC Network blockchain, which joins Avalanche and Polygon as a blockchain of choice for the digitization of new and traditional financial products.

— Securitize Co-founder and President Jamie Finn

$USTY — a tokenized RWA that gives accredited investors access to a BlackRock-managed U.S. Treasury yield fund — was issued by Yieldteq and tokenized by digital asset leader Securitize on the XDC Network.

Other integrations included:

• Ankr — an extensive network of RPCs and APIs for blockchain functionality and interoperability.
• Elliptic — a compliance and analytics platform, with a focus on risk management.
• Coins.ph — a remittance hub and the most established crypto platform in the Philippines with 16M+ users.
• Blockdaemon — a leading institutional blockchain infrastructure provider.

These integrations ensure the XDC Network remains in the top tier of enterprise blockchains and maintains its premier position for RWA tokenization. XDC Network is positioned to support a suite of RWA products that will make trade finance assets widely accessible to capital markets while enabling finance-starved MSMEs to access the financing they need.

In December 2023, the SBI VC Trade collaboration expanded with the establishment of SBI XDC Network APAC, which aims to streamline global trade in the Asia-Pacific region through smart contracts and RWA tokenization on the network. This relationship between SBI VC Trade and TradeFinex brings the XDC Network’s innovative use cases to this region, focusing on trade finance and cross-border payments.

The U.K. enacted the Electronic Trade Documents Act (ETDA) through royal assent in July 2023.

This landmark regulatory milestone, which occurred during XDC Network’s fifth year, established that electronic trade documents can be utilized in place of paper documents, which have been the standard for hundreds of years. With 80% of global trade founded on British law, ETDA reduces transaction times from weeks or months to minutes and provides a crucial mechanism for large-scale tokenization of trade finance assets.

The XDC Network is increasingly hosting prominent RWA tokenization projects. As mentioned, Yieldteq’s aforementioned USTY token tracks a BlackRock U.S. Treasury bond fund and positions XDC as a top-five network in market capitalization of tokenized U.S. Treasury bonds, according to RWA.xyz. USTY presents a long-term use case as a conservative financial instrument within XDC’s burgeoning on-chain economy and is an essential bridge to traditional finance.

In year 5, improvements to XDC Network’s DPoS protocol were also underway. Developed by Princeton University’s Dr. Pramod Viswanath, Hash Laboratories’ Fisher Yu, and their team, XDC 2.0 comes along with the rollout of an institutional-grade subnet system on XDC — a compelling solution for organizations that need to maintain a certain level of privacy for their transactions while benefiting from everything the XDC public mainnet provides.

The XDC 2.0 mainnet protocol upgrade brings exceptional security, improved performance, and resource efficiency to this Layer 1 blockchain through a Byzantine fault tolerance consensus mechanism where malicious attackers are immediately recognized and slashed.

Year five closed out with the completion of the official CertiK XDC 2.0 audit. The network is currently preparing for the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) upgrade, which will enable support for Solidity smart contract programming language version 0.8.23. This crucial update will align the XDC Network with the latest Ethereum developments, incorporating new features and security improvements.

With a steady five years of mainnet efficiency, the XDC Network is poised as a destination for RWA innovation.

According to XinFin, since its launch in 2019, the XDC Network has seen strong and steady growth in key measurement areas:

• Nodes: 426 (+66 last year)
• Accounts: 1.6 M (+777k last year)
• Blocks: 75.3M (+13.5M mined last year)
• Smart Contracts: 16k (+3000 deployed last year)
• Transactions: 563.9M (+149.47M last year)

Look for revolutionary tokenization projects that will firmly establish the next generation of tokenized assets — a generation that can now feature:

• Yield payments in non-volatile stablecoins, regardless of the underlying RWA;
• New value moving on-chain through user-friendly dashboards and KYC processes;
• Compliant profit-sharing processes

The future is on-chain economies. Through innovative solutions, value can move onto blockchain and stay there as organizations use their yield payments to fund ongoing business activities.

The entire industry is talking about real world assets and tokenization, realizing what the founders of the XDC Network realized over five years ago — we don’t need to create problems for blockchain to solve.

Today, we have much to celebrate due mainly to the contributions of the global XDC community — each and every one of you has made an impact. And we thank you. After all, a network thrives not just through the merits of the underlying technology but also by way of the network on the network.

It is through the contributions of those building on and leveraging the blockchain, making it a channel for innovation and exchange, that ensures the motto “Success depends on your network” holds true. #WeAreXDC

Happy five years!

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