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Welcome to the October 2026 edition of RADAR, the newsletter keeping Republic’s digital asset community up to date on the accelerating world of global asset tokenization and digital finance.
Inside this issue, we are thrilled to announce a landmark partnership that significantly lowers the barrier to entry for select Grayscale digital asset funds. Plus, we cover the latest institutional milestones in real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, including, Ripple's expanding institutional footprint in Asia, and the IMF's latest breakdown of the rapidly growing tokenized economy.
The Republic launch of Grayscale Funds
Through a new partnership with Grayscale, Republic is opening the door to a set of the firm’s most forward-looking investment products. For over a decade, Grayscale has been a pioneer in institutional digital asset investing, introducing the first publicly traded Bitcoin and Ethereum funds.
Private placement products have typically required an institutional relationship and commitments upward of $50,000. Now eligible investors can access select Grayscale funds starting at $2,500.
These funds provide custody-free exposure, meaning you gain exposure to digital assets without the need to buy, store, or safekeep them directly.
Here is what is currently on offer:
Grayscale Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Fund (DEFG)
This fund offers diversified, market-cap-weighted access to the tokenized infrastructure powering on-chain finance. Key holdings include Uniswap (processing close to $70 billion in recent 30-day trading volume), and Aave, acting as on-chain banking without a banker.
Grayscale Decentralized AI Fund
Designed to counter the concentration of AI power in a few centralized models, this fund invests in open, decentralized frameworks. Featuring digital assets like Near Protocol and Bittensor, the fund targets the decentralized alternatives for building AI models, powering transactions at the speed of scale.
Grayscale Data Network Trust
A major bottleneck for AI models is trustworthy human data. Data that can’t be traced can’t be trained on. Data Network is building a trust layer through Trace (its on-chain registry for AI training data) and integration with Kled, one of the world’s largest opt-in human data marketplaces.
Industry News: RWA acceleration and institutional milestones
Tokenized real-world assets Hit $65.1 Billion
The tokenization market continues its massive global expansion. According to the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) October 2026 Global Financial Stability Report, the total value of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) reached approximately $65.1 billion as of July 31, 2026, excluding repurchase agreements and standard stablecoins. While the IMF highlighted potential market vulnerabilities regarding continuous 24/7 trading, they also noted traditional finance's enthusiasm for instant settlement and automated compliance. Strikingly, over 50% of tokenized equity trading is now happening outside regular US stock market hours, indicating strong global demand for fractional asset ownership.¹
Ripple expands institutional footprint in South Korea
On October 14, Ripple announced a strategic partnership with Meritz Securities, marking Ripple's fourth institutional agreement in South Korea in 2026 and its first with a securities firm in the region. The agreement underscores the continuing institutional integration of digital asset infrastructure—specifically the XRP Ledger—across traditional banking and capital markets in Asia.²
1 Bitkub / IMF Report - Oct 13, 2026
2 Coinpaper - Oct 14, 2026
