Project Pangea Modernizes the $9.6 Trillion FX Market

Unveiled at the Point Zero Forum in Zurich, Project Pangea is a new institutional blockchain initiative consisting of over 50 banks across 16 countries. The effort aims to move the $9.6 trillion-a-day FX market from a legacy T+2 settlement timeline to near-instant finality. This change would eliminate the two-day counterparty exposure window that has defined global FX for decades.

Banks will continue to interface using their existing SWIFT infrastructure, however those SWIFT instructions will now be executed onchain via a combination of smart contract actions and regulated stablecoins. The project will use Chainlink for orchestration and Ethereum, Polygon, as well as a purpose-built blockchain, Pangea, for stablecoin settlement. Initial testing will pair the Euro and South Korean Won directly, bypassing the US dollar as an intermediary. This direct currency pairing is a significant departure from how most cross-border corridors operate today.

Our Take

Project Pangea is yet another example of how traditional finance can benefit from the adoption of crypto-based solutions. Collapsing FX settlement from two business days to near-instant finality unlocks balance sheet capacity that compounds across thousands of daily interbank transactions. Additionally, the smart contract settlement eliminates counterparty risk entirely as both legs of a transaction must execute simultaneously or not at all. Removing this risk frees up capital that banks must currently hold in idle intraday liquidity buffers.

Furthermore, one of the more underrated design decisions is that participating banks don’t need to change the front end interfaces they use for this to work. SWIFT instructions are sent as usual, and everything that needs to happen onchain is run in the background. This is meeting traditional finance where it is at and a means of adoption we expect to continue in the near-term as banks evaluate other crypto-based solutions.

ETHLabs Launches to Expand Ethereum Research

ETHLabs launched in June as a new nonprofit research organization focused on Ethereum and ETH. Its five co-founders previously worked as senior researchers at the Ethereum Foundation, where their work covered Ethereum’s design, security, scaling roadmap, and economic structure.

The lab is backed by BitMine, SharpLink, Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin, Anchorage, Octant, SNZ, and other ecosystem contributors. Its work is aimed at the practical problems Ethereum must solve as more institutions use public blockchains for payments, tokenized assets, lending markets, and automated commerce.

Our Take

The Ethereum Foundation has long been the main research anchor for the network. ETHLabs adds funding and technical talent as Ethereum prepares to support more users, more assets, and more transaction volume without sacrificing reliability or neutrality.

BitMine and SharpLink hold large ETH treasuries, so their incentive is tied to Ethereum’s usefulness. Funding ETHLabs gives them a way to support the network behind those treasuries while keeping the research in an open nonprofit structure.

For ETH holders, the launch connects ownership with stewardship. Large corporate holders are beginning to fund the public goods that support Ethereum’s long-term value. The model will work best if ETHLabs adds research capacity while preserving the open development culture that made Ethereum valuable in the first place.

BitMine and SharpLink Join Major Russell Indexes

Two Ethereum treasury companies are entering into widely followed U.S. equity benchmarks. BitMine (BMNR) joined the Russell 1000 Large-Cap Index and SharpLink (SBET) joined both the Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 indexes.

BitMine’s placement is especially notable because of the size of its treasury. The company reported 5.70 million ETH as of June 28, representing 4.7% of total ETH supply. A public company with one of the largest ETH treasuries in the world now sits inside a large-cap benchmark used by passive and benchmark-aware investors.

Our Take

BMNR and SBET’s Russell additions echo Michael Saylor’s Strategy (MSTR) entering the Nasdaq-100 in December 2024\. MSTR gave investors amplified bitcoin exposure because the company could raise capital through public equity and credit markets, buy more BTC, and measure progress in bitcoin per share. When the stock traded above the value of its BTC holdings, that premium became part of its accumulation engine.

Ethereum treasury companies are trying to build a similar loop around ETH. mNAV measures equity market value relative to the ETH held on the balance sheet. A premium can let BMNR or SBET issue shares, buy more ETH, stake it, and potentially increase ETH per share. Russell inclusion can strengthen that loop in the same way Nasdaq inclusion helped MSTR: by adding index-linked demand, liquidity, and institutional ownership.

June’s ETHLabs funding by BMNR and SBET shows the broader upside. Public equity demand can support ETH accumulation and Ethereum infrastructure, but only while investors value these companies as operating platforms rather than passive ETH wrappers.

About Triple Point Strategy

Triple Point Strategy is a research firm and crypto investment manager. We operate the Marietta DeFi Fund, a crypto investment fund that is focused on capital appreciation and DeFi-native income strategies. It is currently available to U.S. accredited investors. Subscribe below to receive our latest insights directly in your inbox.

For U.S. accredited investors only. Offered under Rule 506(c) of Regulation D. This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or tax advice. This is not an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any security. Any investment may only be made through the Fund's confidential offering documents. Investing involves risk, including possible loss of capital. Digital assets are volatile and subject to changing regulations.