Latest / Connecting the Dots / Nasdaq Eyes Tokenized Securities, Rainforest Disrupts Payments, and CoinShares Goes Public

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Nasdaq Eyes Tokenized Securities, Rainforest Disrupts Payments, and CoinShares Goes Public · Connecting the Dots

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  Today's tech news moves fast, but understanding
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  it shouldn't be hard. That's why Snarfl Solutions
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  Group brings you Connecting the Docs, where we
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  break down what's happening in tech and why it
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  matters to you. Now, let's dive in with your
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  hosts. Welcome to Connecting the Docs. I'm Alex.
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  And I'm Morgan. Great to be with you today. Happy
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  Monday, everyone. It is September 8th, 2025.
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  Hope you had a good weekend and are ready to
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  start the week. Definitely ready. Before we jump
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  into our main story, should we do a quick check
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  on the weather and markets? Let's do it. Looks
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  like some rush weather potentially down south
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  today. Severe thunderstorms firing up in the
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  southern plains, western Kansas, northwest Oklahoma,
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  the panhandles. Could see some hail damaging
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  winds. Oof, yeah. Stay safe down there. But good
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  news for the eastern US and mid -south looks
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  cooler and clearer for you folks. And right here
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  in sunny Sacramento looking pretty nice high
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  of 83 Fahrenheit today. Can't complain. Not at
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  all. Our markets on Friday the Dow closed at
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  forty five thousand three hundred twenty one
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  point ninety Nia. uh... down about a hundred
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  eight points of minus point two four percent
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  for the day in the week and the s and p five
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  hundred pretty flat rate of very flat closed
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  at six thousand four hundred ninety six point
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  ten a down just under two points of minus point
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  zero three percent basically unchanged but bitcoin
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  showing some life again it is close at a hundred
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  and twelve thousand two hundred twenty one point
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  two a that's up almost a percent for the day
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  uh... just over a thousand points and it's up
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  about two point seven three percent since the
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  first of september Interesting divergence there.
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  Okay, one more crucial update. The Giants? Oh,
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  don't remind me. Yeah. Lost to the Card Rolls
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  yesterday, September 7th. Tight game 3 -4. Tough
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  loss. Looks like Sunny Gray got the win for St.
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  Louis and their guy Nathan Church had a couple
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  of hits. Oh well. Yeah, tough one. Okay, let's
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  pivot to our main focus today, the Morningstar,
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  our Snarfle Tech article report. We've got three
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  big stories connecting finance and tech. Right.
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  These aren't just abstract tech news items. We
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  want to connect the dots for you, show how this
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  stuff actually impacts businesses, professionals,
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  maybe even your own wallet. Exactly. So first
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  up, Rainforest. It's an Atlanta -based startup
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  and they just pulled in a pretty significant
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  $29 million in Series B funding. 29 million.
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  That brings our total to what? Over 50 million
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  since 2022? Yeah, $57 .5 million total. So investors
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  like Matrix Partners, Infinity Ventures, Excel,
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  TechSquare Ventures, they're clearly seeing something
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  they like. OK, so what's the magic? What does
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  Rainforest actually do? Well, they're in the
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  payment space. They call themselves a payments
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  as a service provider. But the key thing is how
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  they do it. They embed payment processing directly
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  into other software platforms embedded payments.
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  We hear that term a lot Can you break that down
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  like give us an example? Sure think about Software
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  for a specific industry like maybe your local
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  gym uses an app for booking classes and memberships
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  Alright, or maybe a contractor uses special software
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  for scheduling jobs and sending invoices Rainforest
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  helps that software company handle the payments
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  seamlessly within their own app or platform.
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  Ah, OK. So instead of the gym needing a separate
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  payment system or the contractor sending you
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  to, I don't know, PayPal, it all just happens
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  inside the software they're already using. Exactly.
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  It's aimed particularly at what's called vertical
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  saws, software built for one specific industry,
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  like health care, home services, education, things
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  like that. And why is that such a big deal? Don't
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  companies like Stripe or Adian already do similar
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  things? Well, that's Rainforest's main argument.
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  Their CEO, Joshua Silver, says they are, quote,
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  purpose -built for these software platforms.
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  He argues that the big players like Stripe, Adian,
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  FIS, Fizzerv, they started by serving individual
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  merchants first. OK. And then they kind of retrofitted
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  their systems to work for software platforms.
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  Rainforest says, nope, we started with the platform
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  in mind. So what difference does that make in
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  practice? It means they focus on things platforms
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  really care about, like detailed reporting on
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  residuals, the cut the platform gets from the
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  payments, and managing lots of different merchants
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  under one umbrella, things that might be secondary
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  for the bigger, more general players. Hmm, interesting
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  angle. So it's not just about making payments
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  easy, it's about making the business of payments
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  easy for the software company itself. Precisely.
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  And it's a huge value proposition for those SaaS
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  companies. They could apparently increase their
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  revenue per customer by like 2x to 5x just by
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  adding these embedded finance features. Wow,
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  two to five times. So they could end up making
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  more money from the payments than from their
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  actual software subscription. Potentially, yeah.
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  It turns payments from just a necessity, maybe
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  even a cost center, into a major profit driver.
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  And for the end customer, like you paying your
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  gym or your contractor. It just feels smoother,
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  more integrated, less hassle. Makes sense. So
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  how are they doing? Is the strategy working?
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  Apparently so. They mentioned 10x growth in annual
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  recurring revenue just since June 2024. They're
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  processing billions in live volume now. Ten times
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  growth. That's explosive. It really is. And they're
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  planning to hire more people, expand into Canada
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  and add new features like tap to phone, letting
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  businesses use smartphones as payment terminals.
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  And they're using AI too, right, for fraud detection.
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  Yeah, they mentioned using AI in their risk management,
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  which, you know, is pretty essential when you're
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  handling billions of dollars to stay ahead of
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  the fraudsters. No kidding. It just shows you
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  this embedded finance market is absolutely enormous.
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  What were the projections? Something like seven
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  trillion dollars by 2026. Yeah, up from. Maybe
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  2 .6 trillion dollars back in 2021. It's massive
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  growth. Even with giants like Stripe around,
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  there's clearly still room for focus players
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  like Rainforest to carve out a big niche. It
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  really hammers home how fundamental payments
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  are and how much innovation is still happening
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  under the hood. Okay, so that's payments becoming
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  embedded, almost invisible. What about the actual
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  assets being traded? Well, that brings us nicely
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  to our second story from the Morningstar. This
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  one involves NASDAQ. NASDAQ, the exchange itself.
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  What are they up to? They've filed a pretty bold
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  proposal with the SEC, the Securities and Exchange
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  Commission. They want to allow the trading of
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  tokenized securities on their main market. Tokenized
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  securities, like stocks and ETFs, but... on a
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  blockchain. Essentially, yes. Taking traditional
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  assets like a share of Apple stock or an S &P
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  500 ETF and creating a digital token that represents
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  ownership of that asset on a blockchain. Okay,
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  hold on. Let's unpack tokenization for everyone.
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  Why is this significant? Why turn a regular stock
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  into a token? Right. So tokenization just means
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  creating that digital representation. Think of
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  it like getting a digital deed for a share instead
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  of just an entry in a broker's database. The
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  significance. Well, if the SEC approves this,
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  it'd be the first time tokenized securities could
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  trade on a major US exchange. It's a huge step
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  in bridging traditional finance stratify with
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  the world of blockchain and digital assets. Wow,
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  okay. So how would this actually work for, say,
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  you or me if we wanted to buy some tokenized
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  shares? Would it feel different? Nasdaq says
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  for the investor buying or selling, the process
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  wouldn't really change much upfront. Orders would
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  be routed, priced, monitored, reported just like
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  normal shares. The difference happens at settlement,
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  the final step where the ownership officially
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  changes hands. Instead of the traditional process,
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  it would settle using the token on a blockchain.
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  And what about investor protection? Are these
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  tokens the same as holding the actual stock?
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  That's the absolute crucial point. NASDAQ And
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  folks at the SEC like Commissioner Hester Pierce
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  have been very clear. These tokenized securities
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  must carry the exact same rights and privileges
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  as the traditional version. Pierce famously said,
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  tokenized securities are still securities. You
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  own the same thing, just represented differently.
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  That's good to hear. So what are the potential
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  benefits, then? Faster settlement. That's one
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  big potential benefit, yeah. Proponents argue
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  it could make settlement much faster, more efficient,
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  maybe eventually even instant. instead of taking
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  a day or two like now. It could also improve
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  overall liquidity in the system. Are there potential
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  downsides? New risks we should think about. Putting
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  everything on a blockchain. Does that open doors
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  for different kinds of problems like cyber attacks
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  or bugs in the code? That's definitely a valid
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  concern. You introduce elements like smart contract
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  risk, potential vulnerabilities in the blockchain
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  itself, and fixing errors on an immutable ledger
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  can be tricky. That's the trade -off you explore
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  with new tech. But the really exciting potential,
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  I think, goes beyond just faster settlement.
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  Imagine being able to easily buy and sell fractions
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  of things that are currently hard to trade, like
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  a piece of commercial real estate or maybe even
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  a stake in a private company. Tokenization could
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  theoretically make ownership of those kinds of
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  assets much more accessible. Right, the whole
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  digital ownership of everything idea. That could
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  really change how people invest and build wealth,
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  couldn't it? Yeah. Making illiquid stuff liquid.
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  It really could. And Nasdaq isn't doing this
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  in a vacuum. They noted that some platforms over
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  in Europe are already offering tokenized versions
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  of U .S. stocks, maybe sometimes without actually
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  holding the underlying shares properly. So this
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  is partly about setting a regulated above board
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  standard here in the U .S. to compete with that.
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  Exactly. Create a trusted, equivalent way to
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  do it within the established US market structure.
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  Now, don't expect this tomorrow. NASDAQ thinks
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  the first token -settled trades might happen
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  maybe late Q3, 2026. 2026. OK, so still a ways
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  off. What's the holdup? Infrastructure needs
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  to be built primarily by the DTC, the Depository
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  Trust Company. They're the ones who handle the
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  settlement for almost all US stock trades currently.
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  They need to develop the plumbing to handle token
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  -based settlement. Got it. So a major step towards
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  digital assets, but the groundwork still needs
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  laying. It definitely feels like the direction
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  things are heading, though. OK, let's move to
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  our third story, which also ties into this theme
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  of crypto becoming more mainstream in finance.
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  Right. This one's about coin shares. They're
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  a big European crypto asset manager based in
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  Jersey, and they're planning to go public here
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  in the U .S. Going public in the U .S. How are
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  they doing that? Through a merger with a SPAC,
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  a special purpose acquisition company called
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  Vinehill Capital Investment Corp, which is already
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  listed on NASDAQ. The deal values coin shares
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  at about $1 .2 billion and should close by the
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  end of this year 2025. OK, coin shares. How big
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  are they? What do they manage? They're pretty
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  substantial. They manage around $10 billion in
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  assets. They offer 32 different crypto ETPs,
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  exchange traded products, things tracking Bitcoin,
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  Ether, Solana, other tokens. They're actually
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  the fourth largest provider of these digital
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  asset ETPs globally. $10 billion under management.
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  Wow. So why the move to the U .S. market now?
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  What's the driver? Well, their CEO, Jean -Marie
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  Maguette, called it a decisive inflection point.
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  He pointed specifically to increasing regulatory
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  clarity here in the U .S. for digital assets.
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  Regulation again. So the U .S. is becoming more
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  attractive from a rules perspective. It seems
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  that way, at least in the view of coin shares.
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  Magnetti believes getting a U .S. listing will,
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  quote, reinforce credibility and expand reach.
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  It really underscores how important the U .S.
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  market and its regulatory environment are becoming
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  for global crypto firms. That's interesting because
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  you hear conflicting things sometimes weren't
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  there reports like from PWC saying some traditional
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  funds were maybe thinking of leaving the U .S.
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  because of regulatory uncertainty in the past.
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  Exactly. Yeah. Which makes this move by a major
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  crypto native firm like CoinShares even more
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  significant. It suggests a potential shift. Maybe
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  that the regulatory picture is becoming clearer
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  or at least predictable enough for major players
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  to commit to a U .S. listing. It might even pressure
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  other regions to clarify their own rules so they
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  don't lose out. Sort of a follow the clarity
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  effect, maybe. So what does this mean for US
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  investors? Well, more access, essentially. Access
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  to crypto investment products from a pretty successful
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  established manager. They mentioned their assets
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  have grown over 200 % in just the last two years.
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  100 % growth. Impressive. And they're not just
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  listing the parent company, they're also setting
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  up a US hedge fund unit that'll be for qualified
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  investors offering actively managed strategies
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  to try and capitalize on crypto's, you know,
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  volatility. So offering different ways to play
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  the crypto market, it really does feel like another
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  step in validating crypto as a serious asset
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  class, even with all its ups and downs. And they're
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  profitable too, right? Very. They reported a
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  76 % adjusted EBITDA margin for the first half
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  of this year. 76 % EBITDA margin. For listeners,
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  EBITDA is earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation
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  and amortization. It basically shows how much
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  cash profit a company makes from its core operations.
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  76 % is. Well, it's incredibly high, shows a
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  very efficient business. It really does. These
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  aren't just hobby projects. They're serious,
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  profitable businesses being built in the digital
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  asset space. All right. Fascinating stuff. That
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  wraps up our Morningstar report for today. Three
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  really key stories showing how tech is fundamentally
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  rewiring finance. Yeah, just to quickly recap,
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  we had Rainforest, the embedded payments provider,
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  securing major funding by focusing specifically
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  on vertical SaaS platforms, really changing their
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  economics. Then Nasdaq's big move, proposing
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  to list tokenized securities on its main exchange,
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  a potential game changer for how assets are owned
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  and traded, bringing blockchain closer to the
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  mainstream. And finally, CoinShares, the major
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  European crypto manager, coming to the US public
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  market via a SPAC, signaling growing confidence
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  in the US regulatory scene and giving investors
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  more access. All three really highlight this
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  deep integration happening between tech and finance.
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  It's changing how businesses operate, how money
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  moves, and ultimately how you interact with financial
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  services every day. Makes you wonder what's next,
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  doesn't it? As everything gets digitized, what
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  new kinds of value or ownership might pop up?
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  It's a space to watch, for sure. Constant evolution.
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  We're here to help at Snarful, so reach out on
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  our website if you have any more questions. That's
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  a wrap on today's top stories. Remember, tech
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  doesn't have to be complicated, and we're here
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  to help connect the dots. If you've got questions
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  or want to learn more, visit us at snarful .com.
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  Thanks for listening, and we'll catch you next
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  time.