A fragile ceasefire deal between the U.S. and Iran initially sent global stocks surging and oil sliding below $100 a barrel.
Bitcoin also rallied past $72,800 and triggering a short squeeze as institutional inflows were back.
But the Iran war revealing a dual reality in the digital asset market.
Stablecoins became the actual currency of geopolitical survival on the ground in the Middle East.
And as traditional finance accelerates its push into real-world tokenization, frontier markets are colliding with massive geopolitical uncertainty.
And as the new quarter kicks off, Franklin Templeton announced it is acquiring 250 Digital to launch a brand new unit called Franklin Crypto.
Well, joining us now live at the New York Stock Exchange is Chris Perkins, CEO of 250 Digital Asset Management, a spin-out of CoinFund's Liquid Crypto Strategies.
Chris, so great to have you on.
Thank you so much for joining me.
Remy, so good to see you.
How are you?
I'm doing very well.
There's a lot of volatility across the markets but first congratulations on this new role.
So tell us how you're going to be bringing your crypto native background to Franklin Templeton.
Yeah.
Great.
So for the last four and a half, five years, we've been in crypto full time.
And over that time, we got to know Jenny Johnson and Sandy Call and their vision for the future of crypto and digital assets is just so aligned with ours.
And so we were so happy to be able to announce that we're going to be joining Franklin and I'll be the head of Franklin Crypto, which is a brand new unit.
And what this tells you is that crypto's institutional moment has really arrived.
This is the institutional era.
And our job is to speak to our clients all over the world.
And what are they saying.
They're saying that they have risk risk not for being in the asset class which would have been the past.
Now they have risk for not being in the asset class.
And so our job is to help them navigate this really complex field of crypto and digital assets.
I could not be more excited.
Well, congratulations once again, and we look forward to having you back on the show to talk to us about what's actually happening at Franklin Templeton.
But while we have your expertise, not only are you fluent in finance, but as a Marine veteran, I'm sure you have a perspective on the geopolitical tensions, what's unfolding in the Middle East right now.
So tell us what you're seeing in terms of digital assets.
Yeah, so it's a bit of a tenuous ceasefire.
It's very hard to trade these markets in the near term.
But what you're seeing right now is you're seeing a lot of resiliency and strength with Bitcoin, Ethereum and all the other cryptocurrencies.
Reason being is that as you step back, we're transitioning to a very trustless, permissionless world.
Real politic is really dominating international affairs.
And what better asset class to emerge than one that's trustless and permissionless?
You know, Bitcoin is digital gold, and you're seeing it now playing a really important role as a neutral exchange of value.
Ethereum, you know, you saw the Ethereum Foundation double down on being censorship resistant.
So these are new commodities that are really rising to the top.
Then, of course, stablecoins.
Now, people are saying, oh, the dollar's decoupling, this and that.
Maybe at the governmental level, but underneath, when you speak to the people, there's an insatiable demand for dollars.
And I want you to watch the stablecoin markets.
You're going to see that market cap explode, which really just feeds into the greater crypto adoption across the world.
Yeah.
And speaking of which I do want to get your take on regulation.
So you highlighted what's happening with stable coins as well as the major crypto pairs.
So I do want to get your take on what regulation should look like not just in the U.S. but also overseas.
Yeah, so cryptos, I think the investment environment right now is very constructive.
You're seeing sentiment at an all time low, but the fundamentals continue to improve.
Look what's going on with the Clarity Act right now.
I feel pretty good.
I think it's still a bit of a coin toss, but I do think that that's coming together pretty nicely and I do think it's going to get passed.
That's going to unleash potentially some animal spirits in our space.
But in the absence of that law, you still have some incredible regulators.
Now we have Chairman Selig and Chairman Atkins.
These guys are creating precedent every single day that provides what we wanted all along, which is just certainty.
Most people that I know in the crypto space, they want to be compliant.
They just want to know the rules.
And our regulators are now delivering that in a very constructive way.
It's just an honor to work with them and have the right type of dialogue.
Yeah, and Chris, I'm so glad you're here because I do want to ask you about where we actually merge DeFi innovation and national security.
There are a lot of moving parts.
We could even have a podcast on this topic.
But where do you stand?
I think that stable coins, which are really the oil and the fuel of DeFi, are arguably the most important instrument of national power and the best thing that could have ever happened to our national security.
They perpetuate the dollar as the global reserve currency.
They're traceable, trackable, and I think that DeFi and national security actually go hand in hand.
I couldn't be more excited about this space.
Now, you're seeing some issues continuing with hacks.
The good news is that there's new AI tools coming online that will enhance our defense.
There are also new AI tools that are coming on that are going to cause more of a threat.
And so it will continue to be a cat and mouse game, but I think with ongoing focus on security, I think we can get DeFi to a very good institutional place in short order.
And then finally, from an asset management perspective, watch vaults.
I think vaults are going to be defining technology where you can really provide customized solutions for your end clients, understanding what their investment needs are, deploying smart contracts, and then giving them the yield that they need.
And finally, before I let you go, we have about 60 seconds here.
So as we head into the second half of 2026, what trends are you paying attention to and why?
Well, again, I want to see Clarity Act get over the line, and that's going to be wonderful.
Watch the M&A space.
I think there's a lot going on there.
And then incremental institutional adoption is inevitable.
It's continuing to happen every single day.
Watch Stablecoins.
You know, genius, the machines of genius are starting to work together.
As that completes, you're going to see Stablecoins rise.
That will fuel the entire crypto ecosystem.
Well, Chris, always great having you on FinTech TV here at the New York Stock Exchange.
Thank you so much for joining us, and congratulations on the new role.
