Digital Bytes 21st January 2026
A weekly analysis of who, how, where and why blockchain and digital assets are being used globally in various industries
The wild west of digital money: why $300 billion in stablecoins threatens monetary singleness - the explosive rise of stablecoins beyond $300 billion marks a turning point for digital money and a threat to its coherence. As multiple privately-issued “digital dollars” circulate with uneven backing and regulation, money risks fragmenting into competing claims rather than a single trusted unit. Echoing America’s wildcat banking era, regulatory divergence between the EU and US fuels arbitrage and instability. Without global standards, efficiency gains could come at the cost of monetary singleness and systemic trust.
Tokenisation of ETFs: a new frontier for asset management? - tokenised ETFs represent the next frontier in asset management, building on 2025’s $24 billion+ real world assets market. These blockchain-powered digital assets offer 1:1 backed ownership of traditional ETF shares, enabling 24/7 global trading, instant settlement, fractional access (e.g., $10 S&P 500 exposure) and DeFi interoperability. Led by BlackRock’s BUIDL ($2.2Billion) and others, they promise efficiency and transparency but face regulatory, custody, tax and cybersecurity hurdles before mainstream adoption.
The hidden costs of decentralisation - 2025 delivered the brutal truth: decentralisation is not free. $3.35 billion vanished across 630 incidents with average losses surging 66% as North Korea’s Lazarus Group stole $1.5 billion from Bybit in one strike. Supply-chain attacks and embedded insiders proved that “trustless” still trusts humans and code. Bridges bled $2.8 billion, phishing never slept and users paid the ultimate hidden tax: perpetual paranoia. The survivors will be those who now build zero-trust, native-first, AI-defended infrastructure: security is the new scalability.
Why lawyers will be human oracles for AI agents - in 2026, the proliferation of autonomous AI agents marks a paradigm shift from “reactive” tools to “proactive” systems. Whilst AI excels at mechanics and volume, it falters in moral ambiguity and real-world certification. Lawyers serve as “human oracles” - indispensable interpreters who provide the authoritative “human stamp” on digital triggers, ethical dilemmas and subjective context. By bridging rigid logic with nuanced judgment, they secure the profession’s relevance as essential guides in an AI-driven simulation.
Yes history can still teach us many things. Glad you liked the article. We do offer guest the ability to write an article in DigitalBytes which is thought provoking/educational and then use this as the basis of a podcast which we post on a variety of podcast sites. There is a charge but if interested please email me jonny.Fry@Teamblockchain.net. Cheers Jonny
The 'wildcat banking era' comparison for stablecoins is spot on. That fragmentation risk when multiple issuers create competing 'dollars' mirrors 1800s banking chaos. The lawyers as human oracles point really landed though - AI can process volume but cant judge ethical grey areas. Once saw an automated system flag something perfectly legal but moraly questionable and dunno if any algorithm would catch that nuace.