Avalanche's institutional stretch, Oct. 11-21

Charles Schwab's research arm published a note on Oct. 20 that calls Avalanche "a leader in its niche" while counting less than $2 billion of the roughly $50 billion in tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) on its chain. On Oct. 21, Avalanche's main account summarized the note as "Charles Schwab identifies Avalanche as a leader in RWAs and institutional use cases." This edition follows our Oct. 1-10 report on the Avalanche Foundation and Ava Labs, and sorts Oct. 11-21 by what each primary source says happened.

Schwab's note: a niche leader with a small footprint

The Schwab briefing, "Crypto Key Debates: Chainlink and Avalanche," is dated Oct. 20 and bylined to Jim Ferraioli. Schwab frames Avalanche as a debate: "whether its position in real-world assets (RWAs) and institutional use cases can support a higher relative valuation despite its smaller market share."

The numbers in the note are smaller than the headline. Citing Token Terminal as of Sept. 7, Schwab puts Avalanche's total value locked at $3.4 billion, the fifth-largest smart contract blockchain and "significantly smaller" than the four chains ahead of it. RWAs reached nearly $50 billion as of Sept. 24, per Token Terminal, and "less than $2 billion are on Avalanche." It calls the network "the smallest smart contract blockchain ecosystem in terms of total value locked" but says RWAs "represent a majority of its TVL."

Schwab's case for the niche rests on custom chains and activity mix: Avalanche is "a leader in its niche—enabling users to build custom blockchains on top of its network," and "most activity on the blockchain is high utility (stablecoin issuance, lending, asset management, and liquid staking)." The same note lists the risks: "network usage has recently trended lower," a chart caption reads "Avalanche monthly fees have been on a downward trend since 2023," and custom-chain growth "might also allow economic activity to occur outside the primary network." Schwab's disclosures say the piece is not a recommendation.

DIFC Courts: credentials on the C-Chain, documents off it

The Dubai International Financial Centre Courts announced on Oct. 14 that court orders and hearing records now carry a cryptographic fingerprint linked to a unique, non-transferable NFT-based credential on Avalanche's C-Chain. A recipient checks the file against the credential, and an altered file fails. The release says the document itself and confidential case information are not stored on the blockchain. Deca4 Advisory designed and implemented the system. The Courts' notarisation transactions are recorded on Hedera, while the new credential system uses Avalanche C-Chain. DIFC Courts names banks, government authorities, courts and counterparties as verifiers, aimed at parties outside the UAE who use the Courts through its opt-in jurisdiction. The release quotes John Nahas of Ava Labs: "DIFC Courts is using Avalanche to make critical documents verifiable across borders in seconds." It gives no issuance volume or cost.

Hyundai: a July pilot with a new number

On Oct. 16, Avalanche's main account posted that "Hyundai cut cross-border payment transfer time by over 96% in a pilot on Avalanche," crediting Axiym with connecting Hyundai's existing payment systems to USDT. The pilot is not new. The Block reported on July 9 that Hyundai Card announced a $20,000 transfer from Hyundai Motor America to its Mexican affiliate, converted to USDT and back, in about seven minutes against three to four hours for a traditional interbank transfer. Crypto Briefing wrote on Oct. 16 that the 96% figure comes from an Avalanche update, with no direct Hyundai, Axiym or Tether quote on it. The Block said a second pilot among Hyundai's European entities, with Visa and Circle, would test non-dollar currencies. Descout found no published result for it.

Korea: Team1's framing against the Korean reporting

Three posts from Avalanche's community arm, Team1, ran Oct. 19-21. On Oct. 19, Team1 announced a Team1 Japan chapter to support developers, saying institutions "lock in Avalanche across the country." The post names none, and the blog it points to is not linked in the post.

On Oct. 20, Team1 wrote that South Korea is "positioning Avalanche as a key blockchain for its central depository platform." The accompanying Team1 blog is a promotional piece from an Avalanche-affiliated publication and rests on Korean press. Seoul Economic Daily reported on Sept. 6 that the Korea Securities Depository is building token-securities infrastructure that can link with Hyperledger Besu, Hyperledger Fabric and Avalanche, per its published guidelines. It adds that Avalanche was included after several companies asked for it through a consultative body, not at the depository's own initiative. Avalanche is one of three ledgers on that list. The Financial Services Commission's Sept. 4 roadmap starts its first phase in February 2027 and does not mention Avalanche.

On Oct. 21, Team1 Korea wrote, in Korean, that Hanwha Investment & Securities built a token-securities platform on Avalanche with FairSquare Lab using "Avalanche L1 technology." Seoul Economic Daily reported completion of the platform on Sept. 6, citing industry sources, and said it was designed to run on several networks including Avalanche and Hyperledger Besu. It does not use the term L1. Team1 Korea is the source for the L1 detail.

Marquette and REX Chain: two launches

Marquette Athletics announced Marquette Rewards on Oct. 20, a loyalty program with Uptop built "on Avalanche." Fans link an existing debit or credit card and earn points at participating merchants including Buffalo Wild Wings, Kwik Trip and Piggly Wiggly, redeemable for merchandise, tickets and experiences. MarquetteRewards.com goes live Oct. 23. Learfield's Marquette Sports Properties facilitated the agreement. Avalanche's main account and Uptop amplified it the same day. The release gives no enrollment target.

On Oct. 21, RealX posted that "REX Chain mainnet is live on Avalanche," built "as a dedicated Avalanche L1 for RWAs" that "launches with bridging and asset issuance, laying the foundation for borrowing, liquidity and new financial applications." Borrowing and liquidity are therefore described as future work. RealX's own post is the only source Descout could read; its site's REX Chain page returned a 502 error when checked on Oct. 21.

What is still open

Schwab's note puts a number on the gap between Avalanche's institutional announcements and its measured footprint, and the next Token Terminal readings will show whether the sub-$2 billion RWA figure moves. The Korean framework takes effect in February 2027, and the FSC's Oct. 1 rules proposal opened a public comment period from Oct. 2 to Nov. 11. NYSE remains unnamed as an Avalanche user: The Block reported on Sept. 18 that Ava Labs president Charley Cooper said NYSE had spent a year testing Avalanche technology, that he left it to NYSE to say where it stands, and that NYSE had not named a blockchain. On Oct. 21, Avalanche's main account shared a CoinDesk episode filmed at the NYSE in which Avalanche Treasury Co.'s Bart Smith gives his view that Wall Street's tokenization wave lands on Avalanche. That is the view of an interested party, and the CoinDesk post cites no NYSE decision.