In this episode, Jackson reframes a billion-dollar liquidation event as a distraction compared to what happened behind the scenes. More than 489,000 traders were wiped out in a matter of hours, but to Jackson, the volatility simply underscored something deeper: the existing crypto settlement infrastructure still behaves like a fragile, fragmented system.
The real story was unfolding quietly in the background — and barely appeared in mainstream coverage. Two wholesale CBDC systems, Brazil’s Drex and Hong Kong’s Ensemble, executed a successful cross-border transaction using Chainlink’s CCIP technology. Jackson calls it one of the first genuine proofs of how CBDCs, tokenized deposits, and on-chain settlement will eventually operate across borders.
The timing was symbolic. While speculative markets were melting down, the next generation of settlement rails was quietly proving itself.
Jackson opens by pointing to recent Financial Stability Board warnings that fragmented regulation has created systemic vulnerabilities at the intersection of:
The crash confirmed these concerns. Cascading liquidations revealed a system still dependent on brittle infrastructure and high-friction liquidity pathways. Jackson argues that as traditional rails struggle under volatility, the case for neutral, programmable settlement layers becomes clearer — particularly those aligned with CBDC design principles and interoperability standards.
Jackson emphasises that the sell-off was not crypto-specific. The root cause was a liquidity contraction triggered by U.S. monetary tightening — a macro event that spilled over into risk markets.
This matters for long-term positioning. Investors focused solely on short-term xrp price movements, bitcoin funding rates, or manipulation theories risk missing the real opportunity: the infrastructure being built to handle future liquidity shocks.
As Jackson notes, assets powering interoperability, messaging translation, and institutional settlement will outlast any temporary market cycle — including Swift–Chainlink pilots, ISO 20022 migration, and tokenized-asset settlement layers.
The centrepiece of the episode is the confirmation that Brazil’s Drex system and Hong Kong’s Ensemble system completed a payment-versus-payment wholesale CBDC settlement, with Chainlink CCIP acting as the interoperability layer between the two sovereign networks.
Jackson identifies several reasons why this is a watershed moment:
This makes Chainlink one of the most strategically positioned networks in the emerging global settlement stack. Jackson calls it “the kind of infrastructure narrative the industry should pay attention to, but almost nobody is watching.”
More than a billion dollars in leveraged positions evaporated during the crash. Jackson uses this to illustrate a deeper point: legacy crypto venues still rely on outdated liquidity mechanics.
He contrasts this with planned XRP Ledger upgrades such as the XLS-30 AMM, which introduce:
In Jackson’s framing, AMMs and algorithmic liquidity models matter because they reduce dependence on the fragile liquidity that failed during the crash.
Another overlooked development was the announcement of a partnership between UK fintech Equals Money, BVNK, and Railsr, enabling USDC settlement in under 30 seconds for business payments.
Jackson argues this signals a broader shift:
Stablecoins, XRPL conversion assets, and tokenized-deposit frameworks each have niches — and the future settlement system will be multipolar, not dominated by a single asset.
Based on the evidence presented in the episode, Lewis Jackson Ventures updated the Inevitable Portfolio classifications:
XRP • Ethereum • XDC • Stellar • Quant • TRAC • Securitize • privacy-enabled execution environments
Jackson stresses that these assets form the connective tissue of tokenized markets, RWA settlement, instant-FX routing, and CBDC pilot infrastructure.
For a full breakdown of the Chainlink-enabled CBDC settlement, Jackson’s documentation of wholesale CBDC pilots, XRPL AMM evolution, stablecoin expansion, and real-world interoperability tests, watch the complete episode of The Macro.
Follow Lewis Jackson Ventures for ongoing institutional-grade research into tokenized finance, interoperable settlement architecture, and the assets shaping the coming global financial system.
