Arival Bank spouští platební a treasury služby v USDC pro všechny způsobilé klienty a USDT pro neamerické subjekty, s cílem zjednodušit přeshraniční platby hlavně v Latinské Americe. Konverzní poplatky začínají na 0,05 %.
Arival Bank announced the launch of stablecoin payment and treasury capabilities on July 3, 2026, with services expected to go live by mid-July. The offering supports USDC for all eligible clients and USDT for non-US entities, with conversion fees starting at just 0.05% for businesses moving into USD-denominated stablecoins.
What Arival is actually building Arival Bank operates as a recognized International Financial Entity under Puerto Rico’s regulatory framework, with full BSA/AML compliance, KYC/KYB protocols, and transaction monitoring systems.
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The platform supports transactions across four blockchain networks: Base, Polygon, Solana, and Ethereum. The target market is global SMEs, startups, and digital-native businesses that need treasury management and cross-border payment tools.
Why Latin America is the real story here Arival’s announcement specifically calls out demand from international clients, with Latin America as a key focus. A USDC transfer on Solana settles in seconds, not days. At 0.05% conversion fees, Arival is undercutting what most traditional FX services charge by a wide margin.
The bank’s approach builds on its existing partnership with Circle Alliance, the program Circle runs to expand USDC adoption through financial institutions. By integrating stablecoin capabilities with existing USD and multi-currency accounts, Arival is creating something that looks less like a crypto product and more like an upgraded version of the banking tools businesses already use.
The competitive landscape The fee structure deserves attention. At 0.05% for stablecoin conversions, for a business processing $1 million in monthly cross-border payments, that’s $500 in conversion fees versus potentially thousands through traditional banking channels.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Verus Ethereum Bridge byl podruhé za něco přes dva měsíce hacknut a přišel asi o 7,54 milionu USD v kryptoměnách. Útočník zneužil stejnou chybu jako v květnu.
The Verus Ethereum Bridge has been targeted by a major security breach for the second time in just over two months, resulting in the theft of approximately $7.54 million in various crypto assets. The incident occurred on July 23 when attackers exploited a vulnerability, once again raising concerns about the security of cross-chain protocols in decentralized finance (DeFi).
Attacker Drains Bridge’s Ethereum ReservesThe breach allowed the attacker to abuse the bridge’s submitImports function, which triggered Ethereum-side payouts without equivalent assets being locked on the Verus blockchain. This vulnerability enabled the unauthorized extraction of funds from the bridge’s reserves.
Blockchain security firm Blockaid and independent researcher exvulsec both confirmed and investigated the exploit. According to on-chain data, roughly 1,137 ETH, as well as tBTC, USDC, USDT, EURC, MKR, and scrvUSD, were drained from the bridge reserves at around 03:45 UTC. The stolen assets were quickly swapped through decentralized exchanges, then consolidated into nearly 3,916 ETH before parts of the funds were routed through Tornado Cash.
Mini dictionary: Tornado Cash, a decentralized non-custodial privacy solution on Ethereum, is designed to break the on-chain link between source and destination addresses, making transaction tracing more difficult.
AssetAmount stolenEstimated valueETH1,137Included in $7.54M totaltBTCUnknownUSDCUnknownUSDTUnknownEURCUnknownMKRUnknownscrvUSDUnknown Investigators noted that by exploiting the same contract, function entry point, and vulnerability as a previous May breach, the attacker bypassed standard cross-chain verification and triggered unbacked payouts, draining several digital assets from Verus’ Ethereum bridge reserves.
Recurring Security Flaws and Recent HistoryThe latest breach revived scrutiny over Verus’ handling of a previous exploit in May, which resulted in an $11.58 million loss. Experts stated that this attack exploited the exact vulnerability from the earlier incident, indicating that core issues may have remained unaddressed. Blockaid observed that while this latest event involved a different attacker wallet, the method and targeted contract remained unchanged.
Following the May attack, the same attacker returned 4,052 ETH—about 75% of the stolen funds—after reaching an agreement with Verus. Despite that partial restitution, the repetition of the exploit has heightened doubts regarding the bridge’s security remediation process.
Experts pointed out that the repeated vulnerability likely resulted from an incomplete technical fix after the earlier breach, leaving Verus exposed to additional attacks. There is growing pressure for the protocol team to publish a thorough incident report and technical breakdown.
Ongoing Investigations and Broader RisksThe Verus incident is one of several recent DeFi bridge attacks highlighted by on-chain monitoring services. Lookonchain reported that combined losses from incidents involving Verus, AFX Trade, and B² Network have climbed to approximately $35.55 million.
Mini dictionary: Lookonchain is an on-chain analytics platform known for monitoring blockchain transactions and identifying patterns related to hacks, large movements, and abnormal activities.
Security analysts explained that bridge protocols are increasingly targeted due to logical flaws in cross-chain messaging mechanisms, which, if exploited, can allow fund withdrawals without equivalent collateralization.
Next Steps for Verus and UsersAmid the investigation, Verus halted all bridge operations but has not announced a compensation plan or released a detailed technical report. The absence of a clear official explanation has drawn criticism from the user community.
Observers expect the Verus team to prioritize closing the technical vulnerability, improve their validation process, and offer a roadmap to locate and potentially recover missing assets. Until these steps are made public, scrutiny around trust and transparency in the protocol will likely continue.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Circle čelí ve Wisconsinu trestnímu obvinění za to, že neprovedla soudní příkaz ke konfiskaci USDC spojeného s podvodem. Úřady tvrdí, že měla provést „burn and reissue“ za asi 381 000 USD.
Circle is facing criminal charges in Wisconsin because, in relation to some investment fraud, "Circle Internet Financial LLC has declined to repatriate the corresponding fiat reserves" and "Circle has not complied with a Circuit Court Judge’s seizure warrant."
Law enforcement secured a seizure warrant which Circle will not enforce. Circle claims they cannot enforce it. The government is charging Circle for declining to enforce it. Whatever is going on: everyone agrees Circle is not currently enforcing it.
This column has a long history of pulling entertaining and contradictory bits out of company public statements and (usually much later) legal settlements where those companies got caught doing something they were not supposed to do. Much of the time the company in question made explicit statements that it would not do the conduct it eventually admitted doing. And much of the time those public statements were contemporaneous with the bad conduct. But we only found out they were lying years later.
Here we have the rare opportunity to work through seemingly-false statements made by a company during a public dispute with law enforcement in real time. So that is what we are going to do. Some of this was covered by the ICIJ but we think their narrative is too generous towards Circle.
Some BackgroundTether routinely seizes funds for law enforcement. Tether has the power to transfer USDT out of your address and burn them without your knowledge or consent. So to seize funds Tether just burns tokens from anywhere and then issues fresh replacement USDT to whatever address law enforcement wants. In theory Tether could also take the funds back from law enforcement — the same process can be used for any address — though that has not yet happened. Tether has had these powers for many years. Nothing is this paragraph is new or controversial.
Circle is a little bit different. Circle does not currently have a seize function in their tokens. Both Tether and Circle can freeze funds – immobilizing them in an address – but Circle's current smart contracts do not support seizure. Circle routinely freezes tokens but it does not seize them. This is presumably what Circle was referring to when it told the Walworth County Circuit Court:
Beyond the ability to blocklist wallets, however, Circle has no control of USDC held in third-party wallets and has no ability to invalidate and reissue such USDC or to transfer them.The key words here are "has no control" and "has no ability." Circle uses the conjunction "and" meaning Circle believes both of those claims to be independently true. If Circle has any way to wrangle invalidation then Circle made a false statement to the court. Given invalidation we know reissuance is possible because once you invalidate the "bad" tokens the reissuance is just issuance. Which happens all the time. So the threshold question here is whether Circle can "invalidate" USDC in an address specifed by law enforcement.
Circle's PowersCircle cannot currently invalidate USDC and seize funds. But Circle can upgrade USDC to have whatever functionality it desires. So it cannot follow this roadmap to comply with a seizure order:
Seize the fundsBut absolutely it can comply with this roadmap:
Upgrade USDC to allow seizureSeize the fundsIn a strange turn, Circle told the government the required process to seize the funds was as follows. And bear in mind we are quoting Circle's own court filing here so this is presumably a generous phrasing from Circle's perspective:
Circle also communicated to Detective Kuchta that (1) the address was not held at Circle; (2) Circle did not have the private keys for the address; (3) Circle could not, therefore, transfer USDC from the wallet; and (4) to recover the USDC for the victim law enforcement would need to locate the private keys for the address. By telling the police to go find the private keys Circle is being, well, let's call it intransigent. Actually, no, let us be a bit more direct (with apologies to Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake). Circle looks to prefer these steps:
Get charged for no function to seizeMoan how it sucks to seizePut in a function to seizeThat’s the way they do it. Circle is being a...go watch the video in that last link.
It is hardly a secret Circle can upgrade the USDC contracts so it looks pretty likely this capability will eventually come up in court and the judge will sort Circle out. Circle's terms also provide the company with incredibly broad discretion to deny anyone access at any time and in any manner at all for pretty much any reason. This text is in the Acceptable Use Policy describing a list of things you are not allowed to do with USDC and which might lead Circle to cut you off:
For clarity, the following lists are not exhaustive and we may, at our sole discretion, modify them without notice.So Circle can decide anything it likes is out of bounds. And that document covers:
services provided by Circle Internet Financial, LLC, Circle Payments, LLC, Circle UK TradingLimited and/or Circle International Bermuda Limited (together, “Circle”), inclusive of, but not limited to, Circle Mint account,Application Programming Interface products, card processing, and the Circle Yield offering (together and separately, the “Services”), The "but not limited to" would seem to provide sufficient cover to enforce a court order by including whatever corners of Circle's operation are needed to effect the required upgrades. Remember: in this case a court is telling Circle to do something and Circle is not doing it. Maybe you think reading that clause in such a broad manner is squirrely. Sure, maybe. But that is a problem when a strained reading is used to evade a court or the clear intent of a contract or some other agreement. In the present case not reading these powers broadly led to criminal charges and is, in a real and on-going sense, blocking enforcement of a court order. Using this ambiguity to comply with the court is not going to anger the court. Certainly not any more than the current behaviour will.
Circle's Terms vs. ActionsIn Circle's documentation the company anticipates that court orders may come in to request asset freezes. There is an Access Denial Policy which sets out the freeze framework. And there is even a section entitled "Blocked Addresses & Forfeited Funds" in the USDC Terms. That later section includes this text:
Circle may also be required to freeze USDC and/or surrender associated USD held in Segregated Accounts in the event it receives a legal order from a valid government authority requiring it to do so.This anticipates the idea that a court order may mandate sending USD somewhere the court directs. The word "forfeited" appears in a section heading. And if we look at the government's description in Wisconsin we find something very much on point:
The Court’s Warrant ordered Circle to “facilitate the seizure” of Victim #1’s USDC and invalidate that USDC so that it had no value. The Warrant then ordered Circle to issue approximately $381,000 in new USDC to compensate Victim #1 and transfer that new USDC to a digital wallet owned by the Walworth County Sheriff’s Department. This procedure is known as “burn and reissue”."Facilitate the seizure" is a broad directive. The court is not telling Circle precisely how to satisfy the court's desires. The court is simply saying "find a way to do this." And Circle's on-the-record response is weird. Above we quoted Circle's broad claim of "no ability." The government's narrative gives a bit more colour there too:
In subsequent discussions, Circle’s representatives have explained that the company holds approximately $381,000 in US Currency in reserve to cover the value of Victim #1’s USDC, even though that USDC cannot be redeemed by anyone for US Currency because Circle froze it. Circle protested that if it issued $381,000 worth of new USDC, it would also have to hold an additional $381,000 in US Currency to cover the new USDC. Circle objected that it would be unfair for the company to have to set aside that much US Currency in reserve. Circle also stated that by the terms of its own contracts, it will not “burn and reissue” USDC.This is some twisted logic. Circle seems to believe it is required to maintain backing for all USDC, frozen or not, and that because it currently cannot burn and reissue USDC this would require holding double reserves for the recovered amount and that – the double reserving Circle just imposed on itself – is unfair.
We will immediately concede that double reserving here is unreasonable and dumb. But the double reserving is only "required" if we accept Circle's claim it cannot do the burn and reissue. This is a strained attempt for Circle to look like the victim. Possibly so that Circle can continue to collect interest on the US$381,000 in reserves it holds against the frozen tokens
Said another way: Circle's protest assumes Circle will not use its power to upgrade the USDC to allow seizures. We know this is Circle's thinking because, again quoting the Wisconsin government:
Circle also stated that by the terms of its own contracts, it will not “burn and reissue” USDC.This is weird. The word "reissue" does not appear on circle.com, as of this writing, per a number of searches. And the USDC Risk Factors also include a section entitled "Blocked Addresses & Forfeited Funds" so this is puzzling. If we read the reference to "its own contracts" in that last quote from Circle as pertaining to the USDC smart contracts it is again true in a literal-and-useless sense. By the terms of the currently deployed smart contracts there is no reissue power. But by the terms of those same contracts Circle can simply change the contracts.
Circle looks to be playing games so it can collect interest on frozen USDC forever. Holding frozen scam-related funds forever and keeping the interest is an interesting business model.
ContractsIf you have ever entered into any sort of commercial agreement you have probably seen clauses that allow someone to modify the terms under extreme circumstances and maybe also in a "commercially reasonable manner" if the need arises. Most contracts contemplate the idea that things can change and some amount of flexibility is required. For example, a company may change its office address. Or it may change where it banks. Or any number of other things. If you enter into a contract which includes bank details and the other party changes where it banks that does not mean you automatically can stop paying. If the company tells you where to send the money instead you cannot just decide to terminate the contract (unless it is a very strange contract indeed).
Similarly, you might enter into a contract based on some published reference price – think oil or gold or a commercial property index or some interest rate benchmark – and the name of that thing might change. Or where or how it is published might change. Someone is supposed to keep things up to date in a commercially reasonable manner. There is standard verbiage for this in many industries and if you end up in court the judge will make you do the sensible thing. Yes there are corner cases. But the Circle mess is really quite simple. Circle's term look to allow for enforcement here. And there is a simple sequence of steps Circle can follow to do the enforcement. None of this makes much sense.
Circle looks to be trying to interpret things in an incredibly narrow and self-serving way to manufacture an injury Circle would suffer if it complied. And then to moan that imagined injury is unfair. If we go back to Circle's own words to the court this is clearly exactly what they are doing:
The Complaint’s sole allegation regarding Circle’s intentional disobedience is that “Circle...refused to invalidate the stolen USDC or issue new USDC,” Compl. ¶ 9. But the Complaint clearly misrepresents the content of the relevant communication. Circle did not “refuse” to invalidate the stolen USDC; it stated that it “does not hold the private keys to the address.” Compare Compl. ¶ 9 with Ex. 6. That is an accurate statement that Circle lacked the tools required to “invalidate” the USDC held in the Blocklisted Wallet, not an intentional refusal to comply with the terms of the Second Warrant.Circle was directed to "facilitate the seizure" of the funds. And then Circle asserts it did not refuse to invalidate the USDC in question – its just that Circle has no button labelled "seize" to press. But Circle did refuse to upgrade the USDC contracts to add a seize button.
Circle also presented the total non-sequitur that it "does not hold the private keys to the address" of the fraud-linked funds. This is also arguable. It is true in the sense that Circle does not hold the fraudster's private keys. But the term "private keys" is not being used in a technically precise sense here because there are two sets of private keys that can move the funds. The term "private keys" as used here connotes control over funds. And so long as Circle has the private keys to upgrade USDC it has one set of private keys that can facilitate a seizure out of the addresses in question. Remember: USDC and USDT are not true bearer assets. The issuers retain a lot of control over "your" funds.
Maybe you think we are giving the authorities too much credit and we should interpret the claim in narrow technical terms? Under that reading, you may be thinking, it is not Circle's problem the government asked for the wrong thing. We have sympathy for this sentiment. But there is a bigger problem. If we interpret everything in these documents in narrow technical terms Circle is wrong that it has "no ability to invalidate and reissue such USDC or to transfer them." It has the ability to do this by upgrading the contract to give itself the ability. This falsity then gives rise to a litany of other false claims including:
Circle "would also have to hold an additional $381,000 in US Currency to cover the new USDC": false because once Circle has burn power there is no need to double reserve. And that is if we accept the need in the first place as Circle can simply declare the address outlaw and ignore it.Circle also stated that by the terms of its own contracts, it will not “burn and reissue” USDC: this is at most a policy Circle can revise in its sole discretion. And having a policy to defy court orders is pretty much exactly what Circle is charged with here.Circle has no control of USDC held in third-party wallets: false because in a technical sense Circle has more than "no" control via contract upgradability. It has, and we apologize for the technobabble here, "some" control.Circle...has no ability to invalidate: false via upgradability.Circle...has no ability to...reissue such USDC or to transfer them: false via upgradability.If we read the claims in the dispute broadly: Circle is not being candid. If we read the claims narrowly: Circle is not being honest. Unless Circle has somehow lost the ability to upgrade USDC – which would be a far larger problem if kept hidden for so long – we just cannot see a way they are telling the truth here. Maybe there is one but there is certainly no hint of such an explanation in the court filings to date.
Circle's Principled ResistanceWhat makes this even stranger: Circle's terms also contemplate circumstances in which the company will resist court orders. But that too does not fit what is happening here. Again from the Access Denial document:
Circle reserves all rights to object to an access denial order that presents a threat to Circle Stablecoin or that Circle determines is objectionable.USDC holders do not have any rights or derive any value from this. But it presumably empowers the company to do what it is doing in Wisconsin now without worrying about shareholders suing anyone for resisting court orders. The US legal system is adversarial and Circle is 100% entitled to resist government requests and to challenge orders. Within the US system. Telling law enforcement to go pound sand after the judge rules is not something Circle is entitled to.
It is certainly possibly Circle views anything that reduce's Circle's interest income as objectionable. There is a logical, if wacky, corporate theory here: "We prefer to hold frozen assets indefinitely to maximize shareholder value. We view this as part of our fiduciary responsibility to shareholders. Victims are not shareholders sorry." Probably no company wants to come out and say that. But it is true that public companies have a responsibility to shareholders and not victims. They also have a responsibility to judges and to shareholders to not egregiously defy judges. So it is all kind of mixed together there.
Now notice the seizure warrant requests Circle is fighting here date back to August 2025. Multiple seizure warrants have been issued. And Circle has been communicating false claims to Wisconsin officials for many months now. Criminal charges were filed in April 2026. Circle moved beyond objecting to an access denial order to simply refusing to follow one after multiple rounds of back and forth. This happened over many months.
We accept it is possible to read these most recent actions as part of resisting the order. And maybe law enforcement jumped the gun with criminal charges. But it is kind of hard to credit Circle here and think ongoing negotiations without criminal charges would go anywhere. Circle has stated clearly that it cannot comply for technical reasons. Circle claims it is impossible to do what the court wants. But those claims are plainly false (or Circle is covering up something worse). For negotiations to go anywhere Circle would need to concede it was wrong or the police would need to stop asking for seizure. That looks like a stalled negotiation to us.
If Wisconsin officials were demanding Circle seize USDT then we would certainly feel for Circle. Circle is not omnipotent. There are plenty of web3 things Circle cannot do. And, obviously, it is possible for law enforcement to order someone to do something that is technically impossible for them to do. This is true of anyone and any law enforcement unit anywhere in the world. Try this one: a court could issue an order for a witness to not die before a trial. That would not have the effect of conveying immortality on the witness. Law enforcement can be wrong. But here, today, Circle is wrong.
The court wants Circle to do something that Circle can do. So we are going to make two predictions. First, Circle will eventually comply. And second, Circle will blame confusion between the legal and engineering teams for the false statements. The court should not accept that explanation. We kind of hope Circle tries the shareholder value line too. If someone says "victims are not shareholders and our fiduciary responsibility is to shareholders" that will just be too amazing for words. As odd as that outcome seems remember a listed US company is currently engaged in a dispute with law enforcement in Wisconsin in which the listed US company is just straight-up lying. This is all incredibly odd.
We have long predicted the lawyers would need to throw the engineers under the bus at some point. Honk honk.
Licensed to Shill: Retail Barely Touches Stablecoins – Treasury & Remittance Are the Real Adoption (Jeannie Lim, Xweave)
At Xweave, Jeannie Lim says her team moved $1 million for an e-commerce client in under three minutes, cutting settlement costs 30% against a Tier 2 bank’s SWIFT rate.
Lien Finance přišla kvůli chybě v logice směny bond tokenů přibližně o 542 144,63 USDC. Útočník vytvořil nekryté bond tokeny a vyčerpal likviditu protokolu.
Lien Finance lost approximately 542,000 USDC due to a vulnerability in the bond token exchange logic. The attacker exploited this flaw to create unbacked assets and drain the protocol’s liquidity. Security researchers stated that this vulnerability allowed new tokens to be minted and exchanged for real liquidity without destroying the bond tokens.
Technical Details of the Attack Blockchain security firm SlowMist announced that the attack targeted Lien Finance’s bond exchange mechanism. The attacker used the exchangeEquivalentBonds function in the BondMakerCollateralizedEth contract to create bond tokens without destroying the input bonds and then exchanged them for USDC. This resulted in the withdrawal of approximately 542,144.63 USDC. SlowMist stated that the attack occurred because the bond groups were not sufficiently verified during the exchange. The wallet address used by the attacker was identified as 0x0d7d…1808a.
Protocol Weaknesses and Their Consequences On-chain analysis by DefimonAlerts revealed the attack occurred due to permissionless bond registration and pricing vulnerabilities. The attacker created bonds containing a malicious payment function by registering a new batch of bonds through the BondMakerCollateralizedEth contract. These bonds were routed to Lien Finance’s OTC pools and replaced with actual USDC liquidity. Following the attack, several contracts were affected, including Lien Finance’s GeneralizedDotc contract.
This incident adds another vulnerability to the recently increasing number of security breaches in DeFi protocols. In July, other protocols also suffered similar attacks, resulting in losses totaling millions of dollars. Lien Finance has not yet released a detailed technical report following this attack. Researchers note that such attacks stem from weaknesses in the protocol’s pricing and validation logic.
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Samsung Wallet začne podporovat stablecoiny, včetně USDC. Firma to oznámila na Galaxy Unpacked 2026 jako součást sjednocení plateb, odměn a digitálních aktiv.
Samsung just made stablecoins a default feature of its mobile wallet. At Galaxy Unpacked 2026 on July 22, the company announced that Samsung Wallet will integrate native stablecoin support, with USDC among the expected options. The move effectively puts digital dollars alongside tap-to-pay, boarding passes, and loyalty cards in the pockets of hundreds of millions of Galaxy device owners.
What Samsung actually announced The stablecoin integration was revealed as part of a broader push to make Samsung Wallet a unified hub for payments, rewards, and digital assets. Samsung framed it as a “secured payments and rewards experience.”
The company hasn’t confirmed a specific launch date for the stablecoin feature. It also hasn’t officially locked in which stablecoins will be supported beyond the strong signals pointing toward USDC, Circle’s regulated dollar-pegged token.
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The announcement didn’t happen in isolation. Samsung simultaneously unveiled the Galaxy Card, a credit card issued by Barclays and running on the Visa network, targeting US users with tiered cash-back rewards.
In 2025, the company partnered with Coinbase to give millions of US Galaxy users access to cryptocurrency services directly through their devices. That collaboration laid the groundwork for what’s coming next, essentially graduating Samsung Wallet from a non-custodial blockchain wallet with basic crypto access into something closer to a full-featured digital asset platform.
What this means for investors For Circle, the company behind USDC, this partnership could strengthen its position ahead of any potential IPO or public market activity.
There are risks worth noting. Regulatory frameworks for stablecoins remain a work in progress in many jurisdictions. Samsung will need to navigate varying compliance requirements across its global markets, which could limit the feature’s availability to certain regions initially. The US market, where the Galaxy Card is launching alongside the Barclays partnership, is the likely first target.
The 2025 Coinbase partnership gave Samsung a foundation in crypto services, but stablecoin integration represents a fundamentally different proposition. Offering users the ability to buy Bitcoin through a partner app is one thing. Embedding dollar-equivalent digital currency into the core wallet experience is another.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Coinbase has rolled out direct USDC-BRL trading and conversion for users in Brazil, giving the country’s crypto-curious population a cleaner on-ramp between the Brazilian real and the world’s second-largest stablecoin.
The feature is live on Coinbase’s dedicated Brazilian platform at coinbase.com/en-br, where users can access real-time conversion tools, trade USDC against BRL, and, in some cases, earn yield on their holdings. Promotional rewards of up to 7% annually on USDC are part of the offering.
Why Brazil, why now USDC, issued by Circle, is pegged one-to-one to the US dollar. As of late July 2026, one USDC converts to approximately R$5.08-5.10. For Brazilian users, holding USDC is functionally like holding digital dollars, without needing a US bank account or dealing with traditional forex friction.
Coinbase launched its dedicated Brazilian platform on January 23, 2026, laying the groundwork for this kind of localized feature set. Earlier reports from 2025 had flagged limitations in BRL transaction support on the exchange, so the USDC-BRL integration represents a clear upgrade from where things stood just 18 months ago.
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Direct fiat-to-stablecoin conversion eliminates a step that previously required users to either buy Bitcoin or Ethereum first and then swap into USDC, or use a third-party service to bridge the gap.
The stablecoin playbook in emerging markets For Coinbase specifically, Brazil represents one of only a handful of regions where the exchange has explicitly built out USDC trading and conversion infrastructure.
Brazil’s regulatory landscape passed its landmark crypto regulatory framework in 2023, and the central bank has been actively developing its own digital currency, the Drex.
The 7% annual yield promotion on USDC is worth pausing on. A dollar-denominated yield product adds a layer of currency diversification on top of the return itself, providing both yield and a hedge against real depreciation simultaneously.
What this means for investors and the competitive landscape Coinbase isn’t operating in a vacuum here. Binance, Mercado Bitcoin, and other exchanges have been aggressively courting Brazilian users for years. Binance in particular has built deep roots in the country, with BRL payment integrations and localized support that predates Coinbase’s dedicated Brazilian platform launched January 23, 2026.
Brazil’s crypto framework is still relatively young, and the central bank’s Drex project could eventually introduce a government-backed digital alternative that competes directly with private stablecoins like USDC.
The 7% promotional rate on USDC is tied to what Circle can earn on the reserves backing the stablecoin. If global interest rates decline, so do the yields that make these products compelling.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
@Circle has minted another $250 million $USDC on the @Solana blockchain, marking its fourth major issuance event within a 48-hour window. The move pushed the total circulating supply of USDC to a record $72.01 billion, underscoring relentless institutional demand for on-chain dollar liquidity.
Rapid Minting Reflects Rising On-Chain Demand The speed of the minting cycle is notable. Four large issuances in under two days signals that Circle is responding in near real-time to demand from market makers, trading venues, and DeFi protocols operating on Solana. Traders use USDC as collateral, as a settlement asset, and as a quick way to move between volatile positions without leaving the chain. When more USDC is minted onto Solana, it usually points to demand for on-chain dollar liquidity, which can come from market makers, DeFi protocols, retail traders, or institutions routing activity through Solana-based venues.
Large stablecoin mints typically provide fresh liquidity that can be deployed across decentralized exchanges, lending protocols, automated market makers, and yield-generating applications. As newly minted USDC enters circulation, DeFi platforms can absorb the additional capital to facilitate larger trading volumes and improve market efficiency.
USDC Cements Its Role as a Core Settlement Layer The pace of issuance sits within a broader trend of USDC dominance in 2026. Adjusted stablecoin transaction volume hit a record $1.79 trillion in June 2026, with Circle's USDC capturing 67% of activity at $1.21 trillion. That momentum has been driven in part by regulatory clarity in the United States and growing institutional use of USDC for payments and settlement.
USDC supply surged 220% since late 2023 to approximately $78 billion, driven by institutional B2B settlement, payroll infrastructure, and programmatic payment rails built by Visa and Stripe. The repeated minting cycles on Solana reflect that growth and reinforce the stablecoin's position as a primary collateral layer for on-chain finance.
Blockchain analysts note that gross issuance does not represent the network's live circulating supply, since USDC can later be redeemed, burned, or bridged to other blockchains. Even so, the frequency and scale of Circle's recent mints point to sustained, real demand rather than a one-off capital event.
Sources:
Crypto Briefing: Circle's USDC drives record stablecoin transaction volume in June 2026
CoinTrust: Circle Mints $250M USDC on Solana as 2026 Supply Nears $65B
CoinMarketCap Academy: $315B Stablecoin Supply Hits Record as USDC Gains
Arbitrum oznámil, že USDC lze nyní nakoupit přímo na síti Arbitrum přes Banxa. Integrace zahrnuje bankovní převody, debetní i kreditní karty a místní platební metody.
Banxa Brings Fiat On-Ramp Access to Arbitrum's USDCArbitrum has announced that users can now purchase $USDC directly on the Arbitrum network through Banxa, the regulated fiat-to-crypto payment gateway. The integration covers bank transfers, debit and credit cards, and local payment methods, broadening the ways users can fund positions on one of Ethereum's most active Layer 2 networks.
The move lowers a practical barrier for new and existing users. Rather than acquiring USDC on a centralised exchange and bridging it across, buyers can now land the asset directly on Arbitrum in a single step. Circle launched USDC natively on Arbitrum One in June 2023, adding support for its Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol, which enabled direct minting and burning of USDC between Ethereum and Arbitrum One. As of March 2025, there was over $3.5 billion of USDC in circulation on Arbitrum.
Banxa's Global Payment ReachBanxa is available in more than 180 countries, with support for over 30 fiat currencies and local payment methods worldwide. The company operates as a fiat-to-crypto payment gateway primarily serving crypto exchanges, wallets, and other blockchain platforms that require compliant and secure fiat on-ramps, with a focus on regulatory compliance, fraud prevention, and user verification.
The Arbitrum integration adds to a growing list of blockchain networks where Banxa has established a presence, which already includes Ethereum, Base, Solana, Polygon, Avalanche, and others. Purchase eligibility for $USDC on Arbitrum is subject to applicable order conditions, and availability may vary by region.
For the Arbitrum ecosystem, the partnership represents a more direct path from fiat to on-chain activity, particularly for users in markets where access to centralised exchanges is limited or where local payment rails are preferred over card-based options.
Sources:
Arbitrum Docs: USDC on Arbitrum One
USDC.com: How to Get USDC on Arbitrum
Banxa: On-Ramp and Off-Ramp Solutions
Coinbase Business nově umožní firmám přijímat platby v USDC od autonomních AI agentů prostřednictvím standardu x402. Současně přidává nástroje pro AI trading a SDK pro vývojáře.
Coinbase is expanding its push into AI-powered finance, enabling businesses to accept USDC payments from autonomous AI agents as part of a broader expansion of its payment, trading and developer tools.
According to a Thursday X post, Coinbase Business users will be able to accept USDC (USDC) payments from AI agents through the x402 payment standard, which Coinbase first introduced in May 2025 to enable stablecoin payments over HTTP for AI agents, applications and APIs.
The post also announced AI trading tools that let users monitor orders, access live market data, and execute actions based on predefined conditions, as well as a software development kit for developers building agent-powered applications.
Coinbase said the products are designed to support the “agentic economy,” where AI agents can make payments, manage finances and complete other tasks on behalf of users.
The company said adoption of AI agents is accelerating, noting that agent-generated traffic surpassed human traffic on its Base documentation pages for the first time last month. However, it added that the internet’s financial infrastructure was built with “one assumption: a human clicking the button,” which has left businesses, developers and users without tools designed for AI agents.
The rollout comes as companies increasingly position stablecoins and blockchain-based payments as infrastructure for AI agents, an emerging use case that several exchanges and payment companies are targeting.
Magazine: Here’s why the CLARITY Act’s ethics deal may be so hard to reach
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Organizace CGAP spojená se Světovou bankou uvedla, že stablecoiny na sítích Stellar a Algorand pomáhají v humanitární pomoci. Jako příklady zmínila Súdán, Ukrajinu a Afghánistán.
A recent report from CGAP, a think tank associated with the World Bank, has turned the spotlight onto the use of stablecoins in international humanitarian aid. The report, frequently discussed by prominent crypto commentator All In Crypto, features real-world cases where Stellar- and Algorand-based platforms facilitate digital cash transfers in challenging regions.
Stablecoins in humanitarian relief effortsCGAP’s research investigates whether stablecoins can assist non-profit organizations in moving money across borders, particularly when traditional correspondent banks are slow, costly, or outright inaccessible. The analysis identifies a range of technical and regulatory barriers, including high transaction fees, lack of transparency in foreign exchange rates, delays of several days in payments, and the withdrawal of banks from jurisdictions labeled high-risk.
The report notes that stablecoins transact on blockchain networks, with the choice of network directly affecting costs, speed, and service availability. Stellar is highlighted as a blockchain supporting USDC, while both Stellar and Algorand are specifically identified as preferred low-fee networks in humanitarian cash transfer programs.
Field cases: Stellar and Algorand in actionIn Sudan, the Norwegian Refugee Council used KoalaPay, a digital payments platform, to distribute USDC—a major dollar-pegged stablecoin—to local partners handling aid disbursement. According to All In Crypto’s summary, KoalaPay runs on both Stellar and Base networks, with local organizations converting USDC into Sudanese pounds before transferring money to aid recipients.
A separate Ukraine initiative, launched in December 2022, relied on Stellar’s Aid Assist platform, MoneyGram, and self-managed digital wallets. This program delivered $4.6 million to more than 2,500 households during its first two years of operation.
CGAP described how, in Ukraine, digital stablecoin payments on Stellar and integration with major remittance networks enabled fast, traceable transactions to recipients in a highly volatile market.
Meanwhile, Algorand features in the Afghanistan-based case managed by Mercy Corps and HesabPay, a platform that sent a stablecoin denominated in afghani, the local currency, to users’ wallets. HesabPay allows recipients to receive digital funds directly, even in environments with limited banking infrastructure.
Mini dictionary: CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) is a global partnership housed at the World Bank, focused on advancing financial inclusion in developing economies by researching digital financial services and innovative technologies.
CountryPlatformBlockchain UtilizedStablecoinImplementation PartnerReported ImpactSudanKoalaPayStellar, BaseUSDCNorwegian Refugee CouncilFunds converted to Sudanese pounds, distributed to local recipientsUkraineAid Assist, MoneyGramStellarUSDC (via wallets)Multiple partners$4.6M to 2,500 householdsAfghanistanHesabPayAlgorandAfghani-denominated stablecoinMercy CorpsDirect-to-recipient stablecoin aid deliveryChallenges remain for digital aid solutionsWhile CGAP affirms that stablecoins can enhance traceability and expand market access for cross-border aid, the report cautions that familiar hurdles remain. Currency exchange, cash withdrawal, and compliance all present continued challenges, even when on-chain transaction costs are negligible. The expense and availability of off-ramps—services that allow recipients to convert digital assets into local currency—still pose operational difficulties.
Another warning from CGAP is that direct-to-recipient models could shift foreign exchange risk, withdrawal fees, and digital literacy requirements to aid recipients. These risks are particularly significant for vulnerable populations in regions with limited access to merchant networks or digital infrastructure.
CGAP emphasizes that while blockchain-based transfers may cut transaction fees, practical access and inclusion barriers can persist in fragile environments where alternatives are scarce.
Stellar is an open-source blockchain designed for fast, low-cost cross-border payments and is widely used by financial institutions and non-profits for currency transfers. Algorand, launched in 2019, offers high-speed and scalable decentralized finance solutions and operates with a unique pure proof-of-stake protocol.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Společnost Circle podepsala samostatná memoranda o porozumění s Kakao Group a s provozovatelem Toss, firmou Viva Republica, o zkoumání stablecoinových plateb, vypořádání na blockchainu a infrastruktury digitálních aktiv v Jižní Koreji. Projekty se zaměří na USDC, KRW stablecoiny a přeshraniční platby.
Circle has signed separate memorandums of understanding with Kakao Group and South Korean fintech operator Toss to explore stablecoin payments, blockchain settlement and digital asset infrastructure in South Korea.
Summary
Circle signed agreements with Kakao Group and Toss to explore stablecoin payment infrastructure in Korea. Kakao plans to assess KRW stablecoins, remittances and merchant settlement using Circle’s blockchain payment technology. Toss will explore USDC-based services, digital wallets and programmable payments while regulations continue developing nationwide. The agreements bring Circle’s USDC and payment technology into discussions with some of Korea’s largest consumer finance platforms. Kakao, Kakao Pay and Kakao Bank will study opportunities around KRW-based digital assets, cross-border payments and tokenized financial services. Toss and Toss Bank will examine similar uses, including digital wallets, overseas payments and programmable onchain transactions.
Kakao Group said its agreement with Circle will combine the KakaoTalk-centered platform ecosystem with Kakao Pay’s payment services, Kakao Bank’s banking capabilities and Circle’s blockchain infrastructure. The companies plan to review payment, settlement and digital asset connectivity as South Korea develops rules for stablecoins and other tokenized financial products.
The initial work will focus on faster payment and settlement systems, according to local reporting. The companies will also assess cross-border remittances, merchant settlement and links between blockchain networks and existing financial systems. Kakao Group said the infrastructure could eventually support services from other Korean companies, although the MOU does not set a launch date or confirm a specific stablecoin issuance model.
Kakao Pay CEO Shin Won-keun, who leads the group’s stablecoin task force, said the companies would “preemptively prepare a Korean digital asset ecosystem with Circle.” Circle executives met Kakao representatives in Pangyo on July 22 before the partnership was announced.
Toss explores USDC and programmable payments Circle also signed a separate MOU with Viva Republica, the operator of Toss, and Toss Bank. The companies will study blockchain-based payments and stablecoin infrastructure, with potential uses covering digital wallets, cross-border settlement and financial services that use USDC.
Toss will review biometric payment tools, USDC-linked financial products and programmable onchain payments. Toss Bank will focus on connecting stablecoin infrastructure with traditional bank accounts and fiat payment networks. The parties also plan to examine compliance, risk management, security and anti-money laundering requirements as Korean rules develop.
The agreement builds on Toss’s broader interest in digital assets. As crypto.news previously reported, the fintech has explored a proprietary blockchain and a possible token while preparing for a Korean stablecoin market. Toss Bank has also been studying blockchain-based payment and settlement models.
Circle expands its South Korea strategy The new agreements follow months of outreach by Circle in South Korea. As crypto.news reported on July 13, the company planned its Current Seoul event to bring banks, exchanges, payment firms and super-app operators together for talks on digital asset regulation and payments. Kakao Pay CEO Shin Won-keun was among the scheduled speakers.
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire also visited Seoul in April and met executives from Korean banks, exchanges and payment companies. He said Circle did not plan to issue its own won stablecoin. Instead, the company has positioned USDC and its infrastructure as possible links between future KRW-denominated tokens and global payment networks.
That approach is visible in the latest agreements. Circle is not announcing a KRW stablecoin with Kakao or Toss. The companies are studying how local won-based digital assets could work alongside USDC, blockchain settlement systems and existing financial infrastructure.
Any commercial launch will depend on the final product design and regulatory approvals. Circle Chief Commercial Officer Kash Rajaghi said Korea has “a solid foundation for financial innovation.”
Korean firms prepare for stablecoin rules South Korean technology and financial groups have increased work on won-based stablecoins as policymakers prepare a broader legal framework. Kakao Bank has already explored stablecoin development, while Kakao Pay has been building a wider group strategy around KRW-linked digital assets.
Kakao Group said its Circle partnership could support a shared foundation for stablecoin services beyond its own platforms. The group is also reviewing tokenized financial services, which could use stablecoins as a settlement layer when assets move between blockchain networks and traditional financial systems.
Circle has taken a similar infrastructure-led approach elsewhere in Asia.The company recently partnered with Japan’s JCB to test USDC for corporate treasury transfers and merchant payments. The Korean agreements extend that regional strategy into platforms with large domestic payment and banking networks.
For now, both partnerships remain exploratory. Kakao Group, Toss and Circle have not announced a launch date for a KRW stablecoin or a live consumer payment product. Their agreements instead create a framework to test business models, technical connections and regulatory requirements as South Korea’s digital asset rules take shape.
Circle podepsala s Kakao Group memorandum o porozumění za účelem prozkoumání blockchainových plateb a digitálních aktiv v Jižní Koreji. Zatím jde jen o průzkum bez zveřejněných produktů či termínů.
Circle, the company behind the USDC stablecoin, signed a memorandum of understanding with Kakao Group on July 23 to jointly explore blockchain-based payment systems and digital asset technologies in South Korea.
The deal pairs one of the world’s largest stablecoin issuers with the tech conglomerate that essentially runs South Korea’s digital life. Kakao operates everything from the country’s dominant messaging app to its own banking platform, making it a gateway to tens of millions of Korean consumers.
Why Kakao matters For anyone unfamiliar with the Korean tech ecosystem, think of Kakao as a hybrid of WhatsApp, Venmo, and a mid-size bank, all rolled into one corporate umbrella. KakaoTalk, its messaging platform, is used by virtually every smartphone owner in the country. KakaoBank is one of the largest digital banks in Asia.
The MOU is focused on exploration rather than a finished product launch. No specific products or timelines have been disclosed.
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Circle’s broader Korea playbook This isn’t Circle’s first move on the Korean peninsula. In May 2025, the company signed a separate MOU with Hana Bank, one of South Korea’s major financial institutions. That partnership expanded to include Hana Card, with the stated goal of driving USDC adoption for cross-border remittances and treasury services.
Circle has been clear that it has no plans to issue a Korean won-denominated stablecoin. The company is betting that USDC, as a dollar-pegged asset, serves a different and complementary role to whatever local stablecoin products emerge.
KakaoBank reached the development stage for a KRW-pegged stablecoin by late November 2025. So even within this new partnership, the two sides may end up operating parallel stablecoin strategies rather than a single unified one.
Kakao’s blockchain evolution Kakao launched its own blockchain, Klaytn, back in 2019. That chain went through a significant transformation in 2024, merging into a new high-performance Layer-1 blockchain called Kaia.
Circle went public in 2025, and the IPO generated notable interest among Korean retail investors.
What this means for investors South Korea’s cross-border remittance market is substantial, and stablecoins have a genuine cost advantage over traditional wire transfers. Tether’s USDT has historically dominated Asian markets, but Circle’s strategy of embedding USDC directly into regulated financial institutions could chip away at that lead in jurisdictions where compliance matters to partners.
The risk side of the ledger isn’t empty. South Korea banned ICOs in 2017, introduced strict exchange registration requirements, and has periodically spooked markets with regulatory signals.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
The exploit targeted a bridge operated by derivatives exchange AFX and emptied nearly all of the USDC locked in the contract, according to security firm Blockaid. Arbitrum co-founder Steven Goldfeder said the network's native bridge was not affected.
AFX Trade, a derivatives exchange that settles trades in USDC, was exploited for approximately $24.15 million on July 22 after an attacker targeted a bridge the protocol operates on Arbitrum, according to security firm Blockaid.
Blockaid said it detected the exploit at 21:30 UTC and published the transaction on Arbiscan. "The exploit was specific to a bridge that AFX operates," the firm wrote, adding that it is working with the Arbitrum team "to respond to the incident, to engage with the affected protocol, and to help them contain the stolen funds."
The attacker moved the funds to Ethereum and swapped them for 12,467 ETH at an average price of $1,937, according to onchain analytics account Lookonchain, which linked to the exploiter's address on Arkham.
AFX had not published a statement on its X account as of the time of writing. The Defiant reached out to AFX for comment.
Arbitrum Says Native Bridge UnaffectedSteven Goldfeder, co-founder of Arbitrum developer Offchain Labs, said the exploit did not compromise Arbitrum's own infrastructure.
"We're aware of a report of a bridge hack on Arbitrum and are investigating. We can confirm that the transaction in question originated from a third party protocol, and the Arbitrum native bridge has not been hacked or exploited in any way," Goldfeder wrote. "We will coordinate with the third party team and will report more details when we have them."
Nearly All Bridge Deposits DrainedThe AFX bridge contract on Arbitrum held about $24.2 million in USDC before the attack, according to DefiLlama, meaning the exploit drained nearly all of the funds locked in the contract. Deposits in the bridge had grown from about $19.3 million in mid-June.
AFX, short for Anti-Fragile Exchange, describes itself as a sovereign Layer 1 blockchain built for decentralized derivatives, offering USDC-margined perpetuals with up to 100x leverage on crypto assets, equities, ETFs and commodities, according to its website. User deposits enter the protocol through the Arbitrum-based bridge contract that was targeted in the attack.
The attack follows a string of exploits targeting protocols on Arbitrum in July. On July 15, perpetuals exchange Ostium halted trading after an attacker manipulated its oracle system to drain up to $18 million in USDC from its liquidity vault.
Markets showed little immediate reaction. ETH was trading at about $1,928, roughly flat over 24 hours, while ARB was down 0.3% at $0.0806, according to CoinGecko. ARB set an all-time low of $0.0705 on June 26.
Sats Terminal spustil na Starknet BTC zajištěné půjčky v USDC s čistým ročním výnosem kolem -2,04 % při LTV 50 %. Odměny ve STRK mají pokrýt náklady na úroky.
Getting paid to borrow money sounds like a financial fever dream. Sats Terminal just made it real on Starknet.
The BTC lending platform announced its integration with Starknet on July 22, enabling users to borrow USDC against their Bitcoin collateral through the Vesu lending protocol at a net APR of approximately -2.04% at a 50% loan-to-value ratio. In English: borrowers walk away with more money than they owe in interest, courtesy of STRK token rewards that more than cover the borrowing costs.
How negative interest actually works Negative APRs aren’t magic. They’re subsidized. Starknet has allocated at least 100 million STRK tokens toward its rewards program, and those incentives are what make the economics work for borrowers.
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Here’s the math on a concrete example. A borrower putting up 1 BTC as collateral can expect to earn roughly $1,997 annually from STRK rewards while paying approximately $1,344 in interest. That nets out to about $653 in the borrower’s pocket, just for taking out a loan.
The maximum loan-to-value ratio through Vesu can stretch up to 86%, though the juiciest negative rates come at the more conservative 50% LTV tier.
The integration runs through Vesu, a lending protocol on Starknet that positions itself as capital-efficient. Sats Terminal acts as the front-end interface, connecting Bitcoin holders to USDC liquidity without requiring them to sell their underlying BTC position. The loans are non-custodial, meaning users maintain control of their assets throughout the process.
Sats Terminal’s growing footprint The platform has onboarded over 100,000 unique wallets since its inception. Its backers include yzilabs, Coinbase Ventures, and Draper VC. Tim Draper himself highlighted the platform back in January 2026.
Co-founder Stanislav Havryliuk and his team have been building toward this kind of cross-chain integration. Moving onto Starknet, a ZK-rollup scaling solution originally designed for Ethereum, represents a bet that Bitcoin-native users want access to DeFi infrastructure beyond the Bitcoin network itself.
What this means for investors Negative rates funded by token rewards only work as long as the reward tokens maintain their value and the incentive programs keep running. STRK rewards that generate $1,997 annually today could generate significantly less if the token price drops or if Starknet decides to redirect those 100 million tokens elsewhere.
The 86% maximum LTV deserves attention from a risk perspective. High LTV ratios in volatile markets can lead to cascading liquidations. Conservative borrowers sticking to the 50% tier have meaningful buffer. Those pushing toward the ceiling are betting that Bitcoin’s price won’t move against them fast enough to trigger a margin call.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Flash Trade potvrdil exploit na Solaně, při kterém bylo z platformy neoprávněně odčerpáno 98 000 USDC. Tým uvedl, že všichni uživatelé byli plně odškodněni.
Flash Trade, a decentralized perpetual trading platform operating on the Solana network, experienced an exploit resulting in the unauthorized withdrawal of $98,000 in USDC. The incident took place on July 22 at 00:21 SGT and was linked to a validation flaw in the MagicBlock software development kit (SDK) used by the platform.
MagicBlock SDK flaw triggers unauthorized withdrawalThe exploit was traced to a vulnerability within the #[ephemeral] Anchor macro in the MagicBlock SDK, which handles callback processes for integrator smart contracts during undelegation requests. The flaw allowed an attacker to bypass undelegation checks by submitting a fabricated account designed to mimic a genuine user deposit.
Within a single transaction, the attacker’s account was used as the buffer for a sibling undelegation instruction. While the system correctly verified that the buffer was a signer owned by the delegation program, it failed to check that the buffer’s seeds matched the correct program-derived address. This oversight provided an opening for the exploit and resulted in the unauthorized withdrawal.
MagicBlock responded by reviewing other integrations that used the affected macro and notifying impacted projects. A patched version of the SDK, 0.16.2, now addresses the missing validation and is being recommended for immediate adoption by all integrators.
Mini dictionary: MagicBlock is a blockchain infrastructure company specializing in software tools and SDKs that enable fast and secure smart contract integration on Solana and other networks.
On July 22 at 00:21 SGT, Flash experienced an attack that resulted in a 98,000 USDC withdrawal from the platform. Flash’s batching and monitoring systems surfaced the activity immediately, and the team paused deposits and withdrawals within minutes.
According to statements from MagicBlock, the company has already worked with affected ecosystem participants to prevent similar incidents and is encouraging early upgrades to the patched SDK version.
Flash Trade reported that its new monitoring and batching systems flagged the unauthorized withdrawal within minutes, allowing the team to react quickly. All trading, deposits, and withdrawals were immediately paused as a precaution while the incident was investigated in coordination with MagicBlock.
Normal trading functions resumed within a few hours, but deposits and withdrawals remained offline for approximately 24 hours during a reconciliation process aimed at confirming all platform balances and ensuring user fund integrity. The team emphasized that this suspension was intentional to guarantee a full and accurate reconciliation.
Flash Trade and MagicBlock have jointly contributed to a reimbursement fund covering the entire affected amount, ensuring that users bear no losses resulting from the exploit.
Both Flash Trade and MagicBlock affirmed that they would fully cover the unauthorized withdrawals, guaranteeing that no user funds would be lost. The prompt response and full reimbursement have drawn praise from the broader Solana community.
Industry reaction and security recommendationsArmani Ferrante, CEO of Backpack, an established digital asset wallet provider, commented publicly on the incident. Ferrante identified the exploit as an example of system design weaknesses in margin trading platforms, suggesting the need for a structural overhaul. He recommended implementing an isolated, formally verified custody contract combined with a 24-hour withdrawal timelock to provide platforms with more time to halt suspicious transactions in the event of a compromise.
Such mechanisms, Ferrante argued, would help contain damage from attacks affecting oracle systems, wallet compromises, and margin manipulation. He recognized Flash Trade’s rapid response, noting the importance of proactive security measures in reducing potential losses.
MagicBlock, following the incident, has pledged ongoing collaboration with blockchain integrators, auditors, and independent security researchers to improve the resilience of their SDK offerings and support the wider ecosystem in mitigating such vulnerabilities moving forward.
PlatformExploit DateAsset AffectedAmount LostUser Funds Covered?Flash TradeJuly 22, 2026USDC$98,000Yes (fully covered)Wanchain Cardano BridgePrevious monthsNIGHT515 millionN/ADisclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Arbitrum nyní drží 3,7 až 4 miliardy USD ve stablecoinech a Spark Savings rozšířil své vaulty o USDC, USDS i USDT0. Tyto tři stablecoiny tvoří přes 90 % nabídky na síti.
Arbitrum just quietly became one of the most important places to park stablecoins in DeFi. The Ethereum Layer 2 network now hosts between $3.7 billion and $4 billion in stablecoin supply, and Spark Savings has expanded its yield-bearing vaults to capture the vast majority of it.
Spark’s ERC-4626 vaults on Arbitrum now support USDC, USDS, and the recently added USDT0, an omnichain version of Tether. Together, those three stablecoins represent over 90% of Arbitrum’s total stablecoin supply. That means roughly $3 billion or more in stablecoins can now be deposited into yield-generating vaults without users needing to swap tokens or navigate convoluted bridging processes.
What Spark Savings actually does The vaults follow the ERC-4626 standard, which standardizes how deposits, withdrawals, and yield accounting work, making these vaults composable with other protocols. Developers can plug Spark’s vaults into broader DeFi strategies without building custom integrations from scratch.
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Spark initially expanded to Arbitrum in early 2025, supporting USDC and USDS. The addition of USDT0 happened within the last 7-10 days as of mid-July 2026, completing the trifecta of major stablecoins on the network. USDT0 differs from regular USDT in that it’s designed to move natively across multiple chains, eliminating the friction that typically comes with bridging Tether between networks.
The Spark Savings Vaults V2 uses a continuous per-second rate accumulator, meaning there’s no batch processing or epoch-based distribution. Yield grows continuously, and rates are adjusted based on governance decisions.
What this means for investors For stablecoin holders on Arbitrum, three major stablecoins now operate under one vault standard with continuous yield accrual, removing the need to bridge to Ethereum mainnet or search across multiple protocols.
The USDT0 integration is notable because Tether remains the largest stablecoin by market cap globally, and its omnichain variant removes friction around moving USDT between networks without bridge fees or wrapped token complexity.
Concentration risk is the obvious concern. When a single protocol handles yield for over 90% of a network’s stablecoin supply, any smart contract vulnerability or governance misstep could have outsized consequences.
The governance-driven yield adjustment model also introduces uncertainty. Rates are determined by governance votes, which means yield could shift based on political dynamics within the Spark community rather than pure supply and demand.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Ramp spustil stablecoin účty pro firmy na Solaně, které mohou držet USDC a USDT a posílat přeshraniční platby 24/7 v jednom workflow. Podpora sahá do více než 140 zemí.
Ramp has expanded its business payments platform with Solana-powered stablecoin accounts, giving companies a way to hold USDC and USDT while sending cross-border payments around the clock from a single financial workflow.
Summary
Ramp has launched Solana powered stablecoin accounts, allowing businesses to hold USDC and USDT while sending cross border payments at any time. Companies can pay vendors in more than 140 countries with stablecoins or settle in over 40 local currencies through Ramp’s existing financial workflows. The launch adds to Solana’s recent enterprise payment partnerships as institutions and businesses expand stablecoin use for treasury management and global settlements. According to an announcement from Ramp, businesses can now open a Stablecoin Account to store USDC or USDT directly within the company’s financial platform and use those balances for international payments without relying on separate crypto exchanges, wallets, or accounting systems.
STABLECOINS ARE NOW ON RAMP.
Your business operates 24/7, but your money only operates Mon-Fri, unavailable on evenings, weekends, & holidays.
Now you can pay vendors faster across borders & move money in USDC or USDT with the approvals & accounting workflows you already use.… pic.twitter.com/3LWphYZRmd
— Ramp (@tryramp) July 21, 2026 The launch also lets companies pay overseas vendors in stablecoins even if they never hold digital assets themselves. Through Ramp Bill Pay, payments can be funded from a U.S. dollar bank account or Ramp Checking before being converted into USDC or USDT and delivered to a recipient’s wallet.
Ramp said the new feature is designed to fit into existing finance operations instead of requiring businesses to adopt a separate crypto workflow. Stablecoin balances appear alongside cash accounts in the same dashboard, follow existing approval policies, and remain connected to the same accounting integrations already used by customers.
Businesses using the Stablecoin Account can also earn rewards of up to 3.25% on eligible stablecoin balances. Ramp described the balances as digital dollars backed by cash reserves and said they are intended for payments and treasury management rather than investment.
Payments move beyond banking hours Cross-border transfers can now be made at any time without waiting for banking cutoffs or wire processing windows, Ramp said. Companies can send USDC or USDT directly to vendor and contractor wallets in more than 140 countries or convert those funds into fiat currencies for payouts across more than 40 local currencies.
The company said more than 1,000 businesses already use stablecoins to pay vendors through its platform. According to Ramp, more than 70% of the payment volume generated by those users takes place outside traditional banking hours, indicating that businesses continue making payments after banks have closed.
Ramp also included comments from Totalis Chief Executive Officer Pravesh Mansharamani, who said the company’s Stablecoin Account has allowed it to keep treasury assets on-chain. He added that his company views programmable, always-available money as a better fit for modern businesses than conventional banking rails.
The announcement follows growing interest among finance companies in using stablecoins for international settlement, treasury management, and business payments as digital dollar infrastructure continues to expand.
Solana continues adding enterprise payment partners The integration adds another enterprise payments use case for Solana, whose ecosystem has increasingly focused on stablecoin settlement instead of only decentralized finance and trading applications.
Recent initiatives by the Solana Foundation have followed a similar direction. Earlier this month, SBI Holdings and the Solana Foundation announced a strategic partnership to establish SBI Solana Global, a venture that plans to build regulated on-chain financial infrastructure in Japan using Solana as its primary blockchain.
According to the companies, the project will support yen-denominated stablecoins, including JPYSC, while also developing tokenized bonds, commercial paper, investment funds, real estate products, and institutional settlement services. The partners also identified cross-border payments and AI-focused payment systems as future business areas, although product launch dates have not yet been disclosed.
Expansion into enterprise finance has also reached South Korea. In April, Shinhan Card announced a partnership with the Solana Foundation to test stablecoin payments on Solana’s testnet through a proof-of-concept that simulates everyday retail transactions between customers and merchants. The company said the pilot is evaluating transaction performance, non-custodial wallet security, and blockchain payment infrastructure while exploring hybrid finance models that combine traditional financial services with decentralized finance technologies.
Solana has also extended its stablecoin payment infrastructure into artificial intelligence services. Earlier this month, the Solana Foundation and Google Cloud introduced Pay.sh, a payment gateway that allows AI agents to purchase API access using stablecoins on Solana. The platform supports per-request payments for Google Cloud services, including Gemini, BigQuery, and Vertex AI, while using Solana wallets instead of conventional subscriptions or API keys.
Cardano zvažuje návrh PRIME od Alpha Growth, který by mohl alokovat 120 milionů ADA za zhruba 19,2 milionu USD a zvýšit celkovou uzamčenou hodnotu (TVL) v DeFi o 200 milionů USD během příštího roku. Součástí jsou i pojistky, aby se většina prostředků uvolnila jen po schválení pětičlennou skupinou.
Cardano is weighing a proposal that could allocate 120 million ADA, valued at approximately $19.2 million, to increase its decentralized finance (DeFi) total value locked (TVL) by $200 million over the next year. While the initiative aims to advance Cardano’s DeFi ecosystem, some analysts caution that financial incentives alone may not address the network’s deeper challenges.
Alpha Growth’s PRIME proposal and phased funding safeguardsCrypto commentator Linda recently explored the PRIME proposal, developed by Alpha Growth, which seeks to enhance liquidity, develop DeFi products, and attract longer-term capital beyond short-lived incentive schemes. Cardano currently holds about $90 million in DeFi TVL and $45 million in stablecoins.
Alpha Growth’s strategy begins with a comprehensive audit covering 20 to 25 DeFi categories. This would be followed by a public gap analysis to identify specific ecosystem weaknesses. Only after these assessments would the actual incentive programs and capital deployment start.
The proposal’s structure includes key safeguards. The transition to the critical third phase, where most funds would be distributed, requires approval from a five-member operating group featuring representatives from Blink Labs, CoinseLion, Midgard Labs, Input Output, and Tweag. If this panel does not agree to proceed, roughly 90 million ADA will remain untouched in the treasury.
Linda highlighted her support for the safeguard: “I personally really, really like that safeguard.”
The preliminary budget allocates $5.6 million to ecosystem grants, $4.3 million for liquidity provider incentives, and $2.4 million for marketing, events, and partnerships. Alpha Growth would receive a $1.7 million fixed management fee, with as much as $4.6 million additionally tied to performance milestones. Remaining funds are designated for audits and compliance expenses.
Budget ItemPlanned AllocationEcosystem grants$5.6 millionLiquidity incentives$4.3 millionMarketing & partnerships$2.4 millionAlpha Growth fixed fee$1.7 millionPerformance-based feeUp to $4.6 millionAudits & complianceRemaining fundsBefore any spending can occur, Cardano governance may need to lift its Net Change Limit—the treasury cap for funding cycles—from 350 million ADA to 500 million ADA. Linda argued that the current ceiling leaves insufficient room to accommodate the proposed initiative.
Mini dictionary: Alpha Growth, a blockchain consulting firm, develops strategies for DeFi project growth and helps optimize liquidity and capital efficiency for emerging crypto ecosystems.
Key adoption barriers and the debate over incentivesAlpha Growth’s analysis points to Cardano’s fragmented and inefficient liquidity as a primary DeFi obstacle. The proposal claims that increasing “organic APR”—returns based on genuine transaction activity rather than external incentives—will help retain capital and users.
Linda, however, expressed skepticism about the effectiveness of such incentives. She noted that despite past campaigns offering high, relatively low-risk yields, Cardano has struggled to achieve broad DeFi adoption. She believes the network needs a unique “killer app” to persuade users to overcome operational hurdles such as new wallets, cross-chain bridges, and unfamiliar DeFi interfaces.
“We don’t just need competitive APRs. We need something that only exists on Cardano”—an application compelling enough to offset onboarding friction, Linda stated.
Additional headwinds include the lack of native USDC stablecoin support; Cardano currently relies on bridged USDCX, which Linda argued may not deliver the trust, liquidity depth, or integrations that users expect. She also cited slower settlement times and less responsive liquidation processes compared to other leading chains.
Alpha Growth’s proposal essentially represents a test case for whether Cardano can cultivate a robust, sustainable DeFi environment. Should efforts fall short of significantly boosting on-chain activity, Linda suggested that Cardano might need to shift focus toward real-world financial infrastructure—a core vision that shaped the project’s initial development.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Open USD spojuje více než 140 účastníků včetně Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Coinbase a BlackRock a nabízí jim podíl na výnosech z rezerv. Tím zvyšuje tlak na zavedené stablecoiny USDT a USDC.
With stablecoin supply above $300 billion and payment use reaching an estimated $390 billion in 2025, more than twice the previous year, competition increasingly centres on distribution, liquidity, reserve income, and access to payment networks.
Open USD has brought these commercial forces together through a consortium of more than 140 participants, including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Coinbase, and BlackRock. Participating companies will be able to distribute the asset through exchanges, wallets, merchant products, and payment services while receiving a share of reserve earnings.
The model places Open USD against established issuers and smaller competitors seeking partnerships with the same financial companies.
BeInCrypto spoke with Louisa Bai, Head of Stablecoins at Mysten Labs, Marc Boiron, CEO of Polygon Labs, and Kevin Cui, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of OSL Group, about stablecoin competition, regional use cases, currency demand, and blockchain settlement.
Open USD Links Distribution With Reserve Income Open USD gives participating companies a financial incentive to support adoption through their own products. Reserve earnings can be returned to consortium members, linking token distribution to commercial revenue.
“OUSD is primarily built to share stablecoin reserves across its partners, including Visa, Stripe, Coinbase, Mastercard, and leading blockchains such as Sui,” said Louisa Bai, Head of Stablecoins at Mysten Labs. “Its partner network and revenue-sharing model could increase competition in a market with deeply entrenched incumbents.”
USDT and USDC retain an advantage built through liquidity, trading pairs, exchange listings, and widespread use across crypto markets.
“Their moat comes from liquidity depth and years of exchange listings,” Bai said. “Mid-sized issuers face the greatest pressure because they lack the liquidity of USDT and USDC and the partner economics offered by OUSD.”
Open USD also depends on cooperation between companies with different commercial priorities. Decisions covering reserves, governance, supported networks, and distribution will require agreement across banks, payment companies, exchanges, and crypto firms.
Its progress will depend on whether shared reserve income produces sustained adoption across participating products.
Visa just announced the launch of the Visa Stablecoin Platform for financial institutions.
The new enterprise system initially supports Open USD and includes a Wallet-as-a-Service offering.
It is currently rolling out for beta testing with select clients. pic.twitter.com/OiKijT8n3l
— BeInCrypto (@beincrypto) July 16, 2026 Different Stablecoins Will Serve Different Products Stablecoin control will remain divided between issuers, payment companies, exchanges, applications, and blockchains.
Issuers manage reserves and redemption, while payment companies control merchant access and customer distribution. Exchanges provide liquidity, and blockchains determine transaction speed, fees, and settlement capacity.
“Different stablecoin assets aimed at different use cases will coexist, together with different forms of control,” Bai said.
PYUSD remains closely connected to PayPal and its consumer products, while Open USD may develop around business payments and merchant settlement. Exchange-backed coins can focus on trading, while bank-supported assets can serve treasury management and institutional transfers.
This division allows stablecoins to develop around specific commercial environments rather than a single dominant operating model.
Regional Demand Splits Between Dollar Access and Local Settlement Stablecoin adoption follows currency stability, remittance costs, regulation, and access to banking. Latin America currently provides some of the strongest examples of stablecoins functioning as everyday money across savings and cross-border payments, according to Marc Boiron, CEO of Polygon Labs.
“Latin America, and it’s not close,” Boiron said. “When a currency loses value overnight and sending money home costs 6% and takes three days, a digital dollar is a household decision.”
Boiron pointed to the Mexico-US and Brazil-US corridors as major sources of current volume. He described the Gulf as an early regulatory leader, Japan as a careful builder of bank-connected products, and the US as a market gaining more room for regulated issuance and payments.
Emerging markets such as Argentina, Brazil, and Pakistan use dollar stablecoins as protection from inflation and currency depreciation.
In Nigeria, Paga plans to use Sui-based stablecoin payments to support international transfers for freelancers and businesses paying overseas suppliers.
Local-currency coins serve a different economic need. Markets with trusted currencies and regulators seeking domestic settlement onchain have stronger incentives to develop assets denominated in yen, dirhams, euros, or other local units.
“A stablecoin inherits the reputation of the currency behind it,” Boiron said.
He expects dollar coins to lead in markets where people seek protection from inflation, while local-currency stablecoins can develop in places such as Japan and the Gulf, where domestic currencies retain public trust.
Business adoption depends on liquidity and reliable fiat conversion, while distribution and licensing determine how easily merchants and exchanges can support a new asset. Boiron said businesses need coins already present in the wallets and payment services they use, backed by issuers acceptable to banks and auditors.
“It comes down to liquidity, distribution, and whether there is a licensed issuer standing behind it,” he said.
Europe follows MiCA rules covering issuance, authorization, reserves, and distribution. Exchanges have restricted several assets, including USDT, while providers adjusted their offerings to European requirements.
The resulting market divides between dollar access in weaker-currency economies and local settlement in regions where domestic units retain trust.
MiCA regulation is now fully in effect across all 27 EU member states. 🇪🇺
The grace period for unauthorized crypto providers is over.
Now, a single license allows companies to operate continent-wide, setting the stage for a major structural shift. pic.twitter.com/6b0Kg4edjE
— BeInCrypto (@beincrypto) July 1, 2026 Dollar Stablecoins Will Retain Their Lead Dollar coins still dominate supply and liquidity, while local-currency assets are developing around domestic settlement and regional trade.
“Non-dollar stablecoins remain concentrated in foreign-exchange trading within DeFi,” Bai said. “Locally denominated assets such as JPYC will continue to develop, while USD is likely to remain dominant in the near term.”
Meanwhile, Cui expects local-currency stablecoins to grow alongside dollar coins as companies adopt them for domestic payments and regional trade.
“Local-currency stablecoins are developing a durable role alongside dollar coins by reducing FX exposure and allowing businesses operating in euros, reais, or yen to retain their own unit of account,” said Kevin Cui, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of OSL Group.
Local coins may gain adoption where companies earn and spend in the same currency, while dollar coins continue serving international settlement and savings demand.
Blockchains Provide the Settlement Base Blockchains determine how efficiently stablecoins move between users, companies, and financial applications.
Boiron offered a complementary view of the chain’s role, arguing blockchains create more value by supporting widely used assets across many products than by issuing coins tied to one ecosystem.
“The most valuable stablecoin is the one everyone else already accepts,” Boiron said.
Chains therefore compete through transaction performance, developer tools, and support for several major stablecoins.
“Sui’s role in stablecoin growth is settlement, with fast execution built for the transaction volumes mass adoption requires,” Bai said. “Stablecoins need fast finality, capacity for large user numbers, stable fees, and strong user experience.”
Sui introduced gasless stablecoin transfers in May 2026, allowing users to send supported assets without holding SUI separately for transaction fees. Confidential transfers entered public beta in June, allowing issuers to conceal balances and transaction values while preserving access for compliance and auditing.
Sui also recorded more than six million transactions per second during a July public experiment using programmable tunnels. These offchain payment and state channels process activity away from the main network before settling final results on Sui.
Such features can support payroll, merchant payments, treasury transfers, and institutional settlement.
Open USD shows how stablecoin competition is expanding beyond issuance. Reserve income, distribution partnerships, payment access, and blockchain performance will influence which assets gain adoption.
Dollar coins will retain their advantage in global markets, while local assets develop around domestic payments and regional commerce. The strongest providers will combine reliable reserves with liquidity, distribution, and efficient settlement.
USDC v březnu 2023 spadl na zhruba 87 centů poté, co Circle držel 3,3 miliardy USD rezerv u Silicon Valley Bank. Po vládní záruce vkladů se navázání na dolar do pondělí obnovilo.
Crypto has been rescued by the US government exactly once, and the rescue was aimed at something else. The mechanism was an obscure override in banking law, and understanding how it worked in March 2023, and why it may never work that way again, is the closest thing to reading crypto’s actual safety net
Summary
The systemic risk exception is an override in US banking law: normally the FDIC must resolve failed banks at the least cost to its insurance fund, but with extraordinary sign-offs it may spend more to prevent broader financial instability. Invoking it requires a two-thirds vote of the FDIC board, a two-thirds vote of the Federal Reserve board, and the Treasury secretary’s determination in consultation with the president, one of the highest procedural bars in financial regulation. In March 2023 it was invoked for Silicon Valley Bank, making all depositors whole including the uninsured, at a cost to the insurance fund of roughly $16 billion to $17 billion, recovered through special assessments on banks. Circle held $3.3 billion of USDC reserves at SVB; the coin fell to roughly 87 cents over the weekend and recovered when the depositor guarantee landed. Crypto’s only bailout was a side effect of a banking rescue. The channel is narrowing by design: issuers moved reserves away from bank deposits, and watchdogs now warn that a future exception covering a bank heavy with stablecoin reserves could cost more than SVB did, which is exactly why regulators want the exposure shrunk. For one weekend in March 2023, the second-largest stablecoin in the world traded like a distressed bond. USDC, marketed as a dollar in digital form, touched roughly 87 cents, because $3.3 billion of the reserves behind it were trapped inside a bank that had just failed. By Monday morning the peg was back, and the crypto industry drew a comforting conclusion: when things get bad enough, the government steps in. The conclusion is half right and dangerously incomplete. The government did step in, through a mechanism called the systemic risk exception, and it was not stepping in for crypto. Understanding what that mechanism is, the extraordinary process it requires, what it actually did that weekend, and why the same rescue is being engineered out of repeatability, is the closest thing available to an honest map of crypto’s safety net. This guide is that map.
The rule the exception overrides The systemic risk exception only makes sense against the rule it breaks, and the rule is a scar from an earlier crisis.
After the savings-and-loan disaster of the 1980s drained the deposit insurance system, Congress passed the FDIC Improvement Act of 1991, and at its center sat a discipline called least-cost resolution. When a bank fails, the FDIC must choose the resolution path that costs its Deposit Insurance Fund the least. In practice that usually means insured depositors are paid in full, up to the statutory limit, and uninsured depositors, everyone above the limit, stand in line as creditors of the receivership, recovering whatever the failed bank’s assets eventually yield. The rule exists to make large depositors police their banks: if money above the insurance cap is genuinely at risk, sophisticated customers have reasons to watch where they keep it, and banks that take wild risks lose big deposits before they blow up.
Congress knew the discipline could occasionally be catastrophic, a failure large enough or connected enough that letting uninsured depositors take losses would spread panic to healthy banks. So it built one exit: the systemic risk exception, permitting the FDIC to abandon least-cost and protect broader classes of creditors, including all uninsured depositors, when the cheap path would have serious adverse effects on economic conditions or financial stability.
Then it made the exit door heavy. Invoking the exception requires a written recommendation by two-thirds of the FDIC’s board, a matching two-thirds of the Federal Reserve’s board of governors, and a determination by the Treasury secretary made in consultation with the president, with after-the-fact accountability including review of the determination. Three institutions, supermajorities in two, and the White House in the loop: American financial law contains few switches harder to flip, which is the point. The exception is designed to be used the way it reads, exceptionally.
March 2023: the weekend it flipped Silicon Valley Bank failed on Friday, March 10, 2023, in the fastest large-bank run in American history, tens of billions of withdrawal demands in a day, driven at smartphone speed by a depositor base of startups and funds that all read the same warnings at the same time. The failure’s signature problem was concentration above the cap: the overwhelming majority of SVB’s deposits were uninsured, held by companies that used the bank for payroll and treasury. Under least-cost resolution, those depositors faced haircuts of unknown size and timing, and by Saturday the question consuming regulators was not SVB but Monday: whether uninsured depositors at every similar bank would conclude their money was unsafe and run next.
Among those uninsured depositors was Circle, with $3.3 billion of USDC’s reserves, roughly 8% of the total, on deposit at SVB. The disclosure landed Friday night, and the stablecoin market did the arithmetic instantly: if the SVB money took, say, a 20% haircut, the coin was worth visibly less than a dollar. USDC broke, trading down to roughly 87 cents, redemption queues formed, and the depeg transmitted through DeFi, where USDC served as core collateral and as backing for other stablecoins, turning one bank’s failure into a system-wide crypto stress test in under 48 hours. For readers new to the mechanics, crypto.news has also explained the anatomy of the USDC break.
On Sunday evening, the switch flipped. The FDIC and Federal Reserve boards voted, the Treasury secretary determined, and the government announced that all SVB depositors, insured and uninsured alike, would have full access to their money Monday morning, with the identical treatment applied to the simultaneously failed Signature Bank. The Fed added the Fed authority this is often confused with, a new broad lending facility so other banks could borrow against securities at face value rather than fire-selling them. Crucially, the announcement drew a line: depositors were protected, while shareholders and certain bondholders of the failed banks were wiped out, this was a depositor guarantee, not a rescue of the banks as firms. The cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund from protecting uninsured depositors, later tallied around $16 billion to $17 billion, was recovered the way the statute prescribes, through special assessments levied on the banking industry.
USDC’s peg was restored by Monday. Circle’s $3.3 billion was simply there again, whole, because Circle was a depositor and every depositor had been made whole.
Reading the rescue correctly Everything important about this episode lives in the details the celebratory version skips.
The decision-makers were not looking at crypto. The systemic risk determination was about the American regional banking system: the fear that uninsured depositors at dozens of healthy-enough banks would run on Monday, converting one failure into a cascade. USDC’s exposure appeared in the weekend’s inputs mainly as evidence of how far SVB’s depositor base reached, not as an object of policy. The stablecoin was rescued the way a car parked next to a burning building is saved by the fire department: thoroughly, and incidentally.
The mechanism could not have reached crypto directly even if regulators had wanted it to. The exception overrides least-cost resolution of a failed insured bank; it has no application to a failing stablecoin issuer, which is not a bank, holds no insured deposits, and sits entirely outside the FDIC’s resolution machinery. Had the causality run the other way, Circle failing with SVB healthy, there was no switch to flip. The one rescue in crypto’s history worked only because the point of failure happened to be inside the traditional perimeter.
And the episode cut both ways for the industry’s reputation. It proved the deepest link between how reserves connect coins to banks and banking, and it showed regulators exactly what that link costs: a coin’s stability had become an unpriced pass-through of a bank’s uninsured-deposit risk, and the public backstop had absorbed it by accident. Nobody in Washington filed that under precedent to repeat. They filed it under exposure to close.
A note on scale completes the picture, because the exception’s economics are part of why its future use is contested. The Deposit Insurance Fund that absorbed the roughly $16 billion to $17 billion cost is not taxpayer money in the direct sense; it is funded by assessments on insured banks, and the special assessment that recouped the SVB and Signature costs was levied, by design, disproportionately on the largest banks. That structure is why the banking industry itself is a stakeholder in how the exception gets used: every invocation is a bill sent to banks that did nothing wrong, which is both the system’s discipline, the industry insures itself, and the source of its political friction. Now scale the stablecoin version. The sector’s reserves exceed $300 billion, and even a fraction of a major issuer’s backing sitting as deposits at one failing bank could produce an uninsured-depositor guarantee dwarfing 2023’s, with the cost assessed on banks to protect, in economic substance, the customers of a non-bank competitor that pays no assessments at all. That asymmetry, banks funding the accidental backstop of an industry built to disintermediate them, is the sharpest version of the Better Markets warning, and it explains the otherwise puzzling alliance of bank lobbies and consumer watchdogs pressing regulators to keep stablecoin reserves out of bank deposits. The exception’s door is heavy, and the parties who pay when it opens are now watching what stands outside it.
The weekend, hour by hour The compressed timeline of March 10 to 13, 2023 is worth walking in sequence, because the mechanics of how a bank failure became a stablecoin crisis and back again are clearest at ground level, and because the sequence is the template for reading any future episode.
Friday, March 10. California regulators closed Silicon Valley Bank mid-morning and appointed the FDIC receiver, the standard Friday choreography of American bank failure, except at unprecedented speed and size for the era. The default path was least-cost resolution: insured depositors whole within days, uninsured depositors, the vast majority at SVB, issued receivership certificates for the excess, of uncertain value and timing. Through the afternoon, the exposure disclosures began. Circle’s landed that evening: $3.3 billion of USDC reserves at the failed bank.
Saturday. The stablecoin market traded the disclosure. USDC broke decisively below its peg, reaching roughly 87 cents, and the mechanics of the depeg mattered as much as its size: redemptions through Circle were constrained by the banking system being closed for the weekend, so price discovery happened entirely on secondary markets, in an information vacuum, with holders unable to distinguish a weekend liquidity discount from a genuine solvency haircut. The stress propagated through DeFi, where USDC collateralized lending markets and backed other stablecoins, notably DAI, which depegged in sympathy. A crypto-native observer watching only crypto saw a stablecoin crisis; the actual variable was a receivership in Santa Clara.
Sunday, March 12. The systemic machinery engaged, aimed at Monday’s banking open, not at crypto. The FDIC and Federal Reserve boards delivered their supermajority recommendations, the Treasury secretary made the determination in consultation with the president, and the announcement guaranteed all depositors of SVB and Signature Bank, with shareholders and certain debtholders wiped out. Simultaneously the Fed unveiled its new broad lending facility for banks, term funding against securities at par, the modern 13(3)-era answer to fire sales. Circle communicated that its exposure would be recovered in full and that the peg would restore when banking rails reopened.
Monday, March 13. Depositors had access. Circle’s $3.3 billion was whole, redemptions resumed through functioning banks, and USDC returned to parity within the day. Total elapsed time from failure to restoration: roughly 65 hours, most of them a weekend.
Read as a template, the sequence teaches four things. Stablecoin depegs driven by reserve exposure trade on disclosure and rumor while the actual determinants, receivership outcomes, official decisions, move on institutional time, so weekend prices are sentiment, not settlement. The transmission runs through whatever fraction of reserves sits at the failed institution, which is why the single most predictive number in any repeat is the issuer’s disclosed bank-deposit concentration. The rescue decision, when it came, was made by banking regulators weighing banking contagion, with crypto’s fate a dependent variable, and any future episode should be read the same way: watch what the FDIC and Fed fear for banks, not what they say about crypto. And the entire arc, break to restoration, required the failure to sit inside the insured perimeter, which is the fact every subsequent reform has been quietly working to make irrelevant.
Why the accident is being engineered out Three developments since March 2023 have narrowed the accidental-bailout channel, and each is worth registering because together they answer the question every holder actually cares about: would it work that way again?
Reserves moved. The proximate lesson issuers drew was that concentrated uninsured bank deposits are the weak joint, and reserve portfolios restructured accordingly, toward Treasury bills, government money market funds, and custody arrangements, with bank deposits reduced to operational cash. The GENIUS Act hardened the direction into law with full-reserve requirements in high-quality liquid assets. The less reserve money sits as uninsured deposits, the less a bank failure can transmit into a peg, and the less a future depositor guarantee would have any stablecoin to save.
The watchdogs did the arithmetic. Better Markets and others have warned that a future systemic risk exception covering a bank holding a major issuer’s reserves could cost the insurance fund more than SVB’s roughly $17 billion, socializing a stablecoin’s back end across assessed banks at a scale the 2023 episode only sketched. That warning is the political immune response to the accident: the argument now on the table is precisely that stablecoin reserve exposure should not be allowed to grow into something the exception would one day be pressured to cover.
And the doctrine hardened. The Fed chair who owned crypto just ruled out saving it, while the FDIC has separately confirmed that stablecoin holders have no deposit insurance of their own, no pass-through, no coverage, a creditor’s claim on the issuer and nothing more. Crypto.news has also examined why holders had no direct protection. The official architecture being built instead, GENIUS’s holder-priority rule and reserve requirements, is a resolution regime: machinery for letting an issuer fail in an orderly way, which is the exact opposite of machinery for rescuing one. The unfinished state of that rulebook, after regulators missed July’s statutory deadline, is the honest asterisk on the whole structure.
The synthesis is clean enough to carry. The systemic risk exception remains on the books, as heavy-doored as ever, and it protects one thing: depositors of failed insured banks, when three institutions and the White House agree that letting them take losses would endanger the system. Stablecoins touched that protection once, through a $3.3 billion accident of account location, and the years since have been a coordinated project, by issuers, by Congress, by regulators, to make sure the next stablecoin crisis is resolved inside crypto’s own machinery rather than caught in banking’s net. Whether that machinery is finished when the test comes is the open question of 2026, and it is the right one to watch, because the fire department has now said clearly which building it covers.
Frequently asked questions What is the systemic risk exception in one sentence? It is the override in US banking law that lets the FDIC abandon its normal obligation to resolve a failed bank at the least cost to the insurance fund, and instead protect broader groups such as all uninsured depositors, when the cheap path would threaten financial stability.
Who has to approve it? Three parties, at one of the highest bars in financial regulation: at least two-thirds of the FDIC’s board, at least two-thirds of the Federal Reserve’s board of governors, and the Treasury secretary, who makes the determination in consultation with the president. The multi-institution supermajority design exists to keep the exception truly exceptional.
What happened with Silicon Valley Bank in 2023? SVB failed on March 10, 2023 after the fastest major bank run in US history, with the vast majority of its deposits above the insurance limit. Fearing Monday runs on similar banks, regulators invoked the exception on Sunday and guaranteed all depositors, insured and uninsured, at SVB and Signature Bank, while wiping out shareholders. The uninsured-depositor protection cost the insurance fund roughly $16 billion to $17 billion, recovered via special assessments on banks.
How did that rescue USDC? Circle held $3.3 billion of USDC’s reserves, about 8%, as deposits at SVB. When the failure was disclosed, USDC fell to roughly 87 cents as markets priced a possible haircut on that exposure. The depositor guarantee made Circle whole along with every other depositor, and the peg recovered by Monday. USDC was saved as a depositor of a rescued bank, not as a stablecoin.
Could the exception be used to rescue a stablecoin issuer directly? No. The mechanism applies to the resolution of failed insured banks, and a stablecoin issuer is not a bank and holds no insured deposits. If an issuer failed while its reserve banks stayed healthy, the exception would have nothing to attach to. The 2023 episode worked only because the point of failure sat inside the traditional banking perimeter.
Why might it not work the same way next time? Because the channel is being closed from three directions. Issuers moved reserves out of uninsured bank deposits into Treasury bills, government money funds, and custody, so a bank failure transmits less into any peg. Watchdogs such as Better Markets warn that covering a reserve-heavy bank could cost more than SVB did, building political resistance. And regulators, including the Fed chair this month, have explicitly disclaimed crypto rescues while constructing a resolution regime instead.
What protects stablecoin holders now, if not this? Under the GENIUS Act: full reserves in high-quality liquid assets and a priority rule paying stablecoin holders ahead of other creditors in an issuer’s failure, a strong first claim on the reserve pool. Holders have no deposit insurance and no pass-through coverage, as the FDIC has confirmed. The implementing rules for the new regime remain unfinished after agencies missed the July 2026 statutory deadline, which is the main open risk in the structure.
What should someone watch to judge the safety net today? Three things. Reserve disclosures, specifically how much of an issuer’s backing still sits as bank deposits versus Treasuries and government funds. The GENIUS rulemaking’s completion, since holder priority is only as fast and certain as the redemption and resolution mechanics behind it. And official rhetoric under stress: whether the next mid-sized crypto failure is actually allowed to fail, which is the only true test of the no-rescue doctrine. This is educational information, not financial advice.
Disclaimer: This article is for information and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. It describes past official actions and current law, neither of which guarantees any future action, and regulatory details remain subject to change. Always do your own research. Information is accurate as of July 20, 2026.
TLDR: GENIUS Act’s one-year rule deadline passed on July 18, 2026, with zero final rules issued. Stablecoin supply grew 18.6% to $308.1 billion despite the unfinished regulatory framework. USDT and USDC together control 83% of the stablecoin market as rules remain drafts. Full regulatory effect now shifts to January 18, 2027, regardless of rulemaking progress. The GENIUS Act reached its first anniversary on July 18, 2026, without a single final rule published by regulators. The statutory deadline for completing payment stablecoin regulations passed with eight proposals still pending across several federal agencies.
Meanwhile, the stablecoin market expanded from $259.7 billion to $308.1 billion over the same period, an 18.6% increase recorded entirely under an unfinished regulatory framework. The law’s full effect now shifts to January 18, 2027, regardless of rulemaking progress.
Market Growth Outpaces Regulatory Progress On-chain data pulled on July 19 confirmed the scale of the gap between law and enforcement. Total stablecoin supply climbed from $259.7 billion at signing to a May peak above $320 billion. It settled at $308.1 billion by the missed deadline, showing steady expansion despite regulatory delays.
Four agencies hold responsibility for finalizing GENIUS Act rules, and none has completed the process. The OCC proposed a broad implementing rule in March covering reserves, capital and custody standards. The FDIC and NCUA submitted separate prudential and licensing proposals, while Treasury addressed state-level regulation in April.
Market concentration adds weight to the delay, since two issuers control most circulating supply. USDT and USDC together represent about 83% of the stablecoin market, meaning any final rule shapes their operations directly. USD1, the World Liberty Financial token, has grown into the fifth-largest stablecoin despite limited scale a year ago.
An institutional cohort has expanded inside this regulatory gap throughout the GENIUS Act’s first year. PayPal’s PYUSD, BlackRock’s BUIDL, Ripple’s RLUSD and Paxos-backed USDG all grew without finished federal guidance. These issuers built market share while the rules meant to govern them remained in draft form.
Stablecoin Issuers Face Uncertainty Ahead Of 2027 Deadline Congress built a backstop into the original legislation covering scenarios where deadlines slip. The Act takes effect on the earlier of January 18, 2027, or 120 days after final rules publish.
Since no rule finalized after September 20 can move that date earlier, January 18 now stands as the effective start.
Draft proposals outline requirements without yet carrying legal force for issuers. Reserves must sit one-to-one in cash and short-dated Treasuries under current drafts.
Redemptions would need processing within two business days, alongside a five-million-dollar capital floor from OCC language.
Individual issuers face different exposure depending on their current structure and market. Circle’s USDC has the most riding on final capital and reserve requirements. Tether launched USAT, a US-compliant token, anticipating rules that remain unpublished a year later.
Stablecoins function as the settlement layer beneath most crypto market activity today. Every DEX pair and on-chain treasury operates on infrastructure lacking finished US legal grounding. The market added $48 billion in new supply without waiting for regulatory certainty to arrive.
Prezident Circle Heath Tarbert hájí dlouhodobou strategii firmy a tvrdí, že USDC s asi 73 miliardami USD v oběhu a podporou na 34 blockchainech je těžké napodobit. Akcie CRCL přitom po IPO spadly zhruba z 260 USD do nízkých 60 USD.
Circle President Heath Tarbert has defended the company’s long-term strategy after Circle shares fell sharply from their post-IPO peak.
Summary
Circle says USDC’s scale and network effects remain difficult for new stablecoin competitors to replicate. Open USD adds pressure as Circle shares trade far below their post-IPO peak near $260. Circle keeps expanding regulated infrastructure while investors question competition, margins, and future stablecoin revenue sharing. Speaking in a July 14 interview with FOX Business, Tarbert said management remains focused on building financial infrastructure rather than reacting to short-term moves in the stock.
The interview came as Circle faced growing investor concern over competition in the stablecoin market. CRCL had traded near $260 after its public debut before falling toward the low $60 range. Tarbert said Circle is “playing the long game” and argued that successful execution would eventually support shareholder value.
Tarbert points to USDC network effects Tarbert said Circle’s main focus remains building a full-stack internet financial platform around USDC and related infrastructure. He argued that the company’s position cannot be measured only through daily stock movements and said the stock should “take care of itself” if Circle delivers on its wider mission.
He also defended USDC against new competitors. Tarbert pointed to roughly $73 billion in circulation and native support across 34 blockchains, saying those network effects would be “incredibly hard to replicate.” Circle describes USDC as a regulated digital dollar used across trading, payments and settlement.
Open USD adds new pressure to Circle The comments came after Open Standard launched Open USD, a planned stablecoin backed by more than 140 participating businesses. The group includes Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, BlackRock, BNY and Coinbase. Open Standard says partners can mint and redeem Open USD without fees and receive reserve earnings after a management charge.
As reported by crypto.news, Circle shares fell 17.5% to $62.63 after Open USD entered the market and CRCL left several Russell Growth indexes. The decline added to concerns about whether new stablecoin models could pressure Circle’s economics.
Wall Street has also raised questions about that competition. Crypto.news reported that Mizuho cut its Circle price target to $50, arguing that Open USD’s revenue-sharing structure could pressure margins and raise distribution costs.
Circle faces pressure over USDC economics Circle’s challenge extends beyond new stablecoin issuers.JPMorgan lowered earnings forecasts for Circle and Coinbase after a new revenue-sharing agreement tied to USDC balances on Hyperliquid. The bank said stronger adoption could come with lower reserve income retained by the companies.
Tarbert pushed back on the idea that competitors can quickly reproduce USDC’s reach. He also described USDC as the largest regulated stablecoin and said it leads in actual transaction volume, presenting scale and existing distribution as key parts of Circle’s competitive position.
Circle keeps expanding regulated infrastructure Circle has continued adding regulated infrastructure despite the stock decline. On July 10, the company received final OCC approval to establish Circle National Trust. The trust bank will initially provide digital asset custody, with USDC reserve management planned as a possible future service.
As reported by crypto.news, the approval places the new entity under direct federal supervision. Circle says the structure could support wider institutional use of its digital asset infrastructure.
Tarbert’s comments frame the stock decline against a wider contest for stablecoin distribution and reserve income. Open USD brings a large group of payment and financial companies into the market, while Circle continues betting that USDC’s existing network and regulated infrastructure will support its long-term position.
OKX Europe spustila jednosměrnou konverzi, která umožňuje vkládat USDT a převést jej na MiCA-kompatibilní USDC. Služba má pomoci zákazníkům v EU, kde platformy kvůli regulaci USDT omezují.
OKX Europe has launched a one-way conversion feature allowing customers to deposit USDT and convert it into USDC, offering a regulated migration path as the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) rules limit support for the world’s largest stablecoin.
According to a company announcement shared with Cointelegraph, the feature lets customers deposit Tether’s USDt (USDT) into their OKX Europe account and convert the tokens into USDC (USDC), one of the largest stablecoins available under the European Union’s MiCA framework.
Tether has not obtained authorization to issue USDT under MiCA, prompting many European platforms to restrict deposits, delist trading pairs or convert customer balances into compliant alternatives as the European Union completed the framework’s rollout on July 1.
OKX Europe said the feature is designed for customers whose existing platforms no longer accept USDT or plan to migrate their balances automatically. The exchange said conversions can be completed at the customer’s discretion rather than through a platform-imposed deadline.
The move comes even as USDT remains the dominant stablecoin globally. According to DefiLlama, Tether accounts for about 59% of the nearly $310 billion stablecoin market, with a market capitalization of roughly $184 billion, compared with about $73 billion for Circle’s USDC.
OKX Europe serves customers across 30 EU and European Economic Area countries under its MiCA license.
Source: DefiLlama
Why did Tether reject MiCA?Tether has defended its decision not to seek MiCA authorization for USDT, even as the move prompted many European crypto platforms to delist or restrict the stablecoin. Since the EU’s regulatory framework began taking effect in late 2024, exchanges across the region have been shifting users toward MiCA-compliant alternatives.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino has repeatedly criticized MiCA, arguing its reserve requirements create unnecessary risks for stablecoin issuers by requiring a portion of reserves to be held with European credit institutions.
In a May 2025 interview with Cointelegraph, Ardoino described the framework as “very dangerous when it comes to stablecoins,” saying Tether chose not to pursue authorization despite the likelihood that USDT would lose support on European exchanges.
The company has shown little sign of changing course. In a July 2025 post on X, Ardoino said Tether would reconsider seeking MiCA authorization only “when MiCA becomes safer for consumers and stablecoin issuers.”
Source: Paolo Ardoino
Recently, digital banking platform Revolut said it will stop supporting USDT for customers in the European Economic Area and Switzerland, giving users until Aug. 31 to sell or withdraw their holdings before automatically converting any remaining balances into their base currency.
Magazine: The British Virgin Islands are a top crypto hub no one ever talks about: Here’s why
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Cronos spustil nativní $USDC, $EURC a Circle CCTP, čímž se stal prvním blockchainovým ekosystémem s těmito třemi produkty současně. Integrace má zjednodušit přesuny stablecoinů napříč řetězci.
Cronos, an EVM-compatible L1 chain, launched $EURC, $USDC, and the Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) of the U.S.-based fintech entity Circle. The rollout denotes a notable landmark for the network as it readies for the Cronos app’s upcoming debut. As Cronos disclosed in its official announcement, it is the earliest blockchain ecosystem to unveil all 3 Circle-backed products at the same time. The respective integration is poised to deliver consumers, institutions, and developers with seamless access to fully compliant stablecoin infrastructure.
Cronos Natively Incorporates $USDC and CCTP to Bolster Infrastructure The launch of $EURC, $USDC, and the CCTP protocol of Circle on the Cronos network highlights a key move. The integration is set to provide institutions, developers, and consumers with streamlined access to compliant stablecoin infrastructure. Additionally, the move focuses on simplifying transfers across chains and supporting a wider range of notable financial apps across the ecosystem.
Simultaneously, the launch is associated with the Cronos app’s development. It is a mobile-first trading entity developed through the Cronos blockchain with notable support from Crypto.com. Specifically, the application is anticipated to permit consumers to efficiently trade their tokenized stocks, prediction market assets, and cryptocurrencies from one account. Additionally, the platform is poised to provide almost 10x buying power, availability in over 183 jurisdictions, and round-the-clock market reach.
Apart from that, native $USDC is set to play the role of a central settlement asset operating in the Cronos app. Following the launch of the platform, consumers will get the capability to deposit their $USDC tokens and use an inclusive balance for the trading of diverse asset classes. Each of the transfers on the platform will witness its settlement in $USDC, marked by redeemability for U.S. dollars on a 1:1 ratio.
Accelerating Worldwide Stablecoin Adoption According to Cronos, a critical element of this development is the inclusion of the Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) of Circle. The protocol allows consumers to shift $USDC between compatible blockchain ecosystems without depending on 3rd-party bridges or wrapped tokens. With this mechanism, consumers will get the ability to transact $USDC from over 20 compatible chains to Cronos. Additionally, $EURC’s integration further broadens the platform’s stablecoin offerings. Overall, with the merger of native $EURC, $USDC, and CCTP integration, Cronos focuses on elevating its position as a prominent blockchain ecosystem for compliant digital asset operations and worldwide financial innovation.
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Umair Younas is a cryptocurrency-related content writer linked with this work since 2019. Here, at Blockchainreporter, he serves as a news and article writer. He is a crypto, blockchain, NFTs, DeFi, and FinTech enthusiast. He has strong command over writing authentic reviews about brokers and exchanges and he has collaborated with our education team to write educational content as well. He has a dream to raise awareness among people about digital currencies. His works are well-researched and brimmed with information hence they provide fresh insights. Stay tuned to his posts if you want to stay up-to-date with the crypto-verse.
DeFiTuna uvedla, že útočník z jejích lending poolů odčerpal 580 000 USD a v USDC poolu vznikl odpovídající deficit. Tým tvrdí, že útok rychle omezil a vyšetřování pokračuje.
DeFiTuna, a decentralized finance protocol built on Solana, disclosed that an attacker drained $580,000 from its lending pools on July 16. The exploit left a matching deficit in the platform’s USDC lending pool.
The team says it quickly identified and mitigated the attack vector. Recovery efforts and a deeper investigation into the exploit are underway, though the protocol has not yet detailed how, or whether, affected users will be made whole.
What happened and what we know so far DeFiTuna operates as an automated market maker with native lending features, concentrated liquidity, and support for leveraged positions. Users deposit assets into pools, other users borrow against them, and everyone earns yield based on how much of the pool is being utilized.
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The attacker extracted $580K from those pools, specifically impacting the USDC side of the ledger. That created an immediate deficit, meaning the pool’s liabilities now exceed its assets by that amount.
DeFiTuna confirmed that the exploit pathway has been closed. What remains unclear is the precise mechanism of the exploit. The team hasn’t elaborated publicly, which is understandable during an active investigation.
User reactions on social media centered on two questions: will depositors absorb the loss, and why wasn’t this caught during audits? Both remain unanswered.
DeFiTuna’s background and the trust question DeFiTuna’s feature set combines AMM functionality with lending and leveraged trading. The protocol’s native token, $TUNA, is used for staking and revenue sharing, giving holders a claim on ecosystem fees. The lending pools offer variable APY based on utilization rates.
Back in February 2025, the protocol returned investments it had received from Kelsier Ventures following a scandal involving that firm.
What this means for DeFi investors For DeFiTuna depositors, the immediate concern is whether the USDC pool deficit will be covered. There are a few ways this typically plays out: the protocol can use treasury funds to backstop the loss, socialize the deficit across all depositors, or attempt to recover funds from the attacker.
The team’s next public communication will be critical. Investors will be watching for a detailed post-mortem explaining exactly what went wrong, a concrete plan for addressing the USDC deficit, and evidence that the remaining contracts have been re-audited or formally verified.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Visa spustila Visa Stablecoin Platform pro banky a fintechy, která umožní vydávání, držení i převody stablecoinů v její globální síti. V beta verzi podporuje OUSD, USDC a USDG.
Visa has unveiled the Visa Stablecoin Platform, a new service aimed at banks, fintech firms, and payment providers, designed to streamline the issuance, holding, and transfer of stablecoins within Visa’s global payments network.
Comprehensive stablecoin solution for institutionsThe initiative enables financial institutions to manage stablecoin operations without the need to build their own blockchain infrastructure. Instead, the platform offers an integrated system for stablecoin minting, redemption, wallet management, and treasury services, aligning these functions with Visa’s existing payment and settlement workflows.
Visa’s Chief Product and Strategy Officer Jack Forestell described the new platform as a significant step for enterprises interested in stablecoin adoption. He stated, “Stablecoins are opening up a new layer of programmable money, but for most institutions the hard part isn’t the concept, it’s the operational reality. With the Visa Stablecoin Platform, we’re giving our clients a single place to mint, move, and manage stablecoin operations with the controls, security, and network reach they already expect from Visa.”
With the Visa Stablecoin Platform, we’re giving our clients a single place to mint, move, and manage stablecoin operations with the controls, security, and network reach they already expect from Visa.
The global stablecoin market has reached $304 billion in market capitalization, according to figures from CoinGecko, with most tokens pegged to the US dollar.
Support for Open USD and expansion of stablecoin productsAt its initial launch, the Visa Stablecoin Platform supports Open USD (OUSD), a stablecoin developed by the Open Standard consortium earlier this year. In addition, the service integrates with Visa’s existing stablecoin products, including USDC by Circle and USDG by Paxos.
The platform, which has entered a beta phase with a limited number of customers, allows clients to manage wallets, transfer stablecoins, and integrate new stablecoin workflows into their current treasury and settlement systems. Security features such as transaction approvals and audit trails are also built in.
Mini dictionary: Open Standard consortium, an organization focused on promoting interoperable stablecoin standards and responsible for introducing Open USD (OUSD).
Visa’s ongoing growth in stablecoin marketsVisa’s latest move builds on a series of recent developments in the stablecoin sector. In October, the payments company published research supporting the potential for stablecoins to move part of the $40 trillion global credit market onto blockchain-based platforms. The firm cited $670 billion in stablecoin lending over the past five years as evidence of growing adoption.
In April, Visa broadened its stablecoin settlement capabilities by adding support for additional blockchain networks, including Base, Polygon, Canton, Arc, and Tempo, boosting its total supported blockchains to nine. At that time, Visa reported $7 billion in annualized stablecoin settlements and said it was powering over 130 stablecoin-linked card programs in more than 50 countries.
NetworkSupported by Visa (since April)BaseYesPolygonYesCantonYesArcYesTempoYesVisa, a leader in global payments, continues to expand its digital asset offerings as stablecoins gain traction in both retail and institutional finance.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Marex Group umožnil klientům použít USDC, regulovaný stablecoin vydaný společností Circle, jako počáteční marži pro clearing amerických derivátových obchodů. Oznámení přišlo 16. července. První transakci provedla Prime Trading, LLC, chicagská proprietární obchodní firma, která vložila USDC jako marži; Marex jej poté převedl na hotovost, aby usnadnil její obchodní pozice, přes Coinbase Prime.
For decades, posting margin for derivatives trades meant wiring dollars through a system that still operates on banker’s hours. Marex Group, a publicly traded clearing firm on NASDAQ under the ticker MRX, just made that process look a little antiquated.
On July 16, Marex announced that clients can now use USDC, the regulated stablecoin issued by Circle, as initial margin collateral for US derivatives clearing. The integration runs through Coinbase Prime, which handles custody, instant fiat-to-USDC conversion, and the reporting infrastructure that keeps the whole thing compliant. The inaugural transaction was executed by Prime Trading, LLC, a Chicago-based proprietary trading firm that posted USDC as margin, which Marex then converted to cash to facilitate its trading positions.
How it actually works The Marex and Coinbase setup replaces a chunk of that friction with blockchain rails. USDC moves 24/7 at internet speed, meaning collateral can be posted, adjusted, or withdrawn at any hour, not just during US banking windows.
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In practice, a client holds USDC in a Coinbase Prime account. When margin is needed, the stablecoin is transferred into a segregated, CFTC-compliant environment that Marex manages for clearing operations. Coinbase provides bespoke reporting aligned with Marex’s clearing requirements, essentially acting as the bridge between the crypto-native asset and the regulatory framework that governs futures markets.
The regulatory green light In December 2025, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued a no-action letter that effectively permitted the use of stablecoins as margin collateral in derivatives clearing. That letter didn’t change the law, but it told clearing firms and their regulators: go ahead, we won’t pursue enforcement action if you do this within the right guardrails.
The fact that USDC was the stablecoin of choice matters too. It’s fully reserved, meaning every token is backed by cash and short-duration US Treasuries held in segregated accounts. That reserve structure is what makes it palatable to regulators and clearinghouses that need to know the collateral is actually worth what it claims to be.
What this means for institutional markets The most immediate benefit is operational. Firms that trade across time zones or in products linked to 24/7 markets can now manage margin without waiting for a wire to settle.
For Coinbase, the partnership extends its institutional infrastructure play beyond pure crypto trading. Acting as the custody and conversion layer for a regulated derivatives clearing workflow positions Coinbase as a bridge between digital assets and traditional financial market infrastructure.
The risk to watch is regulatory durability. No-action letters can be rescinded, and if a stablecoin used as margin were to depeg during a volatile session, the ensuing mess would give regulators plenty of reason to reconsider.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Coinbase uvedla, že růst USDC a bankovních vkladů jde současně, ne proti sobě. Za šest měsíců USDC vzrostl asi o 4,6–5 % a vklady v americkém bankovním systému zhruba o 4,5–5 %.
Banks have spent the better part of two years warning that stablecoins would siphon money out of the traditional financial system. Coinbase’s chief policy officer has a different take: the numbers don’t support that story.
Faryar Shirzad pointed to a six-month window in which USDC supply grew by approximately 4.6-5% while total demand deposits in the US banking system climbed by roughly 4.5-5%. Both went up. Neither ate the other’s lunch.
The data behind the argument USDC’s circulating supply has reached approximately $75 billion, making it the second-largest stablecoin by market cap.
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A July 2025 study from Charles River Associates, commissioned by Coinbase, examined whether USDC adoption had measurably harmed community bank deposits. The conclusion: no statistically significant negative effects. Community banks, the institutions most often cited as vulnerable to stablecoin competition, appear to be doing just fine.
Shirzad followed up with a blog post in September 2025 that directly rejected what he called the “deposit erosion myth” propagated by banking industry lobbyists.
Why banks keep pushing the narrative anyway Coinbase has obvious incentives here too. The company earns a revenue share of 100% from USDC held on its platform and 50% from other sources. USDC powers around 90% of Coinbase’s spot trading in USD/USDC pairs.
Coinbase’s broader USDC strategy The company’s USDC yield program has historically offered returns up to 5%. Coinbase has also been building out direct deposit functionality, letting users receive paychecks in USDC.
Coinbase is also partnering with other firms to expand stablecoin use in payments, pushing USDC closer to becoming a practical medium of exchange rather than just a trading intermediary.
What this means for investors For Coinbase shareholders, the USDC economics are worth watching closely. When the company earns a full revenue share on platform-held USDC and half on off-platform holdings, every billion dollars of USDC growth translates directly to the income statement. At $75 billion in circulation, the economics are already substantial.
Tether’s USDT still dominates the global stablecoin market, but USDC has been gaining ground in regulated markets, particularly in the US and Europe.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Zama uvedla, že její důvěrný vault pro USDC na Morpho dosáhl 23,23 milionu USD a je osmý mezi USDC vaulty Morpho V1 i V2 na Ethereum. Vault skrývá zůstatky i vklady pomocí šifrování.
Zama says a lending vault that accepts only confidential USDC has grown into one of the largest USDC vaults on Morpho’s Ethereum deployment, weeks after opening to depositors.
Summary
Zama says confidential USDC deposits reached $23.23 million, ranking eighth among Ethereum Morpho USDC vaults. The vault lets users earn DeFi yield while keeping individual balances and deposit positions encrypted. Morpho’s growing institutional use shows privacy tools are entering established onchain lending infrastructure at scale. According to a July 16 post from Zama, the Steakhouse Confidential Prime USDC vault held $23.23 million at Ethereum block 25,544,806. The company said that placed it eighth by total deposits among Morpho V1 and V2 USDC vaults on Ethereum. The ranking and deposit figure reflect Zama’s stated snapshot and can change as users deposit or withdraw funds.
Confidential USDC moves into established DeFi infrastructure The Steakhouse Confidential Prime USDC vault opened on June 23. Steakhouse Financial curates the strategy, Morpho provides the lending infrastructure, and Zama supplies the confidentiality technology.
Users deposit confidential USDC, or cUSDC, rather than standard USDC. Zama uses Fully Homomorphic Encryption to keep individual balances and transaction amounts encrypted while allowing the assets to interact with applications on Ethereum. Deposits ultimately enter a strategy using Morpho lending markets backed by collateral including cbBTC, WBTC and wstETH.
Zama points to $23.23M TVL as a demand signal Zama described the vault’s growth as evidence that users are willing to place capital into confidential financial infrastructure. The company said “capital is ready to flow through confidential rails,” while acknowledging that an ongoing incentive program has also helped attract deposits.
The vault launched with a 12-week reward program on top of the yield generated by its underlying Morpho strategy. Zama said the native strategy was producing about 4% when the product launched, while additional incentives rewarded early depositors. The company had reported more than $14 million deposited by July 2, before the total reached the $23.23 million figure reported on July 16.
Morpho attracts more institutional-style vault products The confidential vault arrives as Morpho attracts asset managers, wallets and professional curators. Bitwise launched its first onchain vault on Morpho in January, targeting stablecoin lending through a non-custodial structure.
Morpho has also expanded through consumer wallet integrations. As reported by crypto.news, Trezor added access to Steakhouse-curated USDC and USDT vaults in May. Those developments place Zama’s product within an existing lending market rather than requiring users to move liquidity to a separate blockchain.
Confidential finance still faces compliance questions Zama’s confidential USDC system has already faced a test involving the underlying stablecoin. In May, a US court order led Circle to temporarily freeze a Zama contract holding about $12.5 million in USDC. The order was later lifted, and Zama said the funds returned to normal operation.
As previously reported, the episode prompted Zama to accelerate work on compliance and controlled disclosure tools. The company says its system encrypts transaction details rather than making users anonymous and plans tools that can respond to legal and regulatory requirements.
Zama argues that its cross-chain confidentiality model can add privacy where liquidity already exists instead of requiring a new Layer 1 or Layer 2. The $23.23 million vault provides an early test of that approach, although continued deposits after the incentive program ends will offer a clearer measure of lasting demand.
Fireblocks integroval Circle Gateway, takže institucionální klienti získají jednotný zůstatek USDC napříč blockchainy. Po oznámení akcie Circle (CRCL) vzrostly o 17 %.
Fireblocks and Circle just made moving USDC across blockchains feel less like navigating a maze and more like sending a text. The two companies announced a strategic collaboration on September 9, integrating Circle Gateway directly into the Fireblocks platform to give institutional users a single, unified USDC balance that works across chains in under 500 milliseconds.
What the integration actually does Circle Gateway, now embedded in Fireblocks, provides customers with real-time, unified balances for USDC and EURC across supported blockchains. No separate chain-specific setups required.
For institutional players, this is more than a convenience upgrade. Pre-positioning capital across multiple chains ties up liquidity that could be deployed elsewhere. Eliminating that requirement frees up working capital and reduces the operational overhead that has kept some traditional finance firms from going deeper into digital assets.
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The integration builds on an earlier April 2025 connection between Fireblocks and Circle’s Payments Network, known as CPN, which established the interoperability backbone that makes this latest move possible.
Circle’s Arc and the institutional play The collaboration goes beyond Gateway. Fireblocks is a Day 1 launch partner for Circle’s Arc, an enterprise-grade Layer-1 blockchain designed specifically for stablecoin finance. Arc is built to handle the compliance and security requirements that banks and asset managers demand before they’ll touch crypto infrastructure.
By combining Fireblocks’ custody and transaction infrastructure, which has secured over $10 trillion in digital asset transactions across more than 120 blockchains, with Circle’s stablecoin ecosystem, the two companies are constructing what amounts to a turnkey institutional stablecoin stack.
Market reaction and what investors should watch The market’s verdict was swift and decisive. Circle’s stock, trading under the ticker CRCL, jumped 17% following the announcement.
In a market where Tether’s USDT has historically dominated by sheer volume, this kind of distribution advantage through institutional infrastructure could meaningfully shift the competitive landscape. USDC doesn’t need to overtake USDT in total supply if it becomes the default stablecoin embedded in every major institutional platform.
The risk side of the equation matters too. Concentration of institutional stablecoin activity within a single integration stack creates dependency. If Fireblocks or Circle experiences technical issues, compliance setbacks, or regulatory changes, institutions using this unified balance system could face disruptions that wouldn’t affect those with diversified stablecoin strategies.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
CoinShares uvedl, že Open USD je zatím nejvěrohodnější hrozbou pro USDC od Circle Internet, protože chce partnerům vyplácet výnos z rezerv místo emitentovi. Tento model by mohl stlačit marže Circle a zkomplikovat distribuci USDC.
Open USD poses biggest threat yet to Circle's USDC, CoinShares says. (Circle)Summary
CoinShares said Open USD directly challenges Circle by giving partners income generated by reserves backing the stablecoin, undermining USDC's distribution economics.Open USD comprises more than 140 companies, including BlackRock, Coinbase, Mastercard, Stripe and Visa. The stablecoin is expected to debut in the second half of 2026.Despite the threat, CoinShares said USDC’s established liquidity and integrations could prove difficult for any newcomer to replicate.Open USD, a bank-backed group developing a dollar-pegged stablecoin, is the most credible threat yet to Circle Internet's (CRCL) USDC because it targets the economics at the heart of the company’s business, crypto asset manager CoinShares said in a Monday report.
Unlike traditional stablecoin issuers, who keep the income generated by their reserves, Open USD plans to distribute the yield to participating businesses, retaining only a management fee. CoinShares said the model could squeeze Circle's margins while raising the cost of maintaining USDC distribution.
“If successful, Open USD could push stablecoins further into mainstream payments by making the economics and governance more attractive for the businesses actually using them,” wrote analyst Luke Nolan.
Developed by Open Standard, the institutional-focused stablecoin is backed by a consortium of more than 140 companies, including BlackRock (BLK), Coinbase (COIN), Mastercard (MA), Stripe and Visa (V), and is targeting a second-half 2026 launch. Key details, including its reserve structure and fee model, remain undisclosed.
The model also strengthens Coinbase's hand ahead of the Aug. 18 renewal of its revenue-sharing agreement with Circle, under which the exchange receives roughly half of USDC's reserve income, the report said.
USDC's circulating supply has fallen to about $73 billion from nearly $80 billion in March, trimming its share of the roughly $312 billion stablecoin market as competition from newly regulated issuers intensifies.
Circle shares fell more than 17% on the day Open USD was announced, though CoinShares said the decline was likely amplified by technical selling linked to the Russell index reconstitution.
Still, the report argued the market may be overreacting. Open USD has yet to launch, important details remain unresolved and Circle retains a significant advantage through USDC's deep liquidity and years of integrations across exchanges, DeFi and payments.
Open USD is unlikely to pose a major threat to Tether, whose dominance in emerging markets and offshore dollar liquidity gives USDT, the largest stablecoin by far, a different competitive moat, the report added.
For now, investors should watch whether Circle changes its distribution strategy and whether Open USD can convert its high-profile backing into adoption, CoinShares said. Until then, the project remains a credible, but unproven, challenge to USDC.
CoinShares is not alone in noting the challenge posed by Open USD. Japanese investment bank Mizuho downgraded Circle to underperform from neutral and slashed its price target to $50 from $85 in a note to clients on Tuesday, arguing that the new rival’s business model threatens the stablecoin issuer's long-term economics.
AI Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy.
Coinbase ukončí podporu vkladů a výběrů USDC přes síť Noble k 17. srpnu 2026. Uživatelé musí do té doby přesunout prostředky na podporované sítě, jako jsou Ethereum, Base nebo Solana.
Coinbase is pulling the plug on USDC deposits and withdrawals through the Noble network, giving users until August 17, 2026 to sort out their stablecoin logistics.
Noble is a dedicated appchain in the Cosmos ecosystem built specifically for moving digital assets across the broader Cosmos network. It launched native USDC issuance in partnership with Circle back in September 2023, and currently holds roughly $132 million in USDC.
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A broader cleanup, not just a one-off This isn’t an isolated move. Coinbase is also ending support for cbETH, its liquid staking token, on Arbitrum, Optimism, and Polygon on that same August 17, 2026 date.
What this means for Cosmos users Before Noble, getting USDC into Cosmos-based DeFi protocols meant going through bridging processes that added friction, cost, and risk. Noble offered a cleaner path: Circle-issued USDC that could flow natively through the Inter-Blockchain Communication protocol, connecting Cosmos chains without the usual bridge headaches.
Users who currently rely on Coinbase for Noble-based USDC transactions will need to pivot to alternative supported networks. Ethereum, Base, and Solana remain available options for USDC deposits and withdrawals.
The $132 million in USDC currently on Noble won’t vanish overnight. Circle still issues USDC natively on the chain, and other exchanges or on-ramps may continue supporting it.
For investors holding USDC on Noble through Coinbase, the action item is straightforward: migrate before August 2026. That could mean withdrawing to a supported network like Ethereum or Base, or finding an alternative exchange that maintains Noble support.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Adresa musti_akrep zneužila zranitelnost na Ostium a získala 23,75 milionu USDC, které na Arbitrum okamžitě směnila za 12 085 ETH za cenu 1 965 USD za kus.
According to EmberCN’s monitoring, an hour and a half ago, the DeBank address under the username musti_akrep exploited a vulnerability on Perp DEX Ostium to gain 23.75 million USDC, transferred the funds to the Arbitrum blockchain, and immediately converted the USDC into 12,085 ETH at a purchase price of $1,965.
Crypto clearing startup Glacis Labs has closed a $6.8 million seed round. The round was led by Lightspeed Faction, with participation from Franklin Templeton, Coinbase Ventures, A.GAIN (formerly IDC Ventures), Protein Capital, and Techni Ventures, structured as an equity-plus-token warrant deal. The funding will primarily be used to expand its core product, the ZeroDelta platform, and support the growth of its engineering, compliance, and marketing teams. ZeroDelta is a multi-chain clearing platform that facilitates matching, netting, and final settlement of cross-chain digital assets. It currently focuses on serving stablecoins and has processed over $1 billion in cumulative trading volume to date.
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Mizuho snížila Circle z Neutral na Underperform a cílovou cenu z 85 USD na 50 USD kvůli hrozbě konkurence Open USD pro marže u stablecoinů. Banka varuje, že nový model může stlačit ekonomiku USDC.
Mizuho has downgraded Circle Internet Group from Neutral to Underperform and cut its price target from $85 to $50, citing competition from Open USD.
Summary
Mizuho cut Circle’s price target to $50, warning Open USD could further squeeze stablecoin margins. Open USD shares reserve earnings with partners, challenging Circle’s existing distribution economics around USDC globally. Circle also faces margin pressure from Hyperliquid revenue-sharing terms despite recent federal banking approval milestone. The Japanese investment bank said the stablecoin model could pressure the economics behind Circle’s USDC business.
According to a CoinDesk report, analysts led by Dan Dolev said Open USD “could fundamentally alter CRCL’s business model” by changing how reserve income flows to distributors. Circle shares traded at $62.63 when the report was published.
Mizuho cuts Circle’s 2027 earnings outlook Mizuho raised its estimate for Circle’s distribution and transaction expense ratio in 2027 from 64% to 73%. The bank also lowered its adjusted EBITDA forecast from $1.09 billion to $699 million, about 25% below the analyst consensus cited in the report.
The bank said higher interest rates could support reserve income but may not fully offset pressure from changing stablecoin economics. Its concern centers on how much yield Circle can retain after paying distribution partners, including companies that help USDC reach users and financial platforms.
Open USD challenges the existing stablecoin model Open USD was announced on June 30 by Open Standard, with more than 140 companies participating in its ecosystem. Partners include Coinbase, Mastercard, Stripe and BlackRock. The project says businesses will be able to mint and redeem the stablecoin without fees or artificial volume limits.
Under the model, partners receive reserve earnings after a small management fee covers operating costs. That differs from Circle’s structure, where reserve income is generated before revenue-sharing payments to major distribution partners. As previously reported, Open USD’s announcement raised questions over whether Circle’s own partners could support a rival while continuing to distribute USDC.
Coinbase relationship adds another pressure point Mizuho also pointed to Circle’s revenue-sharing relationship with Coinbase. The bank said the agreement is expected to come up for renegotiation in August, and Coinbase’s participation in Open USD could give it more leverage in future talks.
A separate warning came from JPMorgan. As reported by crypto.news, the bank cut earnings forecasts for Circle and Coinbase after a new USDC revenue-sharing arrangement with Hyperliquid. JPMorgan said the deal could reduce reserve income retained by both companies even if USDC usage grows.
Circle continues to expand USDC infrastructure The downgrade comes as Circle expands its regulatory and payments footprint.Circle data showed USDC circulation at about $73 billion as of July 13, down from $77 billion at the end of the first quarter.
Circle also recently received final approval to establish Circle National Trust. The federally regulated entity will initially focus on digital asset custody for Circle and its affiliates, with possible future services for selected institutional clients.
The company is also expanding USDC use in Asia. JCB and Circle announced a pilot covering cross-border treasury transfers and possible merchant payments in Japan. The project will start with JCB’s internal transfers before the companies assess wider retail payment uses.
Mizuho’s downgrade focuses on Circle’s ability to protect margins as stablecoin competition changes how reserve income is shared. Open USD has not proved it can match USDC’s distribution or liquidity, but its partner-led model creates a new pricing benchmark. Circle’s earnings path will depend partly on USDC supply, interest rates and future revenue-sharing agreements.
Circle a Grupo BIND spouštějí v Argentině regulovaný přístup k USDC pro firmy a finanční zprostředkovatele přes platformu BEN. Cílí na treasury, platby a další digitální transakce v digitálních dolarech.
Circle and Argentine financial group BIND have struck a deal to open institutional access to USDC through BIND’s digital assets platform, giving corporations and financial intermediaries a regulated on-ramp to dollar-denominated stablecoins in a country where the peso has essentially disintegrated.
The partnership, announced on July 14 during Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire’s visit to Buenos Aires, will channel USDC access through BEN, BIND’s digital assets platform, on a peer-to-peer basis. BIND operates as a registered virtual asset service provider (known locally as a PSAV), which means it’s a licensed financial institution building rails for companies that need dollar exposure but face a currency that has lost 99.8% of its value against the USD since 2009.
What the deal actually looks like BEN will serve as the infrastructure layer connecting eligible Argentine institutions to USDC, covering payments, treasury operations, and broader digital asset transactions, all wrapped in a compliance framework that BIND is keen to emphasize.
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“Through BEN, we seek to provide companies with transparent, secure, and efficient access to digital dollar infrastructure within a framework designed to support regulatory compliance and operational integrity,” said Andrés Meta, a Grupo BIND shareholder.
Circle isn’t treating this as a one-off announcement. The company is hiring a senior director based in Buenos Aires and actively pursuing additional partnerships with local banks and fintech companies. This follows Circle’s existing footprint in Brazil, where it already has a team of eight people, and planned expansions into Mexico and Colombia.
Why Argentina is ground zero for stablecoins The peso recently hit yet another record low against the dollar, extending a collapse that has made the currency almost worthless in relative terms over the past decade and a half. Persistent inflation, capital controls, and a general distrust in the local monetary system have turned Argentina into one of the most active stablecoin markets on the planet.
What’s changing now is the institutional dimension. Retail adoption was already widespread. This partnership is about bringing corporations, financial intermediaries, and treasury departments into the fold through regulated channels. When individuals buy USDC on an exchange, it’s useful but fragmented. When institutions get compliant access through a licensed financial entity like BIND, it opens the door to much larger capital flows, corporate treasury management in digital dollars, and cross-border payment infrastructure that actually scales.
Circle has also been engaging with Argentine regulatory bodies, including the Central Bank and the Ministry of Economy, to ensure the integration of digital assets within the traditional financial system doesn’t run afoul of existing rules. Allaire has expressed optimism about regulatory advancements regarding how banks treat stablecoins in Argentina, suggesting the groundwork is being laid for a more formalized framework.
What this means for the broader market Circle’s simultaneous push into Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia suggests the company sees the entire region as a strategic priority for USDC distribution. Tether’s USDT has historically dominated stablecoin usage in Latin America, particularly in peer-to-peer and informal markets. Circle’s strategy of partnering with regulated financial institutions like BIND targets the institutional and corporate segment where compliance requirements make USDC’s regulatory positioning a genuine advantage over less transparent alternatives.
The risk, as always in Argentina, is regulatory whiplash. The country has a long history of economic policy U-turns, capital control changes, and political volatility that can reshape the operating environment overnight. Circle’s engagement with the Central Bank and Ministry of Economy suggests awareness of this risk, but awareness and immunity are very different things.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
On July 14, 2026, $500 million in USDC was minted on the Solana blockchain, indicating a strategic move to enhance liquidity within the network. This issuance was executed in two tranches of $250 million each, underscoring growing confidence in Solana’s capacity to handle large-scale transactions. The additional USDC enhances Solana’s standing as a significant player in the stablecoin market, holding between $7.2 billion and $8.6 billion in circulating USDC. This development aligns with a broader trend of increased institutional interest in Solana as a high-throughput settlement layer, with the network experiencing a record weekly USDC minting volume earlier this year.
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Key Takeaways The issuance of $500 million USDC on Solana suggests increased liquidity and institutional confidence in the network. Solana’s share of the global USDC supply reflects its growing role as a key blockchain for stablecoins. Market pricing appears supportive of Solana’s potential to reach higher price benchmarks by the end of July. What to Watch Market participants will closely monitor Solana’s price movements in response to this liquidity boost, particularly in relation to its potential to hit the $90 mark in July. Key indicators such as the network’s volume and additional stablecoin issuances may provide further insights into Solana’s capacity to leverage this increased liquidity. Potential developments, including regulatory actions or changes in institutional demand, could also affect market sentiment and price trajectories.
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Term Structure
Contract Odds Δ since publish Volume 24h August 1 2026 19% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.7% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.1% — — View market → August 1 2026 1.6% — — View market → August 1 2026 1% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.7% — — View market → August 1 2026 4.2% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.9% — — View market → August 1 2026 9% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.1% — — View market → August 1 2026 1.7% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.1% — — View market → August 1 2026 38% — — View market →
Circle a Nomura podepsaly memorandum o spolupráci na zavedení platebních řešení založených na USDC v Japonsku, včetně přeshraničních a obchodních plateb. První firemní služba má být nasazena nejdříve v roce 2027.
Circle Internet Financial and Nomura Holdings have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on digital finance applications in Japan, with a core focus on using USDC for cross-border and in-store payments. The MOU, signed on June 26, 2026, sets the stage for what could become one of the most significant integrations of stablecoin technology into a major economy’s traditional financial plumbing.
Japan’s foreign exchange market handled roughly $440 billion in daily trading volume in 2025.
What the partnership actually looks like Nomura will handle client onboarding, regulatory compliance, and integration with existing banking services. Circle brings its digital asset infrastructure, specifically USDC, which carried a market cap of $73.8 billion at the time of the announcement.
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The tangible product here is a USDC-based corporate payment service scheduled for deployment in Japan as early as 2027. The system would enable yen-to-USDC conversion designed to serve corporate supply chain operations, essentially giving import and export businesses a faster, cheaper rail for moving money across borders.
Traditional cross-border settlements in Japan, like most places, take two to three days. The partnership aims to compress that timeline to minutes using blockchain settlement.
Circle’s Japan playbook has been years in the making Circle has been methodically building its presence in Japan since at least 2023, when it signed a partnership with SBI Holdings. That earlier deal focused on getting USDC authorized under Japanese regulations for distribution through SBI’s platform.
USDC launched on SBI VC Trade on March 26, 2025, making it the first approved foreign-issued stablecoin in Japan. The Nomura partnership represents the next phase: moving beyond exchange availability into actual payment infrastructure. SBI gave Circle the regulatory beachhead. Nomura gives Circle access to the corporate banking world, the clients who actually move billions in cross-border trade finance.
What this means for investors The immediate investment signal here is about USDC demand. If a USDC-based corporate payment system goes live in Japan’s massive trade economy by 2027, that creates structural buying pressure for the stablecoin. Companies converting yen to USDC for settlement purposes would need to hold or transact in USDC at scale, which directly supports Circle’s reserves and revenue model.
Tether has historically dominated stablecoin market share, but its presence in regulated markets like Japan has been limited precisely because of the compliance requirements that Circle has invested heavily in meeting.
The risk side of the ledger isn’t empty, though. Regulatory timelines in Japan can stretch. A 2027 target is ambitious, and any shifts in Japan’s digital asset policy could delay deployment. MOUs are statements of intent, not binding contracts. The real validation comes when Nomura begins onboarding corporate clients and processing live yen-to-USDC conversions.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
JPMorgan uvedl, že nová dohoda s Hyperliquid zhoršuje ekonomiku USDC a představuje větší dlouhodobé riziko pro Circle. Hyperliquid drží asi 6 miliard USDC, zhruba 8 % oběhu.
Jeremy Allaire Circle CEO. (The Washington Post / Getty Images) Summary
JPMorgan said a new arrangement with Hyperliquid is a near-term revenue headwind for Circle and Coinbase, with a greater long-term threat to Circle's USDC economics. The bank argued the deal exposes a "prisoner's dilemma," encouraging Circle and Coinbase to compete for USDC distribution at the expense of each other's economics. The Wall Street firm lowered earnings estimates for both firms, citing the Hyperliquid changes alongside weaker crypto trading volumes and asset prices.JPMorgan (JPM) lowered its forecasts for Circle Internet (CRCL) and Coinbase (COIN), saying their revamped agreement with Hyperliquid weakens the economics of Circle's USDC and posed a bigger long-term threat to the stablecoin issuer.
The bank said the deal created a "prisoner's dilemma," incentivizing stablecoin issuer Circle and crypto exchange Coinbase to compete for distribution of the dollar-pegged token at the expense of each other's economics.
Hyperliquid, now one of the largest crypto trading venues, holds about $6 billion of USDC, or roughly 8% of the circulating supply, JPMorgan estimated.
"We think the change in the Hyperliquid relationship showcases the challenge for Circle and Coinbase partnership agreements because it can create 'a prisoner’s dilemma' that drive Coinbase and Circle to compete with each other when promoting USDC distribution," analysts led by Kenneth Worthington said in the Tuesday report.
Hyperliquid is one of crypto's fastest-growing trading venues and the leading decentralized perpetual futures exchange. The platform processed more than $150 billion in trading volume in July alone, while its volume relative to Binance climbed to 11.5%, underscoring its growing share of the derivatives market. USDC balances on Hyperliquid have swelled to roughly $6 billion, making it an increasingly important distribution channel for the stablecoin.
Under the new arrangement, Coinbase will classify USDC on Hyperliquid as "on-platform," collecting the income generated by reserves and paying 90% of it to Hyperliquid. JPMorgan estimated Coinbase previously split nearly all of the revenue evenly with Circle.
The bank cut earnings estimates for both companies, citing the Hyperliquid agreement and weaker crypto markets, though it expects higher interest rates to provide some support for USDC-related revenue over the longer term.
USDC has also lost momentum in recent months. Its circulating supply has fallen to about $73 billion from nearly $80 billion in March, part of a broader $10 billion contraction in the stablecoin market since May as crypto trading activity cooled and new regulated rivals chipped away at the dominance of USDC and Tether's USDT.
Japanese investment bank Mizuho said in a report last week that Circle's final approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish First National Digital Currency Bank is a positive milestone, but investors may be overestimating its significance.
AI Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy.
Circle podepsala s JCB memorandum o spolupráci na využití USDC pro přeshraniční platby a obchodní transakce v Japonsku. Zatím půjde hlavně o testování a proof of concept, nikoli o okamžité spuštění pro zákazníky.
@Circle has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with JCB, Japan's largest card network, to explore using $USDC for cross-border payments and merchant transactions. The announcement, made on July 14, 2026, marks one of the most significant moves yet to bring regulated stablecoin infrastructure into a mainstream Asian payments network.
What the Partnership Covers The deal has two core areas of focus. First, the companies will launch a proof of concept leveraging $USDC to streamline JCB's internal fund transfers, with the broader goal of lowering remittance costs and improving cross-border transaction efficiency. Second, the companies will explore in-store stablecoin payment experiences for merchants and international visitors to Japan, while evaluating technologies that support interoperability and seamless payment experiences across multiple blockchain networks.
JCB, which has 140 million users and 40 million merchants worldwide, and Circle will explore how stablecoins can enhance cross-border treasury operations and payments. The scale of JCB's network means even a limited rollout would represent a material expansion of $USDC's real-world utility.
It is worth noting the current scope of the agreement. The partnership does not immediately mean that consumers will begin using $USDC through JCB cards or payment services. Instead, the initial stage focuses on research, testing, and evaluating possible use cases.
Part of a Broader Push in Japan The JCB deal is not Circle's only move in Japan. Circle has said it would partner with Nomura to develop a $USDC-based foreign exchange settlement service for Japanese businesses as early as 2027. Meanwhile, the initiative comes amid a broader push for stablecoin adoption in Japan, including pilots such as Lawson convenience stores testing yen-denominated stablecoin payments starting in August.
JCB itself has been building toward this moment. In January 2026, the credit card issuer partnered with Digital Garage and Resona Holdings to pilot real-world stablecoin applications within Japanese brick-and-mortar stores. The Circle MOU adds a globally recognised stablecoin issuer to that existing framework, broadening the scope of what JCB can offer merchants and international cardholders.
Under this MOU, JCB and Circle will explore collaboration opportunities that combine Circle's stablecoin payment infrastructure with JCB's global merchant network to advance cross-border payments and develop new payment experiences for merchants and customers.
Sources:
CoinDesk: Circle Signs MOU with Japan's Largest Card Network to Explore Stablecoin Payments
Finextra: JCB Signs Stablecoin MOU with Circle
ACN Newswire: JCB Signs Memorandum of Understanding with Circle (Official Press Release)
Coinbase i Robinhood spustily výnosové produkty na Morpho pro nevyužité stablecoiny. Coinbase nabízí variabilní výnos v USDC s odměnami MORPHO, Robinhood cílí na odhadovaný 7% APY na USDG po dobu jednoho roku.
The two largest retail-facing trading platforms in the US are now competing for your idle stablecoins, and they’ve both picked the same DeFi protocol to do it. Coinbase and Robinhood have each built yield products on top of Morpho, the decentralized lending infrastructure that has quietly amassed over $11B in total value locked.
Two platforms, two philosophies Coinbase launched its onchain USDC lending product via Morpho back on September 18, 2025. The yields are variable, meaning they fluctuate with supply and demand in the lending markets, and the platform has advertised rates reaching as high as 10.8%.
On top of the base lending rate, Coinbase participants can earn MORPHO token rewards. These are claimable periodically, with Coinbase One subscribers reportedly getting enhanced access.
Coinbase has also introduced two risk-tiered vault options curated by Steakhouse Financial: “Prime” and “Higher Yield.” The Prime vault carries lower risk and lower returns, while Higher Yield does what the name suggests, with commensurately more exposure.
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Robinhood took a different path entirely. Its “Robinhood Earn” product started rolling out around July 1, 2026, and it targets an estimated 7% APY on USDG, its own stablecoin. Rather than letting rates float, Robinhood is fixing the yield for a year.
The Robinhood vault operates on the Robinhood Chain and is backed by insurance from Lloyd’s of London.
Why Morpho is the quiet winner Neither platform built its own lending protocol from scratch. Both chose Morpho, which functions as permissionless lending infrastructure that lets anyone create isolated lending markets, or “vaults,” with customizable risk parameters.
Neither platform requires lockup periods. Users can deposit and withdraw based on vault liquidity, with interest accruing instantly.
What this means for investors Coinbase’s variable model rewards active participants who understand DeFi mechanics and are comfortable with rate fluctuations. When lending demand is high, you could earn well above 7%. The MORPHO token rewards add upside, but tokens are inherently volatile.
Robinhood’s fixed 7% is designed for people who want to set it and forget it. The Lloyd’s insurance backing adds a layer of confidence that’s unusual in crypto yield products. But fixed rates carry their own risk for the platform: if market rates drop below 7%, Robinhood is subsidizing the difference. If rates spike well above 7%, users miss out on the upside.
Both Coinbase and Robinhood are publicly traded, SEC-reporting companies offering yield products built on decentralized infrastructure. The fact that regulators haven’t blocked these products, at least so far, suggests a growing tolerance for DeFi integrations when wrapped in compliant, insured, consumer-friendly packaging.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Interactive Brokers nově umožňuje výběry do USDC, PayPal USD a Ripple USD a zároveň přidává devět nových kryptoměn přes zerohash. K dispozici je tak už 20 kryptoměnových aktiv na platformě.
Interactive Brokers has introduced stablecoin withdrawals and added nine crypto tokens through zerohash as the brokerage expands its digital asset services.
Eligible clients can now withdraw US dollars from their brokerage accounts through automatic conversion into USDC, PayPal USD or Ripple USD. The stablecoins can then be transferred to supported external wallets.
The service extends the stablecoin deposit feature Interactive Brokers launched in January. That feature allows clients to send stablecoins to a wallet provided through zerohash, where they are converted into dollars and credited to their brokerage accounts.
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The nine tokens added through zerohash are Aave, Aptos, Canton, Lido DAO, Monad, NEAR Protocol, Plasma, PAX Gold and Uniswap. Aave, Uniswap and PAX Gold are also available through Paxos Trust Company.
Interactive Brokers currently lists 20 crypto assets on its platform, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Solana, Cardano, XRP, Dogecoin, Avalanche, Chainlink and Sui.
Solana, Cardano, XRP and Dogecoin were added in March 2025. The four assets joined Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash, which were already available through the brokerage.
“We believe digital assets should be integrated into a client’s broader financial experience, not treated separately,” Interactive Brokers CEO Milan Galik said.
Stablecoin funding and withdrawals are processed around the clock, including weekends and holidays. Clients can use the funds to trade stocks, options, futures, currencies, bonds, funds, crypto assets and prediction contracts across more than 170 global markets.
Crypto commissions range from 0.12% to 0.18% of the trade value, with a minimum charge of $1.75 per order. Interactive Brokers does not charge additional spreads, markups or custody fees.
Eligible clients can also transfer supported crypto assets between their Interactive Brokers accounts and custodial or noncustodial wallets.
Stablecoin deposits and withdrawals are not available to clients of Interactive Brokers U.K. Limited or Interactive Brokers Ireland Limited. The newly added crypto assets are also unavailable to clients of the Irish entity.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
JCB a Circle spouštějí pilot USDC pro interní přeshraniční treasury převody v Japonsku. Později chtějí testovat i platby u obchodníků a v kamenných prodejnách.
JCB has partnered with Circle to test USDC for internal treasury transfers and merchant payments in Japan, extending stablecoin use into cross-border corporate settlement and retail transactions.
Summary
JCB and Circle will test USDC for cross border treasury transfers and merchant payments in Japan. The first pilot will focus on JCB’s internal fund transfers before expanding to retail payment use. The agreement extends Circle’s institutional payments push following its U.S. trust bank approval and expansion across Asia. A July 14 statement from JCB said the Japanese payments company has signed a memorandum of understanding with a Circle affiliate to develop payment services using USD Coin (USDC), Circle’s dollar-backed stablecoin.
The first phase of the partnership will focus on a proof of concept for JCB’s internal cross-border treasury operations. The companies also plan to evaluate stablecoin payments at physical stores for merchants and international visitors travelling in Japan.
Alongside the pilot, the two firms said they will assess other payment services that combine Circle’s stablecoin infrastructure with JCB’s merchant network to support cross-border transactions and new payment options for businesses and consumers.
Coming days after Circle secured a key U.S. banking approval, the agreement adds another institutional payments partnership to the stablecoin issuer’s recent expansion efforts.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted final approval for Circle National Trust, placing the company’s national trust bank under federal supervision. Circle said the institution will initially provide fiduciary digital asset custody services for the company and its affiliates, while future plans could include managing reserves backing USDC, although no timeline has been announced.
Outside the United States, Circle has also continued building relationships with regulated financial institutions. Standard Chartered recently introduced a service through its Dubai International Financial Centre operations that allows eligible institutional clients to mint and redeem USDC directly through the bank’s platform. BNY has also added USDC to its digital asset custody platform, enabling institutional clients to mint and redeem the stablecoin through its infrastructure.
Japan agreement follows Asia expansion The JCB partnership comes as Circle continues pursuing new institutional relationships across Asia.
Later this month, the company will host its invitation-only Current Seoul event, bringing together executives from banks, crypto exchanges, payment companies and technology firms to discuss digital asset regulation, cross-border payments and industry partnerships.
During an April visit to South Korea, Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire met executives from KB Kookmin Bank, Shinhan Bank, Hana Bank, Upbit, Bithumb, and several payment companies to discuss potential cooperation through the Circle Payments Network for international payments.
Competition in the stablecoin sector has also intensified in recent weeks. Open USD, a competing dollar-backed stablecoin model, launched with a revenue-sharing structure that distributes reserve income among participating members.
However, several South Korean companies, including Samsung Electronics, Dunamu, Shinhan Financial Group, and K Bank, later told local media they had not formally agreed to join the consortium despite being listed as participants.
Circle na Solaně emitovala téměř 750 milionů USDC, čímž letošní hrubá emise na síti dosáhla 68,26 miliardy USD. Na Solaně ale zůstává jen asi 7,3 miliardy USDC.
Circle, the company behind USD Coin (USDC), minted nearly $750 million worth of USDC on the Solana blockchain on July 13, bringing the total USDC issued on Solana in 2026 to approximately $68.26 billion, according to Onchain Lens. This significant activity highlights Solana’s growing role as a major platform for dollar-backed crypto liquidity.
USDC issuance and Solana’s positionUSDC serves a vital function in the digital asset ecosystem, facilitating trade settlement, acting as collateral in lending and derivatives, and powering tokenized real-world asset transactions. Increased minting volumes often signal shifts in capital allocation and investor sentiment across the market.
Onchain Lens reported that the latest batch of tokens was sent to the Solana address 7VHUFJHWu2CuExkJcJrzhQPJ2oygupTWkL2A2For4BmE. The growing trend of USDC issuance on Solana has been evident throughout 2026. For example, in April, Circle minted $3.25 billion of USDC on the network within a single week, executed across thirteen separate tranches of 250 million tokens each.
Circle, a global financial technology firm, is known for issuing stablecoins and providing blockchain-based payment solutions. Solana is a high-performance blockchain recognized for its speed and low-cost transactions, making it a preferred venue for both projects and traders seeking fast settlements.
Mini dictionary: Onchain Lens, a blockchain tracking and analytics platform that monitors major activity and trends in cryptocurrency networks.
Gross issuance, supply, and liquidity flowWhile $68.26 billion represents the total USDC minted on Solana this year, much of this amount does not remain on the network. According to DefiLlama, the current USDC supply on Solana is about $7.3 billion. Industry data shows that across all blockchains, total USDC supply stands near $73.5 billion.
MetricSolanaAll Blockchains2026 Gross USDC Issuance$68.26 billionn/aCurrent USDC Supply$7.3 billion$73.5 billionThis means only 10.7% of the USDC issued on Solana remains on the chain, with the remainder likely redeemed, burned, or moved to other blockchain networks as market participants adjust their strategies. Far from suggesting lost assets, these numbers indicate that liquidity is actively recycled, confirming that Solana operates as an efficient settlement layer for large-scale dollar flow.
Circle has consistently emphasized the importance of measuring USDC issuance alongside redemptions and circulating supply. The company’s transparency reports specifically distinguish between new minting, redemptions, and total supply, suggesting that issuance alone is not a complete indicator of market dynamics.
USDC is a digital dollar backed 100% by highly liquid cash and cash-equivalent assets and is always redeemable 1:1 for US dollars.
— Circle
As the ecosystem continues to evolve, these transparency measures are designed to provide greater clarity for market participants and institutional users.
Key drivers behind Solana’s USDC activitySolana remains a leading hub for digital asset trading activity, which helps explain Circle’s heavy USDC issuance on the network. Earlier this year, USDC accounted for 52% of all stablecoins held on Solana, reaching $14.7 billion in reserves. Major decentralized exchanges on Solana, including Raydium, Jupiter, and Orca, support high transaction volumes that rely on a robust stablecoin reserve for liquidity.
Circle’s expansion into institutional finance further drives USDC issuance on Solana. In June, BNY became the first institutional partner to offer direct custody and minting of USDC. The company also collaborates with global banks such as Standard Chartered, reinforcing its broader mission to integrate traditional finance with blockchain infrastructure.
The USDC reserve is primarily composed of cash and short-term US Treasury instruments, maintaining full backing and allowing users to redeem USDC 1:1 for U.S. dollars. This model has helped USDC retain its position as the world’s second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization, trailing only Tether’s USDT.
Going forward, observers are likely to focus on the speed and frequency with which newly minted USDC either stays on Solana or transitions off the chain. Solana’s prominence is increasingly measured by the scale of dollar volumes moving through its network, rather than any fixed snapshot of circulating supply.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Mizuho uvedla, že schválení žádosti Circle o národní trust bankovní licenci je pozitivní, ale neřeší slabší růst USDC ani rostoucí konkurenci. USDC od března ztratil asi 7 miliard USD v oběhu.
Jeremy Allaire, Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO. (HK Fintech Week)Summary
Mizuho said Circle's final OCC approval for a national trust bank is a positive step but doesn't address the company's core challenges. The bank pointed to USDC's declining market capitalization since March as a key concern. The report also warned that Open USD, a new consortium-backed stablecoin, could accelerate competition and pressure Circle's business.Circle Internet Group's (CRCL) final approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish First National Digital Currency Bank is a positive milestone, but investors may be overestimating its significance, according to Japanese investment bank Mizuho.
"While a positive development, we believe the market reaction is likely overly optimistic, as this does not resolve fundamental issues that have been hurting the stock of recent," analysts led by Dan Dolev said in the Friday report.
Shares of the stablecoin issuer closed 5% higher on Friday following the news. The stock on Monday has given back most of those gains, trading 4.7% lower at $63.03 at publication time.
Mizuho reiterated its neutral rating, arguing that the regulatory approval does not resolve the fundamental issues weighing on the stock.
Those challenges include a decline in USDC's market capitalization since March 2026, which the bank said raises questions about the stablecoin's growth trajectory.
Circle's USDC stablecoin has faced headwinds in recent months, with its circulating supply falling by roughly $7 billion from its March peak to about $74 billion in July as redemptions outpaced new issuance. The contraction marks the largest monthly decline since 2022 and has raised concerns among analysts that slowing supply growth could weigh on the firm's transaction and reserve-income outlook, even as on-chain usage remains strong
The stablecoin market posted its largest monthly contraction in years in June, signaling an outflow of on-chain liquidity as crypto markets remained stuck near their 2026 lows.
The analysts also highlighted increasing competitive pressure from Open USD, a newly launched, GENIUS Act-compliant dollar-backed stablecoin developed by a consortium of more than 140 financial and technology companies, including Mastercard (MA), Stripe and Coinbase (COIN).
According to Mizuho, the emergence of consortium-backed stablecoins underscores the risk that the sector becomes increasingly commoditized, making it more difficult for Circle to sustain its competitive position despite securing a national trust bank charter.
"We remain on the sidelines," the report added.
Read more: Circle soars after securing U.S. trust bank approval in crypto expansion
AI Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy.
While much of DeFi has been busy watching its TVL shrink, Morpho has been doing the opposite. The decentralized lending protocol now holds approximately $2.8 billion in USDC deposits, making it the single largest venue for USDC lending in decentralized finance.
How Morpho became DeFi’s stablecoin magnet Morpho’s architecture sets it apart from traditional pooled lending protocols. Unlike systems where everyone’s deposits sit in one big liquidity pot with uniform risk parameters, Morpho uses a modular, curator-managed vault system. Curators, most notably Steakhouse Financial, manage vaults with tailored strategies that optimize yield while adjusting risk exposure. Steakhouse Financial’s curated vaults handle significant portions of the platform’s USDC deposits, including hundreds of millions on Base.
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Morpho previously raised $175 million at a $2 billion valuation from investors including a16z and Paradigm. The protocol operates on both Ethereum and Base.
Strategic partnerships fueling capital inflows Morpho secured a major distribution channel when Coinbase introduced USDC lending powered by Morpho’s vault technology in September 2025. That partnership put Morpho’s infrastructure in front of Coinbase’s user base, funneling capital from retail and institutional users alike.
In June 2026, Morpho teamed up with Zama and Steakhouse Financial to launch the first confidential DeFi yield vaults. These allow users to make encrypted USDC deposits while still earning on-chain yield, a product designed for institutional investors who want DeFi returns without having their positions visible to anyone with a block explorer.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Bonzo Lend na Hedera přišlo o zhruba 9,05 milionu USD po zneužití chyby v oraclu Supra. Útočník během osmi sekund vyčerpal 6,63 milionu USDC a 34,52 milionu wrapped HBAR v půjčkách.
A single manipulated price feed let an attacker turn 250 SAUCE tokens worth a few dollars into $9.05 million in borrowed USDC and wrapped HBAR in eight seconds.
Bonzo Lend, a lending protocol on the Hedera network, lost approximately $9.05 million after an attacker exploited a verification flaw in a third-party Supra oracle contract on July 11.
The attacker deposited 250 SAUCE tokens worth a few dollars as collateral, then submitted a manipulated price update that inflated the token's HBAR-denominated value, according to a preliminary incident report Bonzo published. The account subsequently borrowed 6.63 million USDC and 34.52 million wrapped HBAR, worth roughly $9.05 million at the report's reference HBAR price.
Fake Price, Fast ExitA second wallet borrowed roughly $1 million more while the abnormal price persisted, then contacted Bonzo through Discord, identified itself as a white-hat responder and said it would return the funds. That put total abnormal borrowing at about $10.06 million before the return.
Bonzo's own X account said the lend protocol had been temporarily paused while its team investigated volatile markets, and later confirmed it remains paused pending recovery work. Supra Labs, whose oracle contract processed the bad price, published its own incident report attributing the failure to a degenerate BLS signature and zero-valued public key that its Hedera verifier wrongly accepted for a single SAUCE/wHBAR feed, while saying its core aggregation and other feeds were unaffected.
Ecosystem FalloutHedera's total value locked fell nearly 40% in 24 hours after the exploit, and Bonzo's own TVL plunged 77% in the same window. DefiLlama now shows Bonzo's TVL at $3.06 million.
A security researcher's technical writeup said more than $5.25 million of the stolen funds was bridged to Ethereum via LayerZero and swapped into ETH within hours.
Lawson v srpnu otestuje platby stablecoinů v prodejně Lawson Takanawa Gateway City v Tokiu s HashPort a KDDI. Netstars mezitím spustil Stablecoin Pay pro USDC, USDT a JPYC s poplatkem 0,98 %.
Japanese convenience-store operator Lawson plans to test yen-denominated stablecoin payments at a Tokyo location in August, examining whether stablecoin payments can work inside a standard convenience store checkout flow.
On Monday, blockchain company HashPort said it had signed an agreement with Lawson and telecom group KDDI to conduct the trial at the Lawson Takanawa Gateway City store. Participants will use HashPort's non-custodial wallet, while the store will process payments through the company's point-of-sale system without needing to open or manage crypto wallets.
The pilot aims to explore how stablecoin payments can be integrated into Japan’s existing retail infrastructure while shielding merchants from much of the operational complexity associated with accepting digital assets.
The companies plan to assess integration requirements, checkout operations, payment processing times and wallet usability before considering broader applications.
Netstars launches multi-stablecoin merchant serviceSeparately, Japanese payments company Netstars launched Stablecoin Pay on Monday, opening applications from merchants seeking to accept multiple stablecoins as payment options.
The service initially supports USDC, USDT and the yen-denominated JPYC through the Solana and Polygon networks, with MetaMask as the supported wallet. Netstars set the merchant payment fee at 0.98% and said it plans to add more wallets and blockchains.
With the service, merchants can use existing payment terminals in most cases and handle product pricing, sales records and settlement in yen, even when customers pay with dollar-denominated stablecoins. Netstars said this removes the need to hold crypto or manage exchange rates.
The commercial launch follows Netstars trials involving USDC payments at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport from January to February and at a trading-card store in Himeji from April.
The move from limited pilots to a merchant-facing service comes as Japanese companies build more consumer-facing products around the country’s regulated stablecoin market. On June 1, 2023, Japan introduced a dedicated framework for stablecoins when amendments to the Payment Services Act and related laws took effect.
The rules created regulatory categories for fiat-linked stablecoins and require businesses acting as intermediaries to register with the Financial Services Agency.
The framework was followed by regulatory approval for USDC distribution in March 2025 and by JPYC’s registration as a fund transfer service provider that August, before the stablecoin was launched in October.
Magazine: Has Bitcoin bottomed for this cycle? Analysts say 'not yet'
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Circle získala konečné schválení OCC pro založení národní trust banky Circle National Trust, což posílí federální dohled nad USDC. To může zvýšit důvěru institucí ve stablecoin.
In a significant development for the cryptocurrency sector, Circle has received final approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a national trust bank, named Circle National Trust. This move positions Circle to bring its USDC stablecoin under federal oversight, potentially enhancing institutional confidence in digital currencies. Meanwhile, Senate Democrats have called for hearings on former President Donald Trump’s substantial cryptocurrency earnings amid national security concerns. Additionally, a new law temporarily bans the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC), although private stablecoins remain unaffected. Lastly, a bug in Ethereum’s gossipsub protocol, discovered by AI agents, has been patched to prevent validator disruptions.
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Key Takeaways Circle’s approval to open a national trust bank appears to enhance market confidence, possibly impacting Bitcoin demand positively. The temporary ban on a Fed-issued CBDC, while leaving private stablecoins unaffected, suggests a complex regulatory landscape for digital currencies. The Ethereum bug patch indicates proactive measures in the blockchain space to ensure network stability and security. What to Watch Markets will likely monitor the impact of Circle’s new federal status on institutional interest in cryptocurrencies, which could influence Bitcoin’s market dynamics. Attention will also be on regulatory developments, particularly any changes in the stance of U.S. lawmakers towards digital currencies. The resolution of the Ethereum bug demonstrates the importance of ongoing technical vigilance, suggesting that further discoveries or patches could continue to affect sentiment within the crypto space.
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Term Structure
Contract Odds Δ since publish Volume 24h July 13 2026 99.9% — — View market → July 13 2026 99.2% — — View market → July 13 2026 93.2% — — View market → July 13 2026 0.1% — — View market → July 13 2026 0.1% — — View market → July 13 2026 0.1% — — View market → July 13 2026 6.6% — — View market → July 13 2026 0.1% — — View market → July 13 2026 99.9% — — View market → July 13 2026 99.9% — — View market →
OKX 14. července od 14:30 UTC+8 dočasně pozastaví vklady a výběry USDC na síti Solana kvůli plánované údržbě peněženek. Obchodování zůstane beze změny.
OKX will temporarily suspend USDC deposits and withdrawals on the Solana network on July 14 while it completes scheduled wallet maintenance.
Summary
OKX will pause Solana USDC deposits and withdrawals while keeping related trading services fully operational. The suspension begins July 14 at 14:30 UTC+8 and resumes after maintenance without separate announcement. Solana remains a major USDC settlement network despite this short exchange-level maintenance window for users. The pause will begin at 14:30 UTC+8, equal to 06:30 UTC and 09:30 East Africa Time. OKX published the notice on July 13 and did not provide a fixed completion time. The exchange said it will restore the two services after the work ends.
The change applies only to deposits and withdrawals of USDC through Solana. OKX said users who already hold the token in their accounts do not need to take action. Trading for related assets will continue during the maintenance period. Other supported USDC networks were not included in the notice, so the announcement does not describe a platform-wide USDC suspension.
— OKX中文 (@okxchinese) July 13, 2026 OKX also advised traders to consider risks in margin and derivatives markets and add margin early where needed. That guidance matters for users who move USDC through Solana to fund positions. The notice does not promise that deposit networks will remain available in every region, so customers should rely on the options shown in their accounts.
Users should avoid transfers during the pause OKX asked customers not to send or withdraw Solana-based USDC after the maintenance window opens. The exchange warned that transfers made during the pause could create a risk of lost funds. Users should check the selected network before confirming any transaction, because USDC exists on several blockchains and each network uses a different deposit route.
Users should allow time for blockchain confirmations before the cutoff, since a transfer initiated earlier may arrive after the suspension begins.
The company described the work only as “wallet maintenance.” It did not report a hack, a Solana network outage, or a problem with USDC. OKX also said “trading will not be affected,” although that statement covers exchange trading rather than external transfers. The exchange did not explain whether pending transactions submitted before the cutoff could face delays.
Solana remains a major USDC settlement network USDC on Solana is a native version of Circle’s dollar-backed stablecoin rather than a wrapped token issued by another bridge provider. Circle lists Solana among the networks where it directly issues USDC. Its cross-chain tools can also burn native USDC on one supported network and mint the same amount on another, without using wrapped copies or outside liquidity pools.
As crypto.news reported earlier in 2026, Circle minted more than $10.5 billion in USDC on Solana within roughly one month. The same coverage cited about $650 billion in Solana stablecoin settlement volume during February. Those figures show the network’s large role in dollar-denominated transfers, but they do not indicate that OKX’s maintenance pause resulted from higher usage.
Exchange notice does not signal a Solana shutdown Solana has also attracted more payment and financial infrastructure. As previously reported, the Solana Foundation launched an institutional developer platform with Mastercard, Western Union and Worldpay as early users. The tools cover stablecoin issuance, payments and trading services. That expansion increases the need for exchanges and custodians to maintain reliable wallet systems as transaction routes grow.
The OKX notice remains an exchange-level service update, not a suspension of USDC on the Solana blockchain. Users can still trade supported assets inside OKX, but they should avoid Solana USDC deposits and withdrawals until the exchange restores access.
OKX said it may resume the services without another announcement, making the platform’s deposit page and status tools the main places to check before sending funds.
Circle has minted an additional $250 million of USDC on the Solana blockchain, according to a report by @martypartymusic. This issuance is part of a broader trend in 2026, where USDC minting on Solana has reached approximately $64.25 billion to $64.78 billion. The increased issuance suggests sustained demand for dollar liquidity on Solana, reinforcing its competitive position as a key settlement layer for stablecoin transactions and decentralized finance (DeFi) activities. Market participants appear to interpret this development as supportive of Solana’s price prospects, with the additional liquidity potentially influencing Solana’s ability to reach higher price targets in July.
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Key Takeaways The $250 million USDC issuance on Solana appears to suggest continued demand for stablecoin liquidity in the network. Markets seem to view the increased liquidity as consistent with a positive outlook for Solana’s price, possibly affecting its potential to reach $90 in July. The cumulative USDC issuance on Solana for 2026 highlights its growing role in stablecoin and DeFi ecosystems. What to Watch Observers are monitoring the impact of increased USDC liquidity on Solana’s price trajectory, particularly in relation to its potential to reach the $90 mark in July. Key indicators include market responses to liquidity changes and any significant price movements. Additionally, developments in the broader crypto market and macroeconomic factors could influence Solana’s price dynamics, affecting the likelihood of reaching set targets.
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Term Structure
Contract Odds Δ since publish Volume 24h August 1 2026 20% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.5% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.1% — — View market → August 1 2026 2.4% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.9% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.8% — — View market → August 1 2026 4% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.8% — — View market → August 1 2026 13% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.1% — — View market → August 1 2026 1.8% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.1% — — View market → August 1 2026 48% — — View market →
