Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Russia's Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Chebeskov has issued a pointed warning to the country's cryptocurrency holders: if foreign issuers freeze stablecoins held through Russian intermediaries, investors themselves could be left bearing the losses. The remarks, reported by state news agency TASS, come as Moscow pushes to bring its vast and largely unregulated crypto market under formal oversight.

A Market Too Large to Ignore Chebeskov said clearer regulation should also provide more reliable data on the market's true size and activity.

The scale of those figures has pushed Russian authorities to act.

The Freeze Risk and What It Means for Investors Chebeskov's warning centres on a structural vulnerability that Russian officials have openly acknowledged. Foreign issuers of stablecoins, including $USDT issuer Tether and Circle, which issues $USDC, retain the technical ability to freeze assets at the request of foreign authorities. Because those decisions fall outside the control of Russian depositories or intermediaries, the ministry's position is that investors could have no legal recourse domestically if such a freeze occurs.

However, the ministry's warning makes clear that this buffer does not eliminate investor risk entirely.

To address the broader regulatory gap, Russia is developing rules that would clearly define responsibilities between investors and digital asset intermediaries.

underlining the challenge Moscow faces in drawing activity onto domestic, regulated platforms.

Sources:
Crypto Briefing: Russia mandates investors report foreign crypto transactions, warns of losses from stablecoin freezes
Cryptopolitan: Russia counts 20 million crypto users holding $44 billion in digital assets
The Moscow Times: Russia Passes Crypto Law to Legalize Trading Under Tight Central Bank Oversight

Aave has switched on USDC deposits from Base inside its mobile app, marking a quiet but meaningful step in the protocol’s push to bring decentralized lending to a phone screen near you. The feature is live now, and it lands on top of a Base market that has already accumulated somewhere between $178 million and $182 million in USDC deposits.

Aave’s V3 market on Base has been running since 2023, quietly processing loans and earning yield for depositors without most retail investors ever noticing. The current utilization rate on that market sits at roughly 89 to 90 percent, which is a finance way of saying almost every dollar deposited is already being borrowed by someone else.

High utilization is a double-edged situation. Lenders love it because it pushes yields up. Borrowers feel it in their cost of capital, with current borrow rates on the V3 market sitting around 4.6%. For depositors, the Aave app is advertising USDC and USDT yields in the 3% to 6.5% range depending on where market conditions land on any given day.

The iOS app entered early access in August 2026. A full public launch is on the calendar for later this year. The early access phase has functioned as a live beta, letting Aave gather real usage data before opening the floodgates to a broader audience.

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Base earns its place in this story for a specific reason: USDC on Base is issued natively by Circle, which means users are working with a first-party asset rather than a bridged version of one. Bridged assets carry smart contract risk from the bridge itself. Native issuance removes that layer entirely, which is a meaningful distinction for anyone who has watched a bridge exploit drain liquidity from a protocol.

The Chainlink layer underneath Cross-chain operations inside the Aave app run on Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol, known as CCIP. The integration means users can deposit and transfer across networks without manually routing assets through third-party bridges or managing multiple wallet states.

Automatic compounding of yields is part of the feature set, which removes another manual step that has historically kept casual users from sticking with DeFi products long enough to see meaningful returns.

The broader context: Aave’s scale and Base’s momentum Aave’s cumulative loan volume across all its markets crossed $150 billion as of August 2026, which is a number that deserves a moment of context. That’s more than the annual GDP of a mid-sized European economy, processed entirely through smart contracts with no loan officers, no credit checks, and no business hours.

Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum Layer 2 network, has become one of the more active chains for DeFi activity since its launch. Its integration with Circle’s native USDC issuance gives it a structural advantage for stablecoin-denominated protocols.

The 89 to 90 percent utilization rate on the Base V3 market also suggests that new deposit inflows from the mobile app could be absorbed quickly. High utilization means borrowers are already competing for available liquidity. Fresh capital flowing in from mobile users gets put to work almost immediately, which sustains yields and keeps the flywheel moving.

What the Base USDC feature does, practically speaking, is give the app its most important currency pairing at launch. USDC is the stablecoin most retail users already hold, and Base is the chain most closely associated with Coinbase’s retail-facing products.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

On September 22, the cryptocurrency market hovered near the $3 trillion capitalization mark after a powerful short squeeze sent Bitcoin surging toward $87,400. Forced liquidations totaled $557.79 million, with shorts absorbing approximately 70% of the losses. Data from CoinGlass pointed to BTC and ETH perpetual contracts taking the brunt, with $242.47 million and $100.83 million in losses respectively.

Massive capital inflows drive market surgeMarket sentiment was buoyed by an unprecedented inflow of U.S. capital: SoSoValue reported that spot ETFs attracted more than $1.9 billion within 24 hours. Bitcoin led with $1.36 billion, while altcoins also saw significant investments—Solana received $257.25 million, Ethereum took in $223.51 million, and XRP gained $45.54 million. Hyperliquid’s HYPE token reached a fresh all-time high near $96.

As Bitcoin stabilized in the mid-$85,000s, Binance users experienced a temporary squeeze in USDe, which dropped to $0.92 before recovering. The event was linked to an anticipated wallet upgrade on the exchange, and analysts assessed it as a temporary liquidity shortage rather than a systemic risk.

With external catalysts fading, major market participants are increasingly focused on internal liquidity and technical analysis. Strategic shifts among institutional and retail traders are expected to define the direction of digital assets in the coming days.

Binance cuts illiquid USDC pairs, invests in CircleBinance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, announced the removal of 19 low-liquidity USDC trading pairs from both spot and margin markets. The delisting forms part of a broader cleanup targeting pairs with thin liquidity.

At the same time, regulatory disclosures show that Binance acquired 1,237,011 Class A shares of Circle for $100 million, at a price of $80.84 per share. This transaction also includes a five-year commercial agreement, under which Circle will pay Binance monthly fees to promote USDC via modular smart-wallet integration.

Trading restrictions will be phased in: spot trading for seven USDC pairs will end on September 25 at 03:00 UTC, while 12 cross-margin and isolated margin pairs will be removed three hours later. The affected tokens include AIXBT, DOLO, ENJ, HUMA, SXT, TNSR, TURTLE, MANTA, BANANA, SSV, NOM, STO, 1MBABYDOGE, and OPN. Isolated margin borrowing will be disabled beforehand, and remaining positions will be liquidated by Binance if not closed manually.

The assets themselves remain tradable, with users gaining continued access via USDT, FDUSD, and BTC trading pools. Margin traders and bot users have been urged to close their positions ahead of the deadlines to avoid automatic settlement.

EventDate/Time (UTC)ActionAffected Pairs/AssetsSpot trading haltsSept 25, 03:00DelistingAIXBT/USDC, DOLO/USDC, ENJ/USDC, HUMA/USDC, SXT/USDC, TNSR/USDC, TURTLE/USDCMargin trading terminatesSept 25, 06:00All pairs removedMANTA, BANANA, SSV, NOM, STO, 1MBABYDOGE, OPN (all vs USDC)Mini dictionary: Circle is a US-based financial technology company known for issuing the USDC stablecoin and developing blockchain-driven payments and treasury infrastructure for businesses and institutions.

Binance will delist 19 low-liquidity USDC pairs but trading for the assets will continue via other major pools such as USDT, FDUSD, and BTC. Users are advised to close margin and bot positions before the removal deadlines to avoid forced liquidation.

XRP’s decisive breakout, cleaner technicalsXRP, the token used by fintech company Ripple, broke out of a five-week symmetrical triangle pattern and jumped 5.5% during the week. The asset moved past $1.50, briefly testing resistance at $1.55 to $1.57, and remained steady in the $1.51–$1.54 range. This development reflected a market shift away from legal speculation tied to the SEC and CFTC, and back toward technical trading metrics.

Supported by Bitcoin’s momentum, XRP buyers surpassed a critical psychological threshold. Traders are monitoring the $1.55–$1.56 resistance, with a weekly close above signaling a firm uptrend and converting former resistance into a support level.

Technical analyst Peter Brandt, who leads The Factor Report, shared a chart projecting a long-term target of $5.40 for XRP but clarified that he currently owns only Bitcoin. Macro investor Raoul Pal noted that retail traders should focus on probabilities and solid technical analysis over assumptions of guaranteed profits.

XRP’s weekly close above $1.55 would confirm the bullish breakout scenario, reinforcing the market’s technical structure after weeks of uncertainty.

While a failed breakout could send the price back toward $1.40, the overall trend remains bullish unless a significant reversal takes place.

Shiba Inu struggles at 50-week moving averageShiba Inu (SHIB), a cryptocurrency inspired by the popular meme culture, saw its “Bull Combo” technical setup produce an 8.61% gain since formation. The pattern, which features bullish RSI divergence and a reclaim of the 23-week moving average, has stalled just below the 50-week MA near $0.0000064.

Despite exhausted sellers and renewed liquidity, SHIB could not yet surpass this resistance level. For upward momentum to continue, buyers must establish support above the 50-week MA.

The next technical hurdle is the 200-week moving average at $0.0000122, which has typically marked key reversal points for the token. Until a clear breakout occurs, large holders have accumulated an additional 468 million SHIB at the current bottom, seeking to capitalize if the trend resumes.

Mini dictionary: The Bull Combo technical setup refers to the simultaneous appearance of multiple bullish indicators on a price chart, such as a positive divergence in the Relative Strength Index (RSI) and the reclaiming of an important moving average, which together signal a potential upward trend.

Market watchers are waiting to see if bulls can reclaim the 50-week MA in the coming days, which would open the path to further gains or risk reducing the pattern to a routine rebound.

TL;DR New York Life Investment Management is working with Centrifuge to tokenize a US high-yield corporate bond strategy. The product is being built on Avalanche with USDC subscriptions and redemptions. Access is restricted to qualified institutional buyers. New York Life Investment Management is taking one of its fixed-income strategies onchain through a partnership with Centrifuge.

The firms announced plans to tokenize a US high-yield corporate bond strategy on Avalanche, with qualified institutional buyers able to subscribe and redeem using USDC.

A Traditional Bond Strategy Gets Blockchain Rails The underlying idea is not to turn high-yield bonds into a retail crypto product.

Instead, Centrifuge is providing tokenization infrastructure around an institutional investment strategy managed by NYLIM, which oversees more than $300 billion in assets.

Using Avalanche gives the product a blockchain settlement and ownership layer, while USDC provides a digital-dollar mechanism for subscriptions and redemptions.

For institutions, that can simplify some of the operational movement between cash and fund interests, particularly in markets where tokenized products are being built to operate outside traditional settlement windows.

Institutional Access Remains Restricted The product is not being opened broadly to the public.

The announcement specifically frames access around qualified institutional buyers, which is an important limitation when evaluating how far the tokenization reaches.

What is significant is the type of asset moving onchain. Tokenized Treasury products have already become one of the clearest areas of institutional blockchain adoption. High-yield corporate bonds bring a different risk and return profile into the same infrastructure trend.

With NYLIM and Centrifuge, the tokenization story is moving further into actively managed credit strategies rather than remaining centered only on cash-like government debt.

The September 17 announcement therefore adds another established asset manager to the group testing how conventional investment products can be issued and serviced through public blockchain rails.

This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.

Blockchain

20 September 2026 | 22:13 Circle’s new facilitator lets AI agents authorize USDC payments without holding separate gas tokens, while Circle handles screening, transaction submission and onchain settlement for sellers.

Key Takeaways Agents sign payments; Circle submits the transfers. Gas remains, but Circle pays it. Circle screens wallets, not purchase intent. The service supports three blockchain networks. Easier integration creates dependence on Circle. The payment begins with a web request, not a checkout Circle announced on September 19 that its Facilitator Service was available for x402 payments settled in USDC across Arc, Base and Polygon PoS.

In practice, the service handles a simple exchange. An AI agent asks an online service for something, a dataset, an API response or a completed task, and the server replies with a price. The agent signs a payment authorization, the USDC moves and the server releases the result.

x402 supplies the language for that exchange. It is an open protocol built around the web’s 402 Payment Required status code. When a server returns that response, it can include the amount, accepted payment method, blockchain and destination address. The buyer then sends back proof that it has authorized the payment.

x402 does not move money by itself. It only standardizes the conversation between buyer and seller. Circle’s new service performs the blockchain work that follows.

How one x402 payment reaches the blockchain 1. Request
The agent asks a seller’s API for a paid resource.

2. Price
The seller returns the cost, network and payment address.

3. Authorization
The buyer’s wallet signs permission to transfer a specific amount of USDC.

4. Settlement
The seller sends that signature to Circle, which checks and submits the transfer.

5. Delivery
After confirmation, the seller receives a transaction hash, a public reference for the payment, and releases the resource.

Gas has been moved out of sight, not eliminated Every blockchain transaction needs a network fee, commonly called gas. On many networks, that fee must be paid with the chain’s native token. A buyer holding USDC may therefore be unable to send it unless the same wallet also contains the correct gas token.

Developers can work around this by operating a relayer: a separate system that submits transactions for users and pays their gas. That normally means protecting another signing key, maintaining a funded gas wallet and monitoring transactions when they fail.

Circle places those jobs behind one hosted service. According to its technical documentation, Circle broadcasts each transfer through its relayer and pays the settlement gas. The buyer authorizes the USDC payment but does not need to maintain a separate balance of the network’s native token. Gas has not disappeared; Circle has taken over the job of funding and submitting the transaction.

The wallet signature is the actual spending permission The transfer uses EIP-3009, a standard that lets a token holder authorize a transfer with an offchain signature. “Offchain” means the wallet signs a message without immediately sending a transaction or paying gas.

That signed message identifies the wallet paying, the recipient, the USDC amount, the period during which the authorization is valid and a unique code known as a nonce. The nonce prevents the same authorization from being used repeatedly.

Circle checks that the signature is valid, that the buyer has enough USDC and that the recipient matches the payment address specified by the seller. It also screens both addresses before submitting the transfer. Circle records the payment before broadcasting it so that retrying the same request does not produce a second charge.

This is where the difference between technical authorization and human permission matters. The signature proves that the buyer’s wallet approved the transfer. It does not prove that an AI agent remained within a budget, bought an appropriate service or followed the instructions of its owner.

A person or application operator still has to decide how much control to give the agent. That could mean using a wallet with a limited balance, programming the wallet to approve only defined actions, restricting recipients or setting a spending ceiling. Circle explicitly says its facilitator does not verify the purpose of a transaction or the scope of an agent’s authority.

Buyer or AI agent Requests the resource and signs an exact USDC payment from its wallet.

Seller Sets the price and destination, requests settlement and releases the paid resource.

Circle Checks the authorization, screens both parties, pays gas and submits the transfer.

Convenience shifts payment operations to Circle Running fewer payment components can reduce mistakes and shorten development time. It also concentrates several functions inside Circle’s service.

A seller using the facilitator depends on Circle to accept the request, complete its screening, keep the relayer funded and submit the transaction. If the hosted service becomes unavailable or refuses one of the addresses, settlement can stop even when the underlying blockchain continues operating.

That is an operational dependency rather than custody. Circle says the service does not hold or control the buyer’s funds. The USDC remains in the buyer’s wallet until the authorization is executed by the token contract—the blockchain program that records USDC transfers.

Circle allows limited keyless testing, but continued production use requires sellers to authenticate through a Circle API key.

The tradeoff in one sentence Developers no longer have to operate a relayer, gas wallet and screening process, but their payment flow now relies on Circle operating those components for them.

Depending on Circle does not remove network-level risk either. Circle warns that payments on Base and Polygon PoS can be affected by a blockchain reorganization—a rare event in which a recently recorded block is replaced. Circle describes Arc settlements as final, while it does not guarantee receipt on Base or Polygon PoS.

Arc is assembling more than a payment layer Removing payment friction matters more when recipients can use the USDC they receive. Arc already hosts Uniswap’s exchange infrastructure, including v2, v3, v4 and UniswapX. That places payment settlement and access to onchain liquidity on the same network.

The two systems are not automatically connected, and their presence does not guarantee agent-driven volume. They do, however, place payment settlement and trading infrastructure within the same Arc ecosystem.

Faster settlement makes spending controls more important Easier settlement raises the value of wallet-level controls. A restricted wallet can make autonomous payments useful; an unrestricted signing key can make an agent’s mistake expensive.

Circle can verify that a signature is valid and deliver the payment to the blockchain. Deciding whether the agent should have signed it remains the responsibility of the application and its owner.

This article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal or investment advice. Payment-service features, supported networks and settlement conditions may change.

Author

Alexander Zdravkov is a market analyst and crypto journalist with interests in economics, broader financial markets and digital assets. His journey into crypto began more than four years ago, driven by a fascination with the rapid evolution of blockchain technology and the transformative potential of decentralized finance. He began analyzing market cycles and identifying emerging trends before they reach the mainstream. He holds a degree in International Relations - a background that helped shape his broader perspective on global economics, geopolitics, and the interconnected nature of modern financial markets. Whether covering the latest developments in the crypto sector or exploring broader macroeconomic themes, Alexander focuses on giving readers context rather than simply repeating headlines. During his career, he has authored more than 5,000 articles covering cryptocurrencies, traditional finance, and global market developments. His work spans everything from Bitcoin and altcoins to macroeconomic trends influencing risk assets worldwide.

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20 September 2026 | 20:54 A reported $750 million stablecoin injection into Solana does not match the available transaction data. The verified amount is smaller, and most remained in issuer inventory.

Key takeaways

Circle minted 500 million USDC, not 250 million. Both mints entered the same treasury-labeled account. Most of the account balance increase remained there. The separate 500 million USDT mint remains unverified. Circulating supply did not rise with total issuance. Onchain records confirm 500 million USDC from Circle A September 19 report described a combined $750 million stablecoin injection into Solana, attributing $500 million to Tether and $250 million to Circle. The linked evidence tells a different story.

The underlying transaction coverage said Circle completed two 250 million USDC mints within roughly 40 minutes. Solana’s transaction records confirm both transfers.

Both mints went to the same account. Its balance rose from approximately 533 million USDC before the first transaction to 1.03 billion USDC after the second.

At 12:00 UTC on September 20, the account held about 998 million USDC. Compared with its pre-mint balance, roughly 465 million of the 500 million USDC increase was still in that account. About 35 million had left, although token fungibility means the ledger cannot distinguish newly minted units from USDC already held there.

Creating USDC and distributing it are separate events A mint expands the token supply recorded by the blockchain. It does not prove that a customer bought the tokens, that an exchange received them or that the money reached a decentralized finance application.

The cleaner analogy is inventory in a warehouse. Production has taken place, but retail demand is not established until the inventory moves to customers or distributors.

What the verified transactions show Creation: Circle minted 500 million USDC on Solana. Storage: Most of the account’s balance increase remained in the recipient account. Distribution: Transfers to outside wallets would show that inventory was being released. Use: Exchange deposits, DEX trades or lending deposits would show where that liquidity went. There is another reason not to equate every chain-level mint with fresh money. Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol moves USDC by burning it on a source chain and minting the same amount on a destination chain. That process can increase Solana’s USDC supply without increasing the global supply of USDC.

The two September 19 records were direct SPL-token mints into one treasury-labeled account, not completed transfers to identifiable outside customers. Their final economic purpose therefore cannot be established from the mint transactions alone.

The reported Tether amount remains unresolved The same report attributed another 500 million tokens to Tether. However, the report and its underlying coverage did not provide a matching Solana transaction hash, and the available evidence reviewed here does not independently verify that mint.

DefiLlama’s September 19 and September 20 daily snapshots placed total minted USDT supply on Solana near 3.84 billion tokens on both dates. The same dataset estimated about 2.12 billion USDT as circulating and classified roughly 1.72 billion as unreleased.

DefiLlama’s public Solana table uses estimated circulating supply to calculate stablecoin market capitalization. The 3.84 billion figure is total minted USDT supply, including tokens the data provider classifies as unreleased.

The original report described approximately 3.84 billion USDT as circulating. That figure instead matches the Solana token mint’s raw total supply, not DefiLlama’s circulating estimate. None of DefiLlama’s three fields, minted, circulating or unreleased, recorded a net 500 million USDT increase across the two daily snapshots.

This does not rule out an intraday mint followed by a burn. It means the claimed Tether leg needs a transaction hash or an issuer confirmation before it should be counted as part of a $750 million event.

Tether’s own FAQ also explains that tokens created for inventory replenishment can remain in its treasury as “authorized but not issued.” Even a verified Tether mint would therefore require a second step: determining whether the tokens stayed in inventory or were issued to customers.

Supply estimates tell a different story DefiLlama’s USDC data further separates token creation from circulation. The figures below compare its 00:00 UTC snapshots on September 19 and September 20, so the first reading predates the two verified mints and the second follows them.

USDC supply on Solana

Measure

Sep. 19

Sep. 20

Total minted supply

7.38B USDC

8.02B USDC

Estimated circulating supply

7.03B USDC

6.96B USDC

Unreleased supply

354M USDC

1.06B USDC

Total minted USDC increased by approximately 637 million tokens over the daily interval, about 137 million more than the two identified mints. That difference may reflect other supply activity or a data adjustment during the same measurement window.

More important for the “liquidity injection” claim, estimated circulating supply fell by about 73 million USDC while the unreleased category increased by roughly 710 million. Under DefiLlama’s methodology, the net expansion was therefore not counted as customer-facing circulating supply.

These estimates are not a substitute for tracing each wallet transfer, and third-party classifications can change. They do, however, contradict the simple claim that minting automatically placed the full amount into Solana’s active markets.

Could trading activity prove the inflow? Not by itself Higher decentralized-exchange volume after a mint can look like supporting evidence, but volume measures turnover rather than net capital entering a network. The same pool of stablecoins can change hands repeatedly and generate a much larger volume figure.

Solana had already returned to the top of the daily DEX rankings before these mints, even as its daily volume remained below the previous week’s pace. A later rise in trading would therefore need wallet-level evidence before it could be connected to the newly created USDC.

The same caution applies to exchange balances and lending deposits. A rising total can support the distribution thesis, but it does not identify the source unless transfers from the treasury-labeled account can be followed to those venues.

What would change the conclusion Evidence that the tokens entered active markets Large transfers from the recipient account to exchanges, market makers or DeFi protocols A lasting increase in estimated circulating USDC supply on Solana Issuer confirmation that customer issuance, rather than inventory preparation, caused the mints A verifiable Solana transaction for the claimed 500 million USDT mint Destination-wallet activity linking the new supply to trading or lending liquidity Even those signals would not prove that stablecoin issuance caused SOL or other assets to rise. They would establish the narrower and more useful point: whether newly created tokens actually became available for market use.

The next recipient matters more than the mint The verified transactions show that Circle prepared 500 million USDC on Solana. They do not show a $750 million liquidity injection, and the separate 500 million USDT claim lacks the transaction evidence needed to include it.

The conclusion can change if the USDC moves from treasury inventory to outside wallets and estimated circulation rises. Until then, the destination of the tokens, not the size of the mint announcement, is the clearest test of whether new liquidity reached the market.

This article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Stablecoin supply figures and wallet classifications can change as issuers move, burn or reclassify tokens.

Author

Kosta has reported on cryptocurrency markets and blockchain infrastructure since 2020, bringing over six years of hands-on experience in the crypto industry built through daily tracking of markets, trends, and emerging blockchain developments. Specializing in Bitcoin on-chain analysis, institutional ETF flows, and digital asset price action, his work at Coindoo has been cited by other news agencies and consistently covers market developments with a focus on data-driven reporting across Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP. Over the years, Kosta has contributed to multiple crypto media outlets in different regions, authoring over 6,000 articles across the sector. His reporting spans cryptocurrency markets and the broader fintech industry, tracking not only price action but also the technological and regulatory forces shaping the ecosystem. To support his analysis, Kosta actively leverages on-chain data and metrics from leading platforms such as Santiment, Glassnode, and CryptoQuant, enabling deeper, evidence-based market insights. He believes in the power of transparency and the data that underpins the blockchain ecosystem. His academic background in Marketing Management from Denmark further complements his analytical approach, adding a strong understanding of communication strategy and content positioning to his work.

Circle’s Agent Marketplace just picked up one of crypto’s more interesting AI startups. Venice.ai, the privacy-centric AI platform founded by Erik Voorhees, is now listed as a service provider in Circle’s rapidly expanding hub for AI agent transactions.

The integration means AI agents can now tap into Venice’s creative and inference services, think image generation, video creation, and access to a library of over 200 AI models, and pay for it all in USDC without needing API keys, subscriptions, or even an account.

What the Agent Marketplace actually does Circle launched its Agent Stack on May 11, 2026, building out infrastructure specifically designed for AI agents to discover, access, and pay for services on their own. The Agent Marketplace is the centerpiece: a structured directory where services are screened, compliance-checked, and made available through a keyless Discovery API.

The marketplace has grown from over 600 live services at launch to more than 900 in just a couple of months. That’s a roughly 50% jump in available services, spanning 15-plus blockchains.

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Payments flow through the x402 protocol, which handles wallet authorization for USDC transactions on chains like Base and Solana. The key innovation here is gasless nanopayments settled at sub-cent scales.

Venice’s privacy play Venice.ai has carved out a distinctive niche in the AI space by making privacy its core selling point. All interactions with the platform’s models are client-side encrypted, and Venice itself doesn’t store user data.

The company offers access to more than 200 AI models, covering everything from text generation to creative media production. Venice processes over 1 million API calls daily, which gives some sense of the scale already in play before this Circle integration.

Voorhees raised $65 million in Series A funding for Venice in July 2026. That round valued the company at $1 billion, earning it unicorn status less than two years after its founding in 2024.

Venice had already integrated x402 wallet authorization for USDC payments on Base and Solana before joining the marketplace. So the technical plumbing was largely in place. The Circle listing essentially puts Venice in front of every AI agent already using the marketplace to source services.

Why this combination matters On the AI side, most services require creating accounts, managing API keys, and dealing with billing systems designed for human users. AI agents operating autonomously can’t navigate a Stripe checkout page. Circle’s marketplace eliminates that entire layer, replacing it with programmatic USDC payments that settle instantly.

On the payments side, USDC gets a new category of transaction volume that barely existed a year ago. Every API call processed through the marketplace is a USDC transaction. Multiply that by the million-plus daily calls Venice already handles, and the potential throughput becomes significant.

For Venice specifically, the integration opens distribution to an entirely new class of customers: autonomous agents that discover and purchase services without human intervention.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Arc Portal is now live on @arc, serving as the primary user-facing entry point to Circle's new blockchain. Circle Internet Group launched Arc, an open Layer 1 blockchain purpose-built for financial markets, real-time money movement, and agentic economic activity, on Wednesday, September 16, 2026.

The portal gives users a single hub to create or fund wallets, swap $USDC for cirBTC (Circle's wrapped Bitcoin), and earn yield through @Morpho. Circle says cirBTC can be converted 1:1 from BTC, cbBTC, or WBTC without conversion fees and is designed for collateral and liquidity applications. Every transaction fee on Arc is paid in $USDC rather than a volatile native token, a deliberate design choice aimed at cost predictability for institutions and developers.

AI Wallets and Yield: What the Portal CoversArc Portal goes beyond basic wallet management. Users can fund AI-run agent wallets, set spend limits, delegate onchain tasks, discover apps, and track balances, making it a unified dashboard for both retail users and those managing autonomous activity on the chain. On the yield side, in-app earn opportunities are routed through @Morpho, which is anchoring Arc's lending markets at launch alongside Aave.

The chain opened with eleven founding institutional validators alongside Circle, including BlackRock, DTCC, Visa, Mastercard, and ICE. More than 100 applications were live on day one, and Arc's public testnet processed more than 700 million transactions in under a year before mainnet opened.

Built for the Agentic EraCircle positions Arc as the first blockchain designed from genesis for autonomous AI agents executing economic tasks. $USDC accounts for 98.8% of agent-driven transaction volume across Circle's products, underpinning the stablecoin's central role on the new chain. CEO Jeremy Allaire called Arc "the single most significant launch in Circle's history since USDC itself."

Sources:
Circle: Arc Mainnet Launch Press Release
BusinessWire: Circle Launches Arc Mainnet
The Defiant: Circle Launches Arc Mainnet With BlackRock, DTCC and Visa

Circle just did something that most Layer 1 blockchains spend years trying to accomplish. It launched Arc, an EVM-compatible blockchain purpose-built for financial markets, and within its first week the network is already tapping into the $74 billion USDC supply flowing across more than 30 chains.

The mainnet went live on September 16, and the opening numbers tell a story of institutional muscle flexing. Circle deployed $649 million in USDC and $7 million in EURC on Arc at launch, backed by an ecosystem of over 100 participants that includes some of the biggest names in traditional finance.

What Arc actually is Arc features sub-second transaction finality and target fees of about $0.01 per transaction. USDC serves as the native gas and settlement asset, which means every transaction on the network runs through Circle’s stablecoin rather than a volatile native token.

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The launch roster includes BlackRock, Visa, Mastercard, and DTCC. On the DeFi side, Arc integrated with Aave, Morpho, and Uniswap from day one.

The ARC token and its $3B valuation Circle minted 10 billion ARC tokens during the genesis event, splitting them across three buckets. The ecosystem development fund received 60%, Circle itself retained 25%, and long-term reserves account for the remaining 15%.

A $222 million presale preceded the launch, pricing the ARC token supply at a $3 billion fully diluted valuation. The ARC token is designed to eventually serve governance, utility, and coordination functions across the network. Circle has outlined plans to transition Arc to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism in 2027, at which point ARC tokens would play a central role in network validation. Until then, the network’s transaction layer will continue to run on USDC.

USDC’s broader position The total circulating supply of USDC sat at approximately $74.22 billion as of September 14, just before Arc’s launch. Arc’s cross-chain infrastructure supports the Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol, which enables USDC movement across more than 30 networks. The network also supports over 22 fiat-linked stablecoins, positioning Arc as a broader multi-currency settlement layer.

Jeremy Allaire, Circle’s CEO, has described Arc as a pivotal advancement in the company’s trajectory.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

With the official launch of Circle’s Arc mainnet, Kite announced it is collaborating with Circle to explore agent-to-agent service transactions built on Arc, covering service discovery, quoting, transaction agreement, delivery acceptance, and USDC payment settlement. According to the introduction, Kite is building a transaction process for buyers and sellers via its Kite Seller Console and Kite Agent Passport, enabling sellers to set service prices, delivery timelines, and acceptance criteria, while buyers can authorize payments within a preset spending cap, with an escrow mechanism linking delivery and settlement. In this setup, Kite handles service agreements and delivery workflows, while Arc provides the payment settlement network. To date, the relevant transaction process has been verified on the Arc testnet, and subsequent integration work is still underway.

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Bitget, one of the world’s largest Universal Exchanges (UEX), has upgraded its Proof of Reserves (PoR) from four cryptocurrencies to 19 major assets, significantly widening the share of user holdings covered by its reserve verification infrastructure. The upgrade extends both platform-level reserve disclosures and personal Proof of Assets verification, giving users greater visibility into how assets held on Bitget are accounted for and the ability to independently verify their inclusion in reserve snapshots.

As exchanges expand the range of assets they support, reserve transparency needs to keep pace. The latest upgrade moves Bitget closer to making verification a standard layer across its ecosystem, rather than a safeguard limited to core cryptocurrencies.

The expanded coverage includes BTC, USDT, ETH, LTC, LINK, XRP, USDC, DOGE, BNB, SOL, ADA, NEAR, XAUT, TAO, SUI, ONDO, HYPE, PI, and USDGO. Through the upgraded PoR page, users can view the reserve ratio and amount of user assets for each supported asset, assess if reserves are sufficient, and see how user assets are distributed across different public blockchains. 

Personal Proof of Assets verification has expanded across the same range, allowing users to independently check whether their holdings were included in a PoR snapshot using Merkle Tree verification. Detailed audit records, including Merkle hashes and snapshot information, remain available for users seeking deeper verification.

Bitget has published Proof of Reserves monthly since its launch in December 2022. As of August 2026, the platform had published 45 consecutive PoR reports, with its latest report showing a total reserve ratio of 122%, remaining above the 1:1 reserve standard. Bitget uses Merkle Tree technology to aggregate and verify user assets, allowing users to independently confirm whether their holdings are included in a particular Proof of Reserves snapshot. Users can also download the relevant data and further verify their asset records using publicly available verification methods.

“Users shouldn’t have to simply take our word for it, they should be able to verify their assets for themselves,” said Gracy Chen, CEO of Bitget. “Proof of Reserves has been part of Bitget’s transparency framework for nearly four years, and as the assets people hold on our platform become more diverse, that verification needs to expand with them. Expanding from four assets to 19 gives more users that visibility.”

For assets outside the scope of a particular audit, or where corresponding personal records have not yet been generated, Bitget’s Proof of Assets interface provides relevant notices to help users interpret their audit results accurately. As UEX brings a broader range of assets and markets into one trading environment, Bitget is extending the systems that allow users to independently examine what sits behind their holdings. Proof of Reserves, the Protection Fund, and Bitget’s broader security infrastructure form part of that approach, with the goal of making security increasingly measurable and verifiable as the ecosystem grows.

For more information, visit here. 

About BitgetBitget is one of the world’s largest Universal Exchanges (UEX), serving over 125 million users and offering access to over 2M crypto tokens, 500+ tokenized stocks, ETFs, commodities, FX, and precious metals such as gold. The ecosystem is committed to helping users trade smarter with its AI agent, which co-pilots trade execution. Bitget is driving crypto adoption through strategic partnerships such as MotoGP™. Aligned with its global impact strategy, Bitget has joined hands with UNICEF to support blockchain education for 1.1 million people by 2027. Bitget currently expands in the tokenized TradFi market, providing the industry’s lowest fees and highest liquidity across 150 regions worldwide.

For more information, visit: Website | X | Telegram | LinkedIn | Discord

Risk Warning: Digital asset prices are subject to fluctuation and may experience significant volatility. Investors are advised to only allocate funds they can afford to lose. The value of any investment may be impacted, and there is a possibility that financial objectives may not be met, nor the principal investment recovered. Independent financial advice should always be sought, and personal financial experience and standing carefully considered. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. Bitget accepts no liability for any potential losses incurred. Nothing contained herein should be construed as financial advice. For further information, please refer to our Terms of Use.

Disclaimer

This third-party press release is published substantially as received and does not reflect BeInCrypto's editorial views. BeInCrypto has not independently verified its claims or assessed the suitability, legality or appropriateness of any referenced asset, product or service; publication is not an endorsement. The content is general information, not investment research, financial, investment, legal or tax advice, a personal recommendation, offer or solicitation. Verify all information and seek professional advice where appropriate before acting. Crypto-assets may result in total loss.

Stablecoins are moving closer to traditional financial infrastructure as Column, a federally chartered U.S. bank with $1.77B in assets, launches native stablecoin banking rails.

The bank now supports $USDC and $USDT conversions between crypto networks and fiat currencies around the clock, with Solana serving as its default blockchain alongside Ethereum and other major networks. Column says the system already processes tens of billions of dollars in annualized volume.

The move comes as financial institutions, fintech companies, and regulators continue to debate how stablecoins will fit into the global payments system.

Stablecoins Integrated Into Banking Core  Stablecoins have traditionally depended on multiple layers between blockchain networks and traditional banking systems. A user receiving stablecoins might need to wait for banking hours, rely on prefunded accounts, or move funds through third-party providers before accessing dollars.

Column built stablecoins directly into its banking core instead. The company says stablecoin addresses and bank accounts live on the same ledger, letting customers convert $USDC and $USDT into fiat instantly without relying on intermediaries or maintaining prefunded balances.

Customers can receive $USDC on Solana on a weekend and send dollars through payment networks such as RTP immediately. They can also debit traditional bank accounts through ACH, send stablecoins to wallets, or convert digital dollars into international payments through systems such as SWIFT.

"Stablecoins aren't a crypto product. They're dollar infrastructure, and their usefulness is a function of the network beneath them: how fast it settles, what it costs, and its reliability. Column made them native to a bank with Solana as the default network, and moved the frontier of financial services from theory into production." - Amelia Daly, head of partnerships, Solana Foundation

Why Solana Matters for Stablecoin Payments Solana has become a major network for stablecoin activity. A Solana Foundation report highlighted how stablecoins could reshape remittances by reducing settlement times and lowering costs in international money transfers.

Traditional remittances often involve fees, multi-day settlement periods, and large amounts of capital locked in prefunded accounts. The report noted that sending $200 internationally costs an average of 6.49%, while settlement can take 3 to 5 business days.

The report argues that stablecoins on high-speed blockchains can enable faster, more efficient payment flows, especially for users in regions with limited access to traditional financial services.

Stablecoins Enter the Broader Banking Stack Column launched its stablecoin product after observing the challenges of building stablecoin payment experiences, with fintech companies including Slash and Brex already using it.

The company also introduced additional financial products, including full-stack card issuing, global banking accounts, and multicurrency accounts with local payout capabilities.

For stablecoin-backed cards, Column says companies can authorize spending against actual stablecoin balances rather than relying on prefunded capital. It also supports settlement with Visa and Mastercard through stablecoins without requiring additional fiat settlement accounts.

The broader goal is to allow companies to build financial products through a single banking integration instead of combining multiple banks, processors, and infrastructure providers.

Stablecoin Regulation Remains a Key Debate Column’s launch arrives during ongoing U.S. policy discussions around stablecoins. Banking groups have urged lawmakers to place stricter limits on stablecoin rewards, arguing that certain programs could encourage customers to move deposits away from traditional banks.

The debate formed part of discussions around the proposed CLARITY Act, which focused on establishing a regulatory framework for digital assets. The legislation failed to advance in the Senate, leaving regulators such as the SEC and CFTC to continue shaping crypto policy through their existing authorities. Despite regulatory uncertainty, financial companies continue building stablecoin products.

Read More on SolanaFloor Yet Another Launchpad? New Paid Launchpad Wants to Make Token Fee Sharing Native to X
Senate Rejects CLARITY - But Does it Even Matter?

Why Solana Is Still Winning

SwissBorg has rolled out native support for USDC deposits on Arc Network, letting users move stablecoins directly onto the chain without routing through external bridges. The integration effectively turns SwissBorg into a direct on-ramp for Arc, a network built from the ground up around stablecoins rather than volatile native tokens.

The timing matters because until now, getting USDC onto Arc meant dealing with third-party bridges like PlaygroundBridge, which charges a dynamic “launch premium” ranging from 3% to 25% on inbound transfers. For anyone moving meaningful sums, that’s the kind of fee structure that makes you double-check your screen.

What Arc Network actually is Arc isn’t just another Layer 2 or EVM-compatible chain competing for the same DeFi users. It’s designed as a stablecoin-native network where USDC serves as the gas token. There’s no volatile native token to buy, hold, or worry about.

Beyond USDC, Arc natively supports EURC (a euro-denominated stablecoin) and USYC, positioning itself as a fiat-stable and yield-oriented environment. The network also supports ERC-4337 account abstraction, which is the technical standard behind smart wallet functionality, allowing Arc to tap into existing Ethereum infrastructure for things like gasless transactions and session keys.

Why bridging fees were the real problem Before SwissBorg’s integration, users who wanted USDC on Arc had limited options. PlaygroundBridge was one of the primary pathways, and its pricing model imposed premiums that could eat a quarter of a transfer’s value at the high end.

That 3% to 25% range is a dynamic fee that fluctuates based on demand, meaning users had little predictability over what they’d actually pay. SwissBorg’s direct deposit integration removes that intermediary entirely. The company had previously enabled multi-chain USDC deposits and withdrawals across seven major networks, so extending that capability to Arc fits a pattern rather than breaking new ground.

The stablecoin-native thesis Most blockchains require users to hold at least two tokens: the native gas token and whatever asset they actually want to use. That dual-token requirement creates constant exposure to price swings on the gas side, even for users who just want stable-value transactions. Arc’s design sidesteps this entirely by making USDC the gas token and eliminating the need for a separate native asset.

For Arc, the partnership solves a distribution problem. Getting listed as a supported withdrawal network on a regulated crypto wealth management platform brings users who might never interact with a bridge interface. SwissBorg’s user base skews toward European retail investors who value simplicity, which aligns with Arc’s pitch of a stablecoin environment without the usual complexity.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

London, September 16, 2026 – Wirex, the global stablecoin infrastructure provider, has today launched Wirex One, the first stablecoin neobank built for the growing segment of mass affluent consumers, to the public. The platform is a day-one launch partner on Arc’s mainnet, delivering a private banking experience with true asset ownership. 

Following a closed beta that amassed over 20,000 users in testing since June, Wirex One is now available globally.

Wirex One launches as part of Wirex’s wider integration with Arc, making Arc available as a settlement layer for any partner issuing cards and accounts through the Wirex API. Arc is an open blockchain network built for the world’s financial markets, real-time money movement, and agentic economic activity. 

Wirex One was created for an underserved market. The global private banking market is projected to grow by over 10% annually to reach $1.24 trillion by 2035, yet a large segment of affluent individuals remain structurally underserved: too wealthy for retail banking, but below the minimum for traditional private banking. Stablecoins are closing that gap, enabling secure, borderless wealth management that the traditional financial system cannot provide.

Wirex One brings private banking onchain, managing everyday spending, yield, overseas transfers, borrowing, and investing from a single place. Arc was strategically chosen as the foundation for Wirex One due to its stablecoin-native, payments-optimised design, with a built-in privacy layer and real-time settlement.

Paired with Privy’s non-custodial wallet technology, it gives users complete ownership over their assets and institutional-grade security, without the complexity that typically comes with crypto wallets.

At launch, key features include:

Stablecoin-funded card with up to 8% cashback in USD, instantly spendable in everyday life Access to selected crypto and stablecoin yield features Support for a wide range of crypto assets Multi-currency accounts, with fee-free FX and ATM withdrawals globally Ability to send and receive via SEPA, ACH, Faster Payments, card transfers, and crypto transfers Innovative membership model, offering higher rewards, fee-free trading, dedicated account management, and 50% off premium subscriptions for leading AI and financial platforms for higher tiers Pavel Matveev, Co-Founder & CEO of Wirex, said: “A new wave of fintech apps are being built on stablecoin rails, and they all need the same foundation: regulated issuing, accounts, settlement, and yield. Wirex One is our own consumer platform built on that infrastructure, redefining what a private bank can be: a bank you control, not one that controls you. Every partner integrating with Wirex’s infrastructure gets the same rails, the same scheme access, and now the same day-one access to Arc.”

Today’s announcement is a major milestone in Wirex’s vision to build a unified, onchain suite of financial services for consumers and businesses on their stablecoin infrastructure, which recently reached $2 billion annualised card spend volume. In the coming weeks, Wirex One will expand to include tokenised equities and perpetuals.

More information about Wirex One, including card availability in supported jurisdictions, is available at Wirex’s website.

Developers can learn more about integrating with Wirex’s infrastructure on Arc here. The list of supported countries can be viewed here. Rewards are valued in USD

About WirexWirex is the global stablecoin infrastructure behind a complete banking stack. Through a single API, any app, wallet or fintech can launch regulated accounts, cards, payments, payouts, yield, cashback and travel, settled in stablecoins, on any chain. Wirex is one of the few crypto-enabled platforms with principal membership of both Visa and Mastercard, settling in USDC and EURC without an intermediary bank. 

Wirex builds its own products on that same infrastructure, through the same API: Wirex One, a stablecoin neobank for consumers, with Wirex Private as its highest membership tier; Wirex Business for companies; and Wirex Agents, giving AI agents the ability to transact onchain. 

Trusted by over 8 million users since 2014, Wirex has processed more than $20 billion in transactions across 130 countries, and created the first crypto-enabled card in 2015. Built on a decade-long track record of regulatory compliance, enterprise-grade security and onchain innovation, Wirex is creating a financial system where money moves globally and instantly, giving consumers and businesses true ownership, privacy by architecture, and access to the next generation of global payments and settlement.

Disclaimers: Arc is an open L1 blockchain launched by Arc Network Services LLC (“Arc LLC”) and operated by a permissioned validator set. Arc LLC provides software services only and does not offer regulated financial or advisory services. Arc has not been reviewed or approved by the New York State Department of Financial Services or any other regulatory authority. 

The Arc network is provided “as is” and “as available.” Use of Arc involves inherent risks associated with blockchain technology, including smart contract vulnerabilities, network disruptions, and the absence of recourse for transaction errors or losses. The ability to transact on Arc depends on the ability to obtain and use USDC to pay gas fees. Neither Arc LLC nor any permissioned validator is responsible for the content, accuracy, legality, or functionality of third-party applications, protocols, or services built on or integrated with Arc. You are solely responsible for features or services you provide to users, including obtaining any necessary licenses or approvals and otherwise complying with applicable laws. 

All Arc features may be modified, delayed, or cancelled at any time without notice. Nothing herein constitutes a commitment, warranty, guarantee or legal, regulatory, tax, or investment advice.

Disclaimer

This third-party press release is published substantially as received and does not reflect BeInCrypto's editorial views. BeInCrypto has not independently verified its claims or assessed the suitability, legality or appropriateness of any referenced asset, product or service; publication is not an endorsement. The content is general information, not investment research, financial, investment, legal or tax advice, a personal recommendation, offer or solicitation. Verify all information and seek professional advice where appropriate before acting. Crypto-assets may result in total loss.

Binance has scheduled the removal of four USDC spot trading pairs involving BREV, COOKIE, LA and QNT for Sept. 18 at 03:00 UTC.

Summary

Binance will remove four USDC spot pairs on September 18 while keeping underlying tokens tradable. BREV, COOKIE, LA and QNT remain available through other Binance spot pairs after removal deadline. Spot Trading Bots tied to affected USDC pairs will terminate simultaneously at 03:00 UTC Friday. Binance cited periodic market reviews and factors including poor liquidity and trading volume levels. Binance says pair delistings do not remove assets; supported alternatives will remain available for trading. Binance’sofficial Sept. 16 announcement lists BREV/USDC, COOKIE/USDC, LA/USDC and QNT/USDC among the pairs that will stop trading following the exchange’s latest market review. The deadline corresponds to 11:00 a.m. UTC+8.

The exchange said it periodically evaluates its listed spot pairs and may remove markets because of several factors, including weak liquidity and trading volume. Binance did not give a token-specific reason for any of the four removals.

Binance delisting applies to pairs, not four tokens The Sept. 18 action does not remove BREV, COOKIE, Lagrange’s LA or Quant’s QNT from Binance Spot.

Binance explicitly said removing a spot pair “does not affect the availability of the tokens on Binance Spot.” Customers can continue trading the base and quote assets through other supported markets after the four USDC pairs close.

BREV, for example, continues to have a BREV/USDT market on Binance. CoinGecko currently identifies Binance’s BREV/USDT pair among the token’s more active markets, alongside trading venues including Bitunix and OKX. BREV was trading near $0.0735 in the latest CoinGecko snapshot, with roughly $3 million in global 24-hour volume.

COOKIE retains a COOKIE/USDT spot market on Binance. The exchange’s trading page lists the market separately from the USDC pair scheduled for removal. COOKIE carried Binance’s Monitoring Tag in the latest available trading-page data, a designation Binance uses for assets subject to closer periodic reviews.

Lagrange remains available through LA/USDT. Binance originally opened LA spot trading in July 2025 with USDT, USDC, BNB, FDUSD and TRY markets. The Sept. 16 announcement identifies only LA/USDC for removal and does not announce a complete Lagrange delisting.

Quant similarly retains QNT/USDT on Binance. Current exchange data continue to show an active QNT/USDT order book, while CoinGecko ranks Binance among the largest individual markets for QNT trading.

USDC itself is not being removed from Binance Spot under the announcement. The action concerns four individual markets quoted against the stablecoin.

Trading bots will stop when the four pairs close Automated trading services connected specifically to BREV/USDC, COOKIE/USDC, LA/USDC and QNT/USDC face the same Sept. 18 deadline.

Binance said Spot Trading Bots for the affected markets will terminate at 03:00 UTC where applicable. The exchange advised customers using those bots to update or cancel them before trading stops to avoid potential losses.

The warning matters specifically to automated strategies configured around the closing pairs. Binance did not announce the termination of every trading bot involving BREV, COOKIE, LA or QNT.

Alternative markets can have different prices, spreads, depth and quote assets, meaning an existing USDC bot cannot simply continue operating after its designated market disappears. Binance therefore instructed users to change or close affected bot configurations before the deadline.

The latest decision follows a process Binance has used repeatedly to consolidate spot markets. Binance removed 23 spot pairs after citing liquidity and trading-volume considerations while keeping their underlying assets available through other supported markets.

That earlier action included markets quoted in BNB, BTC, ETH and FDUSD, showing that Binance’s pair reviews are not limited to USDC-denominated markets.

BREV, COOKIE, LA and QNT remain available elsewhere Market data available Sept. 16 show each affected asset continues to trade across multiple venues and quote currencies.

CoinGecko placed BREV around $0.0735, down roughly 3.5% over 24 hours at its latest reading. The aggregator tracked 57 BREV markets across 44 exchanges, with Binance’s BREV/USDT still among its active markets.

COOKIE traded around $0.0101, with approximately $1.6 million in 24-hour global volume and markets on more than 40 exchanges in CoinGecko’s dataset. Its price was down around 3.4% over 24 hours at the snapshot. Lagrange’s LA traded near $0.0638 with roughly $20 million in global 24-hour volume. CoinGecko tracked the token across 37 exchanges and 44 markets, including Binance. LA remained above its August all-time low of approximately $0.0443 but well below its June 2025 high of $1.72.

Quant was trading near $59.59, down approximately 5.6% over 24 hours and 13.4% across seven days in the latest CoinGecko snapshot. QNT carried a market capitalization near $867 million, making it substantially larger by market value than the other three tokens affected by the pair removals.

Binance did not attribute movements in any of the four token prices to the Sept. 16 announcement. Its notice referred only to the exchange’s periodic review process and cited poor liquidity and trading volume among the factors that can cause an individual pair to be removed.

Pair removal differs from a full Binance token delisting Binance uses separate procedures when it decides to stop supporting an asset entirely. As crypto.news reported in August, the exchange removed Across Protocol, Hashflow, PIVX, Vulcan Forged PYR, Vanar and Viction from spot trading altogether. In that case, all spot pairs connected to the six tokens were closed and withdrawals were given separate deadlines.

The Sept. 18 notice contains no comparable withdrawal deadline for BREV, COOKIE, LA or QNT and does not say deposits will stop. It specifically concerns the four USDC markets and their associated Spot Trading Bot services.

A separate recent example involves Pax Dollar. Crypto.news reported that Binance is preparing to fully remove USDP from spot trading on Sept. 24, followed by a November withdrawal deadline. That process affects several Binance products and services, distinguishing it from the narrower USDC-pair action announced this week.

Binance has used USDC markets extensively since restoring a group of them in December 2023. As crypto.news reported at the time, the exchange returned USDC trading with assets including ADA, ARB, AVAX, DOT, SOL and XRP after previously concentrating liquidity around other stablecoins.

For BREV/USDC, COOKIE/USDC, LA/USDC and QNT/USDC, the next confirmed event is the 03:00 UTC Sept. 18 cessation. Binance has told users with Spot Trading Bots attached to any of the four markets to update or cancel them before that time.

The Layer 1 charges gas in USDC and runs proof-of-authority across a permissioned set of 11 institutions plus Circle. More than 100 applications are live at launch, with Aave, Morpho and Uniswap anchoring DeFi. Circle minted 10 billion ARC tokens this week without committing to a public launch.

Circle opened the public mainnet of Arc on Wednesday, a Layer 1 blockchain where transaction fees are paid in USDC and blocks are produced by a fixed set of regulated financial institutions rather than an open validator market.

The chain puts block production in the hands of the firms that clear securities and run card rails. BlackRock, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, Galaxy, ICE, Mastercard, MoneyGram, SBI Group, Standard Chartered, Sumitomo Corporation, Visa and Worldpay make up the founding validator cohort alongside Circle, which named them on Aug. 5. Global Payments completed its $24.25 billion acquisition of Worldpay in January.

Circle counts more than 100 applications and more than 100 institutional and ecosystem builders live on day one. Its testnet, which opened in October 2025, processed more than 700 million transactions, and the developer program has more than 75,000 Arc House members.

"Arc is the single most significant launch in Circle's history since USDC itself, and it is the embodiment of the premise we have operated on for thirteen years: money should work the way the internet works," Jeremy Allaire, Circle's co-founder, chairman and chief executive, said in the announcement.

Gas In DollarsFees on Arc are denominated in USDC with 18 decimals, and the network has no volatile gas token. Arc's fee documentation sets a base fee target of about $0.01 per transaction and caps the base fee at 20,000 Gwei, using EIP-1559 with exponentially weighted moving-average smoothing so traffic spikes move fees less than they do on Ethereum. Arc's landing page put the average weekly transaction cost at $0.045.

Consensus is proof-of-authority over the permissioned set, running Tendermint BFT through Circle's Malachite implementation. Arc's system overview states deterministic finality in under one second with no reorganization risk, and benchmarks finality below 350 milliseconds and throughput above 3,000 transactions per second with 20 validators. Blocks target 30 million gas at a half-second block time. The chain is fully EVM-compatible, so existing Solidity contracts and tooling work at launch.

Validation is restricted but usage is not. Arc's deployment documentation says developers "can deploy contracts and send transactions without approval," while "a fixed group of known, vetted institutions produce and validate blocks." That page puts the validator count at approximately 20 SOC 2-certified operators across multiple regions. Circle's release names 11 institutions and itself, and says the cohort comes online in phases.

Aave And Morpho Anchor CreditAave and Morpho supply Arc's lending markets at launch. Aave is deploying a V4 market on the chain, and Bitwise, Cumberland, Dialectic, Galaxy, Gauntlet, Keyrock and Steakhouse Financial are supporting it through curated vault strategies, risk oversight and USDC and EURC supply.

"We're doubling down on the Circle ecosystem with a new Aave V4 market on Arc, bringing DeFi's most trusted credit infrastructure to a network purpose-built to bring real-world finance onchain," said Stani Kulechov, founder and chief executive of Aave Labs.

"Arc brings together the speed, stablecoin-native infrastructure, and institutional participation needed to expand onchain credit to a much broader market," said Merlin Egalite, co-founder of Morpho.

Trading runs through Aero Lite, fomo and Uniswap. The wider trading list runs to 1inch, Bankr, Dinari, Doppler, edgeX, Extended, Hibachi, LI.FI, o1.exchange, pools.trade, Pump.fun and Robinhood. Pools, the Uniswap Labs launchpad, said on Monday it had partnered with Arc as a day-one launchpad, and appears on Circle's list as pools.trade.

Binance, Bitso, Bitvavo, Bybit, Gate, Kraken, KuCoin, MEXC, OKX, OSL, Upbit and Wenia provide exchange access. Anchorage, BitGo, Ceffu, Copper, Fireblocks and Zodia Custody provide custody. BNY, BTG Pactual, HSBC, Lead Bank, Societe Generale, Standard Chartered and State Street are the banks Circle names.

The Token Circle MintedCircle completed a genesis mint of 10 billion ARC tokens in the United States this week, and says it is the first publicly traded company to mint a network token for a new Layer 1. Network fees stay payable in USDC. The company describes the mint as a technical milestone rather than a commitment to launch ARC publicly, and says the network is exploring a shift from proof-of-authority to proof-of-stake in 2027.

Allaire first said Circle was studying a token on the company's fourth-quarter earnings call in February, and gave no launch timeline then. The supply figure and the consensus transition were both set out in the ARC whitepaper Circle published in May. That document allocates 60% of the 10 billion tokens to ecosystem uses including token sales, developer grants and network growth programs, 25% to Circle, and 15% to a long-term reserve. It sets early-phase inflation at roughly 2% to 3% a year on a decaying schedule, and gives holders votes on fees, inflation and burn logic while Circle retains control of protocol development, compliance and validator membership.

Circle has already sold ARC. The company raised $222 million in a presale at a $3 billion fully diluted valuation in May, with a16z crypto putting in $75 million. BlackRock, Apollo Funds, ICE, ARK Invest, SBI Group, Janus Henderson Investors, Standard Chartered Ventures, General Catalyst, IDG Capital, Haun Ventures, Bullish and Marshall Wace also bought. Several of those buyers are now founding validators or named partners. Circle has not disclosed what share of supply the presale covered or its vesting terms.

Agents As Economic ActorsCircle is positioning Arc as the settlement layer for AI agents. It says USDC accounts for 98.8% of agent-driven transaction volume and that most agent-to-agent payments settling over the x402 standard have settled in USDC since Circle Agent Stack launched in May. Circle has not published the methodology behind the 98.8% figure.

Agent Stack provides policy-controlled Agent Wallets, Nanopayments through Circle Gateway, and what Circle calls an emerging Agent Marketplace. The Defiant reported when Circle launched Nanopayments across 11 blockchains, which move USDC in amounts as small as $0.000001. Arc Portal lets users fund agent wallets and set spend limits. A component Circle calls AgentVM, which would let agents process sensitive data while Arc records a verifiable log of results, is still in design.

Two developer tools ship with mainnet. Arc Studio is an onchain coding agent that generates contracts, application logic and deployment-ready code. Arc App Kits is an SDK covering payments, swaps, onramps and yield, with yield routed through Morpho.

Twenty-Two Currencies On StableFXCircle StableFX handles cross-currency settlement on Arc. Circle lists 22 stablecoins as active or onboarding, including USDC, EURC, Brazil's BRLA, Japan's JPYC, Mexico's MXNB and wrapped versions of the Argentine peso, Chilean peso, Colombian peso and Peruvian sol. Circle Payments Network is integrated natively into the chain.

Tradeable assets at launch include Circle's USYC money market fund, BlackRock's BUIDL treasury fund tokenized by Securitize, private credit funds and cirBTC, Circle's wrapped bitcoin. Bitwise, Dinari, Janus Henderson, New York Life Investment Management with Centrifuge, Maple, Matrixdock, ProShares and xStocks by Payward are bringing tokenized products to the chain.

Circle says opt-in privacy, using confidential transactions and balances with view keys, is in development for network-wide release rather than live today. Post-quantum signatures are supported now.

CRCL Falls 11% Into LaunchCircle stock closed at $86.30 on Tuesday, down 11.41% on the day, for a market value of $21.91 billion, Stock Analysis data shows. The shares have traded between $49.90 and $159.47 over the past year. Crypto equities fell on Tuesday after the Senate voted 49-50 against taking up the CLARITY Act, short of the 60 votes cloture needed. Republicans had posted what they called the bill's final text the day before.

USDC had a market value of $73.73 billion on $19.9 billion of 24-hour volume, per CoinGecko. Circle's release puts circulation above $74 billion.

Arc's permissioned design has drawn objections since Circle first described the chain. In the open-versus-permissioned debate The Defiant covered on Aug. 12, Adam Cochran, a partner at Cinneamhain Ventures, said "this isn't an L1 and it's offensive to call it such," arguing that "there are never economic incentives to be a faithful validator, and that's why they have to make it a private consortium." Mitchell DiRaimondo, founder of Steelwave Digital, said the design "isn't DeFi, and that's the point." He added: "Bold? Yes. Terrible? Only if you confuse it with DeFi infrastructure."

Circle is streaming a launch event at 2 p.m. ET and has opened Arc Portal to new users.

Market data as of the Sept. 15 U.S. close and 21:00 UTC on Sept. 15.

Nu disclosed the two launches on Sept. 10 through a company release and a corresponding SEC filing.

Summary

Nu has launched U.S. financial products through Lead Bank while its own charter remains preliminary. Nu Global converts customer deposits into USDC or EURC and supports transfers across 35-plus countries. U.S. deposit accounts offer 3.50% APY while Nu’s credit card pays 1.5% unlimited cashback initially. Nu Global advertises 3.50% on USDC balances and 2.20% on EURC balances paid daily currently. OCC approval remains preliminary, requiring FDIC approval, Federal Reserve membership and preopening conditions before launch. Nu has begun rolling out U.S. banking products and a separate global account that converts customer funds into USDC or EURC. Users can register for access, although the company release described both offerings as products that will be released in stages beginning Sept. 10.

The U.S. operation provides deposit accounts, debit cards, credit cards and domestic or international transfers through Lead Bank. Nu Global serves cross-border customers through accounts denominated in USDC and EURC, with transfers available across more than 35 countries.

The two products use different legal structures. Lead Bank, a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, provides the banking services behind the U.S. account. Nu Global AG operates through a Swiss regulatory framework and converts deposited funds into stablecoins.

BIG: Latin America’s largest digital bank Nu is launching in the US with a new crypto-focused offering

The US platform will offer a 3.5% yield, cashback, global transfers and crypto trading as Nu expands beyond its Latin American home market. pic.twitter.com/48s7XuUKE6

— crypto.news (@cryptodotnews) September 12, 2026 Nu enters U.S. banking through Lead Bank Nu’s U.S. account pays 3.50% annual percentage yield on available dollar balances. The company says interest is calculated and credited daily, while customers retain immediate access to money placed in designated savings goals.

Deposits are held by Lead Bank and receive FDIC insurance subject to applicable legal limits and eligibility requirements. Nu’s U.S. website states that Nu is a financial technology company, not a bank, while Lead Bank supplies the regulated banking and card services.

A limited-edition metal debit card accompanies the account. Customers can send domestic transfers without a fee, according to Nu, while international transfers will initially cover Brazil, Mexico and Colombia. The company plans to add more countries but has not published a full expansion schedule.

Nu’s Mastercard World Elite credit card carries no annual fee and pays 1.5% unlimited cashback. Customers who meet conditions that have not yet been fully detailed may eventually increase the rate to 2%.

Future account features include a 4.50% APY savings goal capped at $10,000 for customers who pair the deposit account with the credit card and complete qualifying transactions. Since Nu repeatedly uses “soon” for these higher rates, neither the 4.50% yield nor 2% cashback should be treated as available to every customer at launch.

Cristina Junqueira, co-founder and CEO of Nu’s U.S. operation, said the company wants its app to become customers’ primary banking relationship. She claimed that “capturing even a small share of the U.S. market will be transformative for our business,” though Nu has not issued a U.S. customer, deposit or revenue target.

Nu Global converts customer money into stablecoins Nu Global operates separately from the Lead Bank offering. Funds deposited through the global account are converted into Circle-issued USDC or EURC, according to the SEC filing.

USDC balances receive an advertised 3.50% APY, while EURC balances receive 2.20%. Nu says both rates accrue daily. The company has not committed to maintaining either rate for a fixed period.

The account includes a virtual Mastercard for global purchases. Nu says users can spend at competitive exchange rates without an added foreign-exchange markup, subject to the product’s terms and availability in each jurisdiction.

Transfers are initially focused on corridors between Europe and Latin America. Connections with Nu’s systems in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and the U.S. are planned for later, but the company has not supplied individual launch dates. Customers can hold and trade a limited selection of digital assets through the same app, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. Nu has not published the complete asset list, supported blockchain networks or withdrawal conditions in its announcement.

Nu Global AG is a member of VQF, a self-regulatory organization recognized by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority. Nu’s website says customer balances are covered by a Swiss bank default guarantee to the extent required by law if Nu Global AG becomes insolvent.

The guarantee is different from FDIC deposit insurance. Nu’s announcement does not identify the guaranteeing bank, state a coverage amount or explain how claims involving changes in stablecoin value would be calculated.

Nu has not identified the source of the advertised USDC and EURC yields in its release or SEC filing. It has not said whether the return comes from issuer rewards, reserve income, lending, treasury assets or a subsidy funded by Nu.

In related coverage, crypto.news reported that yield attached to stablecoins can carry risks outside ordinary bank-deposit protections, depending on which entity produces the return and how customer funds are deployed. Nu has not described its product as a decentralized finance strategy.

Nu’s national bank charter is not yet final Nu applied to establish Nubank, National Association, on Sept. 30, 2025. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted preliminary conditional approval on Jan. 29, 2026.

The OCC letter authorizes Nu to continue organizing the proposed bank. It does not permit Nubank, N.A. to begin banking operations immediately. Before receiving final authorization, the proposed bank must meet the OCC’s preopening conditions, obtain FDIC deposit insurance and apply for stock in a Federal Reserve Bank. The regulator retains authority to modify, suspend or withdraw the preliminary approval.

Nu said in January that it expected to capitalize the bank within 12 months and open it within 18 months, as required by the approval process. Those time frames point to regulatory work continuing into 2027 unless the company completes the requirements earlier.

Once authorized, Nubank, N.A. expects to provide deposits, credit, lending and digital-asset custody. The OCC letter says the proposed bank plans to support customer-directed purchases, sales and on-chain transfers of bank-custodied digital assets, along with staking services.

As crypto.news explained in its review of how OCC national charters govern crypto businesses, conditional approval does not equal authorization to begin operating. Applicants must complete capital, management, compliance and operational requirements before receiving final approval.

Nu is using Lead Bank to enter the market while its own charter remains in the organization stage. Customers opening current U.S. products therefore receive services from the partner bank, not from the proposed Nubank, N.A.

U.S. expansion follows Nu’s Latin American growth Nu reported more than 140 million customers across its existing markets when it announced the new products. The company operates in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, while its parent, Nu Holdings, has traded on the New York Stock Exchange since 2021.

In Brazil, Nu says it serves more than 60% of the adult population. The company describes itself as Mexico’s largest digital bank and Colombia’s fourth-largest financial institution by deposits. Each ranking comes from Nu’s corporate announcement.

The expansion follows Nu’s previous work with digital assets in Latin America. Its Brazilian crypto platform had more than 7 million customers by March 2026, when the company introduced staking-based rewards for Solana.

Nucoin provided an earlier link between the company’s banking and token products. As crypto.news previously reported, Nubank created Nucoin as a blockchain-based customer rewards asset before adding more conventional crypto trading and stablecoin services.

For its latest reported quarter, Nu said net income exceeded $1 billion and return on equity surpassed 32%. Its announcement did not provide separate spending estimates, customer projections or profitability deadlines for the U.S. and Nu Global businesses.

Access will expand through a staged release. Nu said early U.S. applicants may receive limited-edition metal Mastercard cards, while transfers to more countries, enhanced cashback and the higher savings yield remain scheduled for later releases without firm public dates.

GMO-Z.com Trust Company, the New York-regulated issuer behind GYEN, has begun an orderly wind-down of its stablecoin operations. The company initiated the process on May 15, 2026, disabling new purchases of both GYEN, its Japanese yen-pegged token, and ZUSD, its US dollar-pegged counterpart.

Coinbase, which had already suspended GYEN trading around May 2025, plans to convert any remaining GYEN holdings on its platform to USDC by October 30, 2026.

What the wind-down looks like GMO Trust has established a 180-day Initial Redemption Period running through November 11, 2026. During that window, eligible holders can redeem their tokens at par value: 1 GYEN for 1 JPY, and 1 ZUSD for 1 USD, with no platform fees.

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The catch is that redemptions happen through the GMO Trust platform, and holders need to meet the company’s KYC and account requirements to participate. After the redemption window closes, any unclaimed tokens enter a mandatory process governed by the company’s Stablecoin User Terms and Conditions.

For holders who want to exit through other channels, third-party options exist. Uniswap pools on Ethereum and Arbitrum, along with Stellar DEX options, offer paths to swap into USDC. But those are secondary market trades, meaning there’s no guarantee you’ll get par value.

GYEN and ZUSD were issued across multiple blockchain platforms including Ethereum, Solana, and Stellar. Reserves backing these tokens were held in FDIC-insured institutions and US Treasuries, in compliance with New York State Department of Financial Services guidelines.

A brief, turbulent history GMO Trust was established in 2020 as a subsidiary of Japan’s GMO Internet Group, with a specific ambition: creating the first regulated yen-pegged stablecoin.

GYEN landed on Coinbase Pro in November 2021, which should have been its breakout moment. Instead, the token experienced significant trading volatility shortly after listing. Coinbase eventually suspended and delisted GYEN trading around May 2025, roughly a year before the formal wind-down announcement.

What this means for stablecoin holders For GYEN holders, the immediate priority is mechanical. Redeem through GMO Trust’s platform before November 11, 2026, or accept the Coinbase-to-USDC conversion by October 30 if that’s where your tokens sit.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Circle is discontinuing support for USDC and CCTP V1 (the legacy version) on the Noble blockchain as part of its broader transition to CCTP V2, Circle’s next-generation cross-chain protocol with faster finality and stronger security. Noble will not receive CCTP V2. 

Circle Mint customers, retail USDC holders, and non-Circle customers who hold USDC on Noble should migrate to another supported blockchain. 

New minting of USDC on Noble through Circle Mint will be disabled on October 13, 2026. Redemptions from Noble via Circle Mint remain available until January 12, 2027, when the Noble USDC contract and CCTP routes will be fully paused.

On the pause date, Circle will take a snapshot of all remaining USDC on Noble balances and open a manual redemption portal. The manual redemption process begins January 13, 2027.
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Actions Required
‍Circle Mint CustomersFrom September 10, 2026 through October 12, 2026: No change to your Circle Mint access for Noble. Your existing withdrawals, express routes, and redemptions on Noble continue as normal.From October 13, 2026 through January 12, 2027: New minting of USDC to Noble via Circle Mint is disabled. Redemptions from Noble via Circle Mint remain available, though CCTP V1 burn limits will gradually reduce to zero beginning October 31, 2026.Starting January 13, 2027: Noble is no longer accessible via Circle Mint or CCTP. Contact your Partner Manager or the Customer Care team to initiate the manual redemption process.‍

Institutional and Self-Custody USDC HoldersFrom October 13, 2026 through January 12, 2027, USDC remains transferable on Noble. Holders should move their USDC off Noble before the January 12 pause through:

A CEX that supports Noble USDC deposits.A DEX swap on Noble. CCTP V1 burn-from-Noble to another supported chainCCTP V1 burn limits will begin reducing on October 31, 2026. After December 1, 2026, CCTP exits may be limited to destination chains that continue to support CCTP V1 burns. See the list of supported chains here. 

Circle will publish a shortlist of known exit venues. Circle is not operating its own exit UI.

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CCTP IntegratorsIf your application has integrated CCTP V1 support for Noble, you should plan to remove Noble as a supported CCTP V1 route before January 12, 2027. After that date, all CCTP V1 routes to and from Noble will be fully paused and any integrations relying on those routes will stop functioning. 

Refer to Circle's developer documentation and CCTP domain status pages for technical guidance. Questions can be directed to your Circle contact or to developer support.

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Post DeadlineDetails on the manual redemption process will be available via Circle's Help Center starting January 13, 2027. To qualify for manual redemption, USDC on Noble holders must: meet Circle's compliance and security requirements; have USDC in a holder-controlled wallet; and have a wallet address that is part of the Noble pause-day snapshot. Please refer to this blog and the Help Center to avoid any potential scams. 

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Looking ForwardCircle's presence in the Cosmos ecosystem continues. Injective and other IBC-connected chains remain active Circle partnerships, and USDC continues to serve as a settlement asset across Cosmos DeFi broadly. CCTP expansion is ongoing across EVM and non-EVM chains, and Circle remains committed to growing USDC's reach as the most trusted, most interoperable digital dollar in the world.

Nubank just made its biggest bet on crypto rails yet. The Brazilian fintech giant, which serves over 140 million customers, has launched Nu Global, a multi-currency digital account that converts user deposits into Circle’s USDC and EURC stablecoins and uses them as the backbone for international transfers.

The product went live on September 10, offering fee-free transfers across more than 35 countries with initial focus on Europe and Latin America. It also marks Nubank’s formal entry into the US market, where it has partnered with FDIC-insured Lead Bank while pursuing its own national bank charter.

How Nu Global actually works The core mechanic is straightforward: users deposit local currency, and Nu Global converts it into stablecoins. USDC handles dollar-denominated balances, while EURC covers euros. Those stablecoin balances earn daily yield, with USDC paying 3.50% APY and EURC paying 2.20% APY.

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The account comes with a virtual Mastercard for global spending, meaning users can tap into their stablecoin balances at merchants worldwide without needing to manually convert anything. Users can also hold and trade a curated selection of digital assets within the app, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, alongside their stablecoin positions.

This isn’t Nubank’s first foray into stablecoins. The company already offered USDC functionality through NuCrypto, its Brazil-based crypto service. Nu Global extends that foundation into a fully integrated international banking product rather than a standalone crypto feature.

The US play and banking charter ambitions The partnership with Lead Bank, which carries FDIC insurance, provides a regulatory bridge while Nubank works toward its own national bank charter. The company received preliminary conditional approval for that charter in January 2026, a process that typically involves extensive regulatory scrutiny from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

CEO David Vélez has framed Nu Global around the concept of “borderless lives,” targeting the millions of people who live, work, or have financial obligations across multiple countries.

What this means for Circle and stablecoin adoption The yield offerings on stablecoin balances also deserve attention. A 3.50% APY on USDC is competitive with many US high-yield savings accounts, and it comes wrapped in a product that offers international functionality those accounts can’t match. The 2.20% APY on EURC, while lower, reflects the European Central Bank’s rate environment.

The key markets in Nu Global’s initial rollout, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and the US, represent some of the highest-volume remittance corridors in the Western Hemisphere.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Injective has launched native USDC on its mainnet via Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP), and the Cosmos ecosystem has collectively decided this is the new default. Cosmos Hub, dYdX, and the routing layer Skip:Go have all signed on, making Injective USDC the canonical stablecoin standard across a network of interconnected chains that previously relied on Noble for issuance.

The timing isn’t coincidental. Noble exited USDC issuance within the Cosmos ecosystem earlier in 2026, leaving a hole worth more than $100 million in associated stablecoin supply. Injective stepped in, and the rest of the ecosystem appears to have quickly agreed that one standard is better than a fragmented mess of wrapped alternatives.

dYdX goes first, and the numbers are big dYdX, the sovereign Cosmos appchain running one of crypto’s largest perpetuals platforms, was the first major chain to integrate Injective USDC. That means all perpetual positions, margin accounts, and profit-and-loss settlements now run on this single stablecoin rail.

The platform processes over $4 billion in monthly derivatives volume. Having that entire flow denominated in a single canonical USDC, rather than a patchwork of bridged versions, removes a class of risk that has historically plagued cross-chain DeFi.

Cosmos Hub and dYdX have signed on with a minimum four-year adoption window. That kind of timeline signals this isn’t a temporary patch while someone else builds a replacement. It’s infrastructure.

How the MultiVM standard eliminates bridging headaches One of the more technically interesting pieces of this rollout is Injective’s MultiVM Token Standard. In practical terms, it means the same USDC balance works natively across both EVM and Cosmos/Wasm environments without requiring users to bridge tokens between them.

Skip:Go, the routing layer that handles cross-chain transaction pathfinding across Cosmos, has adopted Injective USDC as its default. Migration tooling and IBC routing support are being extended to additional Cosmos chains and applications, with broader ecosystem adoption targeted for late August or early September 2026.

The ATOM buyback mechanism Perhaps the most strategically significant detail buried in this announcement: transaction fees generated from Injective USDC activity will fund programmatic buybacks of ATOM, the native token of Cosmos Hub.

This creates a direct economic link between stablecoin usage across the ecosystem and the value accrual of Cosmos Hub’s core asset. Every swap, every margin trade, every lending transaction denominated in Injective USDC contributes a portion of fees back to ATOM demand.

If dYdX alone processes $4 billion monthly, even a modest fee capture rate translates into meaningful ATOM demand over time. And that’s before accounting for the spot markets, liquidity pools, and lending protocols that are expected to integrate Injective USDC by September 2026.

What this means for the competitive landscape The broader context here matters. Circle has been aggressive about expanding USDC’s reach through CCTP, which allows native minting and burning across supported chains rather than relying on third-party bridges. Injective’s integration is a direct extension of that strategy into the Cosmos universe.

The four-year commitment from Cosmos Hub and dYdX also sends a signal to institutional players evaluating where to deploy capital. When a platform handling billions in monthly volume consolidates around a single standard with multi-year backing, it reduces one of the key risks that keeps traditional finance on the sidelines.

The risk, of course, is concentration. Injective now controls a critical piece of infrastructure for an entire ecosystem. If something goes wrong, whether technical, regulatory, or operational, the blast radius extends far beyond a single chain. That’s the trade-off for eliminating fragmentation: you get efficiency and simplicity, but you also get a single point of dependency that the ecosystem didn’t have before.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Crypto exchange Coinbase started integrating Morpho onchain lending protocol for customers in Brazil. It will enable users to earn more rewards on their USDC stablecoin holdings, with no lock-up required.

Coinbase Taps Morpho to Boost USDC Stablecoin Earnings for Brazil The crypto exchange is expanding its existing Morpho-powered DeFi Earn product to eligible customers in Brazil, according to an official announcement on September 9. The product availability will expand over the coming days.

Users can access lending features through the Lending tab on their Coinbase app to allocate USDC stablecoins. Coinbase moves the deposit to the Morpho protocol, matching lenders and borrowers on-chain.

The USDC accrues rewards in an audited vault curated by Steakhouse Financial. Users can withdraw their USDC stablecoin rewards at any time as there is no lock-up period.

Rates are market-driven and change with onchain supply and demand. Coinbase One subscribers receive a boosted rate where available.

Coinbase’s Earn product saw massive adoption in the US. Since launch, it has reached nearly $500 million USD in total supply and offered up to 7.4% APY. It has become one of the fastest-growing ways customers put USDC to work.

Deepening Utility for Brazilian Users Coinbase states the launch as another way for users to put idle USDC to work, alongside staking and existing USDC rewards. The company says the goal is to deepen USDC utility for Brazilian customers and connect them more closely to its broader Everything Exchange vision.

“The expansion reflects our efforts to make users’ assets work harder for them, alongside staking and USDC Rewards as pathways for users to build their wealth and become more connected to the Everything Exchange, said Fabio Plein, regional managing director for the Americas at Coinbase.

This creates a two-sided market in which lenders supply liquidity that borrowers use against crypto collateral. Notably, this onchain lending path is separate from Coinbase’s standard USDC Rewards program.

As CoinGape reported earlier, Visa is also pushing onchain lending deeper into everyday payments. The payments giant combined its settlement data with blockchain credit infrastructure to enable stablecoin-linked card issuers and fintechs tap working capital as they scale.

As decentralized finance lending platforms continue to dominate, check out the Best DeFi Lending Platforms in 2026.

Kraken Opens a Direct USDC Bridge to InjectiveKraken has added native USDC deposits and withdrawals on Injective, giving users a direct path between the exchange and the network. Capital can now flow between Kraken and Injective without routing through another blockchain or relying on wrapped tokens.

The integration removes a step that previously added friction for traders moving stablecoins onchain. Kraken users can withdraw USDC directly to an Injective address and deposit it back through the same network, streamlining access to Injective's onchain markets.

Why Native USDC Matters for InjectiveThe Kraken integration builds on a broader shift for Injective that began in May 2026. , giving the network a regulated dollar asset issued directly by Circle rather than through a bridge.

Sources:
Kraken Blog: USDC deposits and withdrawals now available on Injective
Injective Blog: Native USDC and CCTP live on Injective
Circle Blog: USDC and CCTP are coming to Injective

Circle has agreed to acquire Tazapay, a Singapore-headquartered B2B cross-border payments company, as the USDC issuer seeks to expand its global payments infrastructure and increase stablecoin adoption.

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The transaction, which is expected to close in 2027 pending regulatory approvals including from Singapore’s Monetary Authority, will bring Tazapay’s banking relationships, local payout infrastructure and institutional customer base into Circle. Tazapay supports payments across more than 100 markets, works with over 60 banking and fintech partners and has more than $25 billion in annualized payment volume, with stablecoins accounting for about 60% of transactions.

Circle said the acquisition will strengthen its ability to move money globally around the clock and help make USDC a default payment rail for cross-border commerce. Tazapay customers will continue to receive their existing services, APIs, pricing and support without disruption.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

CCTP now supports upfront fee payment for Fast Transfers. Instead of deducting protocol fees from transferred USDC on the destination chain, developers can now quote and collect fees upfront in either the source chain’s native gas token or USDC. As a result, developers can simplify fee handling for crosschain transfers and users receive the intended USDC amount.

Predictable transfers and streamlined fee handlingBy handling fee collection before transfer execution, this update to CCTP Fast Transfers addresses three core challenges for crosschain applications:

Predictable Transfer Amounts: End users receive the expected amount of USDC sent, eliminating destination-side fee deductions and unexpected net outputs in payment or wallet workflows.One Bundled Quote via Quote API: The Quote API abstracts fee calculations across supported chains, bundling Fast Transfer and Forwarding fees into a single quote. Integrators no longer need to build custom infrastructure to calculate multiple protocol fees independently.Flexible Fee Collection: Fees can be collected in the source chain's native token without eroding or touching the underlying USDC balance being transferred.How to get startedUpfront fee payment is available now for USDC transfers across all EVM chains supported by CCTP. While transfers originating from Solana are not currently supported, transfers to Solana are supported.

To implement upfront fee payment, integrators can query the Quote API to retrieve fee quotes.

Explore the CCTP documentation to start building predictable crosschain transfer flows today.

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CCTP is a crosschain messaging infrastructure service provided by Circle Technology Services, LLC ("CTS"). CCTP is non-custodial; CTS does not hold, control, manage, or transfer user assets or act as a transfer agent, registrar, broker-dealer, investment adviser, or clearing agency. CCTP is not a financial, payment, or advisory service and has not been reviewed or approved by NYDFS or any other regulatory authority. Transfers are irreversible; CTS cannot recover assets sent to an incorrect address. CTS does not vet, endorse, or back third-party assets; such assets are subject solely to the applicable third-party terms and risks. Issuers are solely responsible for their services and compliance with applicable laws. Any fee estimates are non-binding previews; actual fees may differ. Assets are subject to a number of risks, including, but not limited to, price volatility and smart-contract, relay, and bridge vulnerabilities. Availability is subject to change. Developer terms apply.