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When Melyn McKay worked in South Sudan, there was not a functioning ATM in the entire country. To move humanitarian funds, she would fly to Dubai, withdraw cash from her own bank account, and carry it back across the border in her trousers, hoping no one would stop her at a checkpoint manned by armed soldiers. For 15 years, across South Sudan, Lebanon, and Myanmar, she watched the same pattern repeat. The places where help is often the most needed are the places the global financial system has quietly abandoned.
“We’ve built financial infrastructure the same way the British built railroads,” Melyn said. “They were designed to extract wealth out of the country, not to connect the people inside it.” Growing up in the US, she said, she never had to think about how money worked, because money was designed to work for her. Most of the world does not have that luxury.
Melyn is the founder of Coala Pay, a payment platform built specifically for aid delivery and a member of the Circle Alliance Program. Coala Pay moves institutional funds into high-friction corridors in minutes, using USDC as the settlement rail so that more of every donor dollar reaches the frontlines.
Built by humanitarians for the toughest corridorsCoala Pay’s team is made up of aid-sector natives. Its leadership and program staff average more than 15 years in humanitarian work, have led billions of dollars in donor-funded programming, and built systems that deployed hundreds of millions for institutions including UNICEF and the World Bank.
Melyn started Coala Pay in response to a problem she kept hitting in the field. After the 2021 military coup in Myanmar, she said traditional banking channels became dangerous overnight. According to Melyn, the junta was monitoring transactions to track and control the flow of humanitarian funds. Aid is meant to reach people in need regardless of which government is in power, and through the banks on the ground that was suddenly impossible. Coala Pay was an attempt to solve for this.
And while the junta and the banking crackdown that followed is what sparked the creation of Coala Pay, the platform itself is designed to solve for a broad range of aid-related friction. Aid organizations move money to as many as 130 countries a year, across volatile exchange rates, while working to stay accountable for every dollar of public money. It can be challenging. Melyn pointed to a recent Ebola response, when she said a large UN agency’s transfer to West Africa was routed through an intermediary bank in East Africa. That bank held the money for months, earning interest for themselves while delaying the delivery of lifesaving aid.
One interface, settlement in minutesCoala Pay replaces the fragmented chain of correspondent banks with a single settlement layer. An organization connects its treasury and funds the Coala Pay platform with a standard fiat transfer. Coala Pay works with licensed partners who handle the conversion into USDC, routes the payment through a network of vetted local offramp providers, and settles to recipients in minutes, including in corridors where conventional rails stall for weeks.
Step Stage Who acts What happens 1 Fund Funding aid organization (INGO, UN agency, or NGO) Connects its treasury and sends a standard fiat transfer to a dedicated static IBAN; capital releases only after HQ + country-office multi-signature approval. 2 Convert and route Coala Pay Converts the fiat to USDC and routes it through vetted local offramp providers, replacing the correspondent-bank chain with a single settlement layer. 3 Settle Smart contract → offramp provider → recipient Funds settle onchain to the recipient’s account in minutes; the offramp provider then converts USDC to local currency. FX rates, timestamps, and payouts log onchain.
The design reflects how aid teams actually operate. Multi-signature approvals mirror the real reporting lines of a humanitarian agency, requiring sign-off from both headquarters and country offices before any capital moves. Every step is recorded onchain. Foreign exchange (FX) rates, timestamps, and payout confirmations are captured automatically, so donor reports are generated as the money moves rather than reconstructed from spreadsheets weeks later.
The platform also adds a layer of programmability that traditional rails lack. Using an onchain oracle, Coala Pay can tie disbursements to external data, releasing funds automatically when thresholds like drought or flood levels are met.
“Rather than waiting two weeks for funds to arrive in a community after an earthquake or a flood, we’re able to get those funds on the ground in less than 72 hours,” Melyn said. “In the aid sector, time saved is lives saved.”
Why Coala Pay chose USDC for aid deliveryFor Coala Pay, the choice of which stablecoin to use was a question of trust as much as technology. “We’re not in an industry where ‘move fast and break things’ works,” Melyn said. “We need to come to our clients with something that feels more secure than what they’re currently using, not less.”
In Melyn’s eyes, that ruled out most of the stablecoin market. “I can’t ask a UN agency to take a bet on a small token no one has ever heard of,” Melyn said. “They can’t act like VCs, deciding who is going to be around in the future.”
Working with Circle and USDC, a regulated1 internet-native dollar, gives the treasurers she works with something they can verify rather than something they have to believe in.
“Working with a public company that has been around a long time, that is MiCA compliant, those are the things that help a UN or INGO treasurer get comfortable with a new technology rather than taking a leap of faith,” Melyn said.
Every USDC is backed by cash and cash-equivalent reserves, with monthly attestations from a Big Four accounting firm, and it is the world’s largest regulated stablecoin1. For a treasurer moving public money into a fragile corridor to reach vulnerable populations, that combination of stability, transparency, regulatory standing, and 24/7 settlement is what makes the technology adoptable at all.
What changes on the ground when aid settles fasterIn late 2025, months ahead of the drought season, the Norwegian Refugee Council in Somalia committed $6,270 to each of its three local partners, writing the release conditions into smart contracts that drew on satellite drought data and ran against a wallet NRC controlled directly. Once the thresholds were crossed, each partner’s account was funded in about two minutes — not the minimum eight days for the quickest emergency channel NRC otherwise relies on. The early action reached 2,955 people across three districts with water trucking, hygiene kits, and cash assistance.
In Malawi, Save the Children's SHIFT initiative used Coala Pay to send a $2,000 milestone-based grant straight to a Lilongwe-based, youth-run climate group. That is exactly the kind of small, local organization that conventional grant pipelines turn away: vetting a $1,000 grant can cost more than the grant is worth. Because the funds sat in USDC until the moment of payout, the money reached the group with more of its value intact, even as the Malawian kwacha rapidly lost ground. The grant trained 160 students directly and reached more than 4,000 through peer cascade.
“In aid work, more money on the ground means more people helped,” Melyn said.
And in Kenya, the peacebuilding NGO Search for Common Ground paid 943 young survey respondents across all 47 counties with a 99.7% success rate, the slowest US payment still arriving in under two hours, and its finance team never entering a single transfer by hand.
From last resort to first choiceCoala Pay built its reputation in corridors others shied away from — where conventional rails can stall for weeks and lifesaving money can sit in an intermediary bank earning interest while a community waits. Having proven that USDC can move value into those places in minutes instead of weeks, Melyn now sees the same rail reshaping the parts of aid finance everyone has simply accepted: the monthly FX rates and intermediary spreads that quietly erode every donor dollar long before it reaches the field.
That is the larger shift underway. The settlement layer that made early action possible in a drought — funds released automatically the moment satellite data crossed a threshold — is the same layer that can make ordinary disbursements faster, cheaper, and fully accountable across the as many as 130 countries aid flows to each year. With a regulated1, internet-native dollar as the foundation, programmability becomes the default: money that arrives in minutes, reports itself onchain as it moves, and holds its value relative to local currencies.
“For the first time, I’m coming to agencies I've worked with my whole career and saying, ‘here is a solution that will make your life easier,’” Melyn said. “If we can handle the really hard corridors, imagine how easy we can make the easy ones.”
1 USDC is issued through regulated affiliates of Circle. A list of Circle’s regulatory authorizations can be found here.
Reference to any specific company, product, service, or website of any third party does not constitute an implied or express endorsement, recommendation, favoring or validation by Circle. The content presented is intended for informational purposes only. Reliance upon any content or information presented is at the sole discretion of the audience; Circle shall not be liable for any damage or loss relating to the use of or reliance upon any such content or information presented. The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of Circle.
Binance Stocks, the official stock investment feature of Binance, has officially disseminated first dividend payouts for Broadcom ($AVGO) shares. Binance Stocks has distributed the Broadcom ($AVGO) shares dividends for the qualified users in their funding wallets. As per Binance’s official X announcement, the dividend payments are being issued in the form of $USDC for the users. The selected consumers include those who held $AVGO shares from 22nd of June or before.
Binance Stocks Feature Distributes First Broadcom (AVGO) Dividend Payments to User’s Wallets
AVGO dividends are now in your Funding Wallet ✅
If you were holding shares before 22 June 2026, your dividend should now be available.
→ $0.65 USD dividend per share
→ Distributed in USDC
Thank you for being part of Binance Stocks. 🫡 pic.twitter.com/06WV6E6qq3
— Binance (@binance) July 1, 2026 What Are Stock Dividends? A stock dividend denotes a payment that a company provides to the shareholders in the form of a reward for possessing its shares. Usually, a platform pays these dividends from its reserves of profits and permits investors to get returns without the need to sell their stocks.
Binance Stocks Bridges Investment in Digital Assets and Traditional Equities Binance Stocks’ earliest $AVGO dividend distribution delivers a simplified method to the shareholders to claim stock earnings without the need for conventional brokerage procedure. Consumers meeting the eligibility criteria can leverage dividend funds from funding wallets. In this respect, the platform has credited these wallets with $USDC payments. Broadcom ($AVGO) is a key semiconductor as well as infrastructure software entity. It has attracted investors based on its leading position in top technology sectors, taking into account AI, data infrastructure, and networking.
Dividend payments made by prominent entities such as Broadcom often play the role of an extra advantage for shareholders. They deliver returns beyond likely price appreciation. Additionally, Binance Stocks permits consumers to gain seamless exposure to the chosen conventional market assets. With the integration of stock-related services and digital asset infrastructure, the company attempts to offer a widely accessible investment environment for consumers seeking exposure to crypto markets and traditional equities.
Accelerating Digital Stock Investment Growth Apart from that, for Binance Stocks consumers, the $AVGo dividend payment reflects the practical utility of the stock investment service of the platform. The distribution also indicates the way digital platforms are endeavoring to enable seamless investment operations by merging asset management, payment, and trading services in an inclusive environment. Overall, as the financial network keeps evolving, such integration between the conventional markets and blockchain platforms are anticipated to remain a crucial zone of development.
AUTHOR
Umair Younas is a cryptocurrency-related content writer linked with this work since 2019. Here, at Blockchainreporter, he serves as a news and article writer. He is a crypto, blockchain, NFTs, DeFi, and FinTech enthusiast. He has strong command over writing authentic reviews about brokers and exchanges and he has collaborated with our education team to write educational content as well. He has a dream to raise awareness among people about digital currencies. His works are well-researched and brimmed with information hence they provide fresh insights. Stay tuned to his posts if you want to stay up-to-date with the crypto-verse.
Eligible institutional clients can access USDC through a single onboarding and service experience, without needing direct Circle accounts
Dubai, United Arab Emirates — July 2, 2026 — Standard Chartered today announced the launch of its capability enabling institutional clients to access USDC minting and redemption, developed in partnership with Circle Internet Group, Inc. (Circle) (NYSE: CRCL), the issuer of USDC1 through its regulated entities.
The launch makes Standard Chartered the first Global Systemically Important Bank (G-SIB) licensed to offer institutional clients access to USDC minting and redemption through a single onboarding and service experience, without requiring clients to hold direct accounts with Circle.
The capability enables institutions to move value across traditional and digital financial ecosystems with greater speed and transparency by connecting fiat banking, digital asset infrastructure and public blockchain networks within a single, bank-led solution. It supports institutional use cases such as on-chain settlement, treasury, and liquidity management, while providing the infrastructure to support payment-related use cases in the future.
By embedding USDC access directly within Standard Chartered’s institutional offering, Standard Chartered will bring together banking, custody, and digital asset services within one integrated offering and that is delivered through the risk management, compliance and governance standards expected of a leading international financial institution.
Initially available to eligible clients through Standard Chartered’s DIFC operations, the capability reinforces the UAE’s position as a leading hub for regulated digital asset activity and represents the first phase of Standard Chartered’s broader global stablecoin proposition. The Bank intends to expand the capability into additional markets, subject to regulatory approvals and market readiness.
The announcement reflects growing demand from financial institutions and corporations for regulated stablecoin infrastructure that can support a range of financial activities, including payments, treasury management, settlement, liquidity management and participation in digital asset markets.
Roberto Hoornweg, Chief Executive Officer, Corporate and Investment Banking, Standard Chartered said: “Digital assets are becoming an increasingly important component of global financial infrastructure, and institutional clients are seeking the same levels of trust and governance that underpin traditional markets. With this launch, we are extending those standards into a rapidly evolving segment of the financial system. Ultimately, this is about enabling broader institutional participation in digital asset markets through the frameworks, controls and regulatory oversight that have long supported confidence in global financial markets.”
Kash Razzaghi, Chief Commercial Officer, Circle, said: “Financial institutions are increasingly looking for trusted ways to access stablecoins and participate in blockchain-enabled financial markets. By integrating Circle’s regulated stablecoin infrastructure into Standard Chartered’s global banking platform, we are helping institutions access new opportunities to use USDC across payments, settlement and treasury operations while maintaining the compliance, governance and risk management standards they expect.”
For further information please contact:
Khaled Abdulla, CFA®
Head of Communications
UAE, Middle East & Pakistan
Corporate and Investment Bank
Standard Chartered
M: +971 55 655 7553
T: +971 4 508 3155
About Standard Chartered
We are a leading international banking group, with a presence in 54 of the world’s most dynamic markets. Our purpose is to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, and our heritage and values are expressed in our brand promise, here for good.
Standard Chartered PLC is listed on the London and Hong Kong stock exchanges.
For more stories and expert opinions please visit Insights at sc.com. Follow Standard Chartered on X, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.
About Circle
Circle (NYSE: CRCL) is one of the world’s leading internet financial platform companies, building the foundation of a more open, global economy through programmable blockchain infrastructure, digital assets, and payment applications. Circle’s platform includes the world’s largest stablecoin network anchored by USDC, Circle Payments Network for global money movement, and Arc, an enterprise-grade blockchain designed to become the Economic OS for the internet. Enterprises, financial institutions, and developers use Circle to power trusted, internet-scale financial innovation. Learn more at circle.com.
1 USDC is issued by regulated affiliates of Circle. See Circle’s list of regulatory authorizations at circle.com/legal/licenses.
Standard Chartered has rolled out institutional USDC minting and redemption services through the Dubai International Financial Centre, giving its large-scale clients the ability to convert between dollars and stablecoins.
The move extends a relationship with Circle, the issuer of USDC, that has turned Standard Chartered into one of the most crypto-forward legacy banks on the planet. The bank already serves as a reserve bank for USDC’s cash holdings and advises on Circle’s payments network.
From custody license to full-stack stablecoin services Standard Chartered secured a custody license in the DIFC back in September 2024, initially covering just Bitcoin and Ether.
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By January 2026, the bank had expanded to offering USDC custody on permissionless chains. Institutional clients could hold and move USDC on public blockchains like Ethereum rather than being restricted to walled-garden environments.
Zodia Markets, a trading platform linked to Standard Chartered, recorded $4 billion in net USDC minting volume during 2024.
Why DIFC matters for this play Dubai’s financial free zone has become a magnet for crypto-adjacent financial services, and Standard Chartered’s choice of jurisdiction is deliberate. The DIFC operates under its own regulatory framework, separate from the broader UAE, offering a legal and compliance structure that institutional players generally find more comfortable than the patchwork of rules governing crypto in most other jurisdictions.
The stablecoin thesis gets louder Standard Chartered has publicly projected that the total stablecoin market cap could reach $2 trillion by the end of 2028.
Circle has been positioning USDC as the regulated stablecoin of choice for institutions. Having Standard Chartered as both a reserve bank and an active minting and redemption partner strengthens that positioning. It’s one thing for a crypto-native company to claim institutional readiness. It’s another thing entirely when a 170-year-old bank is vouching for you with its own infrastructure.
What this means for investors When institutional investors can mint and redeem USDC through a bank they already have a relationship with, the barriers to entering and exiting crypto positions drop substantially. That matters for hedge funds, family offices, and corporate treasuries that have been interested in digital assets but unwilling to navigate the operational complexity of crypto-native platforms.
If Standard Chartered’s services attract the kind of institutional volume that Zodia Markets’ $4 billion minting figure suggests is possible, the downstream effects on trading conditions could be meaningful.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Aave Launches First Dedicated Hub on V4Aave has gone live with the Global Dollar Hub, its first specialized liquidity market on the V4 protocol. The hub is the first new liquidity market on Aave V4 and is designed for assets correlated to the Global Dollar (USDG) stablecoin on Ethereum.
The hub initially supports PT-USDG-24SEP2026, a principal token from Pendle Finance, as its inaugural collateral asset. Users can borrow USDC, USDT, and USDG, with USDC and USDT held natively in the Global Dollar Hub while USDG is accessed via a cross-hub credit line from Aave's Core Hub.
USDG is a stablecoin issued by Paxos, fully backed and redeemable 1:1 for US dollars. It serves as the foundation for the Global Dollar Network, which includes over 130 enterprise partners such as Kraken, OKX, and Mastercard.
Hub and Spoke Architecture Gets Its First Real-World TestThe launch marks the first practical deployment of the hub and spoke model that Aave introduced when V4 went live. Aave V4 launched on Ethereum mainnet on March 30, 2026. The upgrade introduced a hub-and-spoke design that allows markets to operate independently while sharing liquidity through a unified system, a shift the team says resolves a core limitation that has constrained DeFi lending since its inception.
Previous versions of Aave required developers to choose between expanding into new markets and maintaining shared liquidity, pushing different risk profiles into the same pool or forcing liquidity to split across separate deployments. V4's hub-and-spoke model keeps capital centralized while allowing individual markets, called spokes, to operate with their own collateral rules and risk parameters.
Capital is no longer fragmented across markets on the same chain. Instead, all liquidity flows through Liquidity Hubs, which increases utilization and unlocks better rates for both suppliers and borrowers. Anyone can build a Spoke, and if it adds value, it can tap into the Liquidity Hub as a credit line, letting builders create specialized markets while accessing the biggest liquidity network effects in DeFi.
The launch of the Global Dollar Hub strengthens Aave's position in the stablecoin lending space by integrating with a regulated, enterprise-backed asset like USDG. Whether the hub gains meaningful traction will depend on user adoption and the broader growth of the Global Dollar Network.
Sources:
Aave V4 Adds Global Dollar Hub for USDG Ecosystem – The Crypto Times
Aave V4 Launches on Ethereum Mainnet – The Block
Umbra Privacy has launched a private payroll system on Solana, giving businesses a way to pay employees in $USDC without exposing transaction details on the public blockchain. The product is the latest feature to emerge from the protocol's broader push to make on-chain finance safe for corporate use.
How It Works The payroll system is built on top of Umbra's existing privacy infrastructure. Operating as the first live consumer application deployed on Arcium's Mainnet Alpha, Umbra's environment is engineered on top of Arcium's multi-party computation (MPC) encrypted execution engine and zero-knowledge cryptographic proofs, hiding the identities of the sender and recipient, alongside total transaction values, from public scrutiny by default.
The platform supports multichain funding and offers instant withdrawals to either a crypto wallet or a traditional bank account. The integration introduces native, private fiat onramping and offramping alongside a corporate payroll engine directly inside the Umbra application, enabling users to fund digital asset wallets and accept corporate compensation without exposing their physical identity or bank routing details to public blockchain trackers. This is handled through a partnership with Onramper. "It's about giving people genuine control over their financial lives," said Krutarth Shah, CEO of Umbra. "Integrating Onramper means our users can fund their wallets and receive payroll with the same level of discretion they expect from every other part of the Umbra experience."
Under the newly activated framework, Umbra users can natively purchase digital assets utilizing 24 major fiat currencies without departing the application's secure perimeter. The financial transaction layer relies on Onramper's algorithmic aggregation engine, which dynamically routes each localized payment flow to the most competitive fiat-to-crypto onramp provider worldwide.
Compliance Built In A recurring concern with privacy protocols is regulatory risk. Umbra has addressed this by embedding compliance tooling directly into the product. This structural privacy does not compromise regulatory compliance. Umbra preserves critical enterprise oversight utilities, natively retaining institutional compliance tools such as developer viewing keys and automated transaction risk screening. The payroll product also includes payroll history tracking for internal record-keeping.
Umbra includes a voluntary audit feature allowing transaction history disclosure to regulators. The Solana Foundation's framing of "confidentiality, not anonymity" is deliberate regulatory positioning. Confidentiality around hidden amounts with visible addresses is defensible for business, payroll, and institutional use.
The launch addresses a structural problem that has long made on-chain payroll impractical for businesses. Solana is one of the most transparent blockchains ever built, with every transaction, including sender, recipient, and amount, publicly readable by anyone with a block explorer and a wallet address. DAOs and businesses risk exposing operational data, payroll, or treasury activity on a public ledger. Umbra's payroll feature is designed to close that gap, giving crypto-native companies a viable path to paying staff in digital assets without broadcasting compensation details to competitors or the wider market.
Sources
The Fintech Times: Umbra Integrates Onramper for Private Fiat Ramps and Crypto Payroll
Onramper: Umbra Integration Announcement
Crypto Economy: Umbra Launches Privacy Wallet on Arcium
New York Life Investment Management is tokenizing a high-yield corporate bond strategy for the first time, partnering with Centrifuge on the NYLIM Anemoy fund settled in USDC.
New York Life Investment Management, a $807 billion asset manager, is putting a high-yield corporate bond strategy onchain for the first time. The firm partnered with tokenization platform Centrifuge to launch the NYLIM Anemoy U.S. High Yield Corporate Bond Segregated Portfolio, ticker HYB.
The partnership, announced Tuesday, marks NYLIM's first tokenized product and one of the first high-yield corporate bond strategies available onchain. Subscriptions and redemptions settle in Circle's USDC, and the underlying portfolio, investment process and risk management stay under NYLIM's control. Centrifuge, whose protocol carries $1.64 billion in TVL per DefiLlama, provides the tokenization rails.
Junk Bonds Go Onchain"Tokenization represents a compelling evolution in how investment solutions can be accessed, managed and distributed across both public and private markets," said Thomas Sy, head of multi-asset solutions at NYLIM, in the companies' joint release.
HYB is structured as a BVI segregated portfolio, the same wrapper Centrifuge uses across its fund lineup, giving tokenholders direct shareholder recourse to the underlying assets. The offering documents state the product is not being offered or sold to U.S. persons. Centrifuge CEO Bhaji Illuminati told The Block the fund is aimed at stablecoin issuers, DeFi users and DAO treasuries seeking yield beyond Treasury-backed products, with a liquidity arrangement through Grove, part of the Sky ecosystem, meant to support near-instant redemptions.
High-yield corporate bonds, commonly called junk bonds, carry higher credit risk in exchange for higher yields than investment-grade debt. Tokenized real-world assets to date have leaned on Treasuries and private credit; HYB extends that onto sub-investment-grade corporate debt.
Wall Street's Widening ListNYLIM joins Apollo Global Management and Janus Henderson on Centrifuge's roster of traditional asset managers, whose Anemoy-branded funds already span Treasury bills and a AAA-rated CLO portfolio exceeding $700 million in assets. Coinbase separately named Centrifuge its preferred tokenization infrastructure partner and took a stake in the firm.
The deal follows asset managers extending tokenized fixed income beyond government debt, including Baillie Gifford's UK-regulated tokenized bond fund built on Solana and Ethereum with BNY. Centrifuge co-founder Anil Sood said the NYLIM deal "is about moving funds onto infrastructure that is more transparent, more efficient, and more composable."
New York Life Investment Management (NYLIM) has partnered with Centrifuge to launch its first tokenized product, the NYLIM Anemoy U.S. High Yield Corporate Bond Segregated Portfolio. This move marks a significant step towards integrating blockchain technology into traditional finance, allowing institutional access to tokenized fixed-income assets. The new fund, which is settled in USDC, is not available to U.S. investors due to regulatory limitations. The announcement has triggered market discussions, with implications for the perceived value of tokenized asset-related entities.
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Key Takeaways The partnership between New York Life and Centrifuge appears to suggest increased institutional interest in tokenized assets. Market pricing indicates a moderate increase in STRC’s perceived value following the announcement. The launch of the tokenized bond fund is consistent with scenarios where institutional access to blockchain-based financial products expands. What to Watch Observers may find it valuable to monitor further institutional moves towards tokenization, as these could influence market dynamics. Regulatory developments in the U.S. concerning tokenized assets remain a potential catalyst for changes in market sentiment. Key actors such as Michael Saylor and Phong Le may play roles in shaping future discussions around blockchain integration in traditional finance.
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Contract Odds Δ since publish Volume 24h December 31 46% — — View market → September 30 34.5% — — View market →
Circle Internet Group (NYSE:CRCL) on Tuesday crashed 17% after a 140-company coalition launched Open USD, a rival stablecoin designed to split reserve yield with distribution partners instead of keeping it.
Why OUSD Is A Direct Threat To Circle’s Business ModelCircle makes roughly 99% of its revenue from interest earned on USDC (CRYPTO: USDC) reserves.
Coinbase is one of USDC’s biggest distributors and now backs a direct rival that pays them a cut of the revenue Circle currently keeps, giving those partners a financial incentive to push OUSD over USDC going forward.
Circle’s CEO Fired Back, Pointing To USDC’s Dominant Network EffectsCircle CEO Jeremy Allaire responded on X, arguing USDC already controls 80% of all dollar stablecoin transactions on blockchains in Q1 2026, processing nearly $30 trillion, while all other stablecoins combined handled less than 0.5%.
Allaire called the consortium model structurally flawed, saying large groups of companies coordinate poorly and starve the infrastructure they’re supposed to support.
He also argued that giving away all reserve income leaves no capital to reinvest in the network, adding that the Coinbase partnership “remains as strong as ever.”
ARK Invest Bought The Dip, Adding $12.9 Million In Circle Shares MondayARK Invest purchased 169,777 shares of Circle worth roughly $12.9 million Monday, the day before the crash, as part of a broader $43.5 million crypto equity buying spree across ARKK, ARKW, and ARKF.
Bernstein Sees 203% Upside Despite The OUSD ThreatBernstein reaffirmed its outperform rating on Circle Wednesday with a $190 price target, implying 203% upside, arguing OUSD validates stablecoins as a category rather than threatening Circle’s position.
They also pushed back on the Coinbase concern, noting the exchange earns roughly 50% of USDC’s reserve income under its distribution deal with Circle, making a full pivot to OUSD financially self-defeating.
William Blair separately called OUSD “a solution searching for a problem.”
CRCL’s Chart Shows A Pattern Fully Invalidated In One SessionCircle’s 17% drop erased its entire recovery from early 2026, sending the stock back into the $50 to $65 demand zone that launched early 2026 rally.
Tuesday’s 2% bounce comes off deeply oversold levels with the Supertrend at $82.99 and the full bearish EMA stack overhead confirming the structural damage.
Holding the $50 to $65 zone and reclaiming the 20 EMA at $79.21 targets $82.99 then $89.70. Losing $61 opens a path toward $50 with no support in between.
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Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire has defended USDC’s competitive position following the launch of the Open USD consortium. He argues that stablecoin success depends on long-term network effects rather than fee structures or shared governance models.
In a lengthy post on X, Allaire welcomed Open USD into the stablecoin ecosystem but said Circle’s nearly decade-long investment in liquidity, regulatory approvals, and developer infrastructure has created advantages that would be difficult for new entrants to replicate.
Allaire says stablecoins compete on network effects Responding to questions from investors about Open USD, Allaire said stablecoin networks function more like internet platforms than traditional financial products, with their value increasing as more developers, businesses, and financial institutions integrate them.
He argued that USDC’s ecosystem has grown through thousands of integrations, expanding liquidity and interoperability while reinforcing demand for the stablecoin.
Allaire added that Circle has strengthened those network effects through infrastructure such as Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol [CCTP], Gateway, and other interoperability tools. Also, years of investment in global banking relationships, regulatory licensing, and reserve management.
Citing data from blockchain analytics firm Artemis, he said USDC processed nearly $30 trillion in on-chain transactions during the first quarter of 2026. This accounted for roughly 80% of all dollar-denominated stablecoin transaction volume, while USDT accounted for the remaining 20%.
According to Allaire, all other dollar stablecoins combined accounted for less than 0.5% of transaction activity.
Circle CEO challenges consortium model Much of Allaire’s post addressed Open USD’s core value propositions, including fee-free minting and redemption, shared reserve economics, and consortium governance.
He argued that redemption policies are shaped by broader market realities rather than headline fee structures. He said Circle already shares the majority of its income with distribution partners while retaining sufficient revenue to continue investing in infrastructure.
Allaire was particularly skeptical of large consortium-led governance models. He argues that organizations composed of numerous large companies often struggle to innovate due to competing incentives and slower decision-making.
“We actually tried this in the early days of USDC,” he wrote, adding that Circle found smaller strategic partnerships more effective than broad industry consortia.
The Circle CEO also addressed speculation surrounding Coinbase’s participation in the Open USD initiative. He says the companies’ partnership around USDC “remains as strong as ever”.
He also expresses confidence that many Open USD founding members would continue using USDC alongside the new network.
Despite his criticism of the consortium model, Allaire concluded by welcoming Open USD to the broader stablecoin ecosystem. He reiterated Circle’s commitment to supporting multiple issuers through its expanding infrastructure products.
Final Summary Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said USDC’s decade-long investment in liquidity, regulation, and developer infrastructure gives it network advantages. In response to Open USD’s launch, Allaire challenged consortium governance and shared-economy models while welcoming the new stablecoin initiative.
Circle Internet Group shares dropped sharply by 17.55% over the past 24 hours, falling to $62 apiece. The USDC issuer now faces a 30-day loss of 40.34%, marking a significant downturn for the company. This decline has come even as Circle continues to make regulatory advances in the European Union, underscoring rising pressure on the firm’s stock.
Index changes heighten selling pressureAs part of the annual Russell index rebalancing that took place on June 26, 2026, Circle was removed from five major growth indexes, including the Russell 1000 Growth, Russell 3000 Growth, and Russell Midcap Growth. This was a routine adjustment, where the index provider updates the portfolio composition based on pre-established rules.
The market impact of this decision is considerable because many funds track these indexes. Index funds and ETFs tend to mirror the compositions and weightings of their target indexes. When a company is delisted from an index, these funds must adjust their holdings in line with the new structure, often prompting immediate selling. As a result, a company’s shares can experience additional supply pressures, independent of its core operations or performance.
Independent analyst Shanaka Anslem Perera attributes Circle’s recent losses not only to new competition but also to the prominent names driving the rival initiative.
This reshuffle may lead to a shrinking base of passive investors. As fewer index-linked funds retain Circle’s shares, the pool of long-term institutional holders is likely to narrow. A decrease in institutional ownership can in turn widen trading spreads and heighten price volatility.
Competitive pressures intensify in core marketsTechnical selling because of index changes has coincided with intensifying competition. The launch of a new stablecoin, Open USD, developed under the Open Standard initiative, has directly targeted Circle’s main area of business. The entry of Open USD signals a tougher competitive environment within the stablecoin space.
Notably, some of Circle’s closest business partners are backing this new project. BlackRock, Coinbase, and custodian bank BNY Mellon have all joined the initiative. BlackRock oversees around 80% of USDC reserves through the Circle Reserve Fund, while Coinbase, a founding partner of USDC, earns roughly $908 million per year from distribution revenue.
Mini glossary: A custodian bank is a financial institution authorized to securely hold and manage assets. In the context of stablecoin reserves, these institutions play a critical role by safeguarding cash and short-term government securities.
The heart of the debate centers on Circle’s revenue model. The company primarily earns income from interest on its $74 billion in cash and short-term U.S. Treasury reserves. In contrast, Open USD’s structure will share a larger portion of interest revenue with distribution partners, rather than retaining most of it with the issuer.
Focus shifts to upcoming Coinbase negotiationsThis new economic arrangement could alter incentives for distribution partners. While Circle’s current model entails revenue sharing or fees, the Open USD structure allows partners to access returns more directly. This shift has the potential to strain Circle’s existing partnership network.
Open USD is set to launch on the Base blockchain, which is owned by Coinbase. With Circle and Coinbase due to renegotiate their agreement in August, Circle now faces the prospect of sitting at the table with a partner that’s backing a direct competitor in the stablecoin market.
Valuation signals are also mixed. CRCL is trading nearly 47% below the consensus target price set by analysts, but review platform Simply Wall St still deems the shares overvalued. Moreover, recent insider selling over the past three months is watched cautiously by investors as a risk indicator.
Despite these challenges, USDC remains liquid, compliant, and in demand as a stablecoin. Circle’s management argues the market is large enough to accommodate several major players. With Open USD expected to debut later this year, investors are closely monitoring both the intensifying competition and the evolution of Circle’s partnership relations.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire defended USDC’s competitive position Wednesday after the launch of Open USD sent shares of the stablecoin issuer down 17.5% in the previous session.
We’ve had lots of questions from our investor community looking for thoughts on OUSD, and so I thought I’d share my direct views here for anyone.
Stablecoin networks are platform and network effect businesses that are established over a long period of time, tend towards…
— Jeremy Allaire – jerallaire.arc (@jerallaire) July 1, 2026
Circle closed Tuesday at $62.63 after Open Standard unveiled OUSD, a dollar stablecoin backed by more than 140 companies including Visa, Stripe, Mastercard, BlackRock and Coinbase. Shares recovered about 4% Wednesday morning, trading near $65 at press time.
Open USD is expected to go live later this year. Businesses will be able to mint and redeem the token at no cost and without volume limits. Participating companies will receive the earnings generated by OUSD reserves after a management fee, while governance will sit with an independent company overseen by its partners.
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In response to questions from Circle investors, Allaire argued that stablecoin markets are shaped by liquidity, integrations and network effects developed over long periods rather than by the number of companies supporting a product at launch.
He pointed to USDC’s presence across exchanges, banks, payment companies and decentralized finance platforms, as well as Circle products such as CCTP and Gateway, as infrastructure built over nearly a decade.
Allaire also questioned whether OUSD’s free minting and redemption model could be maintained under real market conditions. He said Circle already uses commercial agreements to reduce costs for large partners without introducing a blanket fee exemption across the network.
The executive was similarly critical of OUSD’s plan to return nearly all reserve earnings to participating businesses. Circle shares most of its income with distribution partners, Allaire said, but retains enough revenue to invest in compliance, liquidity and infrastructure.
Circle generated $653 million in reserve income during the first quarter, while distribution, transaction and other costs reached $407 million. OUSD directly challenges that model by shifting a larger portion of reserve economics toward the companies distributing and using the token.
Allaire also expressed doubts about OUSD’s consortium structure, arguing that large groups of companies often face conflicting incentives, slow decision making and limited product flexibility. Circle initially operated USDC through a consortium but encountered persistent complexity, he said.
The comments addressed Coinbase’s participation in Open Standard. Coinbase remains one of Circle’s most important USDC partners, despite also joining the group backing OUSD. Allaire said the relationship remains strong and that many OUSD participants are expected to continue using Circle’s products and infrastructure.
Allaire cited Artemis data showing that USDC processed nearly $30 trillion in transactions during the first quarter and represented about 80% of dollar stablecoin activity. Circle’s quarterly results separately reported $21.5 trillion in USDC onchain volume and a 63% share based on Visa Onchain Analytics.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)Summary
Circle shares were higher on Wednesday after Tuesday's plunge, but Jefferies warned that rising competition from bank- and fintech-issued stablecoins, including the new Open USD consortium, could pressure USDC’s growth and market share.The Open USD network, backed by more than 140 firms such as Stripe, Coinbase, Visa, Mastercard and BlackRock, aims to share reserve income with participants, potentially making it an attractive alternative for payment providers.Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire and ARK Invest’s Lorenzo Valente questioned whether a large consortium can coordinate effectively and withstand regulatory pressure, arguing that USDC’s existing network effects and regulatory footprint give it an edge over new rivals.Circle (CRCL) shares bounced 5% Wednesday after a 17% plunge, as investors are weighing whether the new Open USD stablecoin consortium backed by Stripe, Mastercard, Coinbase and BlackRock poses a lasting threat to the USDC issuer.
Global brokerage Jefferies isn't convinced the selloff has fully priced in the risks, arguing that Circle faces mounting competitive pressure as banks, payment firms and fintechs increasingly launch their own stablecoins.
"Buy the dip? We wouldn't," the firm's analyst team wrote in a note to clients.
"CRCL headwinds are unlikely to ease," analysts wrote, warning that competition could pressure USDC's supply growth and market share.
The authors argued that Circle, which holds roughly 25% of the $300 billion stablecoin market, is moving into a more competitive phase. While USDC benefited from an early lead after launching in 2018, Jefferies said new entrants now have something Circle lacked in its early years: large built-in distribution networks.
The launch of Open USD, backed by more than 140 companies including Stripe, Coinbase, Visa, Mastercard and BlackRock, points that shift. The consortium plans to share reserve income with participating companies, potentially making the platform more attractive to payment providers and fintechs.
Jefferies analysts also flagged Coinbase's participation as a new risk. Circle derives about 95% of its revenue from interest earned on USDC reserves and relies heavily on Coinbase as its largest distribution partner. The companies' commercial agreement is reportedly up for renewal in August.
While the brokerage doesn't view Coinbase joining Open USD as a sign it's abandoning USDC, it said the exchange could eventually promote competing stablecoins, weighing on USDC's growth.
Network effects vs. new challengersCircle CEO Jeremy Allaire pushed back against the competitive narrative in a lengthy post on X Wednesday, arguing that stablecoins are ultimately network businesses built over years rather than products that can be replicated overnight.
He pointed to USDC's ecosystem of thousands of integrations, deep liquidity across exchanges and decentralized finance protocols and regulatory approvals in markets including Europe and Japan as advantages that would be difficult for newcomers to match.
He also disputed one of Open USD's central selling points: sharing reserve income with partners. Circle already shares the majority of its income with distribution partners, he said, while retaining enough revenue to keep investing in infrastructure.
"Giving away all the income is a recipe for starving an infrastructure," Allaire wrote.
He was also skeptical of the consortium model itself.
"Large groups of large companies coordinate poorly, have misaligned incentives, slow things down and rarely create the space for real durable innovation," he wrote.
Test for the consortium modelThat skepticism is shared by Lorenzo Valente, director of digital asset research at ARK Invest, who noted that crypto has seen several consortium-backed stablecoin initiatives over the years, including Meta's Diem project and Paxos-led Global Dollar Network.
"Every year we get our consortium-style initiative around a stablecoin," Valente wrote in an X post. "While the set of players here is obviously potent, I remain highly skeptical any of these initiatives can hit scale."
He said Open Standard's biggest challenge may be coordinating more than 140 participants with competing interests.
"A consortium of hundreds of rivals has no precedent for working," he said. "The pace of decision-making across competitors is going to be glacial."
Valente likened the model to decentralized autonomous organizations, or DAOs, whose governance structures often struggled to make timely decisions.
"'Owned by everyone' almost always means accountable to no one," he said. "I'd bet on the two operators who can ship unilaterally over a committee that has to ask hundreds of rivals for permission."
He also questioned whether large banks, payment networks and technology companies would remain committed if the project encounters regulatory pressure. Circle and Tether, he noted, have spent years building global regulatory infrastructure and licensing, while a consortium could find it harder to stay aligned if conditions become more challenging.
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Building the Zcash Machine: Tachyon and Quantum Readiness
Building the Zcash Machine: Tachyon and Quantum Readiness
Zcash’s Tachyon upgrade aims to scale shielded payments, improve quantum readiness, and test whether its funding, security, and governance can hold.
Jun 30, 2026
Zcash’s Tachyon upgrade aims to scale shielded payments, improve quantum readiness, and test whether its funding, security, and governance can hold.
Why it matters:
Zcash’s Tachyon upgrade aims to scale shielded payments, improve quantum readiness, and test whether its funding, security, and governance can hold.
Jeremy Allaire argued that stablecoin networks are winner-take-most businesses built over years, two days after the launch of the 140-plus-firm Open USD consortium sent Circle's stock down more than 17% in a single session.
Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire published a lengthy rebuttal on X on July 1 to the pitch behind OUSD, the stablecoin launched by the Open Standard consortium, arguing that USDC's advantages in distribution, liquidity and regulatory licensing are not easily replicated.
"We've had lots of questions from our investor community looking for thoughts on OUSD, and so I thought I'd share my direct views here," he wrote, describing stablecoin networks as "platform and network effect businesses that are established over a long period of time" and built on three layers: developer and application integrations, liquidity depth, and regulatory licensing accumulated over years, including USDC's approvals in the European Union and Japan.
Open Standard, the independent company formed to govern Open USD, unveiled the token on June 30. According to Open Standard's announcement, OUSD rests on three design principles: partner businesses can mint and redeem the token without fees or volume caps; partners receive nearly all reserve earnings after a management fee; and the token is governed collectively by a board of partner companies rather than a single issuer.
Reserves are described as maintained at financial institutions in compliance with U.S. regulatory requirements, though specific custodians and attestation practices had not been disclosed as of launch, as The Defiant reported.
Zach Abrams, Open Standard's founding CEO and a co-founder of Bridge, the stablecoin infrastructure company Stripe acquired for $1.1 billion in 2025, said in the announcement: "Existing stablecoins have great strengths, but to use them at scale, businesses need something that's open, low-cost, high-throughput, broadly accessible, and aligned to their interests."
Stripe president of technology and business Will Gaybrick said Open USD will be the default stablecoin for businesses running on Stripe.
The partner list spans more than 140 companies, including payment networks Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover; financial institutions BlackRock, BNY and Standard Chartered; technology firms Google and Shopify; and crypto platforms Coinbase, Ripple and Solana, according to Open Standard's site. Circle, Tether and PayPal are not among the backers.
Allaire's Point-by-Point RebuttalAllaire addressed three specific arguments made for OUSD. On fee-free minting and redemption, he said Circle already addresses large-partner economics through contractual arrangements rather than a blanket policy, and questioned whether removing fees entirely is sustainable market-wide.
On revenue sharing, he argued that distributing nearly all reserve income to partners risks starving the infrastructure needed to run a global stablecoin network — "giving away all income is a recipe for starving your infrastructure, systematically underinvesting and ensuring that your platform will remain limited in scope" — noting Circle already shares the majority of its income with distribution partners.
On consortium governance, Allaire pointed to Circle's own history — it co-founded the Centre Consortium with Coinbase before consolidating USDC issuance under Circle alone — and said the track record of similar multi-company products reaching scale "is absolutely dismal," citing coordination problems and slow decision-making among large corporate partners.
On usage, Allaire cited data he attributed to Artemis showing USDC processed roughly $30 trillion in onchain transactions in the first quarter of 2026, about 80% of dollar-stablecoin transaction volume, with USDT accounting for most of the rest and all other stablecoins combined under 0.5%.
On Coinbase specifically — notable because Coinbase is both a USDC revenue-sharing partner and an OUSD backer — Allaire wrote that Circle's "stablecoin partnership with Coinbase remains as strong as ever."
The Coinbase Economics at StakeCircle's own SEC filing spells out why the Coinbase relationship draws scrutiny: Coinbase earns 100% of interest income on USDC held within its own products, and 50% of the residual reserve income on USDC held elsewhere — a split that moves with how much USDC sits on Coinbase's platform, which Circle's filing put at 20% of total supply in 2024. That mechanism traces back to the actual Circle-Coinbase Collaboration Agreement, filed as an exhibit to Coinbase's 10-K, which defines Coinbase's cut through an "Issuer Retention" and "Residual Payment Base" formula and sets an initial three-year term running from the agreement's August 18, 2023 effective date — putting it up for renewal around August 18, 2026, with automatic three-year renewals contingent on Coinbase meeting the product and reseller thresholds in Section 3.2.
Bernstein analysts wrote in a research note that the arrangement accounts for close to 20% of Coinbase's total revenue, flagging Coinbase's participation in the 140-company OUSD consortium as something that "has raised eyebrows" given how much the exchange earns from USDC.
Market ReactionCircle's stock fell more than 17% on June 30 to close at $62.63, its weakest level in four months and down 55% from mid-May. CRCL had priced its IPO at $31 per share in June 2025 and reached an intraday all-time high of $298.99 (closing high of $263.45) on June 23, 2025, before its prolonged decline. As of DefiLlama, USDC's market capitalization stood at $73.9 billion against USDT's $184.9 billion, with total stablecoin market capitalization at $313.2 billion.
Circle reported first-quarter 2026 revenue and reserve income of $694 million, up 20% year-over-year, with reserve income of $653 million making up 94% of total revenue, according to Circle's Q1 2026 results.
Wall Street's initial read was skeptical of the selloff's magnitude. Bernstein reaffirmed an "Outperform" rating and $190 price target, citing Visa onchain data showing USDC processed $5.3 trillion in the first half of 2026 alone. William Blair kept its own Outperform rating, calling OUSD "a solution searching for a problem" and telling clients the selloff was a buying opportunity
Analysts pointed to Paxos's Global Dollar Network (USDG) — a similar consortium-backed, revenue-sharing stablecoin launched in 2024 — which has grown to only about $3 billion in supply, as a precedent for how new entrants have struggled against USDC and USDT.
Allaire closed his thread by saying Circle continues to work with OUSD's founding members as USDC customers and partners, and that Circle welcomes continued competition in the stablecoin market.
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire (@jerallaire) moved quickly to address investor concerns after shares of Circle Internet Group ($CRCL) fell more than 16% following the announcement of Open USD (OUSD), a new rival stablecoin launched by a consortium called Open Standard.
A formidable line-up, but Allaire is not convinced Open Standard announced OUSD on June 30, 2026, backed by more than 140 companies spanning payments, banking, tech, and crypto, with founding supporters including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Coinbase, BlackRock, and Google. The token is governed collectively by a partner board rather than a single issuer, and its pitch to businesses rests on three pillars: free minting and redemption with no volume caps, reserve yield shared across the partner network, and consortium governance.
Responding to what he described as numerous investor questions, Allaire addressed each of those selling points directly and dismissed them in turn. He argued that returning nearly all reserve income to partners risks "starving an infrastructure," and questioned whether unlimited free minting could remain sustainable at scale. His sharpest critique was reserved for the governance model. Allaire called the track record of consortium products "absolutely dismal" at achieving scale or product-market fit, noting that large groups of large companies tend to coordinate poorly and move slowly. He also disclosed that Circle itself tried a consortium model in $USDC's early days and "ran into endless challenges and complexity" even with a small group.
Underpinning his rebuttal is a broader argument: that stablecoins are not commodity products but platform businesses that tend toward winner-take-most outcomes, built on compounding layers of integrations, liquidity, regulatory approvals, and financial infrastructure that take years to replicate.
USDC's numbers remain hard to argue with Allaire pointed to transaction volume as the clearest measure of USDC's moat. According to Artemis Analytics data cited by Circle, $USDC handled nearly $30 trillion in onchain transactions in Q1 2026, accounting for roughly 80% of all dollar stablecoin volume. $USDT took the remainder. Every other stablecoin combined barely registered.
Analysts were divided on the threat. Bernstein reaffirmed its Outperform rating on Circle with a $190 price target, while also acknowledging OUSD could become the "strongest and first new entrant to challenge the duopoly of Circle and Tether," though it flagged that governance, operational architecture, and the revenue-sharing formula remain unresolved. William Blair separately called OUSD "a solution searching for a problem," arguing Circle already offers comparable incentives to partners. ARK Invest research director Lorenzo Valente pointed to a cold-start liquidity problem, a lack of established trading pairs, and governance friction as structural hurdles for the new consortium.
Coinbase's position remains the most closely watched variable. The exchange is Circle's largest $USDC distribution partner and a founding OUSD backer. Notably, Jefferies flagged that Circle derives roughly 95% of its revenue from interest on USDC reserves and that its commercial agreement with Coinbase is reportedly up for renewal in August. Allaire moved to defuse that tension directly, saying the stablecoin partnership with Coinbase "remains as strong as ever." He closed on a deliberately measured note, welcoming OUSD as a new member of the stablecoin community and pointing to Circle's expanding infrastructure stack, including CCTP and its Circle Payments Network, as evidence the company is building for a multi-stablecoin world rather than against one.
OUSD is expected to go live later in 2026 on Solana, Stellar, Base, and Polygon. The core question is whether 140 companies with aligned financial incentives can outmaneuver a decade of entrenched network effects. Allaire is betting they cannot.
Sources:
The Defiant: Circle CEO Rebuts OUSD Pitch, Defends USDC's Network Effects After Stock Slide
CoinDesk: Jefferies Warns Against Buying the Dip in Circle as Open USD Raises Competition Fears
Fortune: Stripe, Visa and over 140 other businesses to launch stablecoin to rival Tether and Circle
Bitcoin Rallied To $82,000 In April Then Reversed HardCrypto entered Q2 with momentum, with Bitcoin and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) both climbing roughly 20% from early April as geopolitical anxiety briefly eased and institutional demand improved.
That recovery didn’t hold. Three forces hit at once: oil prices spiked with Brent crude hitting $126.41, the Fed turned more hawkish, and capital started rotating into AI stocks where earnings momentum stayed intact.
The divergence became clear toward the end of May.
Bitcoin now sits near $60,000, roughly 52% below its all-time high of $126,000 set in late 2025.
All Three Major Demand Channels Weakened At The Same TimeCoin Metrics identified three pillars that normally support Bitcoin’s price, which all cracked in Q2.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs started strong with a single-day inflow peak of $474 million on April 20, then flipped.
Outflows dominated the rest of the quarter with 53 outflow days against just 30 inflow days. June alone accounted for $3.84 billion of the quarter’s total $4.08 billion in net outflows.
MSTR buying pace slowed materially as STRC fell to a record low near $74 and its mNAV compressed toward 1.0, weakening the funding mechanism behind its accumulation.
The stablecoin market contracted by $4.2 billion across Q2, removing a layer of dry powder that supports on-chain activity.
The Market Enters Q3 Deleveraged But ThinnerCombined Bitcoin and Ethereum long liquidations totaled $8.35 billion across Q2, with more than half occurring between May 25 and June 7 as overleveraged longs were flushed out.
Bitcoin open interest fell 32% from its peak to $33.5 billion, while Ethereum open interest dropped 40% to $16.2 billion.
Bitcoin’s orderbook depth declined from nearly $70 million in early May to roughly $35 to $40 million by late June, leaving the market thinner and more sensitive to selling pressure heading into Q3.
Image: Shutterstock
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Crypto exchange balances saw a notable withdrawal wave heading into July 1, with USDC and Bitcoin leading approximately $850 million in net outflows from centralized platforms. The move adds another layer to a market already watching liquidity, ETF flows, and investor positioning closely.
TL;DR Centralized exchanges reportedly saw around $850 million in net withdrawals over 24 hours. USDC led stablecoin outflows with about $503 million leaving exchanges. Bitcoin recorded around $352.7 million in net withdrawals over the same period. Exchange outflows are wallet movements, not direct evidence of spot buying or selling. Exchange flows are useful because they show where traders are moving assets, but they need careful interpretation. A withdrawal does not tell us exactly what the owner plans to do next. It may reflect self-custody, institutional settlement, collateral movement, treasury management, or DeFi deployment.
USDC leads the stablecoin move The largest reported component of the outflow was USDC, with roughly $503 million leaving centralized exchanges. Stablecoin withdrawals can mean several things. Sometimes traders are moving dollars on-chain to use in DeFi. Sometimes market makers are shifting liquidity between venues. Sometimes funds are simply being pulled into custody after a trading period ends.
Because USDC is widely used as a settlement asset, its movement can offer clues about where liquidity may appear next. If stablecoins leave exchanges and move into wallets or protocols, that may support on-chain activity. If they move into custody and stay idle, the signal is more defensive.
Bitcoin withdrawals add a second signal Bitcoin also saw significant reported withdrawals, with around $352.7 million in net outflows during the same 24-hour window. BTC leaving exchanges is often interpreted as a sign of holding conviction because coins moved into self-custody are usually less immediately available for sale.
That reading is useful, but it should not be pushed too far. Large holders can move coins between wallets for operational reasons. Institutions can rebalance custody arrangements. Traders can withdraw funds without making a long-term investment statement. The signal is strongest when exchange outflows persist across several days and align with improving price action.
A market looking for cleaner signals The latest outflow wave comes as Bitcoin and the wider crypto market are searching for direction after a difficult June. Spot ETF flows have weakened, US demand indicators remain mixed, and traders are watching liquidity closely. In that environment, exchange reserve data can help show whether investors are preparing to sell or moving assets away from trading venues.
For now, the takeaway is balanced. USDC and Bitcoin withdrawals suggest capital is moving off centralized exchanges, which can be constructive if it reflects custody confidence or on-chain deployment. But the data does not prove immediate buying pressure. It is one piece of the market puzzle, and it becomes more meaningful if the trend continues through the next several sessions.
For readers, the cleanest takeaway is to separate the raw data from the market interpretation. The figures are useful because they show how capital is moving, but they should still be read alongside price action, liquidity conditions, and the wider risk environment.
This report is based on information from CryptoQuant.
This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.
2 July 2026 | 00:45 The launch of Open USD, the 140-plus company stablecoin consortium backed by Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Coinbase, and BlackRock, drew a direct response from the person with a lot to lose.
Key Takeaways Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire publicly argued Open USD won’t dethrone USDC. He cites Artemis data putting USDC at 80% of on-chain dollar stablecoin volume. His sharpest point: consortium products have a “dismal” track record at scale. It’s the incumbent’s rebuttal, not neutral proof, and he has a clear stake. Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire, whose company issues USDC, laid out a methodical argument via post on X for why he isn’t worried, which is itself a signal that the launch registered as a genuine competitive event worth answering.
The Market Is Already Asking the Question The timing tracks with the data. Per Santiment’s trending dashboard, the Open USD launch was one of crypto’s top trending stories, sitting alongside whale activity and MiCA licensing, with social volume spiking sharply and sentiment leaning mixed-to-bearish. The dashboard framed the open question plainly: whether another major stablecoin can truly compete with USDC and USDT. Allaire’s post is the incumbent’s direct answer to exactly that question, and the accurate read is that the market hasn’t resolved it, it has simply heard the market leader’s strongest case for why the answer is no.
His Core Argument: Stablecoins Are Winner-Take-Most Allaire’s foundational claim is that stablecoin networks behave like internet platform utilities, tending toward winner-take-most market structures built over long periods. The strength, in his framing, isn’t the token but the number and range of applications integrated to it. Every developer integration compounds network effects, which drives currency demand, which reinforces liquidity, a loop he argues a new entrant can’t simply buy its way into with a big logo list. As he put it, stablecoin networks “tend towards winner-take-most market structures.”
The Market-Share Numbers His hardest weapon is usage data. Citing third-party info from Artemis , Allaire states that in Q1 2026, USDC handled nearly $30 trillion in on-chain transactions, which he frames as “80% of all dollar stablecoin transactions on blockchains,” with USDT handling the remaining 20% and all other dollar stablecoins combined accounting for effectively zero, under half a percent. On the other hand Circle’s report declares USDC onchain transaction volume in Q1’26 of $21.5 trillion grew 263%. His point is that other stablecoins may have circulation, but real usage is minimal because they lack liquidity and network utility. These are his cited figures via Artemis, not independently verified here, and they are the incumbent’s strongest data point precisely because they measure usage rather than announcements.
The Liquidity Moat Allaire extends that into a liquidity argument. He contends USDC is a top-three most liquid digital asset alongside Bitcoin and USDT, with liquidity falling off sharply after those three. The closest competing dollar stablecoins, in his telling, are roughly 10 times smaller, with liquidity concentrated in promotional order books on single exchanges rather than dispersed across dozens of venues the way USDC’s is. It’s a direct counter to Open USD’s implicit pitch that a coalition of large companies can manufacture liquidity: his claim is that liquidity is earned over a decade, not assembled by consortium.
We’ve had lots of questions from our investor community looking for thoughts on OUSD, and so I thought I’d share my direct views here for anyone.
Stablecoin networks are platform and network effect businesses that are established over a long period of time, tend towards…
— Jeremy Allaire – jerallaire.arc (@jerallaire) July 1, 2026
The Consortium Critique This is his sharpest and most pointed argument, and it targets Open USD’s core differentiator directly. Allaire’s claim is that the track record of consortium products achieving scale, product-market fit, or basic agility is, in his words, “absolutely dismal.” Large groups of large companies, he argues, coordinate poorly, carry misaligned incentives, move slowly, and starve the venture out of self-interest. He notes Circle tried a consortium model in USDC’s early days, even with a small group, and hit endless complexity.
From there he makes a prediction: smaller, tighter commercial partnerships with a market leader will outcompete large consortiums, and the same firms lending their logos to Open USD will, in practice, direct their operating units to partner with USDC because that serves their customers best. It’s worth being precise that this is a forecast of how Open USD will struggle, not evidence that it has, but as a structural argument it’s his most persuasive, because it reframes Open USD’s main selling point, broad shared governance, as its main weakness.
His Rebuttals to Open USD’s Selling Points Allaire also pre-empts Open USD’s three headline pitches:
On “free mint and burn”: he argues the payments industry runs on small basis-point fees, and that a stablecoin with strong redemption facilities and no fees simply becomes the off-ramp for its competitors. Circle, he says, handles this through contractual mechanisms instead of blanket fee exemption. On “everybody shares the reserve income”: he counters that giving away all reserve income starves infrastructure investment, and that Circle already shares the majority of its income with distribution partners while retaining enough to keep investing. On shared governance: the consortium critique above. The Diplomatic Close Notably, Allaire doesn’t dismiss Open USD outright. He says Circle’s partnership with Coinbase “remains as strong as ever,” that Circle works closely with many Open USD founding members he expects will stay large USDC partners, and he welcomes Open USD “as a new member of the community.” Welcoming a competitor rather than attacking it is a posture only the market leader can afford, and it’s part of the message: confidence, not alarm.
The Honest Read Allaire’s argument is strong precisely because it leans on the two things Open USD can’t replicate overnight: cited market-share dominance, 80% of on-chain dollar volume by his Artemis figures, and a decade of accumulated liquidity and regulatory licensing, including USDC’s availability across all of Europe and Japan. The consortium critique is his most compelling point because it’s structural rather than defensive.
But it should be read as the incumbent’s perspective, not settled fact. Allaire has an obvious interest in dismissing a competitor backed by Visa, Mastercard, and BlackRock. The Artemis figures are his citation, and the consortium critique, however well-argued, is a prediction about how Open USD fails, not proof that it will. The Santiment data captures the real market uncertainty his confidence is designed to counter. The honest conclusion is that the question, can a new consortium stablecoin challenge USDC, remains open. What Allaire has provided is the clearest version of the market leader’s case for why it can’t.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Consult a professional before making investment decisions.
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.
Tradeweb has announced the successful completion of a transaction involving a tokenized US Treasury bond on blockchain infrastructure. In this transaction, asset manager Franklin Templeton transferred a tokenized Treasury security to Virtu Financial. The counterpart asset was tokenized cash, with settlement taking place on the Canton Network.
Instant settlement achieved on blockchainTradeweb facilitated the formation of the transaction price and execution of orders, while the Canton Network coordinated simultaneous settlement for both the bond and tokenized cash components. According to the participants, the transaction was finalized in real time. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Tradeweb emphasized that this marks the first instance in the industry where a tokenized US Treasury bond issued on Canton was transacted in real time in exchange for USDCx—a USDC-backed stablecoin.
Several major players took part in the process, including Blockdaemon, Digital Asset, Societe Generale, Franklin Templeton, Tradeweb, and Virtu Financial. Virtu Financial stands out as a global financial firm known for its high-frequency trading and market making activities. The Canton Network is a permissioned blockchain network dedicated to institutional financial applications.
Glossary: Tokenization refers to the creation of a blockchain-based digital representation of a traditional asset. Settlement refers to the final completion of a transaction, with transfer of assets and funds between parties.
Advance comes ahead of DTCC’s tokenization rolloutAccording to the statement, this transaction came ahead of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation’s upcoming launch of its Tokenization Services later this year. DTCC aims to enable the tokenization of select stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and US Treasury securities through the new service. The firm stresses that investor protection and ownership rights will be preserved under the same framework as traditional assets.
Franklin Templeton, too, has recently accelerated its moves into tokenized financial assets. Earlier this year, the asset manager partnered with Binance to let institutional clients use tokenized money market fund shares as trading collateral. Additionally, the company has started work with Ondo Finance to bring tokenized ETFs onto blockchain networks.
Blockchain adoption grows in sovereign debt marketsGovernments are also taking steps to bring sovereign debt instruments onto blockchain systems. Multiple regulatory jurisdictions have launched digital bond pilots to test issuance, settlement, and market infrastructure using digital ledgers.
Hong Kong emerged as a pioneer in 2023 by issuing its first digital green bond. In November 2025, the government completed its third digital green bond issuance, raising 10 billion Hong Kong dollars—approximately $1.3 billion—across four currencies.
Last month, the Hong Kong government announced plans to establish a digital asset platform through the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to support the issuance and settlement of tokenized bonds. The platform is expected to expand to other digital assets and connect with regional tokenization networks. In the UK, the government assigned HSBC Orion to manage the Digital Gilt Instrument pilot, testing blockchain-based issuance, settlement, and secondary market operations for sovereign bonds.
Tokenized Treasury market hits $14.6 billionAccording to data from RWA.xyz, the market for tokenized US Treasury products has reached $14.6 billion. Comprising 84 on-chain products, this segment now stands as the largest in the tokenized real-world assets market.
CategoryValueTokenized US Treasury market$14.6 billionNumber of on-chain products84Hong Kong digital green bond issuance10 billion Hong Kong dollarsUS dollar equivalent of Hong Kong issuance$1.3 billionDisclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Solana has received another major injection of stablecoin liquidity after Circle reportedly minted an additional $1 billion in USDC on the network around July 1. The move adds to a year that has already seen unusually large gross USDC issuance on Solana, a chain where stablecoins have become central to swaps, leverage, payments, and on-chain trading activity.
TL;DR Circle reportedly minted another $1 billion in USDC on Solana. The mint follows another $1 billion Solana USDC issuance in mid-June. Gross 2026 USDC issuance on Solana is now reported at $64.25 billion. That figure is gross issuance, not current circulating supply. The distinction between issuance and supply is important here. A large mint does not mean all of that USDC remains circulating on Solana forever. Tokens can be burned, redeemed, bridged, or otherwise moved as market demand changes. The $64.25 billion figure refers to cumulative gross issuance during 2026, not the live amount of USDC currently sitting on Solana.
Why Solana wants deep stablecoin liquidity Stablecoins are the base layer for a lot of crypto trading behaviour. On Solana, they are especially important because the network is built around fast, low-cost settlement. Traders use USDC as collateral, as a settlement asset, and as a quick way to move between volatile positions without leaving the chain.
When more USDC is minted onto Solana, it usually points to demand for on-chain dollar liquidity. That demand can come from market makers, DeFi protocols, retail traders, or institutions routing activity through Solana-based venues. It does not automatically mean prices will rise, but it does show that the network remains a live venue for capital movement.
Gross issuance is not the same as circulating supply This is the part worth spelling out because the headline number can be easy to misread. Gross issuance counts how much USDC has been minted onto Solana across a period. Circulating supply reflects what remains after redemptions, burns, and transfers are accounted for.
So the $64.25 billion figure should not be treated as a claim that Solana currently has that exact amount of USDC active on-chain. Instead, it is a signal of throughput. It shows how much dollar liquidity has been created through the network during the year, even if some of that liquidity later moved elsewhere or was redeemed.
A stronger foundation for Solana DeFi For Solana’s DeFi ecosystem, this matters because stablecoin depth affects trading quality. More available USDC can improve routing, reduce friction, support lending markets, and make it easier for larger participants to enter and exit positions. In a market where liquidity often moves quickly between chains, stablecoin depth is one of the clearer signs of where users are actually active.
The latest mint also arrives at a time when Solana remains closely tied to high-velocity trading, meme coin activity, and decentralized exchange volume. That can make liquidity demand volatile. But it also keeps Solana near the center of the market’s most active trading lanes. For now, the fresh USDC mint reinforces the view that Solana is still attracting serious on-chain dollar flow.
This report is based on information from Solscan.
This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Economist Gita Gopinath said on Tuesday that cryptocurrency legislation, including the GENIUS Act, will have limited success reducing illicit finance due to the large number of anonymous stablecoin holdings.
Stablecoins In Self-Custody: A Dark Spot?Gopinath, at a lecture on the occasion of the Annual General Meeting of the Bank for International Settlements, pointed out that stablecoins are primarily held in their most anonymous form, a stark contrast to the preference for less anonymity in traditional money transactions.
The research found that the fewest stablecoins are held on U.S.-based centralised exchanges, including Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN), considered “least anonymous” and “analogous to bank deposits.”
Holdings in non-U.S. exchanges, such as Binance (CRYPTO: BNB), were placed between self-custody and U.S. exchanges on the anonymity spectrum.
Loopholes In US Stablecoin Act?Gopinath, former Chief Economist at the IMF, stated that the GENIUS Act, which regulates stablecoin issuers and centralized exchanges, does not cover self-custody wallets, peer-to-peer transfers, and offshore issuers and exchanges.
She added that while the European framework, i.e, Markets in Crypto-Assets, is more restrictive, it still excludes a large share of transactions.
“Consequently, GENIUS & MICA regulatory frameworks will likely have only a modest effect in preventing illicit activity,” Gopinath said.
Notably, New York’s leading prosecutors raised concerns earlier this year about the new stablecoin legislation, citing weaker safeguards for fraud victims
Stablecoin Role In Facilitating Illicit VolumeGopinath pointed to the Chainalysis cryptocurrency crime report, showing that stablecoins accounted for 84% of the illicit cryptocurrency transaction volume in 2025.
“Stablecoins are a genuine innovation, but they are held and used in their most anonymous form. The task for policymakers is to manage the resulting trade-off,” the Harvard Professor said during the lecture.
A report by CertiK, a Web3 cybersecurity firm, highlighted the emergence of several major exploit trends in stablecoin infrastructure over the past 18–24 months.
Photo Courtesy: ddRender on Shutterstock.com
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New York Life Investment Management has partnered with Centrifuge to launch its first tokenized fund, bringing a U.S. high-yield corporate bond strategy onchain.
Summary
NYLIM launched its first tokenized offering through Centrifuge, starting with a high-yield bond strategy. The HYB product gives eligible investors onchain access to NYLIM’s fixed-income investment process. Subscriptions and redemptions will settle in USDC while NYLIM keeps portfolio management unchanged. New York Life Investment Management, known as NYLIM, partnered with Centrifuge to launch the NYLIM Anemoy U.S. High Yield Corporate Bond Segregated Portfolio. The product will trade under the ticker HYB and marks NYLIM’s first tokenized offering.
NYLIM has about $807 billion in assets under management, according to the announcement. The asset manager said the launch gives eligible investors access to its high-yield corporate bond strategy through digital infrastructure.
High-yield bond strategy moves onchain The HYB product brings NYLIM’s U.S. High Yield Corporate Bond Strategy to Centrifuge’s platform. The companies said the underlying portfolio, investment process and risk management approach will remain with NYLIM and will not change because of the tokenized structure.
The fund will use Centrifuge’s institutional fund infrastructure. Subscriptions and redemptions will settle in USDC, according to the Centrifuge announcement. The offering is aimed at eligible investors, rather than broad retail access.
New York Life Investment Management (@NYLIManagement), one of the largest active asset managers globally with ~$807B in AUM, has partnered with Centrifuge to bring its fixed income capabilities onchain.
The collaboration begins with $HYB, one of the first high yield bond… pic.twitter.com/oA5qyOpvUj
— Centrifuge (@centrifuge) June 30, 2026 NYLIM sees demand for tokenized access “Tokenization represents a compelling evolution in how investment solutions can be accessed, managed and distributed across both public and private markets,” Thomas Sy, Head of Multi-Asset Solutions at NYLIM, said.
“As investor demand continues to grow around transparency, efficiency and broader market participation, we are exploring opportunities where blockchain-enabled infrastructure can complement our existing platform and deepen the value we deliver to clients,” Sy said.
The launch places NYLIM among large asset managers testing tokenized versions of traditional investment products. The product also expands tokenized credit beyond U.S. Treasuries and money market funds, which have formed a large share of real-world asset activity.
Centrifuge expands RWA fund infrastructure “We’re proud to work with NYLIM and we’re starting with a fund that fills a gap for onchain investors that existing infrastructure cannot address,” Anil Sood, CSO and co-founder of Centrifuge Labs, said.
“But this is bigger than a single product: It is about moving funds onto infrastructure that is more transparent, more efficient, and more composable,” Sood said. He added that NYLIM is a partner for Centrifuge as it works to bring more established funds onchain.
Meanwhile, Centrifuge launched decentralized RWA tokens on Aerodrome in 2025, making tokenized assets tradable and usable as collateral across EVM platforms. That launch included deJAAA, a tokenized version of the Janus Henderson Anemoy AAA CLO Fund.
As reported earlier by crypto.news, Ethena also selected Centrifuge as a tokenization partner in June, alongside a deal with Janus Henderson. The recent NYLIM launch adds another fixed-income strategy to Centrifuge’s growing list of institutional tokenization projects.
Previously, crypto.news reported that tokenized real-world assets had crossed $29 billion by April 2026, while tokenized U.S. Treasuries had reached $13.4 billion. The HYB launch shows how tokenization is moving into corporate credit products as asset managers test blockchain-based distribution and settlement.
Circle shares fell sharply after CRCL was removed from several Russell Growth indexes and a new stablecoin rival entered the market.
Summary
Circle left multiple Russell Growth indexes, raising questions about passive ownership and near-term CRCL liquidity. CRCL fell 17.5% as Open USD introduced fresh competition for USDC’s stablecoin model this week. Allaire defended USDC’s market position, while Tether’s Ardoino welcomed another stablecoin rival entering the field. Simply Wall St reported that Circle Internet Group was removed from multiple Russell Growth benchmarks during the latest annual reconstitution. The changes included the Russell 1000 Growth Index, Russell 3000 Growth Index and Russell Midcap Growth Index.
The report said index-linked funds and institutional mandates that track these benchmarks may adjust their exposure to CRCL. Such changes can affect passive ownership and trading activity around rebalancing dates, especially for stocks with recent market volatility.
CRCL price falls after rebalancing According to Google finance data, CRCL traded at $62.63, down about 17.5%, after touching an intraday low of $62.00. The stock opened at $72.68 before extending losses during the session.
Source: Google finance The latest fall followed a wider 30-day decline. CRCL had dropped 40% over the past month, a move it said may reflect selling pressure tied to index removal.
The Russell changes came during a broader reconstitution of U.S. equity benchmarks. FTSE Russell said its June 2026 process included changes across growth, value and size-based indexes as market leadership shifted.
Open USD adds new USDC rival Circle also faced fresh pressure after the launch of Open Standard, a new stablecoin network backed by more than 140 businesses. Visa, Mastercard and Coinbase were among the companies tied to the initiative, which plans to issue a U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin called Open USD.
“Existing stablecoins have great strengths, but to use them at scale, businesses need something that’s open, low-cost, high-throughput, broadly accessible, and aligned to their interests,” Open Standard founding CEO Zach Abrams said.
As reported by crypto.news, Open USD will offer free minting and redemption while sharing reserve earnings with ecosystem participants after a management fee. That model differs from Circle’s USDC business, where reserve income remains central to the company’s revenue base.
Circle and Tether chiefs respond “USDC remains the most trusted, widely adopted, institutional-ready stablecoin in the world,” Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said in a post on X. He said Circle would keep investing across banks, payment companies, capital markets firms and enterprise use cases.
Stablecoins represent one of the largest market opportunities in the world as the internet transforms the infrastructure for storing and moving money. We deeply believe in this, and it’s why we both founded Circle and why we’ve invested to build the largest regulated stablecoin…
— Jeremy Allaire – jerallaire.arc (@jerallaire) June 30, 2026 “Welcome OUSD. Player 2 has entered the game,” Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said in a post on X. His comment came as Open USD added another large-name rival to a market led by USDT and USDC.
Previously, crypto.news reported that Circle’s NYSE listing under CRCL had turned USDC into one of Wall Street’s most closely watched stablecoin plays. The stock’s latest move shows how index changes and stablecoin competition are now both shaping investor views on Circle.
Key Takeaways Shares of Circle plummeted over 16% following the announcement of Open USD, a stablecoin initiative supported by Stripe, Coinbase, Visa, Mastercard, and BlackRock Open USD differentiates itself by planning to distribute reserve interest earnings among consortium partners instead of retaining profits William Blair analysts described the market reaction as excessive and maintained their Outperform stance on Circle The Paxos Global Dollar, another consortium-based stablecoin, has achieved just $3 billion in circulation compared to USDC’s $73 billion market cap Critical operational details about Open USD—including blockchain deployment and revenue distribution—have yet to be disclosed Shares of Circle experienced a sharp decline exceeding 16% on Tuesday following the public debut of Open Standard, a newly formed consortium introducing the Open USD stablecoin initiative.
Circle Internet Group, CRCL
The coalition boasts more than 140 corporate participants, featuring industry heavyweights such as Stripe, Coinbase, Visa, Mastercard, and BlackRock.
The fundamental value proposition of Open USD is clear-cut. Rather than the stablecoin provider retaining interest income generated from reserve assets, Open Standard intends to share this revenue stream with member organizations.
This model presents a direct challenge to how Circle generates revenue. The company’s profitability relies heavily on capturing interest earned from the assets supporting USDC.
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire addressed the development via social media, characterizing USDC as “the most trusted, widely adopted, institutional-ready stablecoin in the world.” He emphasized the company’s commitment to continued innovation while acknowledging the competitive landscape.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino also joined the conversation, stating: “Welcome OUSD. Player 2 has entered the game.”
Market Analysts View Stock Decline as Excessive Not all market observers interpret the competitive threat as severely as Tuesday’s price action might indicate.
William Blair analysts maintained their Outperform rating on Circle stock and suggested investors view the session’s decline as an attractive entry point.
They characterized competitive worries as “overblown,” highlighting USDC’s approximately $74 billion market capitalization and Circle’s established payment infrastructure network.
The research team also drew parallels to previous payment consortiums such as MCX and Paze, which struggled to achieve meaningful adoption against incumbent platforms.
Owen Lau, managing director at Clear Street, echoed this sentiment. “I think it is an overreaction,” he shared with CoinDesk.
Rob Hadick from venture capital firm Dragonfly acknowledged that the partner roster represents a legitimate competitive concern but cautioned that consortium structures face inherent challenges. “Incentives are broad and often misaligned,” he noted.
Critical Information Still Missing Market analysts also highlighted that Open Standard’s announcement omitted essential operational details.
The consortium failed to specify which blockchain networks will host Open USD, how interest revenue will be allocated among partners, or what governance framework will guide the organization.
Columbia Business School professor Omid Malekan described it as the “logo spray and pray” phase. “Putting your name on a list is easy,” he observed. “Actually changing corporate behavior is hard.”
As a reference point, Paxos introduced its consortium-supported stablecoin in late 2024. It has achieved $3 billion in circulation—significantly trailing USDC’s $73 billion and Tether’s $145 billion.
The announcement also drew attention to Circle’s current partnership agreement with Coinbase, which reportedly faces renewal discussions in August.
Open USD is scheduled to launch in late 2026. Until that time arrives, its actual influence on USDC’s market position remains speculative.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
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A Regulatory Line in the SandJuly 1, 2026 is the hard deadline for the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, and for Tether, the issuer of the world's largest stablecoin, it marks an effective exit from Europe's regulated markets. Coinbase, Kraken, and Crypto(.)com EU have already restricted $USDT ahead of the deadline, with full removal from regulated platforms expected today.
Tether has not applied for MiCA authorization, a decision that reflects its broader focus on markets outside Europe. Under MiCA, stablecoin issuers must obtain e-money token (EMT) authorization to legally operate within the European Economic Area. Without it, exchanges cannot offer the token to EEA clients.
The key sticking point is MiCA's reserve requirement. As Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino stated in April 2026, the rule mandating that 60% of reserves be held in European bank deposits is fundamentally incompatible with how the company manages its backing. Tether has also discontinued its euro-denominated stablecoin, EURT, walking away from the European market entirely.
It is worth noting that MiCA does not ban individuals from holding USDT. The restriction applies to regulated exchanges and service providers, meaning European retail users can still technically access the token through non-custodial wallets or decentralized platforms, though the loss of regulated on-ramps and off-ramps makes it significantly less practical.
Circle's $USDC Steps Into the GapWith USDT sidelined on regulated EU venues, Circle's $USDC is the primary beneficiary. Of the top ten stablecoins by market capitalization, $USDC is the only one that is MiCA-compliant. Circle secured an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license through the French regulator ACPR, making $USDC and its euro-denominated counterpart EURC fully authorized for EU retail distribution.
Institutional players and regulated funds operating within the EEA now have little choice but to route demand through $USDC, as it is the only compliant option in that segment of the market. EU-resident retail traders have been moving balances into USDC and EURC ahead of the deadline.
For the broader stablecoin market, as Phemex Academy notes, this is "the largest forced reshuffle the stablecoin market has faced," splitting the two biggest issuers along a clean regulatory line. Whether other jurisdictions follow Europe's lead with similarly strict reserve frameworks will determine how much further Tether's global position is tested.
Sources:
Crypto Briefing: Tether's USDT faces removal from EU platforms
Circle Press Release: Circle is First Global Stablecoin Issuer to Comply with MiCA
Phemex Academy: Why EU Exchanges Are Delisting Tether Before the July 1 MiCA Deadline
Europe’s ambitious new regulatory framework for crypto assets, the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation, took effect on July 1, marking a new era for digital finance across the European Union. The implementation has already brought dramatic changes, as regulated crypto exchanges quickly began delisting Tether’s USDT stablecoin from their platforms. Amid this shakeup, Circle has emerged as a standout player, swiftly filling the gap with its own compliant stablecoin offerings.
Circle adapts, Tether retreatsAnticipating MiCA’s requirements, Circle proactively aligned its dollar-pegged USDC and euro-backed EURC stablecoins to meet the regulation’s new standards. Among the world’s ten largest stablecoins, Circle became the only issuer able to fully comply with MiCA’s conditions. Headquartered in the United States, Circle remains a heavyweight in the stablecoin market, with USDC ranking among the largest by market value.
In stark contrast, Tether chose not to apply for the electronic money issuance license mandated under MiCA. The consequence: roughly $185 billion worth of USDT is now inaccessible on licensed European trading venues, forcing a radical overhaul of liquidity structures across the region’s regulated crypto platforms.
Tether’s management has voiced strong objections to MiCA’s requirement that 60% of stablecoin reserves be held in European banks, highlighting what they see as additional risks. As a result, Tether is shifting its strategic focus away from Europe to markets outside the EU.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino publicly defended the company’s decision, warning that altering their reserve model to match European standards would introduce new risks. Rather than overhauling its structure, Tether has opted to double down on its established approach in non-European markets, stepping back from the bloc for now.
Institutional backing gives Circle momentumCircle’s position received a major boost in timing and legitimacy. On the very eve of MiCA’s rollout, banking giant BNY Mellon announced support for USDC. This move enables institutional clients to store, transfer, issue, and burn USDC through BNY Mellon’s network—an endorsement carrying significant weight from one of the world’s largest custodians.
Glossary: CASP refers to the “Crypto Asset Service Provider” license under MiCA. This license authorizes regulated custody, trading, and transfer services for crypto assets throughout the EU.
BNY Mellon’s timely move, coinciding with changes on European exchanges, has bolstered Circle’s position on both the regulatory and institutional fronts. This shift is not only about stablecoin rivalry but also about which issuers will shape the European market in the long term.
MiCA reshapes more than just stablecoinsThe MiCA regulation has brought sweeping consequences beyond just USDT and USDC. Out of nearly 1,200 crypto companies previously registered at the national level, only about 210 have managed to secure full-scope CASP authorization under the new law—a success rate of approximately 17%.
CategoryStatusNumber of firms registered before MiCAApproximately 1,200Companies awarded full CASP licenseApproximately 210Percentage17%With USDT liquidity now unavailable at regulated European platforms, Circle’s long-standing regulatory strategy positions it to capture market share rapidly.
This landscape demonstrates that the ripple effects go beyond regulatory compliance. While Circle invested years in preparation, Tether has essentially ceded the European field for now. Although Tether may yet seek EU licensing in the future, there is no clear indication of such plans at present.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
PANews July 1 news, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire stated that the stablecoin market is inherently a platform business driven by strong network effects, often showing a "winner-takes-all" pattern. Its core moats mainly come from three aspects: network effects formed by the application and developer ecosystem, global liquidity depth, and deep integration with regulatory systems across countries.
According to Allaire, USDC has built an access network of thousands of service providers and has become one of the three most liquid digital assets globally. In Q1 2026, USDC on-chain transaction volume approached $30 trillion, accounting for approximately 80% of USD stablecoin transaction volume, while USDT accounted for the remaining roughly 20%, and all other stablecoins combined accounted for less than 0.5%.
In response to OUSD's proposed "free minting and redemption, revenue sharing, and alliance governance," Allaire said that fully relinquishing reserve revenues could lead to insufficient infrastructure investment, while large alliance models typically suffer from slow decision-making and misaligned incentives, hindering product innovation. He emphasized that Circle still welcomes OUSD to join the ecosystem, but believes that the long-term winner will remain a platform with deep liquidity, regulatory compliance, and sustained capital investment.
Circle’s stock took a beating on June 30, dropping more than 16% after a consortium of over 140 companies, including Visa, Stripe, Coinbase, Mastercard, and BlackRock, unveiled a new stablecoin called Open USD (OUSD). Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire responded by making the case that OUSD will struggle to compete with USDC’s entrenched network effects, deep liquidity, and regulatory infrastructure.
A who’s-who of global finance and payments backing a stablecoin designed to redistribute most of its reserve earnings to partners. But whether OUSD can actually dent USDC’s roughly $73-74B market cap is a question with a complicated answer.
What Allaire is actually saying Allaire’s defense was pointed and specific. He called USDC “the most trusted, widely adopted, institutional-ready stablecoin in the world.”
Regulatory reach is where Allaire might have his strongest card. Circle went through the grueling process of going public on the NYSE. It holds state money transmitter licenses and has built relationships with regulators across multiple jurisdictions. OUSD’s licensing and operational structure remain unclear, with key details still pending ahead of its planned launch later in 2026.
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The consortium playbook has been tried before Consortium-backed stablecoins aren’t new territory. Paxos launched USDG with a similar value proposition, and it hovered around $3B in supply. Respectable, but not exactly a USDC killer.
There’s also the Meta-backed Diem (formerly Libra) precedent, which had even more firepower behind it and still collapsed under regulatory pressure and internal coordination problems.
OUSD’s key differentiator is its revenue-sharing model. Rather than Circle’s approach, where the issuer keeps most of the reserve yield, OUSD plans to redistribute that income to partner firms. Key details on ownership and revenue distribution remain unclear.
What this means for investors The 16% drop in Circle’s stock price reflects genuine concern, but several analysts have suggested the market overreacted. The logic is straightforward: USDC has first-mover advantages that took years to build, and OUSD won’t launch until later in 2026 at the earliest.
Even if every one of those 140 consortium members integrates OUSD, many of them, Coinbase included, already support USDC. A company like Visa can support both stablecoins simultaneously, which means OUSD’s growth doesn’t automatically come at USDC’s expense.
The real risk for Circle is economic, not existential. If OUSD gains traction with its revenue-sharing model, it could force Circle to give up a larger share of its reserve income to retain distribution partners. That compresses margins without necessarily shrinking USDC’s market cap. For a company that just went public and needs to demonstrate profitability to public market investors, margin pressure is no small thing.
For investors watching Circle specifically, the key metrics to track over the coming months are USDC’s market cap trajectory relative to overall stablecoin supply, any changes to Circle’s revenue-sharing arrangements with existing partners like Coinbase, and concrete details on OUSD’s launch timeline and licensing status.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Circle’s blockchain network, Arc, has officially joined the Chainlink Scale program, signaling a major new partnership poised to accelerate the development of stablecoin-focused applications. Designed as a Layer 1 network purpose-built for stablecoin-based financial use cases, Arc’s integration into the Chainlink Scale program is set to provide a robust foundation for next-generation fintech solutions.
Enterprise-level tools now available for developersThanks to this collaboration, developers building on Arc can now harness Chainlink’s industry-standard infrastructure services. These tools stand out for enabling secure, transparent, and scalable decentralized applications, widely regarded as benchmarks for blockchain solution providers looking to push technological boundaries.
The Arc team has announced that, through participation in the Chainlink Scale program, developers will gain access to institutional-grade secure infrastructure, empowering them to create advanced on-chain applications on the network.
Circle, famed for its digital dollar stablecoin USDC, is a major player in fintech and digital asset markets. Arc’s progress in conjunction with the Circle ecosystem further highlights the network’s strong orientation toward stablecoin-powered infrastructures and services.
As stablecoins increasingly power payments, settlements, and a range of financial services, robust technical infrastructure has become essential. With its entry into the Chainlink Scale program, Arc is aligning itself with a growing trend among blockchains to seek institutional-grade solutions and build for real-world business demands.
CCIP leads the way in cross-chain connectivityOne of the most notable elements of the partnership is the integration of Chainlink’s Cross Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP). This advanced protocol enables secure token transfers and messaging between disparate blockchains, offering developers new opportunities to build apps that function seamlessly across multiple ecosystems.
Mini glossary: CCIP is a cross-chain interoperability protocol aiming to standardize the transfer of data and assets across multiple blockchains. It is particularly valued for enabling secure use of one asset across several networks.
Cross-chain functionality is becoming increasingly critical for stablecoin projects. Both individual users and institutions are seeking tools to move assets safely and swiftly between networks. With CCIP now integrated, Arc unlocks a built-in and reliable framework to facilitate such transfers.
This integration is also expected to reduce the technical overhead for developers. Rather than building custom interoperability solutions from scratch, teams can leverage Chainlink’s ready-made, well-supported infrastructure layer right out of the box.
Market data and reserve verification includedThe partnership also covers Chainlink’s Data Feeds and Data Streams services. These offerings supply high-frequency, low-latency market data to decentralized finance applications and foreign exchange platforms alike. Access to accurate and timely data is vital for developers working on financial products ranging from lending platforms to payment systems and risk management tools.
Another critical component is Chainlink’s Proof of Reserve technology, which provides automated on-chain and cross-chain verification of asset reserves. This innovative solution enables users to transparently monitor whether relevant assets are properly collateralized, driving greater trust and transparency in the ecosystem.
By bringing together cross-chain connectivity, comprehensive market data, and transparent reserve verification under a unified structure, Arc positions itself for accelerated growth. Its entry into the Chainlink Scale program underscores Arc’s ambitions to serve as a high-performance blockchain network purpose-built for the next wave of stablecoin-driven financial innovations.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt. And check out our new daily news show covering all of the top stories in 5 minutes, downloadable on Apple Pod or Spotify.
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Today’s top news:
Crypto majors are slightly red, Solana leads; BTC at $58.5k 140 businesses team up for Open USD launch, taking aim at Circle and Tether CRCL stock falls 17% in wake of Open USD launch Trump disclosure shows $1.2B in crypto profits; $50M+ in BTC holdings Citi cuts its 12-month BTC price target from $112k to $82k, cites ETF flows, slow regulatory progress and DAT concerns 💵 Open USD Launches With 140+ Backers, Taking Aim at Circle and Tether
Open Standard, a new company led by Zach Abrams, launched Open USD as a stablecoin for global money movement going live later this year.
It’s got serious backing from the heaviest hitters in payments, finance and commerce. More than 140 businesses signed on, including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, BlackRock, BNY, Google, Shopify, and DoorDash, alongside much of crypto itself like Coinbase, Solana, Ripple, OKX, and Aave.
And its launch is a direct shot at Circle and Tether. Open USD gives all the power back to the businesses by
letting businesses mint and redeem for free with no volume caps handing all the earnings on its reserves back to partners minus a small management fee being governed by a board of those partners rather than a single company. That attacks the incumbents’ most profitable feature, since the real money in stablecoins is the yield on the Treasurys backing them, and Circle and Tether keep nearly all of it. Stripe’s president said Open USD will become the default stablecoin for businesses on its platform.
The market reacted strongly, with CRCL stock losing 18% on the day. And it’s pretty obvious why. A huge part of the stablecoin growth story that Circle benefited from was based on business and institutional growth. Now those users will be heavily incentivized to use OUSD over USDC. The bull case for Circle is the “rising tide” thesis, but that’s looking a bit shaky—at least right now. Expect OUSD to be a real stablecoin player as soon as it’s up and running…
🇺🇸 Trump Discloses Over $1.2 Billion in Crypto Earnings
President Trump’s annual financial disclosure, released Tuesday by the Office of Government Ethics, revealed more than $1.2 billion in earnings from his crypto ventures in 2025. The report runs over 900 pages, and crypto sits among the largest line items in it.
The bulk of the $1.2B in earnings came from two sources. Trump earned just over $635 million from his memecoin alone, almost entirely as royalties tied to a licensing agreement with Celebration Coins. The TRUMP token launched on Solana days before he retook office in January 2025, rocketed to $75 and a $75B dollar market cap within 3 days before selling off. Now it trades around $1.66 at a $394 million market cap, down roughly 98% from its all-time high.
The other major piece was more than $588 million in net proceeds from token sales distributed by World Liberty Financial, the family’s DeFi and stablecoin venture. He also reported holding over $50 million in Bitcoin and between $5 million and $25 million in Ethereum, among other digital assets.
The disclosure re-raises the conflict-of-interest questions shadowing the administration. The president is actively shaping US crypto policy while his family profits directly from the industry those rules govern. It feeds straight into the CLARITY Act fight, where Democrats are pushing to bar the president and his family from crypto businesses as a condition for passing the bill. This new headline certainly will make the Dems dig their heels in the ground, and odds of the bill passing dropped 10% on the day to 39%.
Unfortunately, we likely haven’t felt all the effects of those $1.2B in crypto earnings yet. Expect more pain to come…
🌎 Macro Crypto and Markets Crypto majors are slightly red; BTC -1% at $58.5k; ETH -1% at $1,570; SOL +2% at $75; HYPE -5% at $62.60 JUP (+16%), WBT (+14%) and XLM (+12%) led top movers Oil -1% at $69; Gold even at $4,040 Stock futures are slightly red after the strongest H1 in 5 years; DOW -0.2%, Nasdaq -0.4% Binance and CZ were sued for nearly $200 million by British investors in a new UK lawsuit, per Reuters, tied to claims involving the FCA Citi cut its 12-month price targets for Bitcoin from $112k to $82k and ETH from $3,175 to $2,240, citing outflows, slow regulatory progress and DAT concerns TD Cowen cut Strategy’s price target by 35%, citing the company’s new framework that opens the door to selling Bitcoin The SEC opened a 60-day comment period on novel ETFs, asking 27 questions about how it should handle funds built around crypto assets, event contracts, and other nontraditional holdings, after pausing roughly two dozen prediction-market ETF filings New York Life Investment Management teamed with Centrifuge for a tokenized bond fund, bringing one of America’s largest asset managers further into onchain real-world assets CRCL was removed from several Russell Growth Indexes in the annual reconstitution process in June Corporate Treasuries & ETFs
The Bitcoin ETFs saw $222M in net outflows on Tuesday; the ETH ETFs saw $28M in outflows SharpLink made its first ETH purchase of 2026, with the Ethereum treasury firm resuming accumulation after a pause Meme Coin Tracker
Meme leaders were mixd; DOGE even, SHIB even, PEPE -3%, PENGU +2%, TRUMP +3%, BONK even dog (+85%), Nest (+100%) and Testibull (+175%) led movers on Solana Base movers included Check (+21%) and REI (+27%) 📈 Myriad Market of the Day💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker Phantom doubled down on perpetual futures, hiring market builders from Hyperliquid as the Solana wallet pushes deeper into onchain derivatives MetaMask launched a “money account” that combines stablecoin yield and spending in one wallet, blurring the line between a crypto wallet and a bank account 🚚 What is happening in NFTs? NFT leaders were mostly flat; Punks -1% at 31 ETH, BAYC +1% at 8.82 ETH, Pudgy -1% at 4.45 ETH; Hypurr’s -3% at 217 HYPE Racerz (+47%) and MetaWinners (+20%) led top movers The strong week for Punk sales continued with multiple above-floor buys in the past day, including a 100 ETH Cowboy sale Daily Debrief NewsletterStart every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire argued that USDC's decade-long network of integrations, liquidity and regulatory infrastructure gives it a structural advantage over new stablecoin entrants, while challenging key elements of Open USD's proposed business model.
In a Wednesday X post, Allaire described stablecoin networks as platform businesses driven by network effects, saying sustained investment in integrations, liquidity, regulatory approvals, banking relationships and reserve management creates competitive advantages that are difficult to replicate.
He also questioned whether permanently offering free, unlimited minting and redemption would remain sustainable at scale and said returning nearly all reserve income to partners risks “starving an infrastructure.”
The comments highlight intensifying competition among stablecoin issuers as new entrants seek to challenge USDC and USDT by offering businesses a greater share of reserve income and influence over governance.
Open Standard announced Open USD (OUSD) on Tuesday, with support from over 140 payments, banking, technology and crypto companies, including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Coinbase, BlackRock and Google. The stablecoin is expected to go live later in 2026.
Circle’s stock performance in the last five days. Source: Yahoo Finance
Circle shares closed Tuesday at $62.63, down 17.55% from the previous session, before rising 2.44% to $64.18 in premarket trading as of 11 am UTC on Wednesday, according to Yahoo Finance data.
OUSD could challenge the Circle-Tether duopoly: Bernstein In a research note, analysts at Bernstein said OUSD could become the “strongest and first new entrant to challenge the duopoly of Circle and Tether,” citing its reach across payments, banking, technology and commerce.
However, Bernstein said governance, operational architecture and the revenue-sharing formula remain open questions, as coordinating more than 140 partners will require substantial work. Bernstein said Circle spends close to $500 million on marketing, infrastructure, technology and compliance, highlighting the amount of resources needed to scale a stablecoin network.
Lorenzo Valente, director of research at ARK Invest, took a more skeptical view. In a post on X, Valente said that OUSD still faces the cold-start problem created by USDC and USDT's entrenched liquidity across the crypto ecosystem. He called the announcement a “giant” letter of intent and said that many participants also support competing stablecoins or operate their own infrastructure.
“The partners are backing rivals: Stripe owns Bridge and has its own stack, Coinbase is wedded to USDC, banks are building their own deposit tokens and the card networks support every token out there,” Valente wrote.
Magazine: Japanese pension fund tips 1% in crypto, G7 urges action on NK hackers: Asia Express
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire argued that USDC's decade-long network of integrations, liquidity and regulatory infrastructure gives it a structural advantage over new stablecoin entrants, while challenging key elements of Open USD's proposed business model.
In a Wednesday X post, Allaire described stablecoin networks as platform businesses driven by network effects, saying sustained investment in integrations, liquidity, regulatory approvals, banking relationships and reserve management creates competitive advantages that are difficult to replicate.
He also questioned whether permanently offering free, unlimited minting and redemption would remain sustainable at scale and said returning nearly all reserve income to partners risks “starving an infrastructure.”
The comments highlight intensifying competition among stablecoin issuers as new entrants seek to challenge USDC and USDT by offering businesses a greater share of reserve income and influence over governance.
Open Standard announced Open USD (OUSD) on Tuesday, with support from over 140 payments, banking, technology and crypto companies, including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Coinbase, BlackRock and Google. The stablecoin is expected to go live later in 2026.
Circle’s stock performance in the last five days. Source: Yahoo Finance
Circle shares closed Tuesday at $62.63, down 17.55% from the previous session, before rising 2.44% to $64.18 in premarket trading as of 11 am UTC on Wednesday, according to Yahoo Finance data.
OUSD could challenge the Circle-Tether duopoly: Bernstein In a research note, analysts at Bernstein said OUSD could become the “strongest and first new entrant to challenge the duopoly of Circle and Tether,” citing its reach across payments, banking, technology and commerce.
However, Bernstein said governance, operational architecture and the revenue-sharing formula remain open questions, as coordinating more than 140 partners will require substantial work. Bernstein said Circle spends close to $500 million on marketing, infrastructure, technology and compliance, highlighting the amount of resources needed to scale a stablecoin network.
Lorenzo Valente, director of research at ARK Invest, took a more skeptical view. In a post on X, Valente said that OUSD still faces the cold-start problem created by USDC and USDT's entrenched liquidity across the crypto ecosystem. He called the announcement a “giant” letter of intent and said that many participants also support competing stablecoins or operate their own infrastructure.
“The partners are backing rivals: Stripe owns Bridge and has its own stack, Coinbase is wedded to USDC, banks are building their own deposit tokens and the card networks support every token out there,” Valente wrote.
Magazine: Japanese pension fund tips 1% in crypto, G7 urges action on NK hackers: Asia Express
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.
Circle just watched more than 140 of the biggest names in finance and tech announce they’re coming for its lunch. CEO Jeremy Allaire’s response: we’ve seen this movie before, and the sequel usually disappoints.
The Open Standard initiative, unveiled on June 30, brings together Coinbase, Stripe, Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock, and over 135 other companies to launch Open USD, a new dollar-pegged stablecoin with zero minting and redemption fees. The consortium plans to share reserve earnings among its partners rather than funneling them to a single issuer. Wall Street’s immediate verdict on Circle was brutal: shares of CRCL dropped roughly 16% to 18% on the day.
What Allaire actually said Allaire didn’t dismiss the threat outright. He acknowledged the OUSD announcement but pivoted hard to what he sees as USDC’s structural advantages: regulatory compliance, deep integrations, and the kind of network effects that take years to build.
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Allaire also emphasized that Circle’s partnership with Coinbase remains strong. That’s a notable point given that Coinbase is simultaneously listed as one of the 140-plus backers of the Open Standard consortium. Coinbase appears to be hedging, keeping a foot in both camps rather than choosing sides.
USDC currently sits with a circulating supply between $75 billion and $80 billion.
The Open USD model, explained OUSD’s consortium distributes reserve earnings among its partner companies rather than concentrating them with a single issuer. It also eliminates minting and redemption fees entirely for businesses. The governance structure is shared across the consortium’s members instead of being controlled by one entity. The stablecoin is planned to launch later in 2026 on Solana and Coinbase’s Base network.
Why consortium models have struggled before The most famous example is Diem, formerly known as Libra. Facebook assembled a consortium of major companies to launch a stablecoin in 2019. The project faced regulatory headwinds, partner defections, and internal disagreements. It was eventually sold off in early 2022 without ever launching to the public.
What this means for investors Circle’s entire business model depends on being the dominant issuer of a regulated dollar stablecoin. USDC’s revenue comes primarily from the yield earned on reserves backing those tokens. If OUSD successfully attracts liquidity away from USDC, Circle’s reserves shrink and its revenue declines.
The Coinbase dynamic deserves particular attention. Coinbase has been one of Circle’s most important distribution partners, helping drive USDC adoption across its exchange and the Base network. Coinbase’s participation in the Open Standard consortium introduces a potential conflict of interest. If Coinbase starts prioritizing OUSD integration on Base over USDC, Circle loses a critical growth channel.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Open Standard, a new consortium of more than 140 companies spanning payments, banking and crypto, announced Open USD (OUSD) on June 30, a stablecoin structured to be owned and governed by the businesses that use it rather than run for the profit of a single issuer.
Introducing Open USD: a stablecoin built for the internet economy, designed by the businesses growing it.https://t.co/jqgDRs6mKf
— Open Standard (@openstandard) June 30, 2026 Solana's official account said the token will launch natively on the network from day one, ahead of a broader rollout to Polygon, Stellar and Aptos later this year.
The design breaks from how Circle's USDC and Tether's USDT operate today. Open USD charges no fees to mint or redeem and sets no volume caps, according to the announcement. Partners collect nearly all of the interest earned on the reserves backing the token, after a small management fee that covers Open Standard's operating costs, instead of an issuer retaining that yield itself. Governance sits with Open Standard, an independent company whose board is drawn from its partner base.
Zach Abrams, Open Standard's founding chief executive, previously co-founded Bridge, the stablecoin infrastructure company Stripe bought for $1.1 billion in 2025. "Existing stablecoins have great strengths, but to use them at scale, businesses need something that's open, low-cost, high-throughput, broadly accessible, and aligned to their interests," Abrams said in the announcement.
The partner list is unusually broad for a stablecoin launch. It includes payments networks and processors such as Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Fiserv, Adyen and Klarna; banks and asset managers including BlackRock, BNY, Standard Chartered, DBS and U.S. Bank; technology platforms Google, Shopify, Samsung Electronics and DoorDash; and crypto-native firms Coinbase, Ripple, Gemini, Fireblocks, Aave and Solana itself.
BNY's Carolyn Weinberg said in a supporting statement that the bank anticipates the stablecoin market could grow to $1.5 trillion by 2030. Stripe's Will Gaybrick said Open USD "will be the default stablecoin for businesses running on Stripe."
Circle was the news's clearest casualty. CRCL stock opened near $72 on Tuesday and fell to a four-month low before closing down by 17.55%. The reaction reflects how directly Open USD's model threatens Circle's core business, which relies on retaining the interest earned on USDC's reserves rather than sharing it with distributors. Open USD proposes to do the opposite by design.
Coinbase's involvement sharpened the reaction. Coinbase and Circle jointly created the Centre Consortium that launched USDC, and the two still share reserve revenue under a commercial agreement reportedly up for renewal in August. Circle paid Coinbase more than $900 million in 2024 for USDC distribution under that arrangement. Coinbase joining a rival consortium that shares reserve economics more broadly raises the question of what Coinbase will ask for when that deal comes up again.
Analysts were split on whether the selloff was justified. Dragonfly general partner Rob Hadick called the partner list "a real threat to Circle's business," noting Stripe's product suite could let the consortium undercut Circle's economics, but cautioned that "consortiums are hard and they break easily" because incentives across 140 companies are rarely aligned. Clear Street's Owen Lau argued the 17% drop was "an overreaction," pointing to Paxos' Global Dollar Network, a similar partner-owned, revenue-sharing stablecoin launched in late 2024 that has grown to only about $3 billion in supply, against USDC's roughly $73 billion and USDT's $145 billion. Newsletter writer Noelle Acheson noted the announcement left unresolved questions about Open Standard's ownership structure, its licensing framework as issuer, and exactly how reserve income will be split among 140 partners.
The bigger shift the episode points to is where value accrues in the stablecoin business. Arca CIO Jeff Dorman argued the real opportunity now lies less with issuers like Circle and Tether and more with the exchanges, payment processors, wallets and blockchains that distribute and settle stablecoins, since those are the businesses Open Standard has assembled to build OUSD. Whether that network effect materialises depends on adoption Open Standard has not yet demonstrated. A list of 140 partner logos says little about whether those companies will actually route volume through a shared token once it competes with their existing stablecoin relationships. That test only begins after Open USD launches later this year.
The project, supported by Visa, Mastercard and many crypto companies, could be in a position to challenge Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC, currently the two largest stablecoins by market capitalization.
More than 140 companies have signed onto a US dollar-pegged stablecoin project that allows them to “receive all of the earnings” from its reserves.
In a Tuesday notice, Open Standard said it was launching the Open USD (OUSD) stablecoin, a US dollar-pegged coin supported by financial companies including Visa and Mastercard, as well as crypto companies Coinbase, Ripple, OKX and Bybit. The project will allow businesses to mint OUSD “at no cost and with no artificial limits on volume,” and keep earnings from the coin’s reserves.
“When Visa, Stripe, Mastercard, Coinbase and Google coordinate on a new stablecoin, the signal is unmistakable,” said Rhino.fi co-founder and CEO Will Harborne. “Open USD is the first launch with a real chance to win share from USDT and USDC, because reserve revenue flows back to everyone who holds it. But that same incentive is what drives fragmentation at scale.”
Source: Open Standard
Because it’s backed by so many high profile companies, the coin could be in a position to challenge Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC, currently the two largest stablecoins by market capitalization. The share price of Circle Internet Group dropped by more than 16% on Tuesday to $63.63.
According to Open Standard, OUSD will launch “later this year.” The current size of the stablecoin market, according to DefiLlama, is more than $312 billion and projected to reach up to $4 trillion by 2030.
In a Tuesday X post following the announcement, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said that the company welcomed “continued innovation and competition in the space,” adding that it would soon expand support for US dollar-pegged and non-US dollar stablecoins.
“[We] look forward to remaining laser-focused on building the best stablecoin infrastructure possible and driving more customer and partner success,” said Allaire.
Stablecoin launch comes under US law favorable to the industryUS President Donald Trump signed a bill to establish a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins, called the GENIUS Act, into law last year. Many experts expect that the legislation, awaiting federal authorities finalizing regulations for implementation, could pave the way for the stablecoin market to grow as companies potentially begin issuing and accepting digital assets more easily.
Magazine: Does ‘Paper Bitcoin’ mean there’s an unlimited supply of BTC?
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.
TLDROpen USD Aims to Challenge USDC DominanceCircle Stock Reacts to Shifting Revenue DynamicsRegulation and Institutional Backing Reshape CompetitionGet 3 Free Stock Ebooks Circle stock dropped more than 16% after Open USD was announced. Open USD is backed by major firms including Visa, Mastercard, and BlackRock. The project introduces a revenue-sharing model that differs from USDC. Circle and Coinbase currently earn income from USDC reserve assets. Open USD allows users to mint and redeem tokens without fees. Circle stock declined sharply after a new stablecoin initiative raised competitive pressure on USDC. The market reacted quickly as Open USD entered the sector with strong institutional backing. Consequently, Circle stock faced selling pressure while Coinbase shares also moved lower.
Open USD Aims to Challenge USDC Dominance Circle stock dropped more than 16% as investors reacted to the Open USD announcement. The new stablecoin project introduced a competing model with broad industry support. As a result, Circle stock reflected concerns about possible market share erosion.
Open Standard leads the Open USD initiative alongside major financial and technology companies. The coalition includes Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, BlackRock, and Bank of New York Mellon. It also includes Coinbase, Google, IBM, and several global banks and crypto firms.
However, Circle, Tether, and PayPal did not join the consortium behind Open USD. This absence highlighted a direct competitive line between existing issuers and the new network. Therefore, Circle stock faced additional pressure as markets assessed this divide.
Open Standard confirmed Open USD will launch later this year with over 140 participating businesses. The project allows users to mint and redeem tokens without fees. Moreover, the model distributes most reserve income to network participants instead of retaining it.
Circle Stock Reacts to Shifting Revenue Dynamics Circle stock declined as investors evaluated changes to stablecoin revenue structures. Open USD introduces a shared income model that differs from traditional issuer-controlled profits. Consequently, Circle stock reflected concerns about future earnings stability.
USDC currently holds about $73.6 billion in circulation and remains a major stablecoin. Circle and Coinbase share revenue generated from USDC reserve assets. Therefore, Circle stock links closely to stablecoin performance and associated income streams.
Coinbase relies heavily on USDC-related revenue within its subscription and services segment. This segment accounted for 44% of total first-quarter revenue. As a result, Circle stock movements aligned with broader concerns affecting Coinbase.
Circle Chief Executive Jeremy Allaire addressed market concerns following the announcement. He stated, “USDC remains the most trusted, widely adopted stablecoin globally.” He also added that the company welcomes competition in the sector.
Regulation and Institutional Backing Reshape Competition Circle stock also reflected broader changes in the regulatory landscape supporting new entrants. Lawmakers continue advancing stablecoin legislation to define reserve and licensing requirements. Therefore, Circle stock faced pressure from both competition and policy developments.
The CLARITY Act is progressing toward a Senate vote while the GENIUS Act sets federal standards. These rules favor large institutions with strong compliance systems. Consequently, Circle stock reacted as markets priced in new competitive advantages.
Government officials also supported the Open USD initiative as regulation becomes clearer. Patrick Witt said the launch shows how clear rules unlock value in digital assets. He added that upcoming legislation will expand opportunities across the crypto sector.
USDC and USDT currently dominate about 80% of the global stablecoin market. However, Open USD represents a major coordinated effort to challenge this dominance. As a result, Circle stock continues to reflect shifting expectations across the stablecoin ecosystem.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
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Circle just printed another billion USDC on Solana. That brings the total USDC minted on the network in 2026 to a staggering $64.25B, a number that would have sounded absurd even a year ago.
The minting machine that won’t stop The latest $1B mint, recorded on or around June 16, pushed weekly USDC issuance on Solana to $3.5B. That’s up from a weekly figure of $3.25B back in early April, which itself felt like a breakneck pace at the time.
By mid-June, cumulative gross USDC minting on Solana had already hit roughly $57B. The jump from $57B to $64.25B in what appears to be a matter of days illustrates just how rapidly Circle has been feeding stablecoin supply into the network.
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Look at the individual mints from earlier this year for context. Late March saw a $750M issuance. Mid-March and late April each brought $500M mints. Now billion-dollar prints barely register as headline-worthy. The scale has shifted dramatically.
On-chain tracking from firms like Lookonchain and Arkham has confirmed multiple instances of single-day issuances exceeding $1B throughout 2026.
Why Solana keeps winning the stablecoin race Earlier reports indicated that Solana’s share of total USDC supply approached 10%. That figure has likely grown given the sustained minting activity, though the exact current percentage depends on net circulation rather than gross issuance.
Circle maintains dedicated infrastructure for USDC on Solana, including a public SPL token address and specialized mint accounts. Through its Circle Mint service, institutions can mint and redeem USDC at a 1:1 ratio with US dollars directly on the network.
What this means for investors Investors should also consider the difference between gross minting and net circulation. The $64.25B figure represents total USDC minted on Solana in 2026, not the current circulating supply. Redemptions, where users convert USDC back to fiat, reduce net supply. The gross number captures demand intensity, but net supply is the metric that actually determines available liquidity on the network.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
