Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kamino Finance has opened a new borrowing market on Solana that accepts ZEC, the bridged version of Zcash’s native token, as collateral. Users can now post ZEC to borrow USDC, or dial up their exposure using Kamino’s Multiply product, which loops positions to create leverage without requiring a centralized exchange.

How it works and why Kamino built it this way Kamino routes ZEC through cross-chain bridge infrastructure, specifically NEAR Intents and OmniBridge, to bring the asset onto Solana in a form the protocol can price and custody. ZEC first became tradable on Kamino Swap, the protocol’s aggregator, in late October 2025, so this lending launch is a logical next step rather than a sudden pivot.

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The ZEC market sits inside Kamino’s isolated lending architecture, where ZEC collateral risk is contained in its own pool rather than mingling with the protocol’s main liquidity. That structure lets Kamino set custom loan-to-value ratios and liquidation thresholds tuned specifically to ZEC’s volatility profile, without exposing core markets to spillover risk if ZEC experiences a sharp drawdown.

The Multiply feature automates the loop of borrowing USDC, swapping it back into ZEC, and redepositing in a single transaction. The result is amplified ZEC exposure funded by borrowed stablecoins.

Part of a bigger pattern at Kamino The most recent comparable move was the introduction of a PAXG market on or around July 27, 2026. PAXG represents tokenized gold, so Kamino effectively allowed users to borrow USDC against a digital representation of physical gold bars. ZEC follows the same template, just with a privacy-focused cryptocurrency rather than a precious metal.

What this means for ZEC and privacy-asset DeFi Zcash’s shielded transaction capability uses zero-knowledge proofs, but regulatory pressure around privacy coins has kept many centralized venues at arm’s length, and DeFi integration has lagged behind mainstream assets by years.

Kamino’s overall lending platform handles billions in aggregate market size across its various pools, though specific figures for the ZEC market have not yet been disclosed. No expert commentary or specific TVL data has surfaced regarding the ZEC market to date.

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

A planned dollar stablecoin backed by 21 global financial institutions will begin with regulatory resources, corporate relationships, and international payment connections. Four industry executives told crypto.news, however, that institutional backing will not guarantee adoption unless the token can match the liquidity, accessibility and portability already offered by USDT and USDC.

Summary

The 21-member consortium plans to launch its dollar stablecoin during the first half of 2027. Experts said established banking relationships could help the token gain early institutional distribution. Interoperability, wallet support, and reliable redemption will determine whether it circulates beyond member banks. The consortium must identify who carries legal responsibility for reserves, redemptions, and transaction failures. USDT and USDC could lose market share even as bank-issued tokens expand the overall stablecoin market. The consortium committed to forming a new stablecoin company during the second half of 2026, subject to closing conditions. Its members include Bank of America, Citi, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, UBS, and other financial institutions across North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

The unnamed venture intends to launch a US dollar-denominated stablecoin during the first half of 2027. It may later introduce stablecoins tied to other G7 currencies, with a euro-denominated token listed as its first expansion priority.

The consortium has not disclosed the token’s name, supported blockchains, reserve custodian, governance model, or redemption process. Those details could determine whether the product becomes a widely used payment instrument or remains primarily a settlement token within the institutions’ existing networks.

21-bank stablecoin starts with a distribution advantage Utkarsh Ahuja, founder and managing partner at Moon Pursuit Capital, told crypto.news that the consortium starts with relationships that normally take new financial products years to develop.

The participating institutions already serve corporate treasury departments, process international payments, and operate compliance systems across several jurisdictions. According to Ahuja, those connections could make it easier to introduce the stablecoin into existing corporate workflows, particularly for cross-border settlement.

“The banks start with something that normally takes a financial product years to build: distribution into the companies that actually move very large amounts of money.”

Ahuja cautioned that established relationships do not provide the portability that USDT and USDC have built across exchanges, wallets, blockchains, and market makers. The consortium could bring corporate clients to the token, he said, but convincing those clients to use it outside the participating banks’ network will be more difficult.

Jerald David, CEO of Lynq Network, said the initiative has both offensive and defensive motives. It could open new blockchain payment revenue for the institutions while protecting payment activity and commercial balances from migrating to non-bank stablecoin issuers.

Stablecoin issuers can earn income from the assets held against circulating tokens, including short-term government debt. When deposits move from banks into stablecoins, part of the balance and its associated economics can move with them.

David said a shared token would allow the institutions to enter blockchain payments through a framework over which they retain greater control. However, he warned that scale alone would not make the proposed token more attractive than established alternatives.

USDT and USDC currently benefit from years of integration. A recent crypto.news analysis of stablecoin distribution placed the wider market at approximately $316 billion in mid-2026, with USDT accounting for about $187 billion and USDC representing roughly $75 billion.

Interoperability will decide whether the token circulates David described issuance as the easier part of the project. Businesses will also need reliable ways to move between the consortium’s stablecoin, existing stablecoins, tokenized deposits and conventional bank accounts.

“Interoperability will be more important than issuance,” David said.

“If capital can enter the token easily but cannot move out or across networks just as efficiently, the consortium risks creating another isolated pool of liquidity.”

Such interoperability would require dependable minting and redemption, custody arrangements, market makers, and settlement infrastructure connecting different forms of digital and conventional money. An institution receiving the new token must be able to redeem it for dollars or exchange it without facing long delays, high spreads, or limited trading depth.

Alvin Kan, chief operating officer of Bitget Wallet, told crypto.news that self-custodial wallets would examine the token’s entire user journey before supporting it. Relevant functions include holding, transferring, swapping, and spending the stablecoin.

Wallet providers would need audited smart contracts, transparent issuance and redemption processes, and consistent technical standards across every supported blockchain, according to Kan. They would also need to know whether tokens are issued natively on each network or transferred through bridges.

Kan said native mint-and-burn systems or coordinated cross-chain issuance would generally be preferable to wrapped assets because they could reduce bridge risks and prevent liquidity from being split among several representations of the same stablecoin.

Wallets could use intent-based routing and liquidity aggregation to shield users from some of that complexity. However, Kan said wallets cannot eliminate fragmentation without cooperation from issuers, banks, and liquidity providers.

“Ultimately, interoperability will matter more than how many bank tokens get issued. The winning infrastructure will make multiple tokens feel like one connected financial system.”

Gas abstraction could remove another obstacle. Users may be less willing to adopt a dollar stablecoin if they must first acquire a separate blockchain token to pay network fees whenever they transfer or spend it.

The same problem applies to identity verification. Kan said reusable credentials or privacy-preserving attestations could allow users to demonstrate that they have completed required checks without repeating the full process for every issuer. Different regulatory requirements would still apply across jurisdictions, meaning one universal identity credential is unlikely to resolve every compliance issue.

Bank backing does not guarantee stablecoin adoption Waseem Salim, CEO of Valdora, told crypto.news that an established issuer can provide initial trust, but utility determines whether people continue to hold and use a stablecoin.

Société Générale offers an example of the difference between institutional backing and circulation. Its digital asset subsidiary launched USD CoinVertible on Ethereum and Solana in 2025. Despite its connection to a major global bank, official SG-FORGE data showed approximately $12.55 million of the stablecoin in circulation as of Sept. 4.

“A strong name helps, but people won’t adopt a stablecoin just because there’s a bank behind it,” Salim said. “They need a reason to actually use and hold it.”

According to Salim, users will consider whether the token works with their existing wallets and preferred networks, whether sufficient liquidity is available, and how easily they can redeem it. They will also examine what they can do after acquiring it.

Possible advantages include cheaper cross-border settlement, direct integration with corporate bank accounts, and access to tokenized financial products. Those benefits would need to be substantial enough to compete with USDT and USDC integrations and the familiarity of conventional deposits.

Kan similarly described adoption as utility-driven. Institutional reputation could attract users who value regulated redemption and established banking relationships, but the token would need to work across payments, swaps, merchant transactions and local cash-out services.

The last step could prove decisive. A stablecoin may move between blockchains within seconds, but Kan said much of that advantage disappears if recipients face high costs when converting it into reais, rupees or pesos.

The World Bank’s latest remittance pricing data puts the average cost of sending money internationally at 6.36% of the transferred amount. Bank-backed stablecoins could compete in those corridors if they reduce the complete delivered cost, including foreign-exchange spreads, network fees, redemption charges and local payout expenses.

Domestic conditions will also affect adoption. Kan said stablecoins must offer more than fast local transfers in markets already served by systems such as India’s UPI, Brazil’s Pix and SEPA Instant in Europe. Their stronger use cases in those regions may involve international commerce, multi-currency access and digital-asset settlement.

Reserves, redemption and liability will test trust The consortium’s size creates another question: which entity will ultimately stand behind the token?

David said businesses should not have to determine which of the 21 participating institutions is responsible when a redemption fails. He called for one clearly identified legal issuer, segregated and independently verified reserves, and defined obligations for the issuer, participating institutions, and infrastructure providers.

“Shared distribution is an advantage. Shared liability is not,” David said.

The consortium has said it intends to comply with the US GENIUS Act and the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework where applicable. The GENIUS Act established requirements covering one-to-one reserves, disclosures, redemption, and permitted issuers, although US regulators were still completing implementation rules during 2026.

Kan said wallets would also require information about freezing powers, transfer restrictions, sanctions enforcement, and how compliance responsibilities are divided among the issuer, wallet, and fiat service providers. Such controls become more complex when tokens circulate across public blockchains and national borders.

Redemption risks could grow if the stablecoin becomes a gateway into tokenized investments. Salim warned that users must understand that yield does not appear merely because an asset is held onchain.

If returns come from business lending, government securities, or market strategies, platforms should identify the underlying source, asset manager, custodian, and counterparties. They should also explain how quickly the assets can be sold and what happens if a borrower defaults.

Salim said those arrangements differ from interest earned on a bank deposit because the legal relationship, custody model, liquidity, and protections may not be the same.

Platforms could also create a mismatch if users expect immediate stablecoin withdrawals while the underlying capital is invested in assets that trade during limited hours or take longer to sell. Salim said providers may need liquid reserves, staggered maturities, redemption windows, or withdrawal queues aligned with the underlying assets.

USDT and USDC may face competition as the market expands Ahuja expects a bank-issued dollar stablecoin to place more immediate pressure on USDC in institutional markets where Circle and major banks could compete for the same corporate balances.

If companies transfer balances into the new stablecoin, the reserves and income generated from those assets would move with them. However, Ahuja said USDT occupies a different position because much of its demand comes from markets where access to US banking services remains limited or inefficient.

The consortium’s Western banking relationships would not automatically replicate Tether’s reach in those regions. USDT is widely used on exchanges and in markets where people seek access to dollars outside conventional banking channels.

Competition may also enlarge the market rather than redistribute a fixed amount of stablecoin activity. Banks could bring corporate transactions onchain that currently do not use USDT, USDC, or any public blockchain.

Ahuja said Tether and Circle could therefore lose percentage share while their circulation and transaction volumes continue growing. He recommended examining the composition of stablecoin activity rather than relying solely on market-share figures.

The effects could extend beyond the issuers. A market containing bank stablecoins, tokenized deposits, USDT, USDC, and tokens tied to other currencies would increase demand for companies connecting those pools.

Ahuja identified liquidity providers, payment infrastructure, custody services, compliance tools, and blockchain networks as potential beneficiaries. Tokenized-asset platforms could also gain if regulated digital cash allows funds and securities to settle on the same infrastructure.

David said the consortium’s traction should ultimately be measured through active business users, recurring settlement, redemption performance during market stress, and acceptance outside the 21 participating institutions. Large transaction volumes alone could reflect a small group of members moving capital among themselves.

The consortium’s banking relationships could put its token in front of corporate users quickly. The four executives nevertheless agreed that liquidity, interoperability and external acceptance, not the number of institutions behind it, will determine whether the stablecoin becomes a genuine rival to USDT and USDC.

One Route, No Manual Bridging@injective announced on Thursday that users can now swap native $INJ or native $USDC directly into any token on Robinhood Chain through Jumper (@jumperapp), including meme coins and tokenized stocks, with all bridging and swapping handled behind the scenes. According to @injective, the integration delivers the lowest fees and fastest speeds, removing the need for users to manage separate steps across different platforms.

Jumper is the consumer-facing application built on LI.FI's cross-chain aggregation layer. LI.FI's multi-chain routing network supports seamless bridging, swapping, and depositing of $INJ and native $USDC, connecting Injective to over 60 blockchains and more than 1,000 applications. @RobinhoodCrypto has been supported on Jumper since Robinhood Chain's mainnet launch, and @injective went live on the platform last week.

CASHCAT and the Robinhood Chain Ecosystem@injective specifically called out $CASHCAT in its announcement, nodding to the token that has become the breakout asset on Robinhood Chain. Cash Cat is a community-driven meme token native to Robinhood Chain, created around the historical lore that the trading platform Robinhood was originally conceived under the name "Cash Cat." The project is explicitly not affiliated with Robinhood the company. On-chain data shows that CASHCAT surged 1,700% in 24 hours at its peak, reaching a $120 million market cap.

Beyond meme tokens, Robinhood Chain also hosts tokenized shares of US stocks, and the Jumper integration gives $INJ holders a direct route into that entire ecosystem. Injective is a layer-1 chain built specifically for finance, with a focus on decentralized trading, tokenization, and cross-chain interoperability. The aggregation layer identifies the most efficient path automatically, so traders no longer need to source a bridge separately before accessing Robinhood Chain tokens.

Sources:
LI.FI integrates Injective, Blockchain.News
CASHCAT surges 1,700% on Robinhood Chain, KuCoin
Injective Protocol INJ overview, Crypto Briefing

PANews, September 3 - Circle and the decentralized perpetual contract trading platform edgeX jointly announced that when the Arc mainnet launches on September 16, edgeX will become Arc's flagship perp and will provide 24/7 FX trading on the first day of the mainnet. The two parties will work together to drive the development of Arc's on-chain foreign exchange and global asset trading markets.

On the first day of the mainnet launch, edgeX will be the first to offer a USD/JPY perpetual contract supporting 24/7 trading, and will launch more than 150 perpetual contract markets covering U.S. stocks, commodities, and crypto assets. All markets will use Arc-native USDC as margin and settlement assets.

Arc is a Layer 1 blockchain built by Circle for stablecoin finance, specifically designed for stablecoin finance, with a built-in FX engine (StableFX), an institutional-grade RFQ system, and 24/7 on-chain PvP settlement, using USDC as the native gas token.

edgeX is invested in by Circle Ventures and will exclusively launch the FX perp market for Arc Chain this time. edgeX is a globally leading centralized perpetual contract exchange by trading volume, with cumulative trading volume exceeding 900B since launch. Users can trade perpetual contracts on U.S. stocks, commodities, foreign exchange, and crypto assets 24/7. Previously, the Circle and edgeX teams have already cooperated on native USDC issuance and CCTP integration on EDGE Chain. This cooperation will further combine Circle's capabilities in stablecoin financial infrastructure with edgeX's experience in on-chain trading to jointly expand 24/7 global asset trading scenarios.

In the future, the two parties plan to gradually add more mainstream FX trading pairs based on market demand and liquidity conditions, and explore non-USD stablecoin margin and on-chain FX spot markets.

Circle and OKX have expanded their USDC partnership to increase the stablecoin’s liquidity and use across spot, margin and futures markets on the crypto exchange.

Summary

Circle and OKX are expanding USDC liquidity and trading access across spot, margin and futures markets. Eligible OKX users will have more ways to trade in USDC denominated markets under the expanded partnership. OKX has launched a USDC Margin Growth Program offering qualifying users a monthly 100 USDC reward funded by Circle. The latest move extends an existing partnership that has covered USD to USDC conversions and native USDC support on OKX’s X Layer. Circle said on Sept. 2 that the companies are working together to give eligible OKX users more access to USDC-denominated trading markets, extending an existing relationship between the stablecoin issuer and the exchange.

Circle 🤝 @OKX

Circle and OKX are working together to expand USDC liquidity and trading utility across OKX.

The collaboration supports broader access to USDC-denominated markets across spot, margin, and futures trading.

As digital asset markets scale, trusted dollar stablecoin… pic.twitter.com/lEkCvIMPz3

— Circle (@circle) September 1, 2026 The latest collaboration covers spot trading as well as leveraged products through margin and futures markets. Circle described trusted dollar stablecoin liquidity as part of the trading infrastructure needed as digital asset markets scale.

Specific USDC trading pairs covered by the latest announcement were not disclosed. Circle did not provide a timetable for further market additions or identify the regions where every product would be available, with access subject to user eligibility.

The announcement comes alongside a new OKX and Circle incentive program designed to encourage traders to hold and use USDC on the exchange.

Circle and OKX expand USDC trading access OKX launched its USDC Margin Growth Program with Circle on Sept. 1, offering qualifying users a monthly 100 USDC cash reward funded by Circle.

Under the program, users must opt in, hold at least 20,000 USDC in their OKX Trading Account for 17 consecutive days during a calendar month and record more than 1,000 USDC in single-side trading volume across eligible spot, futures or margin USDC pairs.

Up to 4,000 users can qualify each month on a first-come, first-served basis. OKX said qualifying rewards are settled within seven days after the end of each month.

The trading push extends a relationship between the two companies that previously focused on moving funds between traditional dollars, USDC and blockchain networks.

In July 2025, Circle and OKX introduced zero-fee USDC conversions between USDC and the U.S. dollar. The arrangement allowed users to convert USD into USDC and back at a 1:1 rate through OKX.

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said at the time that demand for USDC was coming from businesses and individuals adopting dollar-denominated digital money. OKX President Hong Fang described the integration as part of the exchange’s work to make access to digital assets easier.

USDC infrastructure has expanded across OKX The companies moved their cooperation further onchain in August when Circle brought native USDC and its Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol to X Layer, the Ethereum-compatible layer 2 network developed by OKX.

As crypto.news previously reported, the Aug. 7 integration gave developers and businesses access to USDC issued natively by Circle instead of relying only on tokens bridged from another blockchain.

Circle’s CCTP lets users move USDC between supported blockchains through a burn-and-mint process instead of locking tokens into conventional bridges and issuing wrapped representations on destination networks.

At the time of the X Layer launch, native USDC was supported across 36 networks, while CCTP connected 26 blockchains. Qualified businesses could access USDC issuance and redemption on X Layer through Circle Mint.

The infrastructure can be used for transfers, settlements, lending and decentralized applications, extending the companies’ cooperation beyond OKX’s centralized exchange.

USDC access has been developing differently across OKX’s regional operations as exchanges adjust their stablecoin offerings to local rules.

In Europe, OKX opened a USDT-to-USDC conversion route in July for customers across 30 EU and European Economic Area countries. Eligible customers can deposit USDT and convert it into USDC, which is supported under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework.

OKX Europe operates under a MiCA license and restricts trading in USDT for European customers. USDC and Paxos-issued USDG remain supported stablecoin options on the platform.

The exchange temporarily paused USDC deposits and withdrawals through Solana in July for scheduled wallet maintenance while keeping related trading services operational. The Solana USDC suspension applied only to transfers through that network and did not amount to a platform-wide pause in USDC trading.

Circle has pushed USDC deeper into trading platforms Circle has pursued similar arrangements with other trading and financial platforms as it expands the places where USDC can be used for collateral, settlement and trading.

In May, Circle deepened its relationship with Hyperliquid by becoming the technical deployment partner for USDC on the decentralized trading platform. USDC continued serving as a primary collateral and quote asset across Hyperliquid’s trading ecosystem, while Circle provided infrastructure for minting, redemption and cross-chain transfers.

Circle later moved approximately 4.397 billion USDC through HyperEVM to a Coinbase-linked address. Blockchain analytics firm Arkham described the USDC transfer to Coinbase as the largest USDC transaction recorded at the time.

Coinbase had become Hyperliquid’s USDC treasury deployer under its Aligned Quote Asset framework, while Circle handled technical infrastructure supporting USDC movement across networks.

Circle’s relationship with Coinbase remains another major distribution channel for the stablecoin. During its second-quarter earnings call in August, the company said its USDC collaboration agreement with Coinbase had renewed on existing terms for another three years, extending the arrangement into 2029.

USDC circulation stood at $73.3 billion at the end of the second quarter, up 19% from a year earlier. Circle reported $701 million in quarterly revenue and reserve income, while roughly 30% of circulating USDC was held on Coinbase’s platform at the end of June.

Circle said at the time that it worked with more than 150 partners that had economic incentives to integrate, distribute or support USDC across exchanges, wallets, payment applications and other financial platforms.

Felix Pago, a stablecoin remittance platform operating primarily in Latin America, has secured $200 million in Series B funding. The round consists of $87 million in equity and $113 million in credit, as the company looks to widen its suite of financial products and services.

Funding Led by Leading Venture FirmsAndreessen Horowitz, known as a16z, led the equity portion of the funding round, while General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund extended the credit facility. The latest financing round highlights growing investor interest in companies leveraging blockchain technology for cross-border payments beyond the traditional cryptocurrency trading sphere.

Felix Pago currently facilitates payments primarily from the US to Mexico, using stablecoins as the infrastructure for remittances. The platform uses WhatsApp as its customer interface, allowing users to easily send funds, while settlements are completed quickly via the USDC stablecoin and blockchain technology.

This model aims to make cross-border money transfers not just faster, but also potentially less expensive for migrant workers and families compared to traditional remittance services.

Focus on Expansion and New Financial ServicesFollowing the Series B raise, Felix Pago plans to extend its operations into new markets. The company also intends to broaden its product suite, with ambitions to develop lending and savings products in addition to its current remittance service. According to reports shared by Wu Blockchain and attributed to Bloomberg, Felix Pago has already processed over $8 billion in remittances.

In addition, Felix Pago is reportedly working on an AI-driven financial assistant to further enhance customer experience and lead its stablecoin-based network toward a more integrated financial services platform.

Mini dictionary: Felix Pago is a financial technology company specializing in cross-border remittances using stablecoins and blockchain infrastructure. It focuses on simplifying global money transfers and is known for integrating popular messaging platforms like WhatsApp as a transaction interface.

The platform’s reliance on USDC highlights the growing presence of this specific stablecoin in real-world payment applications. USDC, issued by Circle, is a fully-backed digital dollar designed for stability and used increasingly for both trading and cross-border transfers.

RoundAmountLead InvestorTypeSeries B$200 millionAndreessen HorowitzEquity + Credit$87 millionAndreessen Horowitz (a16z)Equity$113 millionGeneral CatalystCredit FacilityOutlook for Stablecoin AdoptionFelix Pago’s new funding places it among a growing number of companies using stablecoins as critical payment infrastructure, moving beyond mere digital currency trading. Investors and industry observers are closely watching whether such efforts will encourage wider adoption of stablecoins like USDC across the mainstream financial sector.

Key metrics that market participants are monitoring include Felix Pago’s transaction growth, entry into lending and savings, and the broader uptake of similar blockchain-based settlement mechanisms by other fintech players.

Felix Pago has processed over $8 billion in remittances and is now targeting expansion into lending, savings, and AI-driven financial services, seeking to leverage its stablecoin-based platform for broader financial integration.

The successful fundraising confirms the expanding role of stablecoins as both assets and payment infrastructure. With plans to increase its product offerings, Felix Pago could help determine the scale at which stablecoin-powered remittance platforms may penetrate conventional financial markets.

The USDC Treasury minted 130,724,040 USDC, valued at approximately $130.76 million, in a single transaction tracked by on-chain monitoring service Whale Alert. The mint is one piece of a much larger wave of issuance: Circle executed roughly $5 billion in gross USDC minting during the week ending August 26, 2026.

What is actually happening when USDC gets minted An institution deposits dollars into a Circle reserve account, Circle verifies the funds, and new USDC tokens are created on-chain in an equivalent amount. Circle backs every USDC token with reserves held predominantly in short-duration US Treasuries and cash equivalents. Total reserves currently sit at around $74 billion, comfortably covering the circulating supply of just over $73 billion.

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Solana has emerged as the primary destination for new supply. Multiple individual minting events of $250 million each occurred on the network during the same week, combining to roughly $1.25 billion minted on Solana alone.

Why institutions keep reaching for on-chain dollars Hyperliquid offers a concrete example. Circle plays a technical support role for Hyperliquid’s $5 billion USDC reserve, meaning that platform alone represents a meaningful slice of total circulating supply.

What a $73B circulating supply means for the broader market USDC crossing $73 billion in circulating market cap represents a sustained expansion of dollar liquidity available inside crypto markets. From a competitive standpoint, USDC’s growth trajectory keeps it in a direct contest with Tether’s USDT for dominance in the stablecoin market. Circle’s decision to concentrate new issuance on Solana is also worth watching as a signal about which blockchain ecosystems institutional capital views as viable infrastructure. The $5 billion weekly gross issuance figure suggests that inflow is not a one-week anomaly but part of a durable trend worth tracking through on-chain data as the year progresses.

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

Circle, the digital payments firm behind the USDC stablecoin, has reached a sponsorship agreement with Chelsea Football Club that will see its branding featured on players’ jerseys during the 2026/2027 season.

Deal details and regulatory contextThe partnership was announced just months after the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) raised concerns regarding sponsorship deals between football clubs and unauthorized financial companies, including those in the crypto sector. In early 2024, the FCA sent warning letters to several Premier League clubs, possibly including Chelsea, cautioning them about arrangements that could expose fans to unregulated financial products and potential legal breaches.

The FCA urged clubs to ensure that collaborations do not allow dubious or unauthorized firms to leverage club loyalty for promoting speculative or unregulated financial offerings to a massive audience. Lucy Castledine, director of consumer investments at the FCA, emphasized,

“Millions of football fans trust their club’s badge. Clubs should not let unauthorised financial firms exploit that loyalty by putting potentially dodgy products in front of millions of fans.”

The FCA serves as the United Kingdom’s chief financial conduct regulator. Its role encompasses protecting consumers, supervising financial markets, and enforcing regulations to maintain integrity within the financial system.

Mini dictionary: Circle, a US-based financial technology company, is known for issuing the USDC stablecoin—one of the most widely used dollar-pegged digital currencies. Chelsea Football Club is a prominent professional football team competing in the English Premier League.

Circle UK Trading Limited, a registered local arm of Circle, has been authorized under the FCA since 2018 to provide specific financial services to those residing in the United Kingdom. While stablecoins such as USDC can be legally used in the UK, comprehensive digital asset regulation is still being developed by lawmakers.

USDC’s regulatory status in the UKAlthough Circle highlighted that USDC is “issued by certain regulated affiliates,” the company clarified that the stablecoin is neither issued nor regulated under United Kingdom law. Policymakers in the UK are in the process of introducing more defined rules surrounding digital assets, including stablecoins, to bolster consumer protections and market oversight.

In light of the FCA’s previously issued warnings to Premier League clubs, the collaboration between Circle and Chelsea is expected to come under detailed review to ensure compliance with existing regulations. There was no immediate response from either Circle or the FCA regarding additional comments or clarifications on the deal.

This sponsorship aligns with Circle’s wider efforts to expand USDC’s visibility and adoption internationally, leveraging the global popularity of football. Meanwhile, Chelsea continues to partner with major brands across various sectors to reinforce its commercial footprint in sports and entertainment.

Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has changed its position on stablecoin payments. 

On the sidelines of the Jackson Hole event, BIS head Pablo Hernández de Cos reiterated that stablecoins are not a credible payment method at scale compared to tokenized deposits (bank-led wholesale alternatives). 

In particular, de Cos warned that U.S dollar stablecoins pose a risk to monetary sovereignty. 

The growing adoption of dollar-pegged stablecoins has also raised concerns in some jurisdictions about monetary sovereignty and the potential for digital dollarization.

According to him, the widespread adoption of USD-based stablecoins outside the U.S would weaken the local domestic monetary policy of most countries. 

Is BIS stablecoin risk valid or overblown? Currently, the USD-based stablecoins dominate over 90% of the market supply, led by Tether and Circle.

But they are issued by private tech firms and mostly used by retail and some businesses. Notably, there’s significant traction in some emerging markets with high demand for the U.S dollar or collapsed local currencies. 

Already, Tether’s USDT is widely used in most South American countries. In fact, Bolivia is considering making it a local tender. 

However, the BIS’s warning seems like a plausible risk that has been echoed by other analysts too. Austin Campbell, adjunct professor at Columbia Business School, shared a similar concern and noted, 

USD stablecoins will destroy 50%+ of currencies within 30 years.

Source: X For BIS, stablecoins have limited commercial use. Instead, the global financial institution, commonly known as the central bank for central banks, vouched for bank-issued alternatives (tokenized deposits). 

The BIS head de Cos believes tokenized deposits eliminate the inherent risk against sovereign monetary control associated with stablecoins. 

Tokenised deposits offer a more direct path to harness tokenisation while preserving the monetary system’s foundations.

That said, stablecoin transactions dropped by 37% this summer, declining from $1.8T at the end of June to $1.13T in August. In other words, broader adoption and traction eased slightly. 

Source: Visa Banks such as JPMorgan are already testing their tokenized deposits. Similarly, the ECB is pushing for central bank money to go on-chain, according to a Bloomberg report. Put differently, tokenized deposits and central-bank-issued money could hit the market soon. 

But it remains to be seen whether tokenized deposits will rival the already entrenched USD-stablecoins.

Final Summary BIS head reiterated the risk of USD-based stablecoins and downplayed their global scale of usage Stablecoin volume dropped 37% this summer, with August making its 3-month low since June. 

@injective has announced it is working with @circle and teams across the @cosmos ecosystem to move legacy $USDC versions onto the native issuance that Circle launched on Injective in May, with the broader migration now targeting September.

The legacy versions in scope include Noble-issued USDC and bridged variants that have circulated across Cosmos chains. The goal is to consolidate them onto a single, natively issued standard backed directly by Circle, removing the fragmentation that has long complicated stablecoin use across interchain applications.

How the native issuance works The foundation for this shift was laid on May 7, 2026, when native USDC and Circle's Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) went live on the Injective mainnet. CCTP allows USDC to move natively across blockchains, meaning tokens are burned on the source chain and minted on the destination chain rather than locked in a bridge contract. It was also Circle's first MultiVM issuance of the token.

The integration was intended to ensure continued USDC availability across Cosmos chains after Noble announced its migration plans to a dedicated EVM Layer 1 and positioned its Cosmos SDK chain into maintenance mode. By taking over that position, Injective is expected to absorb more than $100 million in stablecoin issuance connected to the ecosystem.

Cosmos Hub commitment and rollout Four days after launch, the Cosmos Hub adopted the Injective issuance as the ecosystem's reference USDC under a minimum four-year commitment, with Skip:Go set to treat it as the default USDC denomination. Cosmos Hub, Cosmos Labs, and Skip Protocol confirmed that Injective-issued USDC will route through the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol.

The migration rolls out over the coming months, with dYdX going first, and Cosmos Labs coordinating the rollout for additional chains and applications across the ecosystem. Migration tools are also being prepared for chains and DeFi platforms transitioning from previous USDC liquidity providers. For users, the frontend experience is expected to remain mostly unchanged.

A portion of fees generated from Injective USDC activity will also be allocated to programmatically buy back ATOM, the native token of the Cosmos Hub.

Sources
Injective: USDC Adopted by Cosmos and dYdX as Canonical Stablecoin Standard
Crypto Times: Cosmos Hub Adopts Injective USDC as Primary Stablecoin
Crypto Briefing: Injective Initiates Migration of Exchange dApps to USDC Standard

Lending protocol Moonwell lost an estimated $8.7 million to an exploit on Thursday. No smart contract was broken. An attacker simply made MAMO, a small Base token, look far more valuable than it is.

The inflated price let the attacker borrow real assets, including Coinbase Wrapped Bitcoin (cbBTC) and USD Coin (USDC). Security firm Blockaid caught the activity, and Moonwell froze new borrowing within hours.

How the Moonwell Exploit WorkedThe trick was price, not code. Blockaid reported that the attacker manipulated MAMO collateral pricing to drain cbBTC from Moonwell’s mCBTC market. Its first estimate showed 50.6 cbBTC gone, worth more than $4 million.

Blockaid’s Exploit Detection identified suspicious activity against @MoonwellDeFi on Base.
An attacker manipulated MAMO collateral pricing to borrow cbBTC from the mCBTC market.
Observed impact so far: 50.6 cbBTC ($4.0M+) drained
More details to follow. 🧵

— Blockaid (@blockaid_) August 27, 2026
MAMO is the token of Mamo, a yield tool built on Base. Every MAMO in existence is worth about $7.6 million combined, and the token trades near $0.011366. A market that small is cheap to pump.

MAMO Price Performance. Source: BeInCryptoThat was the whole attack. Pump MAMO on thin markets, post it as collateral at the fake price, and borrow assets with real value. Moonwell’s oracle, the system that feeds prices to the protocol, believed the pump.

Security firm PeckShield later put total losses at $8.7 million. That is more than the market value of every MAMO token. The firm said the funds now sit in the DAI stablecoin at a wallet starting with 0xD71d.

Borrow Caps Cut to One Wei as Recovery Questions BeginMoonwell acknowledged the incident in a post, indicating that they were already working to stop the bleeding.

“We are aware of an issue affecting the MAMO Core Market on Base and are actively investigating. As a precaution, borrow caps for all Core Markets on Base have been set to 1 wei, preventing new borrowing and limiting the potential for further impact,” the team wrote.

One wei is the smallest unit possible. The change blocks all new loans without touching withdrawals. Supply caps for MAMO and WELL, Moonwell’s governance token, also fell to one wei.

Thursday’s exploit is not a first. Bad prices, not bad code, keep costing Moonwell money. A wrsETH oracle malfunction created around $3.7 million in bad debt in November 2025. A cbETH oracle misconfiguration added $1.78 million more in February. Pricing failures have now cost the protocol over $14 million in ten months.

The wider sector shows the same weakness. Term Labs lost roughly $8.5 million to a governance exploit on Sunday. Analysts increasingly blame economic design failures rather than broken code for DeFi’s biggest losses.

Moonwell says another update is coming. Two numbers will tell the real story. The first is the final bad debt once MAMO’s price settles. The second is how much cbBTC and USDC remains for suppliers who want out.

Bernstein sees new USDC growth cycle, sets $140 Circle price targetLatest NewsPublishedAug 24, 2026

USDC supply increased by roughly $2 billion in seven days, with Bernstein citing higher transaction activity and several factors that could support further growth.

Analysts at Bernstein are bullish on stablecoin issuer Circle, arguing that a new growth cycle for its USDC stablecoin could provide a significant boost for the company over the next 12 months.

In a research note published Monday, Bernstein said USDC (USDC) is showing signs of what it called “digital dollar reflation” after its supply increased by roughly $2 billion in seven days, reversing a six-month stretch of stagnant or declining growth. The firm maintained an Outperform rating on Circle (CRCL) and a $140 price target, implying roughly 60% upside from current levels. Circle shares have risen roughly 40% over the past month.

Bernstein said the next phase of stablecoin growth could be driven by several factors, including renewed momentum in crypto markets, greater regulatory clarity in the United States, tokenized capital markets and growing adoption of stablecoins for payments. The analysts also pointed to early signs of stablecoin use in payments made by artificial intelligence agents.

Although USDC remains the second-largest dollar-backed stablecoin by market capitalization, well behind Tether’s USDt (USDT), it has gained significant ground in transaction activity. Bernstein said USDC’s share of adjusted stablecoin transaction volume rose from roughly 40% in 2025 to more than 60% so far in 2026, overtaking USDt by that measure.

Stablecoin transaction volume has grown significantly this year. Source: Bernstein

Circle’s volatile path since its IPOCircle shares have experienced significant swings since the company went public in June 2025. The stablecoin issuer priced its shares at $31 and raised roughly $1.1 billion in its initial public offering. After surging in the months following its debut, the stock had fallen back toward its IPO price by November 2025 as a broader crypto market downturn weighed on publicly traded companies with exposure to the sector.

In its most recent quarter, Circle reported $701 million in revenue and $48 million in net income, both up from a year earlier.

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.

Bernstein has maintained an Outperform rating and $140 price target on Circle Internet Group, implying about 59% upside after CRCL closed Friday at $87.98, as the brokerage expects USDC adoption to support the company even without passage of the CLARITY Act.

Summary

Bernstein maintained its Outperform rating and $140 Circle price target, implying about 59% upside from Friday’s close. USDC supply increased by about $1.7 billion over the past week after nearly six months of largely flat growth. Adjusted stablecoin transaction volume is tracking at a $17 trillion annualized rate through July, according to Bernstein. Bernstein said Circle’s growth cycle can continue even if the CLARITY Act does not pass in September. Circle said more than 900 paid services use Agent Stack, with 99.3% of x402 agent payment volume settling in USDC. Bernstein analysts led by Gautam Chhugani said in an Aug. 24 note that Circle’s next growth cycle does not depend on Congress passing the U.S. crypto market structure bill during the September session.

Circle shares gained more than 5% on Aug. 21 before closing at $87.98, according to Yahoo Finance data. The $140 target would put the stock about 59% above Friday’s closing price, although it remains below Bernstein’s previous $190 target from earlier this year.

Chhugani’s team tied its outlook to several sources of demand, including stablecoin payments, blockchain-based capital markets, tokenized assets and payments made by autonomous software agents.

The analysts also pointed to changes in global liquidity conditions. Bernstein said Bitcoin has benefited from demand for scarce assets while stablecoins have become another destination for dollars as the U.S. Treasury issues more short-term government debt.

USDC supply has started expanding again After spending almost six months largely flat, USDC supply increased by about $1.7 billion during the past week, according to Bernstein.

The brokerage said USDC has become an important collateral asset across decentralized finance, tokenized equities, prediction markets and perpetual futures tied to real-world assets. Bernstein estimated that Circle’s stablecoin accounts for about 80% of decentralized exchange trading and finance volumes.

Stablecoin activity outside speculative trading is also expanding, according to the firm. Adjusted transaction volume, which Bernstein said excludes bots and high-frequency activity, reached about $11 trillion during 2025 and was running at an annualized pace of roughly $17 trillion through July 2026.

That pace represented an increase of about 60% from a year earlier, according to the brokerage.

Circle has also been expanding the institutional infrastructure through which businesses can use USDC. In July, crypto.news reported Circle received approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish Circle National Trust, a federally supervised national trust bank.

The approval allows the institution to provide digital asset custody services and could eventually place management of reserves backing USDC within the federally regulated entity, according to Circle.

Institutional access has expanded through banks and digital asset infrastructure providers as well. Circle said during its second-quarter results that Standard Chartered had introduced direct USDC minting and redemption access for institutional customers.

A separate July integration also brought USDC settlement through Fireblocks, allowing institutions to manage USDC balances across supported blockchains and route payments into local fiat currencies through Circle Payments Network.

Fireblocks said stablecoins accounted for 69% of transaction volume across its platform during the second quarter, while Circle said its Payments Network reached $14.7 billion in annualized transaction volume at the end of the quarter.

Circle sees agent payments as another USDC market Machine-to-machine payments form another part of Bernstein’s Circle thesis, with the analysts pointing to USDC’s early lead in payments made through the x402 protocol.

Circle launched Agent Stack in May as infrastructure that allows software agents to hold assets, discover services and make programmable payments.

By the second quarter, Circle said the platform had more than 900 paid services, while 99.3% of x402 agent-payment volume was settling in USDC.

Independent data has also shown heavy USDC use in the category. A Keyrock report covered in May found that AI agents had settled $73 million across 176 million transactions over 12 months, with USDC handling 98.6% of those payments.

Circle has built Agent Wallets, an agent marketplace and nanopayment tools around the same use case. The company said Agent Stack lets developers set spending limits, allowlists and other controls while permitting agents to make USDC transactions without requiring a human to approve each payment.

For Bernstein, adoption of such services could create another source of stablecoin transaction demand outside cryptocurrency trading.

CLARITY Act outcome does not change Bernstein’s Circle thesis Regulation remains one of the largest variables for Circle because U.S. lawmakers are still negotiating how stablecoin rewards and digital asset market structure should work.

Bernstein said the outcome of the CLARITY Act would not materially change its investment case.

“We believe, this growth cycle is independent of the Clarity Act passing in the September session,” the analysts wrote.

The brokerage said failure to secure Senate support during the expected Sept. 15 vote could prompt the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission to take a larger role in providing regulatory guidance.

“We believe, the SEC/CFTC intervention would accelerate if the Senate does not support Clarity in the Sept. 15 vote,” Bernstein said.

Stablecoin rewards remain one of the contested parts of the legislation. Under the scenario outlined by Bernstein, failure of the bill would leave third-party reward programs operating under the existing model.

If the legislation passes, the analysts expect rewards to become more closely tied to customer activity instead of payments simply for holding an idle stablecoin balance.

Bernstein views either structure as workable for USDC.

Its view has remained consistent even as the language around stablecoin incentives has changed. In May, Bernstein backed Circle’s regulatory position after lawmakers advanced language that restricted deposit-like yield on passive stablecoin balances.

At the time, the brokerage said such restrictions could prevent stablecoin issuers from competing mainly by paying higher returns to token holders, reducing pressure on Circle to enter what the analysts described as an interest-rate competition.

Banking groups have since pushed lawmakers to tighten the rules further. Several U.S. banking organizations urged Senate leaders in July to revise provisions dealing with stablecoin rewards, arguing that some structures could still function like interest-bearing accounts.

Circle faces competition as payment infrastructure expands Bernstein’s bullish call comes as Circle faces increased competition from other regulated stablecoin models.

Open USD has emerged as one challenge because its consortium structure distributes part of the reserve economics to participating companies, creating a different model from Circle’s approach of earning income from the assets backing USDC.

Mizuho downgraded Circle to Underperform in July and cut its target to $50, citing pressure that Open USD could place on Circle’s margins.

Circle President Heath Tarbert later defended the company’s position, arguing that USDC’s liquidity, existing integrations and regulatory infrastructure would be difficult for new competitors to reproduce quickly.

Circle has continued adding payment partners while competition develops. Its agreement with Japan’s JCB, announced in July, includes tests of USDC for corporate treasury transfers before possible use in merchant payments, while separate partnerships with Kakao and Toss are examining stablecoin settlement and programmable payments in South Korea.

USDC also entered BNY’s Digital Asset Custody platform in June, allowing institutional customers to mint, redeem, hold, and transfer the stablecoin through the bank.

Bernstein disclosed that Chhugani holds long positions in several cryptocurrencies and that the brokerage or its affiliates have maintained investment banking or other business relationships with Circle during the past 12 months.

A Hyperliquid user has lost about 550,000 USDC after a Google sponsored advertisement directed the victim to a fake version of the decentralized trading platform, with investigators linking the theft infrastructure to the Inferno drainer ecosystem.

Summary

A Hyperliquid user lost about 550,000 USDC after clicking a Google sponsored ad for a fake website. Salus linked the attack infrastructure to the Inferno drainer ecosystem. The backend automatically split the stolen funds among addresses tied to the operation. Groups linked to the infrastructure were connected to about $52.74 million in losses. Blockchain security firm Salus said in an Aug. 24 post on X that the theft took place on Aug. 13 and involved a counterfeit Hyperliquid website promoted through paid Google search results. After tracing the stolen funds and reviewing the infrastructure behind the page, the firm said it connected the operation to a professional drainer-as-a-service network associated with Inferno.

On August 13, 2026, a fake Hyperliquid website promoted through Google sponsored ads caused a victim to lose 550k USDC.

After cross-checking the subsequent fund flows, we confirmed that the case involved professional drainer-as-a-service infrastructure closely linked to the…

— Salus (@salus_sec) August 24, 2026 Hyperliquid phishing case used automated theft infrastructure Salus said its undercover investigation found that the service solicited customers through the Telegram account @AngelFernoOwner. The operator advertised tools including malicious scripts, administrative panels, approval-command generation, one-time contract deployment, automated draining, cross-chain withdrawals, token swaps, and fund consolidation.

The service also offered “automated revenue sharing,” according to the security firm, allowing proceeds from successful phishing attacks to be divided among participants without manual transfers.

In the Hyperliquid case, Salus attributed separate roles to the phishing group and the backend service. The group bought the sponsored advertisements, deployed the spoofed Hyperliquid entry point, and supplied the address designated to receive the proceeds. Once the victim approved the malicious transaction and the funds were taken, the infrastructure handled the split automatically.

According to Salus, address 0x98b276…13C55 received 80% of the proceeds, while 0x93b6B2…1d6D1 received 15% and 0x6fE314…B566 received 5%. A fourth address, 0x9bcd…9104a, executed the drain.

Earlier reporting on the Aug. 13 incident showed roughly 550,019 USDC moving in three transfers of about 440,015 USDC, 82,503 USDC and 27,501 USDC to addresses identified by security researchers as attacker-controlled. Google later suspended the advertiser linked to the reported campaign, according to reports published after the theft.

Drainer-as-a-service model provides ready-made phishing tools The setup described by Salus follows a model in which phishing operators can use ready-made wallet-draining infrastructure while concentrating on advertising, fake websites, and victim targeting.

As crypto.news explained in July 2026, wallet drainer services are built around malicious approvals that allow an attacker-controlled contract to transfer tokens after a user signs a transaction. The report also described drainer-as-a-service operations as an industry in which developers supply malicious software and share stolen proceeds with affiliates who bring in victims.

Such infrastructure can separate the visible phishing campaign from the software used to process approvals and move assets. In the latest case, Salus said the advertised package covered both the initial draining tools and later stages such as cross-chain withdrawals, swaps, consolidation, and profit distribution.

Inferno has been tied to other large approval-phishing cases. A May 2026 Coinbase lawsuit report covered an anonymous investor who alleged that about $55 million in DAI was stolen in August 2024 after the victim interacted with a fake login page. The complaint said the attacker used Inferno Drainer, while blockchain security firm Zero Shadow later traced part of the stolen assets to a Coinbase retail account.

Salus links infrastructure to $52.74 million in losses Tracing beyond the Hyperliquid victim, Salus said groups connected to the infrastructure were linked to approximately $52.74 million in total losses across multiple phishing incidents.

One of the largest cases cited by the firm involved the attacker behind the September 2025 UXLINK exploit. On Sept. 23, 2025, the attacker later became the victim of an approval-phishing attack that moved roughly 542 million UXLINK tokens.

A September 2025 UXLINK phishing report said ScamSniffer detected a malicious increaseAllowance approval that enabled phishing addresses to drain more than $43 million worth of UXLINK at the time. SlowMist founder Yu Xian said the theft was likely carried out by Inferno Drainer using an authorization-phishing method.

The phishing incident followed the original UXLINK compromise one day earlier. Attackers had exploited a delegateCall vulnerability in the project’s multi-signature wallet, obtained administrator privileges, and moved about $11.3 million in assets, while unauthorized token minting caused further disruption. The later phishing theft removed hundreds of millions of UXLINK from the exploiter’s own wallet.

Salus also linked the infrastructure to an April 15, 2026 incident involving CoW.fi. According to the security firm, the protocol’s official domain was hijacked, and one associated victim lost about 316,000 USDC.

A third incident cited by Salus occurred on July 9, when a suspected fake decentralized application or fake airdrop prompted a malicious approval that resulted in the theft of 999,999 USDT. ScamSniffer had reported the transaction, according to the firm’s account of the case.

Evidence and high-risk addresses sent for action The Hyperliquid case follows other phishing operations in which attackers copied recognizable crypto brands and used familiar online services or development platforms to place malicious pages in front of potential victims.

A March 2026 OpenClaw phishing report described attackers creating fake GitHub accounts and cloned websites before directing developers to malicious wallet-connection prompts. OX Security said the campaign used obfuscated code and targeted users with fake token offers, although no confirmed victims had been reported at the time.

For the Aug. 13 Hyperliquid theft, Salus said its investigation covered the subsequent fund flows, the service infrastructure and the accounts used to recruit phishing operators. The firm said all supporting evidence, identified high-risk addresses and related intelligence had been formally submitted to relevant organizations for risk labeling and coordinated action.

USDT added roughly 1.6 million new holders over the past week, dwarfing USDC’s 591,100 new holders during the same stretch. That’s a nearly 3-to-1 ratio, and it tells you everything about where stablecoin adoption is actually happening right now.

The numbers land at a moment when the broader stablecoin market has cooled from its May 2026 peak. Yet Tether’s user base keeps expanding like it didn’t get the memo. The company’s cumulative holder count crossed 650 million by the end of Q2 2026, with quarterly additions consistently topping 30 million users.

The scale gap keeps widening Tether’s market cap sits at approximately $183 billion as of mid-August 2026. USDC, by comparison, ranges between $72 billion and $74 billion. Put differently, USDT is about 2.5 times larger than its closest competitor by total supply.

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Tether’s financial position helps explain the confidence. The company posted approximately $1.5 billion in net operating profit for Q2 2026, backed by excess reserves of around $4.1 billion.

As of June 30, 2026, USDT in circulation stood at roughly 184.6 billion tokens.

Where each stablecoin wins USDC has frequently led in on-chain transaction volume metrics, meaning the tokens that do exist tend to move around more actively. That’s partly a function of its deep integration with DeFi protocols and its reputation as the “compliance-first” stablecoin. Institutional desks and regulated platforms often prefer USDC precisely because it plays well with auditors and regulators.

Europe’s MiCA framework has given USDC an additional edge in certain jurisdictions. Several European exchanges have tilted toward MiCA-compliant tokens, which has created favorable conditions for Circle’s stablecoin in that region.

Tether’s strength runs in a different direction entirely. Its growth is disproportionately concentrated in emerging markets, where users care less about regulatory pedigree and more about access to dollar-denominated liquidity. In countries dealing with currency instability or limited banking infrastructure, USDT functions as a parallel financial system.

What the growth means for the market The fact that this growth continues even as the overall stablecoin market contracts from its May 2026 highs is noteworthy. Total stablecoin supply may have pulled back, but the number of people using these tokens keeps climbing.

Tether’s $4.1 billion in excess reserves provides a buffer against the kind of crisis that could theoretically shake user confidence, and represents a direct counter to the “is Tether really backed?” narrative that dogged the company for years.

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

DeFi lending protocol Term Labs lost roughly $8.5 million on Sunday after a governance exploit impacted its Term vaults, blockchain security firm PeckShield reported.

The attacker pulled 2,843 Ethereum (ETH) and 1.68 million USDC (USDC) out of the protocol. Term Labs confirmed the incident and said a fuller account would follow its investigation.

How the Term Labs Attacker Moved the FundsPeckShield valued the ETH portion at $6.87 million and the stablecoin portion at $1.68 million. The attacker then swapped the USDC into roughly 1.68 million Dai (DAI).

The post highlighted that the wallet behind the attack was originally seeded with 2 ETH withdrawn from Tornado Cash. Mixer funding is a common precursor to onchain theft, since it breaks the link to an exchange deposit.

Term Labs runs fixed-rate lending through onchain auctions. According to DefiLlama, the vaults’ total value locked stands at $12.2 million, with $8.6 million of that on Ethereum.

The team has not yet named the specific governance function the attacker abused.

We are aware of a governance exploit impacting Term vaults.

We will share more details once it has been further investigated.

— Term Labs (@term_labs) August 23, 2026
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August Losses Keep Stacking UpThe exploit lands in an already heavy month. DefiLlama had logged 17 security incidents worth about $18.8 million in August before the Term Labs drain. The $8.5 million loss alone would push the month past $27 million.

August still trails July, when 38 incidents cost roughly $254 million. The Coldcard wallet firmware flaw accounted for $116 million of that total.

Other August victims include Harmony, where an attacker minted roughly 4 billion tokens without authorization. Payment processor Coinsbuy was also drained of $7.9 million. Sandbox contained a SAND bridge vulnerability on Saturday.

Governance failures stay rare but expensive. DefiLlama has classified five 2026 incidents as governance attacks worth $25.1 million combined, led by a $20 million malicious proposal against BonkDAO in July.

Term is also a repeat target. DefiLlama recorded a $1.65 million hit at Term Finance in April 2025, attributed to an oracle misconfiguration.

Across the wider market, SlowMist counted 182 incidents worth about $956 million in the first half of 2026, per its mid-year report.

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Circle’s USDC Treasury minted 250 million USDC directly on the Solana blockchain in a single on-chain transaction on August 20, 2026. The move, flagged by Whale Alert and confirmed via Solana transaction data, represents fresh issuance rather than a redeployment of existing supply.

A single mint, but part of a much larger wave The $250M transaction did not happen in isolation. According to tracking data, roughly $1.25B in USDC was minted on Solana within a single week during mid-to-late August 2026. That is five transactions the size of this one, compressed into seven days.

Circle operates USDC on a strict 1:1 model against USD reserves. Every token minted corresponds to a real dollar sitting in a custody account. Circle only mints on verified demand, meaning the issuance is a response to demand already sitting at the door.

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USDC held its peg through and after the transaction, producing no immediate price impact.

Why Solana, and why now The clustering of large USDC mints throughout 2026, with similar 250M events occurring multiple times this year alone, points to sustained and growing institutional appetite.

DeFi activity on Solana has been a significant pull factor. Liquidity pools require deep stablecoin reserves to function efficiently, and institutional desks routing dollar exposure through on-chain venues have similarly contributed to the demand signal Circle is responding to.

The minting itself is trackable in real time through services like Whale Alert, which broadcast large on-chain transactions to market participants.

What this means for Solana’s competitive position Ethereum remains the dominant venue for stablecoin issuance in aggregate, but Solana’s growing share of Circle’s minting activity reflects a rebalancing in where institutional and DeFi users prefer to operate.

The key variable to watch is where the newly minted USDC flows next. Movement into centralized exchanges would suggest institutional actors are preparing to trade or redeem. Movement into on-chain liquidity pools would indicate DeFi protocols absorbing the new supply.

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

Stellar’s XLM has gained new bullish momentum, surpassing trendline resistance and regaining a key support level as increased enterprise activity signals deeper adoption of the network for digital payments.

XLM price rebounds with bullish signalsXLM is currently trading at $0.1816, with a 24-hour trading volume reaching $268 million and its market capitalization standing at $6.32 billion. The token posted a 9.9% rise in the last 24 hours, positioning itself for a potential bullish reversal after a period of downward pressure.

Crypto analyst Alpha Crypto Signal identified renewed strength in XLM after it broke through its descending trendline resistance. Following several weeks of consolidation, this technical breakout is bolstered by rising trading activity and highlights the return of buying interest to the market.

The token’s move above a critical horizontal support level has attracted further attention to its short-term outlook. If the buying momentum persists, analysts suggest that the broader market structure could shift in favor of bulls.

The combination of a break above key trendline resistance and the recovery of horizontal support has pointed to renewed accumulation, with large holders showing increased interest in XLM’s upward trend.

However, the market’s bullish view will depend on buyers’ ability to defend this newly reclaimed support region. Holding above these levels could open the path to the next upside target near $0.26, while a fall below would likely indicate weakness.

Zebec Enterprise’s $4M USDC payroll drives growthEnterprise adoption of Stellar received a notable boost as Zebec Enterprise processed a $4 million annualized USDC payroll shortly after launching on the network. Zebec Enterprise is currently being used by nine clients to facilitate digital payroll payments, underscoring growing confidence in blockchain-based financial operations.

This development reflects ongoing infrastructure improvements, with Zebec integrating stablecoin payroll solutions into Stellar’s high-speed settlement system. The firm aims to simplify global payroll processes by leveraging fast and efficient digital assets, strengthening Stellar’s position in blockchain-powered payments.

As the trend of businesses opting for digital dollar solutions accelerates, Stellar’s ecosystem is increasingly regarded as a viable platform for real-world financial operations.

While traditional markets depend on broker networks, Wall Street is undergoing a fundamental shift toward Web3. Investors are starting to manage shares of top US companies, gold, and silver directly from their crypto wallets on platforms like 1stepSwap. By tokenizing real-world assets and providing instant price discovery, these solutions remove intermediaries entirely and widen access to mainstream financial instruments.

Broader recovery in the crypto market, with Bitcoin also showing upward momentum, is contributing to XLM’s positive price action. Should trading activity continue to climb and support levels remain intact, XLM could maintain its trajectory toward the next resistance at $0.26.

Growth in enterprise activity, driven by Zebec’s USDC payrolls, appears poised to support further adoption of Stellar and reinforce its utility in institutional finance.

The increase in corporate USDC activity on Stellar not only underlines network expansion but may further solidify its standing as a credible platform for digital financial transactions.

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.

8 hours ago

Elon Musk-owned social media platform X is exploring using stablecoins, including Circle-issued USDC, to pay content creators their earnings. Sources familiar with the matter revealed that X is in discussions over how to use stablecoins to distribute content royalty revenues to influential users on the platform. The source added that the negotiations are still ongoing, and they are also involved in another social media platform’s project testing stablecoin-based commission payments to influencers and creators. X has not yet commented on the matter. Stablecoins, whose total market capitalization currently exceeds $300 billion, have become a key tool in blockchain payments, enabling faster, lower-cost cross-border transactions. Musk’s SpaceX has already used stablecoins in some markets to process cross-border payments for its Starlink satellite internet services. In March this year, X hired crypto industry veteran Benji Taylor as head of design, overseeing business related to X, xAI, and SpaceX. Taylor previously led the design of Coinbase’s Base blockchain network and has expertise in wallets and decentralized finance (DeFi). Additionally, X is adjusting its creator incentive system, phasing out its long-running Revenue Sharing program in favor of the new Original Content Rewards Program, which aims to reward creators who contribute original insights, expertise, reporting, creative content, and commentary to the platform.

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Stablecoin Payments Enter the Convenience StoreThree Japanese corporate heavyweights are bringing stablecoin payments to the checkout counter. JCB (@JCB_CARD), Digital Garage (@DigitalGarage) and Lawson (@lawsonbank_jp) have signed a basic agreement to conduct a proof of concept (PoC) for in-store payments using USDC, the US dollar-pegged stablecoin. The test is scheduled for Thursday, August 20, at the Gate City Osaki Atrium branch of Lawson in Tokyo.

The mechanics are straightforward. Participants use the Consumer-Presented Mode (CPM) method, in which a barcode containing stablecoin wallet address information displayed on a user's smartphone is scanned by Lawson's in-store POS terminal. The trial runs on base:0x833589fcd6edb6e08f4c7c32d4f71b54bda02913 on @base, using Coinbase's Base app as the supported wallet.

JCB provides the payment web screen and barcode generation and settles merchant proceeds in fiat currency. Digital Garage supplies the payment API and backend system. Lawson contributes the store environment and connects its point-of-sale system using code-payment processing technology from Canal Payment Services.

Participation is restricted to personnel from the three companies. The initiative is primarily targeting inbound visitors to Japan , making it relevant to the country's growing tourism economy. The PoC aims to assess the practicality and convenience of stablecoin payments, potentially reducing currency exchange burdens and enhancing cash flow for merchants.

Part of a Broader Push in JapanThursday's test does not come out of nowhere. This initiative follows a January 2026 collaboration between JCB, Digital Garage and Resona Holdings aimed at the social implementation of stablecoin payments in Japan. That earlier pilot ran at a Tokyo venue in late February 2026 and helped lay the groundwork for today's retail-focused experiment.

Japan created the legal foundation for such projects in 2023 by updating its Payment Services Act, allowing banks, trust companies and licensed money transfer firms to issue fiat-backed stablecoins. The companies said the experiment will evaluate payment-flow feasibility, POS integration requirements, impact on checkout operations, time to completion and usability of the customer-facing web system.

Japan's convenience store sector, which serves tens of millions of customers daily, represents a significant proving ground for digital payment innovation. A successful PoC could pave the way for broader stablecoin adoption at physical retail locations across the country.

Sources:
JCN Newswire: JCB, in Collaboration with Digital Garage, to Conduct a PoC for Stablecoin-Based Payments at a Lawson Store
Japan Industry News: JCB and Partners Test Stablecoin Payments in Japan's Lawson Stores
Digital Garage Official Release: Stablecoin Payments Pilot Program

Table of contents

Circle has expanded Circle Mint to support direct local-currency USDC on- and off-ramps across eight currencies. The company said in an Aug. 18 post that foreign exchange is handled inside Mint, removing the need for a separate conversion step or pre-funding additional accounts.

Alongside USD and EUR, Circle listed the Brazilian real, British pound, Hong Kong dollar, Mexican peso, offshore Chinese yuan and Singapore dollar among the local currencies supported for eligible Mint account holders.

How the proposed flow works Circle says customers can activate cross-currency exchange, link a bank account for the local-currency side and register that account for the currency they intend to trade. The company describes each transaction as a quote, trade and settlement process, with USDC arriving in the Mint balance after conversion.

Circle says settlement uses local payment rails nearly around the clock where supported. Availability remains subject to jurisdiction and account eligibility, and the company notes that some account-registration steps are handled offline.

Not a retail bank account The update is directed at businesses and eligible Mint customers, including payment providers, financial institutions and fintechs. Circle states that Circle Mint is not a bank account and that funds are not protected by FDIC, SIPC or comparable government insurance.

The announcement is a Circle product update. It does not mean all currencies, regions or users have identical access, so institutions need to check Mint eligibility and local requirements before relying on the new routes.

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A Singapore court has frozen about S$75 million ($58 million) in Bitcoin and USD Coin after a major crypto trading platform alleged that an internal ledger error caused it to mistakenly credit thousands of BTC and Bitcoin Cash to a long-standing customer.

Summary

Singapore’s SICC froze about S$75 million in Bitcoin and USDC linked to a dispute between a major crypto platform and a long-time customer. The platform said an internal ledger error led it to mistakenly transfer 2,500 BTC and 2,500 BCH to the customer’s wallets in July 2024. The customer later moved 780 BTC off the platform and converted another 20 BTC into about 816,773 USDC. The court also ordered the customer to disclose the location of the disputed assets and their proceeds. The platform recovered the remaining 1,700 BTC and 2,500 BCH after discovering the alleged error in January 2025. The Singapore International Commercial Court said the interim proprietary injunction prevents the customer from disposing of, dealing with or reducing the value of about 780 BTC and 816,773 USDC, along with assets, profits or interest derived from them. The order was granted on March 26 after a hearing before Singapore High Court Justice Aidan Xu and SICC International Judges Anthony Meagher and David Goddard.

The dispute involves an anonymised group of companies that operates what the court described as one of the world’s largest digital asset trading platforms and a customer who had used the platform since around 2013. Court documents identified the parties only as DVA, DVB and DVC while an application for confidentiality orders remains pending.

Along with freezing the crypto, the court ordered the defendant to disclose where the disputed assets and their proceeds were being held. The judges declined, however, to give the platform group advance permission to use that disclosure to seek similar injunctions in other jurisdictions, leaving it free to apply for permission later if required.

Singapore court dispute traces back to unsupported wallets At the centre of the case are two specialised wallets that once contained 2,500 BTC and 2,500 Bitcoin Cash. According to the judgment, the wallets were designed as a self-custody product that required security credentials, including a user key held solely by the customer.

Support for the wallet product ended in April 2018, although customers could continue accessing the wallets for a period through an unsupported open-source tool. In March 2020, the entire 2,500 BTC and 2,500 BCH balance was transferred away from the specialised wallets, leaving them effectively empty.

The platform group alleged that a technical problem prevented those withdrawals from being recorded correctly on its internal ledgers. Because the ledger continued to show the assets as remaining in the specialised wallets, the companies operated for several years on the assumption that the customer was still entitled to the balances.

A relationship manager later tried to help the customer recover what the platform believed were assets trapped in the discontinued wallet product. Acting on its ledger records, the platform transferred another 2,500 BTC and 2,500 BCH into other accounts belonging to the customer in July 2024.

The claimants say those digital assets came from their own holdings inside the platform group’s omnibus wallets and were transferred solely because of the mistaken balance shown on the internal system. The customer disputes that account and has maintained that the assets transferred to him were rightfully his.

Mistaken crypto transfers have previously resulted in lengthy recovery disputes. In 2022, crypto.news reported on a Crypto.com transfer error in which the exchange mistakenly sent an Australian customer about $10.5 million instead of a $100 refund and discovered the error months later during an audit.

Customer moved 780 BTC and converted another 20 BTC to USDC After receiving the July 2024 transfers, the defendant began moving part of the crypto away from the platform.

Court records show that on July 13, 2024, the customer converted 20 BTC into about 816,773 USDC and transferred the stablecoins to an unhosted wallet. Five withdrawals between July 17 and Nov. 10 moved another 380 BTC to a separate unhosted address.

A further 200 BTC was transferred on Nov. 24, followed by another 200 BTC on Jan. 7, 2025, bringing the amount sent to a third external wallet to 400 BTC. Some 150 BTC from that wallet was later transferred elsewhere in February 2026, according to evidence submitted by the claimants.

The companies also told the court that subsequent transactions involving the 380 BTC and 816,773 USDC made their current locations difficult to determine. The defendant did not dispute making the transactions but maintained that he had been dealing with crypto that belonged to him.

By the time the platform acted, 1,700 BTC and the full 2,500 BCH transferred in July 2024 remained in the customer’s accounts. The companies froze those wallets on Jan. 29, 2025, and re-credited the remaining assets to themselves in an attempt to reverse part of the earlier transfer.

The platform group subsequently sought the return of the 780 BTC and 816,773 USDC that had already left its system, but the customer refused. The companies valued the assets at roughly S$75 million at the time of the injunction hearing.

Platform alleges unjust enrichment and constructive trust Proceedings were initially filed in the General Division of Singapore’s High Court in November 2025 before being transferred by consent to the SICC.

The claimants’ 62-page statement of claim contains four causes of action, including unjust enrichment, a proprietary claim, deceit or negligent misrepresentation, and an alleged breach of the contractual provisions governing the platform’s services. They are also seeking a declaration that the defendant holds the disputed assets on constructive trust for one of the claimant companies and must return them.

According to the claimants, the July 2024 transfers resulted from their incorrect understanding of the old wallet balances, while the customer allegedly knew about the mistake and took advantage of it.

The defendant has rejected that version of events. He told the court that he did not remember making the March 2020 transfers, although he accepted that blockchain records show the transfers occurred, and argued that the platform’s own admission of faulty internal ledger records weakened its claim that the assets transferred in 2024 belonged to the companies.

He also argued that the transferred crypto could have represented his own assets held elsewhere on the platform or assets belonging to other customers. Having maintained extensive crypto holdings and activity, the defendant said he relied on the platform to keep track of what he held and believed that the July 2024 assets belonged to him.

The customer has counterclaimed for the assets that remain frozen on the platform or compensation of equivalent value, while denying that he knew the companies had made any mistake.

Singapore courts have dealt with several high-value crypto disputes involving exchange operators over the past year. Earlier in August, Binance and RedotPay gave conflicting accounts over the status of a separate Singapore proceeding tied to claims worth nearly $473 million.

Singapore’s courts have also played a role in handling distressed crypto businesses, including proceedings involving WazirX’s Singapore-based parent Zettai, whose restructuring proposal returned to court after receiving 95.7% creditor support in August 2025.

Judges find serious ownership question to be tried For the interim stage of the case, the three-judge panel found enough evidence to establish a serious question over whether the platform companies retained a proprietary interest in some or all of the disputed assets.

The court said it was arguable that the specialised wallet balances were effectively zero before the July 2024 credits and that the platform transferred 2,500 BTC and 2,500 BCH because its internal records incorrectly showed the earlier holdings as still present.

Judges also found an arguable case that the customer knew about the platform’s mistake either when the transfers were made or, at the latest, after the platform discovered the issue and contacted him in 2025. Under that scenario, the court said an argument could be made that identifiable assets and traceable proceeds were held on constructive trust for the claimants.

On whether an injunction was necessary, the court considered the risk that the companies could win at trial but still be unable to recover the crypto if the assets were moved or dissipated.

The judges noted evidence that the defendant had used part of the disputed assets as security for a loan to cover legal costs and had not provided updated evidence about his financial position or current asset holdings. The court found sufficient doubt over his ability to satisfy a substantial judgment if the companies eventually succeeded.

At the same time, the platform group gave the court an undertaking to compensate the customer for losses caused by the injunction if it later turns out that the order should not have been granted.

The disclosure order requires the defendant to identify the whereabouts of assets covered by the injunction, including relevant crypto controlled through third parties acting under his direct or indirect instructions. The SICC left both sides free to return to court, including if the claimants later seek permission to use the disclosed information in civil proceedings outside Singapore.