Oct 2, 2026
El Salvador has launched Sivar, a national remittance and payments app built by Modveon on Coinbase's Base network, settling transfers from the US in stablecoins. The move represents a shift toward stablecoins for everyday payments, separate from the country's Bitcoin experiment.
Tether confirmed freezing approximately $550 million in Iran-linked USDT in 2026, while a Senate Democratic report found USDT dominated activity in 84% of Iran- and proxy-linked wallets studied, calling it a 'significant financial lifeline' for the regime.
Citigroup is expanding its partnership with Coinbase to allow the bank's institutional clients to accept stablecoin payments while settling in traditional fiat currency. The collaboration builds on their October 2025 partnership and enables merchants to process stablecoin transactions without directly holding crypto assets, with Coinbase handling the conversion infrastructure.
Circle Internet Group announced on September 25 that Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Fox-Geen will resign by the end of December 2026, following his role in steering the company's $1.2 billion IPO. The same day, co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire made related announcements about the company's direction.
Chainalysis' latest report shows Latin America emerging as a global stablecoin hub, with Brazil leading worldwide in crypto adoption and value received. Stablecoin use grew significantly across the region, driven by Mexico and Venezuela, even as global crypto market cap fell 50%.
Circle and Tether froze a wallet holding approximately $318,000 in stablecoins following a massive $351.6 million hack of cryptocurrency exchange Bitget on Thursday. The freeze covers only a small fraction of the total stolen funds.
Ethena has started using Binance's tokenized stocks (bStocks) as spot collateral for its $4.9 billion USDe stablecoin, hedging them with short positions in Binance equity perpetual futures. This marks Ethena's first expansion of its basis trading strategy beyond crypto assets into traditional equities, potentially opening access to a $150 trillion market.
Federal prosecutors seized approximately $84.2 million from accounts of Capstone Ltd., a payments firm working on behalf of Tether and Bitfinex at offshore bank EQIBank. Tether stated its exposure represents less than 0.034% of group assets.
ARK Invest tokenized its ARK Venture Fund (ARKVX), a closed-end interval fund with approximately $1.3 billion in net assets, enabling eligible investors to subscribe and redeem holdings onchain using USDC through a partnership with Securitize.
The Solana Foundation has hired former Binance chief marketing officer Rachel Conlan as chief strategy officer to oversee institutional partnerships and ecosystem growth, and former Polygon Labs executive Jamal Raees as general manager of payments to focus on stablecoins and tokenized deposits.
SoFi began settling debit and credit card transactions using its SoFiUSD stablecoin on Mastercard's global payments network, migrating its entire card program expected to process over $25 billion in annualized volume.
The European Central Bank and EU central banks want Brussels to delete a MiCA rule requiring large stablecoin issuers to keep 60% of reserves in commercial banks, arguing the requirement could destabilize lenders and reduce liquidity management flexibility.
The European Central Bank launched Pontes, a new settlement platform allowing wholesale tokenized assets to be settled using central bank money rather than private stablecoins. The system is designed exclusively for regulated financial institutions.
South Korean brokerage Eugene Investment & Securities has signed a memorandum of understanding with blockchain company BEATOZ to conduct a proof of concept testing stablecoin settlement for tokenized securities subscriptions. The pilot aims to create an end-to-end onchain process covering subscription, payment, and settlement.
Brazil's central bank will bar virtual assets, including stablecoins, from settling a specific type of international payment flow through Resolution 561, effective October 1. The move affects the $1.1 trillion stablecoin market's access to regulated cross-border payment infrastructure.
Lam Chun-yin, a 32-year-old former China Construction Bank relationship manager, received a four-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to accepting more than $470,000 in Tether to falsely authenticate forged bank instruments worth over $1.6 billion.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted stablecoin infrastructure provider Bastion conditional approval to convert its New York state trust charter into a national trust bank charter, adding federal regulatory oversight to its operations.
Neutrl launched a redemption portal on September 17, 2026, allowing holders to redeem NUSD and sNUSD tokens at 51 cents on the dollar. The move comes as Strata scheduled a 48-hour valuation update that would write the junior tranche (jrNUSD) to zero while senior tranche withdrawals settle at revised share values.
Poland's state energy company Orlen lost up to $424 million after a $230 million USDT cryptocurrency payment for discounted Venezuelan crude oil disappeared following a covert deal that began in late 2023. The payment vanished on USB drives in a collapsed transaction.
Latin American telecommunications company VIVA has partnered with Iris, an Avalanche-based platform led by former IBM Blockchain partner Jules Miller, to use stablecoins for settlement, dollar reserves, and new financial services without replacing existing telecom infrastructure.
Aave Labs announced plans to launch the Aave V4 RWA Hub on Avalanche, a dedicated real-world asset credit market that would allow institutions to borrow USA₮ stablecoins against tokenized collateral. Both the hub and USA₮ listing require Aave DAO approval, with no launch date specified.
The Financial Conduct Authority published final guidance on which crypto activities require authorization and announced plans to consult on changes following Treasury proposals to exempt UK stablecoin payments. Meanwhile, UK banks continue restricting payments to cryptocurrency exchanges ahead of the FCA's new authorization gateway opening September 30.
The House Ways and Means Committee voted 38-5 to advance the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act, which would exempt crypto transactions under $10 from capital gains tax, clarify treatment of stablecoins, mining, staking, and lending, and apply wash sale rules to digital assets. The bill now moves to the full House.
Circle's Arc Layer 1 blockchain went live on September 16, 2026, with over 100 applications and institutional validators including BlackRock, DTCC, Visa, and Mastercard. The company minted 10 billion ARC tokens at launch, with gas fees charged in USDC.
Decentralized cross-chain swap protocol Chainflip paused its network after losing 736,442.17 USDT through six unauthorized payouts when an attacker exploited its handling of TRON transaction memos. The protocol has announced users will be made whole.
Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission approved consultation principles that would cap daily stablecoin transfers at 5 million baht ($150,000) through licensed crypto platforms, with transfers only allowed to accounts verified as the customer's own.
Ben Delo donated £36M on Friday and Christopher Harborne matched it Saturday, making the largest single donations in British political history. The UK government criticized the crypto-linked contributions.
Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed regulations that would require licensed crypto firms to only accept stablecoin deposits and withdrawals through accounts verified in the customer's own name, effectively blocking transfers to other people's wallets. The draft rules also set a daily transaction cap of 5 million baht ($151,000).
Canada's Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) has clarified that tokenized deposits will be treated the same under law as traditional bank deposits, stating that underlying technology does not determine a financial product's legal character. The guidance provides federally regulated financial institutions clearer direction on using blockchain technology.
The UK House of Lords has passed an amendment mandating HM Treasury to develop a formal strategy covering cryptoassets, stablecoins, tokenized securities, and digital financial infrastructure. The move signals pressure on the Treasury to establish a comprehensive approach to digital assets.
Uniswap Labs has launched StablePair Hook, a Uniswap v4 dynamic-fee feature designed for stablecoin trading pairs like USDC/USDT. The hook enables liquidity providers to capture a portion of arbitrage profits generated from stablecoin trades, increasing their returns.
MoneyGram, the 86-year-old global payments company, has launched its first stablecoin-backed Visa card in Colombia, allowing eligible customers to hold stable-dollar balances and use them for spending and cash access through the MoneyGram app. The company plans a worldwide rollout following the initial Colombia launch.
Coinbase is partnering with fintech company Moov to help community banks adopt stablecoin payment capabilities, as the cryptocurrency exchange positions stablecoin payments as a major revenue growth driver beyond traditional trading operations.
The U.S. Department of Justice seized Telegram channels operated by Xinbi Guarantee, a Chinese-language illicit marketplace, while the Secret Service froze $52.8 million in USDT across 52 wallets on September 8. Treasury designated Xinbi as a criminal organization, citing its role in processing $24 billion in scam-related transactions.
U.S. Bank, the fifth-largest commercial bank in the United States, successfully completed a live cross-border payment pilot using its proprietary dollar-backed USBDC stablecoin on the Stellar blockchain. The transaction moved funds between the bank's North American and European entities while remaining integrated with existing risk and compliance management systems.
PayPal, in partnership with M0 and MoonPay, launched PYUSDx, a platform that allows businesses and developers to create their own branded stablecoins backed by PayPal's PYUSD. Three initial partners—Saturn, Concrete, and Cap—went live with the platform, collectively bringing over $100 million in processed volume.
Jack Dorsey's financial technology company Block has submitted an application to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish Builders Bank & Trust, a federally regulated national trust bank that would provide custody and fiduciary services for Bitcoin and stablecoins.
Block Inc. has applied to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish Builders Bank & Trust, an uninsured national trust bank that would provide a federal framework for custody of Bitcoin, stablecoins, and other digital assets.
Circle agreed to acquire cross-border payments processor Tazapay for $400 million in stock, marking Circle's largest acquisition since purchasing Poloniex in 2018. Tazapay processes over $25 billion in annual payment volume.
Visa announced it will make more data available to companies lending on the blockchain, responding to strong demand for stablecoin-linked payment cards. The payments giant is pairing its settlement capabilities with expanded data services for the emerging crypto lending sector.
Visa announced it will integrate VisaNet settlement data with onchain lending infrastructure to help stablecoin-linked card issuers and fintech companies access working capital. The system uses payment and blockchain transaction records to automate lending decisions as demand for stablecoin cards increases.
South Korea's National Assembly Budget Office has found that won-denominated stablecoins could save the country's merchants up to $3.8 billion per year in payment processing costs, primarily by reducing credit card transaction fees.
Nine Swiss financial institutions including UBS, SIX, and TWINT launched a formal pilot test of CHFD, a stablecoin pegged to the Swiss franc, on September 8. The participants plan to test various use cases including automated transactions and settlement between financial institutions.
DeFi lending platform Anthias has proposed a solution to address bad debt issues, projecting lower monthly debt accrual under current market conditions. However, user USDC funds remain inaccessible, and reserve transfers and supplier cash access have not been verified.
Cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin has launched KCUSD, a new stablecoin product offering a base annual percentage rate of up to 4% with daily returns on eligible stablecoin balances. The company plans to expand KCUSD's functionality to include collateral and trading utility.
South Korea's Financial Services Commission introduced a comprehensive three-stage plan to tokenize stocks, bonds, and funds, with the final phase connecting securities settlement to stablecoin-based payments. The regulatory framework will become law in 2027, with full implementation targeted for February 2027.
South Korea's Financial Services Commission introduced a comprehensive three-stage plan to tokenize stocks, bonds, and funds, with the final phase connecting securities settlement to stablecoin-based payments. The regulatory framework will become law in 2027, with full implementation targeted for February 2027.
DeFi protocol Notional Finance suffered a $1.7 million exploit on September 4, with an attacker draining approximately $69,000 in DAI and $1.66 million in USDC from a legacy escrow contract through an integer overflow bug. The stolen funds were reportedly moved to Tornado Cash.
Research from the Bank of Korea shows that dollar-backed stablecoins can put downward pressure on national currencies when exchanges offer direct fiat trading pairs, with Binance pairings reducing local stablecoin premiums by 0.33 to 0.38 percentage points.
Paxos-issued stablecoin USDG has launched natively on Mantle, with the Ethereum layer-2 network joining the Global Dollar Network as a partner. Mantle will receive a share of revenue generated from USDG usage on its network.
Curve DAO approved funding for yRisk to manage risk for crvUSD and Llamalend with 125,000 frxUSD and 568,181 CRV tokens on Sept. 2. yRisk is operated by two developers from Yearn and Resupply, the latter of which suffered a $9.6 million exploit in 2025.
Diameter Pay, a stablecoin payments infrastructure startup focused on cross-border transfers, has raised $10 million in Series A funding co-led by CMT Digital and Lightspeed. The company provides embedded payments infrastructure that routes cross-border transfers for banks using crypto rails.
A court has given the defendant in TrueUSD's $456 million case days to disclose the sources of their legal payments through an affidavit, with potential sanctions requiring a further Techteryx application if they fail to comply.
SoFi Technologies and Payward agreed to connect SoFi's banking network with Kraken's trading infrastructure. Kraken will list SoFiUSD stablecoin while SoFi will use Kraken Prime for crypto liquidity, expanding SoFi's real-time settlement system to digital assets.
Wyoming's Stable Token Commission integrated Chainlink Proof of Reserve for its state-issued FRNT stablecoin on September 2, 2026, enabling near-real-time onchain verification of reserves. The total FRNT supply currently stands at approximately 968,000 tokens, significantly below initial projections.
Two Thai businessmen filed a lawsuit in New York federal court claiming Tether froze $42.4 million in USDT across 10 Ethereum addresses at an informal US law enforcement request, more than three months before a seizure warrant was issued. The plaintiffs allege the freeze was unlawful.
Two Thai businessmen filed a lawsuit against Tether in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging the stablecoin issuer froze approximately $42.4 million in USDT across 10 Ethereum addresses four months before any court authorization. The plaintiffs are challenging Tether's authority to blacklist their funds and seeking to recover the frozen assets.
A consortium of 21 financial institutions including Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Fidelity, and WisdomTree plans to create a company in 2026 to issue a dollar-pegged cryptocurrency in the first half of 2027. The group has more than doubled in size since October, though the token has no name or chosen blockchain yet.
Twenty-one major financial institutions including Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citi and Deutsche Bank announced plans to form a company this year to issue a dollar-backed stablecoin, with a market launch targeted for 2027.
Stablecoin payments company Kast has launched a new business-focused platform combining accounts, payment cards, and other services after closing an $80 million Series A funding round. The company, founded by former Circle executive Raagulan Pathy, aims to onboard between 1,000 and 5,000 active businesses by the end of 2026.
Stablecoin payments company Kast has launched a new business-focused platform combining accounts, payment cards, and other services after closing an $80 million Series A funding round. The company, founded by former Circle executive Raagulan Pathy, aims to onboard between 1,000 and 5,000 active businesses by the end of 2026.
Miami-based fintech Felix Pago closed a $200 million Series B round, with $87 million in equity led by Andreessen Horowitz and $113 million in debt. The company enables WhatsApp-based remittances to Latin America, settling most transfers in USDC without users directly handling crypto.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore is seeking public feedback on proposed legislative changes to the Payment Services Act 2019 that would formalize its stablecoin framework into law, introduce rules for overseas issuers, and establish regulations for interest-bearing stablecoins.
Russia's largest bank announced plans to expand crypto-backed lending beyond Bitcoin, aiming to accept Ethereum and Tether's USDT as collateral as the country prepares new regulated crypto trading laws taking effect September 1.
Hong Kong's securities watchdog has declared broker SBCFX and its affiliated entities unlicensed following a trading collapse that left thousands of gold investors unable to recover their USDT deposits.
Bank for International Settlements General Manager Pablo Hernández de Cos told the Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium on August 28 that stablecoins do not credibly function as a payment method at scale, while tokenized deposits offer a more compelling case for harnessing blockchain technology in the financial system.
Stablecoin issuer Circle has signed a sponsorship deal with Premier League club Chelsea FC to become its principal partner and official front-of-shirt sponsor starting in the 2026/27 season, putting USDC branding on the team's jerseys.
Circle has launched Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol V2, reducing USDC transfer times from minutes to seconds, with Aptos among the first to integrate. Legacy V1 applications have until December 1 to migrate before old routes stop working, with burn limits beginning to fall on October 31.
Ethena Foundation opened governance vote to route effectively all net protocol revenue to ENA token buybacks, contingent on USDe supply reaching approximately double current levels, while buying out seed investors who sold tokens.
U.S. and international banks are reconsidering their stance on stablecoins, with JPMorgan holding preliminary discussions about launching its own digital dollar and global banks exploring consortium approaches. The shift comes as banks face growing competition from crypto companies in the payments space.
South Korea's Shinhan Financial Group has signed a strategic agreement with Visa to test stablecoin issuance, remittances and redemptions using Visa's stablecoin platform, while also developing AI-powered payment models for the Korean market.
Hyperliquid activated its Aligned Quote Asset v2 framework on August 26, routing yield from billions in USDC reserves into automatic buybacks and burns of its HYPE token. Circle serves as technical deployer while Coinbase manages the treasury reserves.
The American Bankers Association is lobbying for regulations requiring stablecoin users to open accounts before redemption and seeking changes to stablecoin reward provisions in the Clarity Act, citing concerns about community bank deposits despite evidence showing deposit growth.
Casper and Payouts.com announced a partnership combining spending controls with stablecoin settlement to address payment challenges for autonomous AI agents, targeting what Visa has identified as the hardest trust problem in agentic commerce. The initiative comes as industry experts debate liability and payment infrastructure for AI agents making independent purchases.
The Blockchain Association filed a letter supporting proposed GENIUS Act regulations while asking five U.S. agencies to clarify that customer identification requirements should apply only to direct issuer relationships, not peer-to-peer transfers or secondary markets. The industry group argues this approach would reduce compliance costs for stablecoin issuers while maintaining regulatory oversight.
Ripple is collaborating with Clearpool and Cicada Partners to build institutional lending infrastructure on the XRP Ledger, using its RLUSD stablecoin to provide working-capital loans to fintech and payments companies. The initiative aims to bring real-world credit markets onchain through a native lending model.
Ripple is collaborating with Clearpool and Cicada Partners to build institutional lending infrastructure on the XRP Ledger, using its RLUSD stablecoin to provide working-capital loans to fintech and payments companies. The initiative aims to bring real-world credit markets onchain through a native lending model.
Social media platform X is in discussions to use stablecoins such as Circle's USDC to pay royalties to influencers and content providers. The initiative aligns with X's newly launched Original Content Rewards program.
Social media platform X is in discussions to use stablecoins such as Circle's USDC to pay royalties to influencers and content providers. The initiative aligns with X's newly launched Original Content Rewards program.