The United States Treasury Department sanctioned two Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchanges, Shelbit and Aban Tether, alleging they processed billions of dollars in transactions for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and facilitated sanctions evasion. The action is part of the Trump administration's 'Economic Fury' campaign targeting Iranian financial networks.
Yellow Card, a global stablecoin infrastructure provider, has secured $40 million in strategic funding from investors including SC Ventures by Standard Chartered, Sony Innovation Fund, Polychain Capital, and Blockchain Capital. The company plans to use the capital to expand its Global USD Accounts product and stablecoin payment rails into Latin America, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific regions.
Binance-affiliated companies have filed a lawsuit in Hong Kong against RedotPay's co-founders, alleging they breached a partnership agreement by diverting more than 470,000 Binance Card users to RedotPay's own stablecoin payment card service. RedotPay has vowed to vigorously defend against the claims.
JPYC Inc., issuer of Japan's yen-pegged stablecoin, has raised 6 billion yen ($38 million) in an extended Series B funding round, with logistics company AZ-COM Maruwa Holdings contributing 1 billion yen. The funds will be used to expand JPYC's payment network and Web3 financial ecosystem.
Samsung announced plans to add native stablecoin functionality, starting with USDC, to its Galaxy Wallet across 800 million devices in 61 countries. The move follows a $408 million investment in crypto exchange Dunamu and positions the tech giant as a major distribution channel for digital assets.
Dinari became the first company to offer eligible U.S. investors access to over 700 tokenized stocks, including the entire S&P 500, through self-custody wallets using USDC stablecoin. The platform, launched in partnership with Circle, allows trading of blockchain-based shares backed one-to-one by underlying securities.
Mastercard has finalized its acquisition of BVNK, a London-based cryptocurrency infrastructure platform and Ripple partner, for $1.5 billion plus $300 million in earnouts. The deal expands Mastercard's capabilities in the stablecoin payments market, adding BVNK's infrastructure that processes $30 billion in annual stablecoin volume across 130 countries.
Tether posted $1.5 billion in net operating profit for Q2 2026, down from $4.9 billion in Q2 2025. The company's excess reserves dropped from $8.23 billion to $4.11 billion, while USDT supply reached $184.6 billion and gold holdings increased by 14 tons.
Uniswap has expanded beyond token trading with the launch of Earn, a self-custodial lending feature that allows users to deposit USDC, USDT, and ETH into Morpho vaults to generate yield directly within the Uniswap app. The product uses vaults curated by Gauntlet and integrates with Morpho's $11.79 billion lending network.
Circle secured a limited-purpose trust charter from the New York Department of Financial Services, allowing it to operate Circle Internet Trust Company and adding state-level oversight to its existing federal OCC national trust approval.
PayPal is advancing its cryptocurrency initiatives by expanding its PYUSD stablecoin, implementing agentic AI payment systems, and adding biometric authentication, even as it absorbed an $81 million crypto-related loss while exceeding revenue expectations.
IBM's blockchain patent portfolio — spanning over 680 patent families in banking, insurance, and cloud security — was acquired by Circle Internet Group in July 2026, making it the largest U.S. holder of blockchain patents.
Tether's gold-backed digital asset XAU₮ received Shariah compliance certification from Amanah Advisors in July 2026, allowing Islamic banks, institutions, and individuals to access blockchain-based physical gold ownership without exposure to interest or leverage.
Western Alliance Bank, a national commercial bank with over $90 billion in assets, has formally launched WA VenueX, an institutional financial platform designed to provide liquidity and banking services for blockchain-based digital assets and the on-chain economy.
A South Korean court ruled that cryptocurrency exchange services, including stablecoin conversions for foreign nationals, require a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license, marking the first judicial decision on stablecoin exchange legality. The ruling sided with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) against DarwinKS, which had been operating under a regulatory sandbox.
The European Union approved its 21st sanctions package against Russia on July 23, 2026, imposing transaction bans on 14 cryptocurrency service platforms across six jurisdictions and blacklisting the A7 cross-border payments network and its A7A5 stablecoin for alleged sanctions evasion.
Ripple has launched Ripple Mint, an enterprise platform that enables institutional customers to mint, redeem, bridge, and manage Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin through web interface and API integration. The platform provides multichain bridging capabilities and automated management tools for institutional operations.
Sky Frontier Foundation reported that Sky Protocol generated $107.35 million in Gross Protocol Revenue for the second consecutive quarter above $100 million. According to the foundation, Protocol Collateral rose 45.5% year-over-year to $12.32 billion, sUSDS supply increased 149% to $5.52 billion, and the protocol recorded its fifth consecutive quarter of positive surplus.
USDC issuer Circle Internet Group has signed separate strategic agreements with South Korea's major fintech platforms Kakao Group and Viva Republica (Toss operator) to explore stablecoin payment infrastructure, remittances, and tokenized finance as the country works to establish a digital asset regulatory framework.
Decentralized derivatives protocol AFX Trade on Arbitrum suffered a $24.15 million USDC loss on July 22 after an attacker compromised its cross-chain bridge validator signing keys. The stolen funds were converted to approximately 12,467 ETH on Ethereum.
LayerZero Labs and Keeta announced a partnership to make tokenized commercial bank money natively transferable across Ethereum, Solana, Base, and the Keeta Network. Keeta Stablecoins will be backed by commercial bank deposits held through Bivo, a U.S.-licensed financial technology platform, and are scheduled to become available later in July 2026 in nine currencies.
According to XRPL AI Hub data cited by Finbold, the XRP Ledger had recorded 1,434,517 agentic transactions through the x402 Protocol as of July 22, 2026, up approximately 127% since launch. The service was supported by 129 merchants, while XRP and Ripple USD (RLUSD) had been used to settle agentic payments for services including trading data, APIs and computing resources.
Twenty One Capital said Jack Mallers stepped down as CEO effective July 20, 2026, to focus on his bitcoin payments company Strike, and its board appointed Raphael Zagury as his successor. Twenty One and Strike also determined that Strike would remain an independent business and would no longer be considered for a combination, while a possible combination with Elektron Energy remains under evaluation.
U.S. regulators reached the GENIUS Act's one-year rulemaking deadline on Saturday without issuing the final regulations needed to fully implement the federal stablecoin framework signed into law by President Trump in July 2025.
Galaxy Digital launched Galaxy Curator, a Morpho-based vault curation service distributed via Fireblocks Earn, giving over 2,400 institutional clients access to curated onchain stablecoin yield strategies without managing DeFi infrastructure directly.
The Linux Foundation has formally launched the x402 Foundation, backed by major payment networks including Visa, Mastercard, and Ripple, to create an open standard for internet-native payments by AI agents and applications. The protocol, originally developed by Coinbase, processed 75 million transactions worth $24 million last month.
Major investment banks including Mizuho and JPMorgan have downgraded Circle's stock and lowered earnings estimates, citing mounting competitive pressure from traditional banks developing shared stablecoin infrastructure and concerns over the CLARITY Act's regulatory framework.
Lawson, Japan's third-largest convenience store chain, will test accepting the JPYC yen-pegged stablecoin at its Tokyo Takanawa Gateway City location beginning early August, with merchant services provided by Netstars.
DeFi lending infrastructure provider Morpho has integrated its protocol into Robinhood's consumer app, allowing retail users to earn approximately 7% yields on USDG stablecoin through onchain credit markets accessed via the Earn feature.
Stablecoin issuer Circle received final regulatory approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a national trust bank, marking a landmark moment for cryptocurrency regulation. The company's shares jumped 7-8% following the announcement.
Stablecoin issuer Circle received final regulatory approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a national trust bank, marking a landmark moment for cryptocurrency regulation. The company's shares jumped 7-8% following the announcement.
After devastating earthquakes struck northern Venezuela on June 24-25, 2026, stablecoins emerged as a critical mechanism for rapidly distributing emergency aid to survivors, addressing challenges in traditional money transfer systems.
A consortium of over 140 major financial and technology companies including Visa, Stripe, Mastercard, BlackRock, Coinbase, and Bank of New York Mellon launched Open USD (OUSD), a new stablecoin that shares reserve earnings with participants. The announcement caused Circle Internet Group shares to tumble 15% as the initiative directly challenges existing stablecoin leaders.
The Independent Community Bankers of America, representing thousands of small and mid-sized U.S. banks, is launching an advertising campaign warning of digital asset risks and targeting specific stablecoin reward language in the Clarity Act, escalating tensions between traditional banking and cryptocurrency sectors.
Stablecoin issuer Tether Holdings led a $1.4 billion Series C funding round for German startup Neura Robotics, which develops AI-powered humanoid robots. The round also included participation from Qualcomm, Nvidia, and Amazon, marking one of the largest investments in physical AI and humanoid robotics to date.
New York's Department of Financial Services has published draft stablecoin regulations to harmonize the state's existing framework with the federal GENIUS Act signed in July 2025. The proposed rules introduce new reserve limits, operational safeguards, and updated oversight requirements for USD-backed payment stablecoins, with public comments open until June 22.
Crypto venture firm Paradigm and DeFi advocacy group Hyperliquid Policy Center jointly submitted a letter to U.S. Treasury urging FinCEN and OFAC to narrow proposed anti-money laundering compliance rules for stablecoins, warning that overly broad obligations could negatively impact decentralized finance protocols.
Coinbase partnered with Cardless to launch a stablecoin-backed credit card, while Visa and Mastercard are preparing to enter the stablecoin market and compete over AI agent payment infrastructure, challenging the decade-long dominance of Tether and Circle.
Major U.S. banks are forming a consortium through The Clearing House to launch a shared tokenized deposit network in the first half of 2027, positioning it as a response to stablecoin competition for deposits.
Russia's central bank announced that non-qualified retail investors will only be permitted to trade three cryptocurrencies—Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDT—beginning July 1, 2026, amid stagnant domestic crypto investment levels.
MoneyGram launched MGUSD, a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin on the Stellar blockchain, issued by Stripe-owned Bridge. The stablecoin will power services across MoneyGram's global network of 60 million customers and 500,000 retail locations.
A House of Lords committee called on the Bank of England to reconsider proposed stablecoin restrictions that would cap individual transactions at £20,000 and business transactions at £10 million, warning the rules could stifle development of a sterling-backed stablecoin market.
Buenos Aires prosecutors conducted 90 simultaneous raids targeting three fraud rings involving fake trading apps, WhatsApp hijacks, and Chinese-origin schemes, freezing more than 8 million USDT and arresting 24 individuals.
Mastercard received a BitLicense from the New York State Department of Financial Services, enabling the payments giant to conduct digital asset activities including stablecoin and blockchain-based settlement infrastructure under one of the strictest regulatory frameworks in the U.S.
European stablecoin issuer StablR suffered a contract exploit draining between $3-10 million, causing EURR and USDR to crash over 20% below their pegs. On-chain investigator ZachXBT flagged the incident as a live hack affecting StablR-linked contracts.
Amazon Web Services launched Bedrock AgentCore Payments on May 7, the first hyperscaler-native infrastructure enabling AI agents to autonomously pay for APIs, data feeds, and other agents in real time using stablecoins. U.S. consumers have no dispute rights when agents make these transactions.
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey stated he expects a regulatory conflict with the United States over stablecoin treatment, flagging concerns about run risk for the UK as U.S. lawmakers advance their own framework.
The Senate Banking Committee has set May 14, 2026 as the date to mark up the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, a major cryptocurrency market structure bill, despite resistance from banking lobby groups who rejected a compromise on stablecoin yield provisions.
Coinbase and Senate leaders finalized a deal on stablecoin reward provisions, resolving a standoff with the banking lobby. The compromise prohibits rewards that mimic bank deposits while allowing 'bona fide' transactions, clearing a key obstacle for the CLARITY Act's advancement.
Stablecoin issuer Tether posted over $1 billion in Q1 profit and reached a record $8.23 billion reserve buffer, while announcing that its first full audit has begun. The company holds approximately $141 billion in U.S. Treasuries.
Tether has proposed merging NYSE-listed bitcoin treasury company Twenty One Capital with Strike and Elektron Energy, with Strike CEO Jack Mallers and Elektron founder Raphael Zagury taking executive roles. Twenty One Capital shares rose on the news.
Stablecoin issuer Tether announced development of customizable, upgradable modular Bitcoin mining systems in partnership with Canaan and ACME Swisstech, expanding its infrastructure push beyond software into hardware manufacturing.
Jane Street filed a motion to dismiss Terraform Labs' lawsuit alleging the trading firm used insider information during the $40 billion Terra/UST collapse. Jane Street argues the timing doesn't support the allegations and that the case rehashes events already settled in court.
Morgan Stanley debuted a government money market fund specifically designed for stablecoin issuers to hold reserves, requiring a minimum $10 million investment. The fund is aligned with GENIUS Act requirements and positions the Wall Street giant as a reserve manager for the stablecoin industry.
New Bank of Korea Governor Shin Hyun-song expressed support for central bank digital currencies and deposit tokens in his inaugural address, while notably omitting any mention of stablecoins, signaling the central bank's digital currency priorities.
The Bank for International Settlements warned that stablecoins act more like ETFs than money and called for global rules to prevent fragmentation across the $300 billion market. BIS general manager Pablo Hernández de Cos said dollar stablecoins could pose risks to financial stability.
Tether disclosed a nearly 2 million-share stake (8.2%) in Nasdaq-listed Antalpha, a Bitcoin mining finance platform, as the stablecoin issuer expands investments across crypto infrastructure. Tether also participated in an $8 million funding round for UAE tokenization firm Kaio.
French Finance Minister publicly supports euro-pegged stablecoin initiatives under MiCA framework and urges European banks to expand euro stablecoins and tokenized deposits as dollar-pegged supply exceeds $300 billion.
A Texas man received a 23-year prison sentence for orchestrating the Meta-1 Coin fraud scheme that defrauded investors of over $20 million between 2018 and 2023. The project falsely claimed backing by $44 billion in gold and $1 billion in artwork.
Law firm Gibbs Mura filed a class action lawsuit against Circle Internet Financial, alleging the stablecoin issuer failed to act swiftly to freeze stolen USDC tied to the Drift Protocol hack and was negligent in its response to the exploit.
Stablecoin issuer Tether transferred approximately $70 million in Bitcoin to its reserve wallet, bringing total holdings above 97,000 BTC worth over $7.1 billion as part of its strategy to allocate up to 15% of profits into Bitcoin.
The Trump administration backed a proposal for stablecoin issuers to offer yield to investors, drawing pushback from the American Bankers Association which disputes White House claims that stablecoin yield doesn't threaten bank deposits.
A Bank of France official advocated for stricter Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations on non-euro stablecoins as European lawmakers advance reporting requirements for self-custodial crypto wallets above €5,000.
World Liberty Financial deposited 5 billion of its own WLFI tokens as collateral on Dolomite to borrow $75 million in stablecoins, which were then sent to Coinbase Prime. The move pushed the lending pool to 100% utilization and triggered a 12% token price drop to record lows.
White House Council of Economic Advisers released analysis finding that banning stablecoin yield products would boost community bank lending by only 0.02% while imposing significant costs on consumers, countering banking industry lobbying efforts in the CLARITY Act debate.
South Korea's ruling party drafted proposal to regulate stablecoins and real-world assets under existing financial laws, reportedly banning yield on stablecoins and requiring technical interoperability standards.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation approved a proposed rule establishing federal oversight standards for stablecoin issuers, including reserve requirements limiting 40% of reserves at a single custodian. The proposal explicitly excludes stablecoins from deposit insurance protections.
Polymarket revealed plans for a complete exchange upgrade including a new trading engine, order book system, and native stablecoin backed by Circle's USDC. The overhaul will roll out over 2-3 weeks as the platform prepares for US expansion.
Stablecoin monthly transaction volume reached $7.2 trillion in February 2026, exceeding the $6.8 trillion processed by the US Automated Clearing House (ACH) network for the first time. Total stablecoin supply reached $315 billion in Q1 2026.
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT publicly accused stablecoin issuer Circle of failing to freeze over $420 million in illicit USDC funds across more than 15 cases since 2022, including the recent Drift Protocol exploit where $230+ million in stolen USDC flowed through Circle's Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) without being blocked.
Coinbase's x402 agentic AI payments protocol moved to neutral governance under the Linux Foundation on April 2, 2026, with backing from major tech companies including Google, Stripe, AWS, and Cloudflare. The protocol enables embedded payments in web interactions and AI agent commerce.
Stablecoin issuer Circle announced plans to launch cirBTC, a 1:1 Bitcoin-backed token on Ethereum aimed at institutional users seeking DeFi market access. The move positions Circle to compete with existing wrapped Bitcoin providers BitGo and Coinbase.
The US Department of the Treasury published an 87-page notice of proposed rulemaking seeking public comment on state-level regulatory regimes for stablecoins with market caps under $10 billion, marking the first formal implementation step of the GENIUS Act.
Senators and the White House have reached a tentative agreement to resolve the contentious stablecoin yield restrictions in the CLARITY Act, though the compromise has drawn mixed reactions from the crypto industry. Coinbase reportedly continues to oppose the updated draft language despite the agreement.
Circle Internet Group shares fell as much as 22% in their worst day ever after draft provisions in the CLARITY Act indicated potential limits on stablecoin yield distribution. The proposed legislation may restrict rewards on stablecoin balances, though analysts at Bernstein argue the selloff is overdone as restrictions target distributors rather than issuers.
