Every time someone swaps one real dollar for one digital coin, a company takes that dollar, buries it in U.S. Treasuries, and keeps all the interest for itself — while the person holding the coin gets nothing. This is the business of stablecoin issuers — the ones who mint USDC, USDT, and PYUSD and hold the reserves behind them. In 2025, one company made over $10 billion this way with just a few hundred employees. And in July 2025, the U.S. passed the GENIUS Act, making this business "fully legal" for the first time — but that same law also locks in its secret.
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JPYC President Okabe Explains Price Divergence After Upbit Listing, Cites Inventory Shortage and Overnight Work
Regarding the issue of the Japanese yen stablecoin JPYC's price diverging from its roughly 1 yen peg, JPYC President Noritaka Okabe responded to an interview with NADA NEWS on September 18. JPYC was listed on the South Korean crypto exchange Upbit on September 17, and immediately afterward 1 JPYC rose to a level exceeding 2 yen. Arbitrage trades, in which coins issued at 1 yen were sold in the higher-priced market, occurred one after another, and the circulating supply swelled to approximately 4.26 billion JPYC as of 9 a.m. on the 18th, about 2.2 times the previous day's level. Okabe revealed that issuance surged and inventory ran short in the middle of the night, and that employees took on overnight work due to a sharp increase in account applications, and he expressed his gratitude to the employees. He also said he had no knowledge at all of the Upbit listing and had not thought the first day's trading volume would exceed 30 billion yen. Noting that although it is a stablecoin compliant with Japanese regulations, not a single domestic electronic payment method operator has yet begun trading it, he expressed hope for trading to start at an early date. He explained that because JPYC Inc. always receives 1 yen at the time of issuance, it can be redeemed regardless of the secondary market price, and he called on users to use it with peace of mind.
JPYC price briefly diverges to 2.2 yen on Upbit listing, circulating supply up 2.2x day-on-day to over 4.2 billion yen
The total circulating supply of JPYC, a Japanese yen-pegged stablecoin, has surpassed 4 billion JPYC, reaching approximately 4.26 billion JPYC, according to the latest data from JPYC info, which compiles on-chain data. That marks an increase of about 2.36 billion JPYC from roughly 1.89963 billion JPYC as of 10:23 on September 17, a 2.2x rise day-on-day. The trigger was the start of JPYC trading on September 17 on the South Korean crypto exchange Upbit, which opened three markets for the token: Korean won, Bitcoin, and Tether, marking the first time a Korean won-denominated trading pair has been offered for JPYC. Immediately after trading began, the price diverged sharply from its baseline level of around 1 yen, with CoinMarketCap recording a temporary high of about 2.2 yen per JPYC. At the start of trading, the only network Upbit supported for deposits and withdrawals was Ethereum, and JPYC on Ethereum accounted for only about 7 percent of the total at the time, which is seen as one reason the available supply was limited. The price gap drew a rush of funds from investors seeking arbitrage, and reports proliferated on X of users who issued JPYC at 1 yen and swapped it for USDC on DEXs such as Uniswap to turn a profit. As of September 18, Polygon ranked first in circulating supply by chain, followed by Ethereum in second and Kaia in third, and after trading began Upbit also began supporting deposits from Kaia and Polygon.
Coinbase CEO Says AI Agents Will Need Their Own Financial Infrastructure
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said AI agents will need their own financial infrastructure, telling Scott Melker that the company has built a set of tools for the agentic economy. Armstrong said the existing payment rails are sometimes not sufficient for AI because agents want to move very fast, make payments globally, and in some cases transact in very small amounts. The stack includes the Base blockchain, the USDC stablecoin that Coinbase co-created with Circle, and the X402 protocol, which Coinbase created and which is now under the Linux Foundation in collaboration with Google, AWS, CloudFlare and others. He said X402 allows agents to pay each other in real time instantly all over the world, even in very small transaction amounts like a couple of cents at a time, which traditional payment rails do not really support. Armstrong also said Coinbase has been able to bring perpetual futures products to the US under this administration, calling them a pretty killer app in the trading world, and that he expects a future not too far off in which more agents transact in the economy than humans.
House Committee Advances Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act 38-5
The House Ways and Means Committee advanced the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act by a bipartisan 38 to 5 vote, one day after the Senate rejected the CLARITY Act on September 15. The bill creates a de minimis exemption for network or transaction fees of $10 or less, though it does not exempt the underlying purchase, so buying a coffee with Bitcoin would still trigger a capital-gains calculation while the blockchain fee could be exempt; the exemption would not apply to service providers processing transactions for others. The bill also extends wash-sale rules to widely traded digital assets, ending the practice of selling Bitcoin at a loss and immediately repurchasing it to offset gains, and it establishes tax treatment for stablecoins, lending, mining, and staking. Representative Steven Horsford pushed for the small-transaction exemption during committee consideration, while an earlier proposal to defer taxes on mining and staking income until the assets were sold was dropped from the version that advanced. Representative Lloyd Doggett opposed the bill, arguing its provisions favor the crypto industry over broader taxpayer priorities, and no full House vote has been scheduled, with a larger year-end tax package a possible route.
Coinbase Trades 47% Below High as 24/7 Wall St. Sets $212.94 Buy Target
24/7 Wall St. has issued a BUY rating on Coinbase with a 12-month price target of $212.94, implying 23.73% upside from a current price of $172.11, even as the stock sits 47.37% below its 52-week high. The call follows a rough second quarter in which revenue of $1.22 billion fell 18.5% year over year and missed consensus by 5.36%, with GAAP EPS of -$1.36, as total crypto spot trading volume dropped 25% quarter over quarter. The bull case rests on diversification: subscription and services reached 48% of net revenue in Q2, prediction markets already exceed $100 million in annualized revenue, average USDC held on platform hit an all-time high of $20 billion, and Base has processed roughly $32 trillion in trailing 12-month stablecoin transfer volume, with management projecting the stablecoin market will grow tenfold from $300 billion today to $3 trillion by 2030. The bear case is equally blunt: consumer transaction revenue fell 20% year over year and institutional dropped 26%, assets on platform slid to $246 billion from $294 billion, and the FY2026 EPS estimate has collapsed from $0.8953 ninety days ago to -$1.9697 today on 13 downward revisions in the past 30 days. For comparison, Robinhood posted Q2 2026 revenue up 32% year over year to $1.31 billion and carries an $87 billion market cap versus Coinbase's $38 billion, while CME Group reported $1.71 billion in quarterly revenue at a $99 billion market cap. 24/7 Wall St.'s bull scenario points to $361.40, while its bear scenario lands at $186.62, still above the current price.
Ripple updates XRPL AI Starter Kit to version 1.1 with support for Stripe and Tempo's MPP standard
Ripple has expanded its developer toolkit on the XRP Ledger network to support payment standards created by Stripe and Tempo. Version 1.1 of the XRPL AI Starter Kit adds support for the Machine Payments Protocol, or MPP, and the Open Wallet Standard, which lets software manage wallets across multiple blockchains through a central interface. According to a post by a developer from RippleX, the update gives developers another option for enabling AI agents to pay for data, computing power, and other online services with cryptocurrency. Jazzi Cooper, head of product at RippleX, wrote on the X platform that their job is to make XRP and RLUSD excellent choices everywhere developers start building. RLUSD is Ripple's stablecoin pegged to the US dollar. Ripple previously added support for x402, another standard for web payments, in June, and has now added MPP, backing both systems rather than betting on just one. MPP, co-written by payments company Stripe and Tempo, a blockchain built specifically for payments, provides a way for AI agents to pay on the fly: a service provider responds to a request with a price, the agent approves the payment, and the provider delivers the requested resource. The payments software remains in beta, and Ripple's announcement did not name any customers using the new MPP integration commercially, nor did it provide any payment transaction volume figures.
CEA Estimates Minimal Impact on Bank Lending Even With Stricter Stablecoin Yield Rules
The White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) on September 15 published a re-examination finding that tightening regulation of stablecoin yields would do little to protect bank lending. In the CEA's base case, a full ban on yields would move about $54 billion from stablecoins into bank deposits, while the increase in bank lending would be only about $2.1 billion, or 0.02% of the loan balance, with lending by small and mid-sized regional banks rising by about $500 million. Even in a case where stablecoins grow from about 1.7% of bank deposits to 10%, a yield ban would increase lending by only about $11.1 billion, or 0.09% of the loan balance, the CEA estimates. The banking industry has argued that yield-bearing stablecoins could substitute for bank deposits and affect lending. The American Bankers Association (ABA), in an April 13 rebuttal, criticized the CEA for failing to adequately capture deposit outflows if the market expands, and on September 10 again urged lawmakers to tighten yield rules under the Clarity Act. The sticking point is that the GENIUS Act, enacted on July 18, 2025, bars issuers from paying interest or yield, while it does not explicitly prohibit third parties such as exchanges from offering rewards to holders.
Circle Launches Arc, a New Blockchain for USDC Fees
Circle, the major US stablecoin issuer, announced on September 16 that it has launched the mainnet of Arc, its underlying layer-1 blockchain. Arc is designed so that transaction processing fees are paid in the dollar-denominated stablecoin USDC, with settlements finalized in under one second, and it also offers security features for institutional investors such as confidential transactions and quantum-resistant signatures. The founding validators that approve transactions include 11 companies, among them BlackRock, the US DTCC, Visa, Mastercard, SBI Group, and Sumitomo Corporation. Arc is linked to StableFX, a foreign exchange platform that exchanges multiple currencies around the clock, and JPYC, the company issuing the Japanese yen stablecoin JPYC, is also listed as a participating partner currency. By the 16th, Circle had completed the issuance of an initial supply of 10 billion of its own token, ARC, and aims to migrate to proof of stake around 2027, saying it is the world's first listed company to issue its own token on a new layer-1.
US Senate Rejects Motion to Begin Debate on Clarity Act, Crypto-Linked Stocks Fall
On the 15th, the US Senate rejected a cloture motion on a motion to begin debate on the Clarity Act, a cryptocurrency regulation bill, by a vote of 49 to 50, falling far short of the 60 votes needed. In response, Coinbase shares fell about 10%, Circle shares about 11%, and Strategy shares about 5%. Saxo Bank investment strategist Ruben Dalfovo noted in a September 16 report that the risks facing the three companies differ, and analyzed that Coinbase is most directly affected by the Clarity Act's progress. According to him, Coinbase posted a record share of crypto trading in the second quarter, and the average USDC balance held within its services reached 20 billion dollars. Circle's main risk factors, meanwhile, are USDC adoption and interest rates, while Strategy's are the bitcoin price and its funding structure. The Senate is scheduled to adjourn on December 18, and Republican Tom Tillis has filed a motion to reconsider, but Bernstein sees little chance of a revote and expects the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to move quickly to formulate rules.
Circle Agrees to Buy Tazapay for About $400 Million in Stock
Circle Internet Group agreed on September 8 to acquire Singapore-based Tazapay, a payments provider serving payment providers and financial institutions, for approximately $400 million in Class A common stock, subject to adjustments for debt, cash, and transaction expenses, plus $25 million of post-closing employee restricted stock unit awards. As of July 31, 2026, Tazapay had more than $25 billion of annualized payment volume, over 60 banking and fintech partners, and payout capabilities across more than 100 markets, with roughly 60% of that transaction volume involving stablecoins, though USDC's share was not specified. Closing is expected in 2027, subject to customary conditions and regulatory approvals, including approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Circle reported second-quarter reserve income of approximately $668 million against $701 million of total revenue and reserve income, with reserve income representing roughly 95% of the total and other revenue at approximately $34 million. The announcement did not disclose Tazapay's revenue, margins, or customer concentration, and the stock consideration would dilute existing shareholders.
Circle Launches Arc Mainnet With BlackRock, Visa Among Validators
Circle has launched the public mainnet of Arc, a Layer 1 blockchain built for payments, trading and agentic economic activity, with BlackRock, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, ICE, Mastercard, MoneyGram, SBI Group, Standard Chartered, Sumitomo, Visa, Worldpay and Galaxy forming its founding cohort of validators. Chief executive Jeremy Allaire called it the single most significant launch in Circle's history since USDC itself, and the USDC stablecoin, with around $74 billion in circulation, serves as the chain's gas token. Circle completed the genesis mint of ARC this week, creating all 10 billion tokens and making it the first publicly traded company to mint a network token for a new Layer 1, though the company said the mint is not a commitment to publicly launch ARC and described it as a technical step toward a possible move from proof of authority to proof of stake in 2027. Circle had already raised $222 million in an Arc token presale at a $3 billion valuation. Banks with access include BNY, HSBC, Societe Generale and State Street, while Aave and Morpho anchor lending, Uniswap, Aero and fomo provide trading, and Binance, Kraken, Bybit and OKX offer routes in, with Coinbase to follow; BlackRock's BUIDL and Circle's USYC provide tokenized collateral. Circle said USDC accounts for 98.8% of agent-driven transaction volume, citing Dune, and that Arc's testnet, launched last year with BlackRock and Visa among the participants, processed more than 700 million transactions in under a year.
XRP Falls 9% to $1.28 After Senate Blocks CLARITY Act Debate
XRP dropped 9% to $1.28 after the Senate failed to open debate on the CLARITY Act, falling 9.4% over 24 hours and 10.7% over the week while Bitcoin lost only 1.2%. The Senate rejected cloture 49 to 50, eleven votes short of the 60 required, a vote that would only have begun floor debate on a bill that would have written XRP's legal clarity into statute. Coinbase ended down 8.65% and Circle about 11%, both more exposed than XRP to the market-structure rules the bill would have set, while Polymarket odds of the bill being signed into law by 2026 collapsed from 90% in February to 5%. XRP retains its SEC-CFTC commodity classification from a joint document issued on March 17, 2026, five live spot ETFs with $1.70 billion in cumulative net inflows, and Ripple's August 2025 SEC settlement, leaving its legal standing unchanged. With the Fed's rate decision due at 2 PM ET and CME FedWatch showing a 92% likelihood of a 25 basis point increase, XRP's key support sits at $1.25, $1.21, $1.10 and $0.9877, with resistance from $1.33.
Senate Blocks CLARITY Act in 49-50 Cloture Vote, Sinking XRP and Crypto-Linked Stocks
The Senate voted 49 to 50 on September 15 against opening debate on the CLARITY Act, falling eleven votes short of the 60 needed for cloture and leaving the crypto market-structure bill dead for the year. Four Republicans broke ranks, with Susan Collins, Josh Hawley and Jerry Moran opposing the bill on its merits over community-bank concerns about the stablecoin yield provision, while Thom Tillis voted no on procedural grounds and filed a motion to reconsider at 3:01 p.m. Seven Democrats who helped negotiate the text, including Kirsten Gillibrand, Mark Warner, Cory Booker, Raphael Warnock, Ruben Gallego, Angela Alsobrooks and Catherine Cortez Masto, ultimately voted against it, with Elissa Slotkin calling the ethics provisions too thin. After the vote, XRP fell 7.98% to $1.29, Bitcoin dropped 1.42% to $75,924, Ethereum declined 3.15% to $2,404 and Solana slipped 3.67% to $97.23, while listed companies tied to market structure fell hardest, with Coinbase down roughly 8% and Circle about 11%. Polymarket, which priced the bill becoming law in 2026 at 82% in February, now puts the odds near 7%, and Kalshi traders price passage before January 1, 2027 at 20%. The SEC's Regulation Crypto Assets proposal introduced September 1, 2026, the March 17 joint SEC-CFTC interpretation and a blockchain transfer-agent overhaul cover much of what Congress left unlegislated, but agency rules can be revoked by a future chair, unlike a statute.
Bitcoin Holds Near $76K as Analysts Say Fed Outweighs Clarity Act Failure
Bitcoin traded around $76,140 Wednesday morning, down 0.9% on the day and 4% for the week, a day after senators blocked the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. Analysts argued the legislation's failure, while disappointing, matters less for Bitcoin's price than today's Fed decision, with Stephen Wundke of Algoz putting the odds of a quarter-point increase at 93%, in line with CME FedWatch, up from 33.1% a month ago. Talos data showed a 28% net buying tilt toward stablecoins ahead of the decision versus an average 8% selling tilt around previous FOMC meetings, with Bitcoin buying conviction falling from 10% to 3% and Ethereum from 23% to 9%, according to research analyst Cooper Duschang. Tim Sun of HashKey argued the true pricing mechanism for this downturn remains U.S. dollar liquidity rather than congressional legislation, while CFTC Chair Michael Selig and SEC Chair Paul Atkins have both signaled their agencies can write crypto rules under existing authority. On prediction market Myriad, owned by Decrypt's parent company Dastan, users placed a 72% chance on Bitcoin's next move taking it to $84,000.
Ripple's RLUSD Hits $2.345 Billion Market Cap as Acquisition Strategy Builds Institutional Settlement Rails
Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin has reached approximately $2.345 billion in market cap as of September 16, 2026, a 1,278% year-to-date increase that makes it the third-fastest growing stablecoin of the year, with daily transfer activity tripling since January to $750 million per day by August. Roughly $963 million of the token sits on the XRP Ledger and $1.05 billion on Ethereum. Ripple is pursuing a vertically integrated strategy built on acquisitions rather than validators, including the $1.25 billion purchase of Hidden Road, now rebranded Ripple Prime, which clears roughly $3 trillion annually and lets RLUSD serve as collateral with zero haircut for over 300 institutional clients, alongside the $1 billion acquisition of GTreasury's treasury management platform, which reaches 1,200 corporate treasurers processing $13 trillion annually. Integrations include a September 2025 partnership with DBS and Franklin Templeton for 24/7 trading of tokenized money market funds, a Securitize link allowing holders of BlackRock BUIDL and VanEck VBILL to swap into RLUSD around the clock, and a Mastercard and WebBank pilot marking the first time a regulated US bank has settled card transactions on a public blockchain using a stablecoin. Ripple holds a New York Department of Financial Services trust company charter and conditional OCC approval, and launched in Japan via SBI under the JFSA's revised Payment Services Act, positioning itself around private-sector consensus and state-level charters after the CLARITY Act failed on September 15. The Federal Reserve Master Account remains the key bottleneck, and expansion into L2 networks via Wormhole NTT is still pending NYDFS approval.
Dangote Refinery IPO Opens for Subscription via Stablecoins on Solana
Solana announced on September 15 on its official X account that subscriptions for the initial public offering of one of Africa's largest refineries, the Dangote Refinery, can now be made using stablecoins on the Solana blockchain. The IPO will offer roughly 3 percent of the company's shares and aims to raise about 1.6 billion dollars, which Solana says would make it the largest IPO ever in Africa. Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals FZE, which is carrying out the IPO, operates the world's largest single-train refinery in Nigeria; it began operations in 2024 and turned the country from a net importer of petroleum products into a net exporter. Subscriptions using stablecoins will be handled through the Nigeria-born financial app NectarFi, on infrastructure provided by the investment platform GetEquity. Investors will receive ordinary shares slated for listing on the Nigerian Exchange, and residents and nationals of Japan are in principle not permitted to subscribe.
Bank of England FPC member says stablecoins strengthen dollar dominance and demand for US Treasuries in speech
Carolyn Wilkins, an external member of the Bank of England's Financial Policy Committee, said in a speech at Queen's University Belfast on September 15 that the rise of stablecoins could reinforce the global dominance of the US dollar and increase demand for US Treasuries. She noted that dollar-denominated stablecoins facilitate cross-border payments and broaden access to dollar assets outside the United States, saying dollar-denominated coins account for about 98% of the stablecoin market and that the dollar enjoys a substantial first-mover advantage. According to data she cited, Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC held about 150 billion dollars' worth of US short-term government debt as of the end of 2025, having added roughly 33 billion dollars' worth during that year. At the same time, she argued that this relationship is a double-edged sword, warning that once issuance becomes large enough, a wave of redemptions could force issuers to sell short-term government debt, potentially amplifying volatility in a market that is already under stress. In the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority published final rules for stablecoin issuers in June after trials in a regulatory sandbox, and the Bank of England has indicated it will allow systemic issuers to hold up to 70% of their backing assets in UK government debt with less than six months to maturity.
Senate Blocks Digital Asset Market Structure Bill; Crypto Stocks Slide
The Senate blocked a landmark digital asset market structure bill in a procedural vote Tuesday, sending crypto-related stocks sharply lower. The legislation failed to reach the 60 votes needed to advance. Coinbase declined more than 9%, while Circle Internet Group dropped over 9.6%; Strategy fell roughly 5%, and Bitmine Immersion Technologies lost more than 7%. The bill would have given the Commodity Futures Trading Commission primary authority to regulate the digital assets industry, and Democrats blocked the measure citing concerns over ethics provisions designed to address President Donald Trump's crypto business interests. Senate Republican leaders released an updated version of the Clarity Act late Sunday night that added measures to expand state attorneys general's ability to enforce ethics provisions and further limit crypto companies from offering rewards or interest to stablecoin users, including a circuit-breaker for the Treasury Department to prohibit such rewards, interest or yield. Democrats said the ethical guardrails for the president and other elected officials holding cryptocurrencies did not go far enough, particularly in light of Trump's $1.4 billion crypto windfall, and the defeat comes less than two months before the midterm elections in November.
Bitcoin Falls 4.9% as Clarity Act Stalls in Senate Committee
Bitcoin fell as much as 4.9% on Tuesday from Monday's high of nearly $80K after the Clarity Act failed to advance out of committee, with the largest cryptocurrency by market cap sliding to $76.1K Tuesday afternoon, down 2.7% over the past 24 hours, and a low of the day of $75.7K against Monday's high of $79.6K. Ethereum, the second-largest digital token by market cap, dropped 4.5% to $2.40K at about 3:05 PM ET. The odds of the Clarity Act becoming law before Jan. 1, 2027, slid to 7.7% at about 3:45 PM ET from as high as 39% at 7:27 AM ET, after a procedural vote to advance the bill to the Senate floor for a full vote failed Tuesday afternoon, with major sticking points including ethics over legislators and the president profiting from stablecoins and other digital assets and whether platforms should be allowed to pay interest on stablecoin holdings. Vladimir Tikhomirov, founder of Theorem and co-founder of Algebra, said the development was a setback but "doesn't change the direction of the crypto market either, as prices are still too heavily dependent on rates, dollar liquidity, and macro conditions," adding that the RWA market remains in an uncertain position with no regulatory blueprint for how these assets can be traded, how liquidity is formed around them, and how investors can actually exit their positions. Crypto stocks slumping the most in Tuesday trading included Circle Internet at -10%, Coinbase Global at -9.5%, Gemini Space Station at -7.3%, and Bakkt at -6.9%, while crypto mining stocks also dipped, with Riot Platforms at -5.5%, CleanSpark at -4.6%, Core Scientific at -4.0%, Hut 8 at -4.2%, and IREN at -3.6%.
U.S. Seeks Forfeiture of $61 Million in Crypto Tied to Iranian Oil Sales on Binance
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York filed a civil forfeiture complaint Tuesday targeting roughly $61 million in cryptocurrency that prosecutors say was generated through illegal sales of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products on the black market. Deputy U.S. Attorney Sean S. Buckley and FBI New York Field Office Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle, Jr. announced the action, with Buckley saying the government is seizing and seeking to forfeit more than $61 million of the Government of Iran's money. According to the complaint, two Chinese companies, Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale, used trading accounts at the cryptocurrency exchange Binance to launder proceeds from illegal Iranian oil sales, funneling funds to the Iranian government and its proxies, including Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Prosecutors also identified a web of interconnected unhosted cryptocurrency addresses, grouped in the complaint under the label Entity A, through which more than $1.5 billion in revenue from unlawful Iranian oil transactions has flowed. Stablecoin issuer Tether will, under the arrangement described in the complaint, destroy the tokens sitting in the flagged addresses and mint new tokens of equivalent value, which will then be handed over to U.S. government custody. Binance said in a statement that it has zero tolerance for sanctions violations or illicit activity and that it did not permit any transactions with sanctioned individuals.
8 US banking groups oppose Circuit Breaker mechanism in the CLARITY Act draft
Eight major US banking groups are warning that the revised draft of the CLARITY Act could trigger deposit outflows if stablecoin yields function like bank deposit interest. In a letter sent to John Thune and Charles Schumer, the Senate leaders, the banking groups, which include the American Bankers Association, the Bank Policy Institute, the Independent Community Bankers of America, and the National Bankers Association, stated that the temporary suspension mechanism, or Circuit Breaker, under this draft would only activate after a major loss of deposits had already occurred. By then it would be too late to stop the problem, and it would affect lending for housing, small business loans, agricultural loans, and other community loans. The letter comes ahead of a Senate procedural vote scheduled for September 15. The banking groups are calling for the removal of the word Solely from Section 10404(c)(1)(A), the removal of the phrases On a payment stablecoin balance and On an interest bearing bank deposit from Section 10404(c)(1)(B), a change in the test criterion from Economically or functionally equivalent to Substantially similar throughout Section 10404, and the complete removal of Section 10404(3)(B). Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended the Circuit Breaker mechanism, saying it gives the Treasury more authority to protect community banks, while Patrick Witt, the White House crypto adviser, rejected the deposit outflow claims, pointing out that bank deposits have continued to rise.
Circle to Launch Arc Mainnet on September 16 as Bitcoin Recovers Above $77,800
Circle has officially announced that it will launch the Arc mainnet on September 16, with the market watching to see whether meme coins will boom in the footsteps of Robinhood Chain. Meanwhile, Bitcoin has rebounded back above $77,800 and is trading in a range of $76,636 to $79,600, amid a revival in the crypto market and trading volume. Investors are also keeping an eye on the CLARITY Act draft and the Fed meeting, viewing the key resistance level at $80,000, which the price has not yet been able to break above.
Coinbase CEO Says CLARITY Act Nears Finish Line Ahead of Sept. 15 Senate Vote
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong told Bloomberg Thursday that the CLARITY Act is nearing the finish line ahead of a Sept. 15 Senate vote, with banks, law enforcement groups and crypto companies all endorsing it. Armstrong, speaking from the Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai, said he is confident the bill will pass but added that even a failed vote would not leave the industry without clarity, since the SEC and the CFTC have said they are ready to publish rulemaking. He called passage of the CLARITY Act a regulatory checkbox that could unlock institutional capital and pave the way for tokenized equities in the U.S., describing it as a big milestone for the industry. On Bitcoin, Armstrong said he personally believes the cycle bottom is already in and expects the cryptocurrency to trend higher over the coming year or two as the next halving approaches. He also told CNBC's Squawk Box Asia that about half of Coinbase's revenue comes from trading, which has been down for the past year, pushing the company to diversify into stocks, commodities and foreign exchange, while the other half comes from subscriptions and services led by USD Coin stablecoins. Armstrong said he expects the stablecoin market to grow from roughly $300 billion today to $3 trillion by 2030, and cited stablecoin payments on Base up 700% year over year, prediction markets growing 100% quarter over quarter on the Coinbase app, tokenized equities launched in Abu Dhabi with real shareholder rights, and 90% of agentic finance payments running on Base.
Crypto Rallies as Clarity Act Odds Jump to Near 30%
Crypto markets gained on Monday as optimism over a key US crypto bill revived risk appetite across the digital-asset spectrum. The rally came as the odds of the market regulation Clarity Act passing this year climbed from as low as around 14% to near 30% on Polymarket, still a long shot but a sharp repricing of its prospects. Bitcoin, which accounts for around 60% of the market value of all cryptocurrencies, again approached the $80,000 price level, increasing as much as 1.5% to $78,452. Shares of crypto-related companies rallied more, with digital exchange Coinbase Global Inc. jumping as much as 8% and stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group Inc. increasing as much as 6.4%. Senators have promised to kick off procedural votes later this week, and ahead of that Republican senators released a final draft of the bill with changes addressing some of its most contentious points, including giving the Treasury Secretary power to intervene if deposit flight became detrimental to community banks and adding new ethics guard rails that would force the president to divest from virtual assets or place significant holdings in a blind trust. Analysts at Clear Street wrote in a report Monday that they believe the ethics compromise is the most important single change, since it was the primary Democratic sticking point, calling it incrementally positive for Coinbase, Circle and Bullish.
Canada's OSFI Says Tokenized Bank Deposits Stay Under Existing Banking Rules
Canada's banking regulator, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, said on Sept. 10 that tokenized bank deposits are not legally distinct from traditional bank deposits, meaning blockchain does not create a new legal category. OSFI said the underlying technology used to deliver a financial product does not determine its legal nature, taking what it calls a technology-neutral approach that lets federally regulated banks explore tokenized deposits within the existing banking framework instead of waiting for a separate crypto rulebook. The clarification does not remove oversight: banks remain subject to existing capital, cybersecurity, technology and supervisory requirements, including OSFI's technology and cyber-risk framework and rules on third-party service provider risk, and are expected to consult their OSFI supervisors before launching novel products. The distinction separates tokenized bank deposits, which remain a claim on a regulated financial institution, from crypto assets such as stablecoins issued by non-bank entities. The same day, OSFI also published its final 2027 capital and liquidity rules for crypto assets, based partly on Basel Committee standards, scheduled to take effect in November 2026 or January 2027 depending on an institution's fiscal year.
Republicans Release Final 635-Page CLARITY Act, Eyeing Tuesday Vote
Republican senators unveiled the final revised text of the CLARITY Act on Sunday, aiming to win over Democrats ahead of a procedural vote this Tuesday at 2:15 p.m. Eastern Time. The 635-page proposal was released by Cynthia Lummis, chair of the digital assets subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, along with Chairman John Boozman and Tim Scott, and reflects a year of bipartisan negotiations with 126 amendments made at Democratic requests. The content covers changes to the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, or BRCA, provisions governing stablecoin yield, and new ethics requirements that Lummis said President Donald Trump has accepted. These require federally elected officials, judges, and their spouses to divest significant financial interests or place them in a certified blind trust, with civil penalties of 500,000 dollars or 20 percent of the amount gained in a prohibited transaction, whichever is greater, and the ethics provisions would take effect 360 days after enactment. The revised BRCA would retain protections for developers from being treated as money transmitters or financial institutions under the Bank Secrecy Act, extend protections to miners and transaction validators, and repeal references to Section 1960 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code.
Thai Crypto Market in August: Average Daily Trading Volume 1.6 Billion Baht, Up 20.81%
Thailand's cryptocurrency market in August had an average daily trading value of 1.6 billion baht, an increase of 20.81%, with trading heavily concentrated in USDT, accounting for as much as 76% of total trading volume. Overall, the crypto market still has key issues, including Bitcoin's price rebounding to near 80,000 dollars after the release of US CPI inflation figures, while investors are watching the US central bank, the Fed, for its interest rate decision. At the same time, the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission is pushing forward with token funds and Travel Rule measures. On the capital flow side, pressure remains from outflows of 449 million dollars from Bitcoin ETF funds. Meanwhile, there are also developments in blockchain related to artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency regulations worldwide that warrant continued attention.
Metaplanet CEO Responds to Shareholder Criticism; JPYC Circulation Falls About 600 Million Yen in a Week
Simon Gerovich, CEO of Metaplanet, said in a post on X on September 6 that the company is continuing to review its compensation and governance policies, and, in response to questions and criticism from shareholders, he again explained the intent behind management decisions and the company's efforts toward long-term shareholder value. One of the points of debate over the compensation system is the dilution of shares through the 10th stock acquisition rights for officers and employees. The circulation of the Japanese yen stablecoin JPYC continues to decline, and according to the on-chain data aggregation site JPYC Info, it fell from about 2.708 billion JPYC on August 30 to about 2.097 billion JPYC on September 6, a decrease of about 600 million yen in value over one week. Asset Management One, an asset management company under the Mizuho group, has hired analyst Yoshifumi Nishiyama with an eye toward crypto asset ETFs, and he announced his joining the company on his social media on September 7. The National Sheriffs' Association, a U.S. law enforcement organization, said in a letter on September 3 that it was withdrawing its opposition to the Clarity Act, which defines the market structure for crypto assets, and shifting to a neutral stance. On September 11, the Financial Services Agency issued a warning to Bit Hills, which operates the crypto asset collateralized loan CryptoPawn, saying it was conducting a money lending business without registration.
Ripple recently minted 10 million RLUSD on the XRP Ledger, according to a Ripple stablecoin tracker X account. The mint adds to the Ripple USD stablecoin supply on the XRPL blockchain. The issuance comes despite a mild activity drop in September so far.
Thai SEC seeks public comment on stricter five-point stablecoin regulation to curb money laundering
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has opened a public consultation on principles for regulating stablecoin transactions through digital asset businesses, aiming to prevent risks from money laundering, technology crime, and circumvention of cross-border transfer rules. The SEC board approved the principles at its meeting in September 2026. The proposed rules under consultation are divided into five main parts. The first governs stablecoin transfers through digital asset businesses, requiring that transfers be made only to the customer's own account or wallet, that they comply with the Travel Rule, and that inbound and outbound transfers be capped at no more than 5 million baht per day per person per business operator, with exceptions for transfers between customer accounts through operators within Thailand and three further exceptions: customers that are digital asset businesses, businesses under the supervision of the Bank of Thailand that are permitted to use stablecoins, and customers acting as liquidity providers in stablecoin/baht pairs. The second part covers off-platform transactions by digital asset brokers and dealers, setting a minimum transaction value of 3 million baht and above, requiring disclosure of trading prices on their website or platform, and prohibiting brokers from arranging direct customer-to-customer transactions. The third part tightens oversight of liquidity providers and liquidity service providers, requiring digital asset exchanges to disclose on their websites the list of market makers and the digital assets for which they provide liquidity, while brokers are prohibited from having liquidity providers for stablecoin/baht pair transactions, and liquidity providers must not be located in countries without FATF measures. The fourth part brings source exchanges under the supervision of anti-money-laundering or business-conduct regulators. The fifth part strengthens the SEC's power to order business operators to correct or carry out data collection and disclosure within a specified period.
Bank of Thailand backs gold tax to close money-laundering loopholes
Vithai Ratanakorn, Governor of the Bank of Thailand, said at the 10th anniversary event of Mitihun news agency, under the theme Capital with Purpose, that the Bank of Thailand supports the government in considering a tax on gold transactions, with the aim of requiring gold shops to report trading data on who they sell to and in what amounts, in order to bring hidden transactions into scrutiny and close the channel of using gold as a conduit for money laundering. The proposed approach is a specific business tax on gold shops at a very low rate, such as 0.01%, meaning a gold purchase worth 70,000 baht would incur a tax of only 7 baht. The latest data for August showed cash withdrawals exceeding 5 million baht totalling 50 billion baht, with the top 50 large customers accounting for 25 billion baht, and 66% of this group had transactions related to gold. Previously, the Bank of Thailand required reporting of gold purchases via applications and withdrawals of gold bars exceeding 2 kilograms, worth more than 10 million baht, which reduced the volume of gold bar withdrawals from 20 billion baht to 3 billion baht. In addition, it is preparing to cooperate with the Securities and Exchange Commission to close the channel of the digital asset USDT, whose suspicious transfer value in and out amounts to several hundred billion baht, with the first half of the year seeing USDT trading worth as much as 500 to 600 billion baht. It will also join with 11 financial sector agencies to declare their intent to combat illegal transactions, crack down on grey capital, online gambling and corruption, and share data on abnormal transactions together.
Standard Chartered Initiates SKY Token Coverage With $0.325 Target, Sees 400% Upside
Standard Chartered initiated coverage of Sky Protocol's SKY token on Sep. 11 with a price target of $0.325 by the end of 2028, implying 400% upside from the current price of $0.065. The bank's global head of digital assets research, Geoff Kendrick, compared Sky Protocol to a "federal bank" because it issues stablecoins, has a governance framework, and lends assets at a wholesale interest rate, and he noted it is the largest issuer of yield-bearing stablecoins. Sky Protocol, earlier known as MakerDAO, is a decentralized finance project built on Ethereum whose USDS stablecoin has a market cap of more than $6 billion, over 2% of the total stablecoin market, while its governance token SKY has a market cap of $1.38 billion and ranks as the 62nd largest cryptocurrency. Users can stake USDS in exchange for the sUSDS token, which has a total value locked of $4.59 billion and offers an annual percentage yield of 3.6%, and Kendrick said SKY holders primarily rely on staking rewards for returns, though token buybacks also generate returns. Standard Chartered also sees Bitcoin and Ethereum hitting $300,000 and $18,000 by the end of 2028, implying SKY will keep pace with Ether but outperform Bitcoin through 2028.
MoneyGram Launches USDC-Backed Visa Card in Colombia
MoneyGram has launched a stablecoin-backed card that lets users hold a U.S. dollar-denominated balance and spend it anywhere Visa is accepted. The new MoneyGram Card is initially available only in Colombia, with plans to expand to other markets in the coming months. Consumers can sign up through MoneyGram's app and use the card for online and in-store purchases, and can also send money to themselves for cash pickup at MoneyGram locations. The card runs on Visa's global payments network and uses Circle Internet Group's USDC stablecoin, and MoneyGram said it plans to eventually make its own MGUSD token available with the card as well. MoneyGram added that it plans to introduce a physical version of the card later this year that will support withdrawals at ATM bank machines. The launch comes as stablecoin trading volumes surpassed $1.1 billion U.S. in August, according to Payment Scan. MoneyGram is no longer publicly traded, having been acquired by private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners in 2023 for $1.8 billion U.S.
SEC opens consultation on regulatory principles for stablecoin transactions via digital asset businesses
The Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, has opened a public consultation on regulatory principles for stablecoin transactions conducted through digital asset businesses. This consultation follows the schedule announced earlier. The consultation opened on 11 September 2026 at 20:58, aiming to set out regulatory guidelines for stablecoin transactions carried out through digital asset businesses under the SEC's supervision. The details of the principles and the scope of the consultation are as set out in the document the SEC has published to the public.
Coinbase CEO Says Bitcoin Has Bottomed, Keeps $400,000 Target for 2030
Brian Armstrong, CEO of major cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, appeared on CNBC on September 10 and said the outlook for Bitcoin to reach $400,000 by 2030 is "a reasonable target." That would be roughly five times its current level of around $77,000. He explained that Bitcoin repeats a cycle of roughly four years of gains and euphoria followed by about a year of decline, saying, "This downturn has passed the one-year mark. Personally, I think the bottom of this cycle is in," and expressed the view that the market will enter an upward trend over the next one to two years heading toward the halving in about a year and a half. On the regulatory front, he stressed that a procedural vote scheduled in the Senate on September 15 to decide whether to begin deliberation on the CLARITY Act is in a position to secure enough yes votes, and said that even if the bill stalls, the SEC and CFTC will move to build out rules under their existing authority, so regulation will become clear within a month either way. Speaking also to Bloomberg, he presented a forecast that the stablecoin market will reach $3 trillion by 2030, and named payments, tokenization, prediction markets, and finance driven by AI agents as areas of focus. However, in August 2025 he had predicted $1 million by 2030, and the probability in prediction markets of the CLARITY Act passing this year remains below 20 percent.
Circle to Discontinue USDC and CCTP V1 on Noble Blockchain
Circle announced on September 10 that it is discontinuing USDC and CCTP V1 on the Noble blockchain, and Noble will not receive CCTP V2. Noble served as the single canonical issuance point for USDC within the Cosmos Inter-Blockchain Communication ecosystem, unifying more than 100 bridged versions of USDC into one native asset used by sovereign appchains including Osmosis and dYdX. Under the schedule, new USDC minting on Noble via Circle Mint will be disabled on October 13, 2026, CCTP V1 burn limits begin reducing to zero on October 31, CCTP exits will be limited to destination chains that still support V1 burns by December 1, and the Noble USDC contract and all CCTP routes are fully paused on January 12, 2027, with a manual redemption portal opening the following day. All USDC on Noble remains 1:1 redeemable through the January 12 deadline, and Circle Mint customers retain withdrawal access until then. The move follows Coinbase's halt of USDC deposits and withdrawals on Noble on August 17, 2026, and comes as Circle prepares to launch its Arc mainnet on September 16 with a validator set including BlackRock, DTCC, Galaxy, Global Payments, ICE, Mastercard, MoneyGram, SBI Group, Standard Chartered, Sumitomo Corporation, and Visa. Circle said it is working with Noble and Cosmos ecosystem teams on an intermediate solution to route USDC flows to and from the ecosystem, but no timeline, technical architecture, or commitment has been specified.
PayPal and MoonPay Launch PYUSDx Platform for Custom Stablecoins
PayPal has debuted a developer platform tied to its PYUSD stablecoin that will let businesses launch custom digital dollar products. The platform, called PYUSDx, is being launched in conjunction with MoonPay and allows companies to create customized digital dollars backed by PayPal's PYUSD. Three products are already live on the platform: Saturn's USDT, Concrete's Conc USD, and Caps' CUSD. The platform says these products have already processed more than $100 million. The offering effectively gives businesses a white-label way to launch a stablecoin using PayPal's technology and reserves while keeping their own name and branding.
Tether Partners With Fasanara Capital on $3 Billion Private Credit Fund
Tether is expanding into private credit, partnering with British asset manager Fasanara Capital and committing $400 million U.S. to a fund that will use its stablecoin to move money globally. The two firms are joining forces to support StableFund, a private credit vehicle that aims to raise as much as $3 billion U.S. from institutional investors. Fasanara Capital will manage the fund and deploy the money into short-term, asset-backed loans through financial technology platforms operating in more than 60 countries, while Tether will source USDT-linked financing opportunities and provide the infrastructure for moving funds internationally, including converting traditional fiat currencies into stablecoins. The fund marks the latest step in Tether's evolution beyond issuing and managing the USDT stablecoin, following recent expansions into payments, artificial intelligence, telecommunications, and other investments. USDT, the firm's $145 billion U.S. stablecoin, accounts for more than half of the $300 billion U.S. global stablecoin market, and both Tether and Fasanara Capital are privately held with no publicly traded stock.
Bank of Thailand Joins 11 Financial Associations to Curb Gray Money, Requiring Cash Deposits Over 5 Million Baht to Show Source Starting This October
The Bank of Thailand, together with 11 financial associations and related agencies, has announced a cooperation framework to prevent illegal transactions in the financial sector, covering commercial banks, state specialized financial institutions, payment gateway providers, currency exchange service providers, and all non-bank groups under a single standard. A key measure set to take effect in October 2026 requires anyone wishing to deposit cash worth 5 million baht or more to answer questions and clearly present evidence of the source of the funds, such as purchase agreements or business documents. Mr. Vitai Ratanakorn, Governor of the Bank of Thailand, said the central bank is also focusing on scrutiny of high-volume gold bar trading and the use of cryptocurrencies, especially USDT, and is working with the Securities and Exchange Commission to issue clear regulatory criteria within the next few months. Under previous measures, the limit on cash withdrawals exceeding 5 million baht reduced withdrawals in this group from about 100 billion baht a month to just 40 billion baht, while high-value cash purchases of gold bars fell by as much as 70%.
Binance to Delist $100 Million FDV Pax Dollar Stablecoin on September 24, 2026
Binance is preparing to remove Pax Dollar (USDP) from its platform after the stablecoin failed to meet the exchange's requirements in its most recent periodic review. All USDP spot trading pairs will stop trading on September 24, 2026, at 03:00 UTC, according to Binance. The delisting affects a stablecoin with a fully diluted valuation of $100 million.