stablecoins

a16z crypto released an analysis report titled "The New Stack of Global Finance: The Stablecoin Edition." The report points out that stablecoins have evolved from niche trading tools into fundamental financial pipelines, giving rise to a new type of "banking as a service" model that is driving the reconstruction of the financial system. The report believes that the transition to on-chain finance has "crossed the point of no return."The report categorizes blockchains into three types: general-purpose chains (such as Solana, Ethereum, and L2), payment-specific chains (such as Stripe's Tempo), and institutional networks (such as Canton). It also notes that the bottlenecks in the banking industry are easing, with a number of crypto-friendly banks actively connecting on-chain infrastructure with traditional fiat systems. The competition for stablecoin issuance has shifted to regulatory positioning, with issuers vying to obtain OCC national trust charters.The report states that payments are the "first act," while credit may be the more important "second act." The large-scale issuance of stablecoins will give rise to a new on-chain credit market, allowing capital to form outside the traditional banking system. The report also emphasizes that stablecoins not only enhance the dominance of the dollar but also provide emerging market users with access channels to the dollar.

According to The Block, analysts at research firm Bernstein stated in their latest report that the fundamentals of the crypto market are continuously improving. The recent low of $60,000 for Bitcoin has formed a clear bottom, and the current price is approaching $80,000. Driven by institutional demand, a longer structural bull market is expected.Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani pointed out the following core driving factors:Institutional channels continue to expand: Morgan Stanley's Bitcoin ETF and Charles Schwab's spot Bitcoin/Ethereum trading platform have been launched one after another, with about 60% of Bitcoin supply not having moved for over a year, indicating a stable holder structure;Strategy continues to increase holdings: its STRC perpetual preferred stock product attracts income-focused investors, with current holdings reaching 818,334 Bitcoins;Demand for stablecoins reaches an all-time high: stablecoin supply has surpassed $30 billion, decoupling from the price cycle of the crypto market, showing that real payment and settlement demand continues to grow;Tokenization of real assets accelerates expansion: the scale of tokenized assets such as private credit and government bonds has reached $345 billion, a year-on-year increase of 110%.Bernstein also noted that quantum computing poses a long-term potential risk, but the blockchain ecosystem is expected to have ample time to complete the post-quantum security transition.

According to Blockchain for Europe, the European Blockchain Association, in collaboration with Dr. Ulrich Bindseil, former Director General of Market Infrastructure and Payments at the European Central Bank, and Erwin Voloder, Director of Research and Strategy at the Association, jointly released a report titled "Reforming MiCA to Support Euro Stablecoins."The report recognizes the significance of MiCA as a milestone regulatory framework, but also points out that some of its design choices may place Europe in the unfavorable range of the regulatory "Laffer curve"—excessively stringent requirements could weaken the EU's market competitiveness and drive related businesses outside the EU.The report proposes a series of targeted and pragmatic reform suggestions aimed at fostering a more competitive, resilient, and globally influential euro stablecoin ecosystem under MiCA, and calls on policymakers, industry participants, and various stakeholders to actively engage in discussions to jointly promote the continuous improvement of the MiCA framework.

According to Caixin, Kenneth Rogoff, former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), warned that the Trump administration's push for financial deregulation, particularly the relaxation of bank capital requirements and regulatory transparency, is significantly increasing the risk of a systemic financial crisis in the United States in the future.Kenneth Rogoff pointed out that one of the important reasons supporting the relaxation of regulations is to allow traditional banks to maintain innovation and market competitiveness in the competition with cryptocurrencies, especially stablecoins pegged to the dollar. If cryptocurrency regulations are relaxed simultaneously, combined with the deregulation of the traditional financial system, it could trigger a "double deregulation" risk, ultimately leading to systemic collapse. Although a comprehensive banking crisis may not erupt in the short term, the risks have clearly increased, and the regulatory balance between stablecoins and the traditional banking system is becoming a key hidden danger.

The crypto market structure bill has seen almost no public progress in the past month. While it is quite difficult to predict the outcome of the bill, the window for passing it is narrowing. Many actions surrounding the market structure issue—such as statements from staff at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)—are not permanent guidance. The SEC has time to issue rules that require public notice and comment periods, but this will take time.The market structure legislation aims to codify the goals of the crypto industry and regulatory rules into law, making it more difficult for future governments to overturn these rules. In other words, without the Clarity Act, we could very well still be having the same discussions years from now.Since at least last December, May 25, Memorial Day, has been viewed as the "deadline" for legislative progress. After entering summer, lawmakers will leave Washington to campaign, leaving little time for the crypto bill (or most other legislation). Before Congress recesses, the House still needs to consider a bill that provides funding for the Department of Homeland Security, while the Senate must decide whether Kevin Warsh will become the next Federal Reserve Chair.The crypto industry is eager for the bill to pass. Over 100 organizations signed an open letter last week urging the Senate Banking Committee to hold a hearing on the bill, which would be the first step in the overall passage process. However, it is currently unclear how far the committee is from moving forward. The issue of stablecoin yields continues to dominate discussions, and other unresolved issues remain unaddressed at least in public.Even if these issues are resolved, the House will still need to vote on the bill again. House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill stated earlier this month that many unresolved issues surrounding stablecoin and DeFi sales practices have been addressed in the House version of the bill, and the Senate should be able to find consensus.

a16z released the latest research indicating that stablecoins are gradually evolving from their initial role as transaction settlement tools and stores of value into global financial infrastructure. Data shows that following the regulatory clarity driven by the U.S. GENIUS Act, the stablecoin market has accelerated its growth, with adjusted trading volumes reaching approximately $4.5 trillion.The report shows that consumer-to-business (C2B) stablecoin transactions grew by 128% year-on-year, reaching 284.6 million transactions. The monthly collateral deposits for stablecoin card projects also increased from nearly zero at the end of 2024 to over $300 million by early 2026, reflecting the rapid expansion of stablecoin payment scenarios. Meanwhile, the velocity of stablecoins has increased from 2.6 times to 6 times since early 2024, indicating a shift from being "held" to being "frequently used." a16z believes that the focus of stablecoin applications is shifting from cross-border payments to local payment infrastructure, particularly evident in markets such as Asia and Brazil.

The Web3 asset data platform RootData has outlined 30 business partners of Fireblocks, spanning multiple key areas such as DeFi protocols, payment settlement, compliance analysis, trading institutions, and multi-chain infrastructure:Settlement Layer: Represented by Circle, TripleA, and Lynq, responsible for stablecoin issuance and payment clearing.Liquidity and Trading Layer: Includes market makers and trading institutions such as Wintermute, Amber Group, GSR, and Wootton, responsible for fund distribution and market depth.On-chain Application Layer: Covers DeFi and application tools like Aave, Morpho, and MetaMask, which support the actual operation scenarios of funds.Compliance and Risk Control Layer: Service providers like Chainalysis, Elliptic, and Coincover form an important supplement to its regulatory adaptation capabilities.By 2025, Fireblocks is expected to handle over $200 billion in stablecoin transactions per month, a year-on-year increase of 300%. Fireblocks' positioning is evolving from a "custody and security service provider" to a central hub for on-chain fund flows and institutional asset circulation.Currently, Fireblocks supports over 150 public blockchain networks, and its partnership network has expanded to over 2,500 global institutional participants, including banks, asset management firms, exchanges, market makers, and fintech companies. Related compilation: Fireblocks Web3 Partner Network Compilation (Continuously Updated)Cryptocurrency projects actively showcasing their partner networks have become a key way to enhance transparency and market trust. It is reported that RootData welcomes Web3 project parties to claim information and continues to track and open more project business relationship disclosure channels. The platform has continuously released multiple issues of the cryptocurrency project ecosystem map, nominating Web3 ecosystem partners for upstream clients such as Visa, Mastercard, and Coinbase.If you wish to nominate your project in future ecosystem maps, please fill out the RootData 2026 Industry Ecosystem Mapping form to supplement your important clients and partners.

The cryptocurrency trading platform HTX released the "USDD In-Depth Research Report," which points out that the decentralized stablecoin USDD has completed a key transformation into an over-collateralized stablecoin, and its overall maturity has entered the same competitive range as DAI. Relying on the advantages of the TRON ecosystem and multi-chain native deployment, USDD is gradually becoming a new generation of decentralized stablecoin infrastructure that combines stability and yield capability.The report provides a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of USDD from multiple dimensions, including core competitive advantages, yield ecosystem panorama, security system, and competitive landscape, and highly affirms its construction of a sustainable yield ecosystem and differentiated advantages.

Investment bank TD Cowen stated that the disagreements surrounding the CLARITY Act go beyond the issue of stablecoin yields, and multiple real-world obstacles may slow down the legislative process.First, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is understaffed, with only one commissioner currently in office. In this situation, Congress is unlikely to feel comfortable handing over more cryptocurrency regulatory responsibilities to the agency, and filling the personnel gaps will take months. Second, the issue of prediction markets is heating up. Whether to include it in the bill's regulation, as well as potential insider trading and conflicts of political interest (including controversies related to Trump-related projects), may lead some Democratic lawmakers to oppose the bill.At the same time, the ongoing controversy surrounding the Trump family's cryptocurrency project World Liberty Financial is increasing the political sensitivity of the bill, making bipartisan consensus harder to achieve. Geopolitics has also become a variable. Discussions about Iran potentially using cryptocurrency payments are reinforcing the focus on anti-money laundering provisions and could even introduce amendments detrimental to the industry. Additionally, some lawmakers are attempting to include the Credit Card Competition Act, which, if advanced, could trigger new conflicts of interest and further delay the overall legislation.

Kim Hyun-jung, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea's Digital Assets Special Task Force, stated that they plan to submit the basic law on digital assets related to stablecoins (Phase Two legislation) after the local elections and simultaneously advance the review of the bill in the subcommittee.He pointed out that there are still differences regarding issues such as the shareholding restrictions for major shareholders of exchanges, which need further discussion. At the same time, he believes that, in the context of the Bank of Korea Governor Shin Hyun-sung's positive attitude towards stablecoins, relevant legislation is expected to progress. In addition, the task force is considering meeting with him after the elections to advance the design of the CBDC and the Korean won stablecoin system.

According to Fortune, the blockchain project Tempo, supported by Stripe and Paradigm, has launched a "stablecoin consulting" service, providing support for stablecoin adoption to enterprises and financial institutions, including identifying applicable scenarios and dispatching engineers to assist with stablecoin integration.The report states that the American food delivery platform DoorDash is collaborating with Tempo to explore paying delivery personnel with stablecoins; Stripe, Coastal Community Bank, and ARQ are also building stablecoin infrastructure based on Tempo, while Visa, OnePay, Felix, Fifth Third Bank, and Howard Hughes Holdings are integrating their payment services with Tempo.

The UK Treasury announced a regulatory scheme during London Fintech Week, planning to incorporate stablecoins and tokenized deposits into a unified regulatory framework with traditional payment services.The scheme aims to regulate stablecoins used for payments under the upcoming issuance regime, while expanding the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) regulatory scope over open banking, and exploring regulatory adjustments for payment activities executed by AI agents. The proposal also suggests reducing administrative requirements for businesses providing stablecoin payment services through new legislation.The UK Treasury also announced the appointment of EY partner and former interim CEO of the FCA, Chris Woolard CBE, as the wholesale digital market champion, responsible for advancing the development of a tokenized wholesale financial system, and committed to providing £1 million (approximately $1.35 million) in funding support to the Centre for Financial Innovation and Technology starting in April. Minister for Cities Lucy Rigby stated that the scheme aims to build a secure, competitive payment ecosystem that can seize opportunities from technological changes. The UK government recognizes the transformative potential of digital assets and blockchain technology, believing they can reshape the way consumers and businesses interact with financial services.

According to The Block, the new governor of the Bank of Korea, Shin Hyun-song, delivered an inaugural speech promising to promote the development of central bank digital currency (CBDC) and deposit tokens, and will expand related applications through the "Han River Project" Phase Two, while participating in global collaborations such as Project Agora to strengthen the position of the Korean won in the global payment system.It is noteworthy that Shin Hyun-song did not mention the Korean won stablecoin in his speech, despite South Korean legislators actively advancing the "Digital Asset Basic Law" to establish a legal framework for stablecoins, with discussions expected to resume after the regional elections on June 3. Previously, during his tenure at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), Shin held a negative attitude towards stablecoins, believing that stablecoins could not replace currency, but it has been reported that his stance has changed, stating that the Korean won stablecoin should coexist with CBDC.

According to Jayati Ghosh, an economics professor at the University of Manchester, in an article for the Bangkok Post, the Trump administration has vigorously promoted the deregulation of cryptocurrencies and has advocated for dollar-pegged stablecoins through the GENIUS Act, while refusing to develop central bank digital currencies. However, this series of policies is producing a self-destructive effect: by 2025, illegal cryptocurrency trading volume is expected to increase by over 160% year-on-year, with countries like Russia, Iran, and North Korea using cryptocurrencies to massively evade U.S. economic sanctions.Among them, Iran has introduced cryptocurrencies into the toll collection system of the Strait of Hormuz, with daily revenues estimated to reach up to $36 million; Russia, on the other hand, is using cryptocurrency exchanges to bypass asset freeze orders and fund military procurement.

According to The Block, Thom Tillis, a key negotiator for the U.S. Senate Banking Committee and a Republican senator from North Carolina, stated that the committee is unlikely to schedule a hearing to revise and vote on the cryptocurrency market structure bill within April.The main disagreement in the current legislation centers on how to handle rewards for stablecoins. The existing draft proposes to prohibit rewards for idle stablecoin accounts but allows earnings from trading activities; banking representatives are concerned that such earnings will attract deposits away from traditional banks, while cryptocurrency companies argue that limiting rewards will hinder innovation. Tillis suggested that the committee postpone the review until May.Previously, Senator Bernie Moreno warned that if the bill fails to pass before May, "digital asset legislation will not advance in the foreseeable future."

U.S. Senator Thom Tillis is urging the Senate Banking Committee to postpone the consideration of the cryptocurrency market structure bill until May, in order to allow more time for finalizing a compromise on stablecoin regulation between banks and the cryptocurrency industry.This move aims to provide additional negotiation space around key disagreements regarding stablecoins and to promote the formation of a more viable regulatory framework.