stablecoin

Japan Tax Free, a Japanese duty-free service provider, announced that it will officially launch the yen stablecoin JPYC tax refund service in collaboration with UPBOND on November 1, providing an on-chain tax refund channel for foreign tourists visiting Japan.According to the new duty-free system implemented in Japan on the same day, tourists must first purchase goods at tax-included prices and then receive the tax refund after customs confirmation upon departure. The new service will issue JPYC to tourists using the wallet infrastructure provided by UPBOND, utilizing the Avalanche C-Chain.

Alex Witt, founding partner of the venture capital firm focused on stablecoin infrastructure, Verda Ventures, announced that he and partner Amit will join Tether, the world's largest stablecoin issuer. Tether was previously one of the limited partners of Verda Ventures.With the two joining Tether, Verda Ventures, which has been operating for three years, will enter the investment recovery phase and cease investing in new companies to avoid potential conflicts of interest. The fund will continue to manage and support its existing 28 portfolio companies and selectively participate in follow-on financing.

Visa disclosed in its Q4 fiscal year 2026 earnings call that its stablecoin settlement annualized transaction volume has exceeded $25 billion, a tenfold year-on-year increase, currently supporting 10 blockchains and operating in all 5 regions. The Visa stablecoin platform is available in the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, with over 300 partners in the pipeline.Open USD launched on September 30, and as of October 15, its circulating supply exceeded $800 million. Additionally, Visa has over 225 stablecoin-linked card projects, a year-on-year increase of over 70%, with transaction volume growing by more than 150%, covering 5 million cards across more than 50 countries.

Y Combinator, a startup incubator, released a report on the direction of cryptocurrency startups, focusing on stablecoins, asset tokenization, and AI Agents. The report states that over the past year, cryptocurrency applications have been led by institutions rather than consumers for the first time, with the main driving force shifting from speculation to actual financial needs such as hedging oil price risks and cross-border capital transfers for businesses.The report predicts that stablecoins, as well as assets like stocks, debts, commodities, and property rights, will be further tokenized. New types of assets, such as equity in startups and small securities valued under $10,000, will also be issued via blockchain, promoting financial services like trading, lending, and derivatives. AI Agents will become one of the main participants in financial activities.In the next six months, the report focuses on using blockchain to finance the AI industry, new types of dollar stablecoins and non-dollar stablecoins targeting niche markets, new banks based on stablecoins, tokenization of real-world assets, new trading platforms and trading interfaces, as well as AI Agent trading and related API infrastructure. The text mentions that blockchain technology and stablecoins may pose a threat to traditional stock exchanges and banking systems.

According to a report by Decrypt, a national survey commissioned by the cryptocurrency policy advocacy organization DeFi Education Fund and conducted by Ipsos shows that 22% of American adults have held or used cryptocurrency, up from 18% in 2025, but the usage rate over the past 12 months remains flat at 13%. The survey, conducted from September 8 to 16, interviewed 1,545 adults, with a margin of error of ±2.8 percentage points. The growth almost entirely comes from users who have dropped out: among those who have not used cryptocurrency in the past year, the proportion who had held or used it rose from 5% to 11%; the willingness to purchase in the future also remains flat, with 17% indicating they might hold or use it in the future, compared to 16% last year.In terms of user demographics, the usage rate for men in the past year was 18%, while for women it was 8%, with the former being more than double the latter. Adults under 60 showed a significantly higher usage rate than older individuals. The primary reason for trying cryptocurrency is curiosity (34%), followed by long-term investment (25%). Respondents expressed significant unease about the traditional financial system: only 19% believe it is safe, and 63% think it needs to be upgraded to address cybercrime and AI threats; 60% are concerned about data breaches at large financial institutions, and 54% doubt their ability to withstand AI-driven threats, while 74% indicate that financial privacy is important.This skepticism has not translated into trust in cryptocurrency. Only 4% have high trust in cryptocurrency exchanges, and 5% have high trust in decentralized platforms, while large national banks and credit unions have trust levels of 42% and 48%, respectively. The knowledge gap is also significant: only 2% of Americans are very familiar with DeFi, 6% can identify all four characteristics of cryptocurrency listed in the survey, and 35% are completely uncertain about how to describe cryptocurrency. However, 40% indicate that if DeFi were available, there is at least some possibility they would try it, with over 80% stating they would use it to save money, earn interest, or send money to friends and family; the desire to understand stablecoins and DeFi decreased from 11% to 7% and 8%, respectively.

According to The Block, as the U.S. midterm elections approach, the digital asset industry may face changes in the congressional political landscape. Over the past two years, the Republican-led Congress passed the stablecoin bill GENIUS Act and advanced the broader Clarity Act; the latter passed the House in 2025 but stalled in the Senate due to controversies over stablecoin rewards and ethical issues raised by former President Trump's crypto wealth. Prediction market Kalshi shows that the probability of the Democrats winning the Senate and the House is 64% and 90%, respectively.The chair of congressional committees holds the power to set the agenda. If the Democrats regain the Senate, Elizabeth Warren will become the chair of the Senate Banking Committee. Ron Hammond, head of policy and advocacy at Wintermute, expects that she will actively use subpoena power and may focus on scrutinizing the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's approvals of new bank charters for Ripple, Coinbase, and World Liberty Financial, which is supported by the Trump family.The election situation in Ohio is also under scrutiny, with former Senate Banking Committee chair Sherrod Brown facing pro-crypto Republican Jon Husted. Fairshake PAC has pledged $30 million to support Husted. Hammond stated that if Brown wins, he may become the chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, which could potentially shelve related crypto legislation. In the House Financial Services Committee, regardless of whether Maxine Waters, Sean Casten, or Bill Foster leads, the Clarity Act is unlikely to advance. Lindsay Fraser, chief policy officer of the Blockchain Association, stated that while congressional control may change, the demand for clear crypto regulations will not.

According to The Block, Ripple expects to reach an annualized product revenue run rate of $900 million by the end of 2026, with growth coming from payments, custody, stablecoins, prime brokerage, and capital markets. The number of customers and partners using multiple Ripple products has doubled this year.The Ripple payment network is expected to reach a cumulative transaction volume of nearly $150 billion by the end of the year, with the stablecoin RLUSD's market capitalization reaching $2.6 billion. Financial institutions are utilizing Ripple's infrastructure for tokenized assets and transactions, with related business extending beyond payments and stablecoins.Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated that traditional finance and digital finance are merging, market infrastructure is moving to a modern track, settlements are shifting to real-time and around the clock, and tokenized assets can be used for trading, financing, and collateral.

Circle submitted comments to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regarding its proposed regulatory framework for cryptocurrency assets. Circle supports the proposal's goal of fostering innovation under clear rules while maintaining the advantages of U.S. capital markets, including transparency, investor protection, market integrity, liquidity, and efficiency.Circle also suggested that the cryptocurrency asset regulatory framework should align with the GENIUS Act. Given that payment stablecoins are increasingly becoming important considerations and settlement assets for on-chain capital formation, Circle requests that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) clarify how payment stablecoins that comply with the provisions of the GENIUS Act can be used for these purposes.The letter further requests that the Commission clarify that eligible payment stablecoins constitute "cash" under proposed Rule 302(b), should receive appropriate U.S. dollar valuation treatment, and comply with the corresponding accounting and customer reserve treatment conditions.Circle also recommends that, provided objective safeguards are in place, the current 2% broker discount for payment stablecoins that comply with GENIUS be reduced to zero. Finally, Circle requests that the SEC clarify that technical services provided after the network goes live (including maintaining a known set of validating nodes) do not constitute necessary management work. Establishing safe harbor rules for the technical roadmap would allow issuers to continue maintaining and improving the operational network without inadvertently restarting the related analysis.

According to official news, Tether announced the establishment of the Swiss non-profit foundation FASE (Financial Access and Systemic Empowerment) on October 28, focusing on four main areas: financial security, financial inclusion, access to basic resources, and responsible AI and robotics.Founding members include Anchorage Digital, Bitfury, Bybit, Chainalysis, Fasanara Capital, Kraken, Opera, Pave Bank, Prosper Global (formerly Mercy Corps), and the Solana Foundation. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) will provide technical consulting.The first batch of projects includes: establishing a global youth alliance with Goodwall, aiming to provide anti-fraud education to up to 10 million young people, prioritizing coverage in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia; launching a stablecoin humanitarian aid pilot with Prosper Global, initially covering up to 1 million people; and collaborating with the United Nations Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking in Persons to support survivor assistance.

According to official news, the cryptocurrency company Ripple announced a partnership with Coinbase to expand the access of RLUSD in the U.S. market.RLUSD will be launched on Coinbase Prime, Coinbase Exchange, and the retail application, supporting 1:1 conversion with U.S. dollars and dollar-pegged stablecoins, and plans to support collateral features on Coinbase Global Exchange.

DBS's survey shows that among the tools being used or planned for adoption, stablecoins account for 63%, tokenized deposits account for 53%, and tokenized money market funds account for 52%.71% of respondents indicated that real-time cross-border payments have improved or are expected to improve within two years. Regulatory uncertainty, security risks, and difficulties in system integration remain major obstacles, with about 64% of respondents hoping that banks will become a unified entry point into the tokenized currency ecosystem.

Moody's has assigned an A2 long-term deposit rating and a P-1 short-term deposit rating to the stablecoin RLUSD issued by Ripple, covering the rating range for RLUSD natively issued on the XRP Ledger and Ethereum.According to The Defiant, this rating incorporates the reserve backing arrangements of RLUSD in its assessment and weighs the risk exposure for holders due to the issuer's bankruptcy. The rating also applies to the native RLUSD assets on both of the aforementioned chains.

On October 28, stablecoin payment infrastructure service provider WasabiCard announced that it will participate in the Dubai FinTech Summit 2026 from November 2 to 3, showcasing its compliant white-label card issuance solutions and global remittance services.According to the introduction, WasabiCard supports enterprises in customizing the issuance of virtual and physical cards, and facilitates cross-border payments in over 30 fiat currencies supported by stablecoin funds, with some channels enabling real-time or T+0 settlement. Currently, the platform has issued over 700,000 cards and has a cumulative transaction volume exceeding 1 billion USD.During the summit, WasabiCard will engage in communication and collaboration with financial institutions, fintech platforms, and corporate clients at the MultiBank Group Arena exhibition area, booth J2.

According to CoinDesk, Brazilian companies turned to stablecoins during the elections last Sunday (October 25) to avoid the risk of local currency depreciation. The cryptocurrency exchange Mercado Bitcoin stated that corporate accounts contributed 78% of the trading volume that day. On election day, the trading volume of USDT surged nearly 800% compared to the same day the previous week, more than three times the average of the previous four Sundays; Bitcoin trading volume increased by 865% compared to the previous Sunday.Data from Biscoint shows that the trading volume of USDT against the Brazilian real increased by 150% compared to the previous Sunday, while USDC increased by 318%. Pedro Fontes, a research analyst at Mercado Bitcoin, stated that in the face of increasing exchange rate pressure, stablecoins like USDT and USDC provide a simple way to dollarize some assets. Concerns for businesses became reality on Monday: Brazil's benchmark Ibovespa index plummeted by 14%, marking the worst performance since March 2020; the dollar rose over 8% against the real, the largest single-day increase since 1999. On Monday, the combined trading volume of USDT and USDC reached 1.84 billion reais (approximately 350 million USD), up 65% from the previous week.

According to CoinDesk, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated at the Ripple Swell conference that digital assets can help reinforce the global dominance of the U.S. dollar. Bessent noted that historically, the strength of the world's reserve currency came from military power, but it is increasingly shifting towards technological leadership. The U.S. will maintain its military umbrella, but the technological umbrella is becoming more important. He believes that the U.S. will win in the digital asset technology stack, which will continue to solidify the dollar's position.Bessent stated that over 90% of stablecoins are backed by the U.S. dollar, and issuers often hold U.S. Treasury bonds as reserves. As adoption grows, the demand for such assets may rise, becoming a new source of financing for the federal government. He believes that stablecoins will open up new global markets rather than merely replacing existing dollars. Regarding the failure of the Clarity Act, Bessent expressed disappointment, but noted that the Treasury can work with the SEC and CFTC to advance regulation through institutional action. He also mentioned that regulatory best practices and safeguards can prevent crypto companies from being de-banked.

Anchorage Digital announced the expansion of its custody and listing arrangements with the Latin American cryptocurrency platform Bitso, extending its custody layer to cover both ends of the stablecoin corridor between the United States and Mexico. According to the agreement announced on Tuesday, the Mexican peso stablecoin MXNB issued by Bitso is now being custodied by this federally chartered crypto bank across six blockchains: Arbitrum, Base, Ethereum, Polygon, Avalanche, and Arc.Meanwhile, Bitso has launched the USD stablecoins USDPT and USAT, which are issued and custodied by Anchorage, with the former coming from Western Union and the latter from Tether. The financial terms were not disclosed by either party. This collaboration targets one of the largest cross-border payment flows in the world, the U.S.-Mexico remittance corridor, which transfers billions of dollars annually, with approximately 15% currently operating through Bitso's infrastructure.Nathan McCauley, CEO and co-founder of Anchorage, stated that the U.S.-Mexico corridor is where stablecoins transition from theory to large-scale real money flows, and the company has now become the institutional custody layer at both ends of that flow. Ben Reid, head of stablecoins at Bitso, mentioned that customers can now access the complete dollar-peso corridor through a fully on-chain method supported by a federally chartered bank. This move also continues the trend of Circle's recent expansion of Latin American stablecoins with the launch of a USDC settlement pilot in Colombia.