The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is seeking feedback from Ripple and other firms on its proposed stablecoin regulations, with Ripple expressing support for regulatory guidelines on stablecoins issued within Singapore and urging for regulations to also cover those issued outside of the country. Circle Internet Financial, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, shared similar sentiments and supported the MAS in creating additional regulations for stablecoin issuers.
Summary: USD Coin (USDC) will be supported on six additional blockchains, including Cosmos, NEAR, Optimism, Polkadot, and Polygon PoS, as Circle aims to boost adoption for the stablecoin and differentiate it from its competitors.
The Digital Euro Association has acknowledged Ripple's partnership with Mastercard in the CBDC Partner Program, recognizing Ripple's efforts in building government-backed stablecoins and expressing excitement about their involvement.
Summary: Coinbase and Circle have dissolved the Centre Consortium due to regulatory clarity issues surrounding stablecoins, with Coinbase taking an equity stake in Circle and Circle assuming enhanced responsibilities for the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin; Binance.US partners with MoonPay to use Tether (USDT) as its new "base asset" for transactions, while Binance faces challenges with fiat withdrawals in Europe; Shopify now accepts USDC payments on its platform, and Solana Pay plans to add additional altcoins; China launches a blockchain-powered data exchange with over 300 participating enterprises.
Circle will soon launch a native version of its USD Coin (USDC) on the Base network, eliminating the need for the bridged version currently used by users.
Visa has expanded its stablecoin settlement capabilities with Circle's USDC stablecoin to the Solana blockchain, aiming to enhance the speed of cross-border payment transactions and become one of the first major financial institutions to use the Solana network at scale for settlements.
Circle, the company behind the stablecoin USDC, faced a crisis when $3.3 billion of its reserves were stuck at Silicon Valley Bank, causing USDC to lose its $1 peg and lose market share to rival stablecoin Tether, revealing the challenges and shortcomings of Circle's ambitions to reshape the financial system with its dollar-backed token.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Financial Stability Board (FSB) have published a joint policy paper with recommendations for regulating stablecoins and decentralized finance (DeFi) activities, in response to the risks associated with crypto assets.
USDC stablecoin issuer Circle has responded to proposed changes to the EU's financial crime policies, expressing concerns about the lack of clarity in the terminology used and arguing that technology does not necessarily increase money laundering and terrorist financing risks.
Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, is focusing on Asia as it sees stablecoins as a way to improve cross-border payments for businesses in the region.
Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) experienced stable prices over the week, while Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Toncoin (TON) saw notable price increases, and Stellar (XLM) suffered a decrease; Sony is developing a blockchain network in collaboration with Startale Labs, PayPal launched crypto to USD off-ramps, and Deutsche Bank partnered with Taurus for custody and tokenization services.
Stablecoin issuer Circle has intervened in the SEC's case against Binance, arguing that stablecoins tied to other assets should not be classified as securities.
Stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Financial has released Perimeter Protocol, an open-source smart contract codebase that allows for the development of tokenized credit markets, enabling various credit use cases such as invoice factoring, payroll advances, instant settlement, and credit trading for institutional investors. This move comes as the tokenization of real-world assets gains momentum, with tokenized assets predicted to grow to a $5 trillion market in the next five years. Circle aims to leverage the protocol to enhance the utility of its stablecoin USDC and Euro-pegged token EURC in decentralized finance (DeFi) credit platforms.
Stablecoin issuer Tether has frozen funds in 32 cryptocurrency addresses linked to terrorism and warfare in Israel and Ukraine, working with Israel's National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF) in an effort to counter cryptocurrency-funded terrorism and warfare.
Stablecoin issuer Tether plans to publish real-time data on the reserves backing its largest dollar-pegged stablecoin, USDT, by 2024, according to a Bloomberg report.
