The Stable Scoop: $1T payments in sight, Circle launches Arc, Coinbase reloads $25M fund

Editor - Jackie

🌍Macro: $1T stablecoin rails projected, U.S. stablecoin law signed, and Bo Hines leaves job

$1 Trillion by 2030: Stablecoins scaling up!

• Keyrock projects stablecoins could process $1 trillion annually in payments by 2030, offering transfers up to 13 times cheaper than banks.
• Around 21% of U.S. business deposits, or $3.85 trillion, remain idle with no interest, while over $600 million has already been distributed through yield-bearing stablecoins.
• Keyrock CEO Kevin de Patoul emphasized adoption is quietly growing, calling the opportunity one of scaling, as global stablecoin market cap reached $271 billion in August 2025.

Sanctioned stablecoin with Russian ties processes $1B daily - The A7A5 token, backed by Russia’s state-owned Promsvyazbank, processed $1 billion in daily transactions to bypass sanctions, with $51 billion cumulative volume through July.

Bo Hines departs White House crypto advisor job post, leaves GENIUS legacy - Hines’s efforts pushed the GENIUS Act into law, establishing a regulatory framework for dollar-backed stablecoins.

🔥 Biz Beats: Circle posts $482M Q2 loss, banks warn $6.6T deposit flight, and Do Kwon to plead guilty

Circle expands, MetaMask slices fees: Users finally win

• Mercuryo estimates on-ramp fees for MetaMask USDC users could fall by about 50%.
• Circle announced plans for a stablecoin-native Layer 1, using USDC as its gas token.
• USDC supply surged 90% year-over-year, reaching $61.3 billion, with CEO Petr Kozyakov of Mercuryo noting stablecoins are “front and centre in the crypto narrative of 2025.”

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Banks vs. Stablecoins: GENIUS Act round two

• Over 50 U.S. banking groups warned that stablecoin holders can still receive rewards via exchanges, undermining the law’s restrictions.
• Treasury estimated up to $6.6T in deposit outflows could be triggered by a shift into stablecoins; current market cap is $280.3B.
• Banks want issuer restrictions extended to exchanges and brokers, while Paxos, Circle, and Ripple have all applied for federal licenses.

Ripple’s RLUSD hits milestones - RLUSD supply grew 32.3% between June and July, surpassing $600 million, with cumulative 2025 transfer volume above $11 billion.

World Liberty Financial eyes $1.5B raise - WLFI plans to raise about $1.5 billion for a public company holding WLFI tokens, while already issuing USD1, a stablecoin used in MGX’s $2 billion Binance investment.

Ethena Labs’ USDe surges - USDe became the fastest-growing stablecoin in history, hitting $10 billion in TVL in just 500 days.

DJED open-sourced and privacy push - COTI announced Private DJED, an enterprise-ready private stablecoin launching across multiple blockchains, tailored for institutions and privacy-focused users.

Aave & Ethena leverage risks due to DeFi lending dominance - With $6.4 billion of Ethena’s assets parked on Aave, Chaos Labs warned “extensive rehypothecation” of USDe could create “systemic leverage” and “amplify market risks.”

Ant Group denies rumors of launching a rare earth-backed RMB stablecoin - The firm still plans “to integrate Circle’s USDC stablecoin into its blockchain platform once the token achieves full compliance in the U.S. under the GENIUS Act.”

Do Kwon of Terra USD collapse to plead guilty - Judge Paul Engelmayer (SDNY): “The Court has been advised that the defendant may enter a change of plea.”

Kaia (Kakao-linked) eyes KRW stablecoin - Kaia registered stablecoin-related trademarks: “‘KRWGlobal,’ ‘KRWGL,’ ‘KRWKaia,’ and ‘KaKRW’” earlier this month.

Circle’s Q2: heavy IPO costs, strong revenue beat - Circle posted a $482M net loss in Q2, compared to a $33M profit last year, largely tied to IPO-related expenses.

Sky Protocol: Low ratings, high risks, but USDS climbs - S&P gave Sky Protocol a “B-” credit rating, citing weak capitalization at 0.4% and governance still dominated by co-founder Rune Christensen. Its USDS stablecoin now stands with a $7.9B market cap, making it the fourth-largest stablecoin.

Wirex & Visa roll out EURC settlement in Europe - Wirex became the first to launch EURC settlements in the EU, with neart real-time payments supported on Visa’s network. The EURC is a fully backed euro stablecoin pegged 1:1.

Bullish’s stablecoin holdings and market standing - As of March 31, Bullish reported $1.7 billion in bitcoin, $144 million in U.S. dollar stablecoins, $28 million in cash, and $55 million in ether and other assets.

Stablecoin trading volume hits four-month high - Daily stablecoin trading reached $1.2 billion, the highest level in four months. That same day, the chain generated $163,400 in revenue, marking its best August performance.

Centrifuge and RWAs surge past $1 billion TVL - Centrifuge surpassed $1 billion in total value locked, jumping nearly 94% in two weeks, driven by demand from stablecoin issuers.

💡Rollouts: Circle unveils L1 Arc, USDe hits $10B in 500 days, and Stripe launches Tempo stablecoin chain

Circle launches Arc: The new rails for corporate money!

• Arc is Circle’s new blockchain tailored for stablecoin payments, FX, and capital markets, using USDC as gas and offering a built-in FX engine with sub-second settlement.
• Circle reported USDC supply grew 90% YoY to $61.3B, with revenue and reserve income up 53% to $658M.
• CEO Jeremy Allaire called Circle’s June IPO a pivotal milestone, reinforced by the GENIUS Act’s regulatory clarity.

Coinbase reloads its $25M stablecoin bootstrap fund

• After nearly six years, Coinbase revived its Stablecoin Bootstrap Fund, initially deploying liquidity to Aave, Morpho, Kamino, and Jupiter using USDC and EURC.
• The program’s purpose is to ensure on-chain liquidity for specific use cases, building on the first fund in 2019 that seeded Compound and dYdX with $1M each.
• Chief Business Officer Shan Aggarwal said the fund is about “deploying capital in onchain protocols” to strengthen access and liquidity.

Paxos: From stablecoin issuer to national trust bank?

• Paxos has reapplied to convert its New York trust charter into a federal charter under the OCC, after a previous attempt stalled in 2023.
• If approved, it would be regulated by the OCC alongside authorities in Europe, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi, positioning Paxos under the “highest level of regulatory oversight.”
• Paxos issues PayPal’s PYUSD (over $1B market cap) and other stablecoins, all fully backed by U.S. dollars, Treasuries, and cash equivalents to guarantee 1:1 redemption.

Stripe to launch its own settlement chain - CEO Patrick Collison told U.S. lawmakers that business interest in stablecoins is “meaningful” as the technology matures. Stripe appointed Matt Huang (Paradigm) as CEO of Tempo, its new blockchain initiative designed for stablecoin transactions.

Trump-tied stablecoin treasury strategy - ALT5 Sigma will hold about 7.5% of WLFI tokens directly in its treasury, embedding exposure to the Trump-linked USD1 stablecoin.

Binance joins Mantra’s RWA validator set - Mantra Chain added Binance as a validator on its RWA mainnet, alongside partners such as Google Cloud, Nansen, and Hex Trust.

Spark brings stablecoins to Bitcoin - Spark is building infrastructure to enable fast and low-cost Bitcoin-based stablecoins without requiring smart contracts or wrapped assets.

KuCoin & DigiFT unlock RWA-stablecoin bridge - DigiFT allows institutional clients to subscribe and redeem tokenized assets through stablecoins or fiat in a non-custodial setup. KuCoin CEO BC Wong said the partnership enables global trading of tokenized assets with efficiency and regulatory safeguards.

Nuvei pushes stablecoin settlement for global transfers - Nuvei is using blockchain and stablecoin rails to deliver same-day or next-day cross-border settlement versus legacy systems.

Western Union eyes stablecoin launch - CEO Devin McGranahan confirmed Western Union is exploring issuing a stablecoin, particularly outside the U.S., as a tool “almost like a savings account in U.S. dollars” for global customers.

KRW stablecoin pilot in Thailand - ELYSIA and Bitkub will launch a Proof of Concept in Thailand to test the feasibility and scalability of KRW-pegged stablecoins for global markets.

USDe expands global merchant network - Ethena’s USDe stablecoin is now usable at over 20 million merchants in Southeast Asia, with services also live in Nigeria and Mexico.

River scales satUSD with cross-chain system - River’s chain-abstraction system enables native minting of satUSD on destination chains without bridges or wrapped tokens, already surpassing $100M in circulation.

Minara launches AI-powered virtual CFO with stablecoin tools - CEO Lowes Yang said the goal is to level the playing field for retail investors, with Minara serving as a co-pilot that integrates on-chain analytics, community signals, and influencer insights.

Thumzup ties Trump Jr. to stablecoin push - Thumzup plans to hold up to $250M in crypto, including USDC, while the Trump-linked USD1 stablecoin has surpassed $2.1B in market cap, ranking fifth globally.

Citi doubles down on stablecoin strategies - Citigroup is exploring stablecoin-powered payments and custody, with CEO Jane Fraser highlighting its Citi Token Services for real-time treasury and liquidity management using tokenized USD. The bank is also weighing the launch of its own stablecoin.

💲 Money in motion: This week’s hottest stablecoin industry financing moves!

👋 That's your stablecoin scoop for the week.

Until next time — AllScale Weekly

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