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🌍 Macro: Tether hits 500M users, $46T flows, a16z says stablecoins now power the internet of money

Tether reaches 500 million users as USDT supply climbs toward $182 billion

• Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino announced USDT has officially surpassed 500 million users, calling it “the biggest financial inclusion achievement in history.”
• The stablecoin’s total circulating supply is nearly $182 billion, compared to Circle’s $75 billion in USDC.
• Ardoino described programmable money as “the ultimate social network,” highlighting Tether’s growing role in global finance.

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a16z says crypto enters ‘new era’ as stablecoins move $46 trillion and rival Visa

• a16z called 2025 “the year the world came on-chain,” with stablecoin transactions surpassing $9 trillion annually.
• The firm said institutional adoption has defined the year, bringing stability and scale to the digital asset ecosystem.
• a16z added that stablecoins “could strengthen USD dominance” as on-chain usage becomes mainstream across sectors.

🔍 Policies: ESRB flags run risk, Warren seeks tougher enforcement, and Coinbase says AML is broken

Sen. Warren criticizes GENIUS Act, urges Treasury to tighten enforcement

• Senator Elizabeth Warren called the GENIUS Act a “light-touch framework” that fails to address systemic risks.
• She urged Treasury to close loopholes and enforce full-backing and audit requirements for issuers over $50B in market cap.
• Citing Paxos’ “$3T PYUSD minting error,” Warren said operational failures expose major financial vulnerabilities.

EU risk board warns stablecoins could trigger bank-style runs

• The European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) warned stress events could lead to bank runs and mass dumping of reserve assets.
• Stablecoins like USDT and USDC hold about $129B in bonds, raising concerns about market contagion and dollar dominance.
• Policymakers said they’re ready to intervene if large-scale capital flight occurs.

Fed’s Waller proposes “skinny” master account to expand payment access - Fed Governor Christopher Waller urged the central bank to “embrace disruption” and modernize financial rails.

Crypto coalition warns bank data fees could sever stablecoin wallet access - A coalition of U.S. crypto firms said new bank data fees could disconnect stablecoin and digital wallets from the banking system.

Coinbase tells Treasury outdated AML rules fail to stop crypto crime - Coinbase’s Paul Grewal said the Bank Secrecy Act is “broken”, with 25M+ reports filed annually but few actionable results.

Revolut wins MiCA license to expand crypto and stablecoin services across EU - Revolut secured a MiCA license, allowing crypto expansion across all EU markets.

U.S. crypto coalition warns banking fees threaten open-wallet innovation - The crypto coalition said charging for data access would cut stablecoin wallets off from banks, undermining open finance.

🔥 Biz Beats: Paxos explains the $300T minting scare, Aave deepens liquidity with Maple, Ethena readies new launches

Paxos co-founder says $300T minting error underscores blockchain transparency

• Charles Cascarilla said the $300 trillion minting error stemmed from “manual processes for very secure cold minting” that Paxos rarely uses.
• The incident was contained within minutes, with the tokens never leaving internal systems.
• Cascarilla called it “a silver lining for transparency,” showing how blockchain allows immediate visibility and accountability, as Paxos seeks a GENIUS Act trust charter.

Aave to integrate Maple’s yield-bearing assets to boost institutional liquidity

• Aave will integrate Maple’s yield-bearing assets, starting with syrupUSDT, to enhance liquidity and stabilize borrowing demand.
• The lending giant holds $25B in outstanding loans, representing 82% of total DeFi debt on its network.
• Aave’s founder said the move gives institutions greater utility and access to deeper liquidity through DeFi rails.

Zelle explores stablecoin payments for $1 trillion international transfers - Zelle, which processed about $1 trillion last year, launched an initiative to explore international transfers using stablecoins.

‘Stable’ blockchain hits $825M vault cap within minutes amid insider-trading claims - The Tether- and Bitfinex-backed Layer 1, called Stable, reached its $825M vault cap minutes after launch—$500M came from wallets linked to the project’s own team.

Swiss crypto bank AMINA partners with Tokeny to streamline compliant asset tokenization - AMINA and Tokeny will build a regulated bridge to issue and manage tokenized assets with full banking oversight.

USD.AI turns stablecoins into loans for Nvidia-powered AI infrastructure - USD.AI, a new DeFi protocol, converts idle stablecoin liquidity into loans for AI data centers backed by Nvidia GPUs.

Ethena expands team and product lineup as USDe ecosystem grows - Ethena Labs plans to increase headcount by up to 50% with 10 new hires to support upcoming launches.

Swiss crypto bank AMINA partners with Tokeny to fast-track compliant tokenization - AMINA and Tokeny will create a regulated bridge for issuing and managing tokenized assets with full compliance oversight.

Sky reallocates $100M from Treasuries to Superstate’s crypto yield fund - Spark, part of the Sky (MakerDAO) ecosystem, moved $100 million from Treasuries to Superstate’s USCC fund, which earns 8.35% yield via regulated basis trading.

Ethena expands team and gears up for two major product launches - Ethena Labs is hiring 10 new employees, expanding its team by 40–50% to support upcoming products.

Aave reports stable Q3 as DeFi yields normalize and liquidity holds steady - Aave’s CEO Stani Kulechov said the protocol weathered turbulence, liquidating over $200M in collateral to maintain solvency.

💡Rollouts: Ethereal’s mainnet alpha lands, Bitget goes gasless with stables, and Custodia forms a bank consortium

Ethena-backed DEX Ethereal launches mainnet alpha centered on USDe

• Ethereal, the first Ethena-native DEX, launched its mainnet alpha as a full DeFi money app built around USDe.
• ENA holders will receive 15% of any future Ethereal token, aligning community and protocol growth.
• The DEX settles on Arbitrum One with data availability via Celestia, and follows Ethena’s recent tie-up with Jupiter for the JupUSD stablecoin on Solana.

Bitget Wallet enables gas payments in stablecoins via EIP-7702 integration

• Users can now pay gas fees in USDT, USDC, or BGB across eight major blockchains as part of Bitget’s “gas abstraction” initiative.
• EIP-7702 lets standard accounts temporarily act as smart contract wallets, supporting transaction batching and gas sponsorship.

The feature spans EVM and non-EVM ecosystems, giving Bitget a multi-chain edge over competitors.

Custodia and Vantage Bank form consortium for tokenized deposits and stablecoins - Custodia Bank and Vantage Bank launched a consortium to help institutions issue tokenized deposits and stablecoins directly.

Ark Labs debuts Arkade public beta, a Bitcoin-native Layer 2 with stablecoin support - Arkade, described as Bitcoin’s most advanced native Layer 2 since Lightning, uses Virtual Transaction Outputs (VTXOs) for instant scalability.

Rumble partners with Tether to enable Bitcoin tipping for creators - Rumble, a video-sharing platform with 51 million users, will roll out Bitcoin tipping by December, in partnership with Tether.

💲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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