Editor - Jackie

🌍 Macro: Euro rails accelerate toward $1.3T, Traders rotate to stables, and Base fees fall via EIP-4844 spillover

Euro rails at scale: S&P sketches a $1.3T stablecoin future

• S&P’s upper-bound scenario projects euro stablecoins could grow from about €650 million at year-end 2025 to roughly €1.1 trillion ($1.3T) by 2030.
• In its baseline case, S&P pegs the market at around €570 billion ($672B) by 2030, assuming about €500B tied to tokenized investments and roughly €100B tied to tokenized payments.
• The report frames stablecoin real-world use as supporting very high growth multiples, while warning outcomes can vary widely even with MiCA in force for stablecoins from Jan. 1, 2025.

Standard Chartered flags Solana DEX activity shifting to SOL-stablecoin pairs - Kendrick said Solana DEX flows are tilting toward SOL-stablecoin pairs with 2–3x faster stablecoin turnover than Ethereum, alongside $0.06 AI micropayments activity and lower median gas ($0.0007 vs Base’s $0.015) that he’ll track via stablecoin volume and velocity.

Aave’s GHO tops $500M as sGHO spreads and holder counts jump - GHO crossed $500M market cap (+245% since early 2025) with holders near 23,000 (+~300% since Jan 2025) as sGHO expanded to Arbitrum, Base, and Gnosis and offered 5.52% APY versus 3.7% for USDC and 2.65% for USDT lending on Aave.

As BTC slides toward $75K, traders rotate into stablecoins to cut risk - Thielen argued stablecoins let investors shift defensively fast, but BTC’s 50%+ market-share keeps diversification hard, with DeFi names like AAVE down 26% even as HYPE held up (+20% after a pullback).

🔍 Policies: GENIUS under fire over recourse, banks fight rewards, and HKMA targets March approvals

NY AG Letitia James v.s. GENIUS stablecoin law over recourse and enforcement gaps

• Letitia James and four New York district attorneys argued the GENIUS Act leaves victims with limited avenues to recover losses and gives stablecoins legitimacy while still letting issuers avoid major regulatory requirements.
• Chainalysis estimates that 84% of illicit crypto transaction volume in 2025 involved stablecoins, framing consumer protection and illicit finance as linked issues.
• Prosecutors criticized Circle’s policy of only freezing funds after receiving a signed judicial order or warrant, while Tether said it is not U.S.-domiciled and does not have a blanket obligation to comply with state-level civil or criminal processes.

White House meeting spotlights the fight over who can offer stablecoin rewards

• Industry leaders framed the White House meeting as constructive, with Summer Mersinger calling it an important step forward.
• The dispute centers on whether third parties like Coinbase should be allowed to offer rewards, since the law bars issuers from paying direct interest but does not prohibit third-party platforms from offering rewards.
• Cody Carbone said no solution was finalized, but participants left with an identified path forward targeting resolution by the end of February, while a source described banks as rigid in their approach.

Hong Kong greenlights stablecoin licenses for March with only a small first batch

• HKMA chief Eddie Yue said the first stablecoin issuer licenses are expected in March, with only a very small number approved initially.
• Yue said evaluations will focus on risk management, anti-money laundering measures, and backing assets, and that licensed issuers must follow local rules for cross-border activity.
• The article described stablecoins as a roughly $300B asset class and said Citi projects the market could grow to $1.9T–$4T.

China formalizes restrictions on yuan stablecoins and RWA tokenization - China explicitly extended enforcement to offshore RMB-pegged stablecoins and RWA tokenization, saying unapproved issuance is prohibited and tokenization must run on approved infrastructure under “same business, same risk, same rules.”

Brazil advances bill to restrict stablecoins like USDe and ban derivatives as backing - Brazil advanced Bill 4.308/2024 to bar issuance/trading of stablecoins like USDe and Frax, require fully segregated reserves (no derivatives as backing), and impose penalties up to eight years in prison as officials cite stablecoins driving ~90% of local crypto volume.

Lummis warns stablecoin yield fights are stalling market structure progress - Lummis said banks should embrace stablecoins and custody, but yield language is delaying market-structure legislation as the draft effectively blocks platforms from paying interest on idle stablecoin deposits, with dollar-stablecoin market cap cited at $290B and Bessent projecting $2T+ by 2028 with legislative support.

Ro Khanna launches probe into $500M UAE deal and flags USD1 being used for settlement - Khanna said his investigation centers on trust, transparency, and national security, citing reported flows ($187M to Trump family entities; $31M to Steve Witkoff-linked entities) and alleging MGX’s reported $2B Binance investment used WLFI’s USD1 for settlement while demanding 16 record categories by March 1.

🔥 Biz Beats: Tether hits record Q4 results, SGB lights multi-chain settlement, and Polymarket volume tops $100M daily

Tether’s record Q4 USDT growth adds 35.2M users and cops $187.3B market cap

• Tether’s market report said USDT reached a $187.3 billion market cap, up $12.4 billion in Q4 2025.
• The same report said USDT added 35.2 million new estimated users to reach 534.5 million total, while on-chain holders rose 14.7 million to 139.1 million and USDT wallets represent 70.7% of all stablecoin wallets.
• Tether reported reserves rising $11.7 billion to $192.9 billion, including 96,184 BTC, 127.5 metric tons of gold, and $141.6 billion in U.S. Treasuries, and claimed USDT grew 3.5% since Oct. 10, 2025 while the next-largest stablecoins declined 2.6% and 57%.

Singapore Gulf Bank flips the switch! USDC/USDT settlement goes live on its Net

• SGB said it upgraded SGB Net to support stablecoins alongside fiat so institutional clients can manage both within a single banking platform.
• The bank said corporate clients can trade, mint, convert, hold, and transfer USDC and USDT across Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Solana, and it said the service includes KYC, KYB, and AML controls.
• SGB said SGB Net processes about $2B in monthly fiat transaction volume and that custody/security are provided via Fireblocks, with access expected to roll out sometime in Q1 2026.

Trump meme coin and WLFI drop after a probe highlights USD1-linked Binance settlement - TRUMP fell 14.6% and WLFI fell 10.8% in 24 hours after news of a Ro Khanna probe that seeks details on MGX’s reported $2B Binance investment the article says was made in WLFI’s USD1.

Hyperliquid proposes prediction-market “outcome trading” denominated in USDH - Hyperliquid floated HIP-4 for fully collateralized outcome trading with contracts in USDH, citing strong user demand as prediction markets hit $12.4B in volume last month (Dune) and HYPE rose 11%+ over 24 hours (CoinGecko).

Coinbase loan liquidations spike as borrowers tap USDC to manage stress - Coinbase said borrowers saw $170M in liquidations over a week (about 2,000 users lost $90.7M on Thursday alone) as BTC and ETH fell 17% and 26%, with some users paying down debts using Circle’s USDC.

Polymarket switches to native USDC with Circle as primary collateral and settlement - Circle said USDC will become Polymarket’s main collateral as it migrates from Polygon Bridged USDC (USDC.e), citing USDC supply at $70.77B and Polymarket volume of $113M in the past 24 hours with $337.5M TVL (DefiLlama).

Ripple plugs Hyperliquid into its prime brokerage stack and points to RLUSD - Ripple added Hyperliquid access through its institutional prime brokerage platform to let clients tap on-chain derivatives and cross-margin DeFi positions, while noting RLUSD launched in 2024 and market context of HYPE up ~33% monthly as XRP fell ~20% weekly.

BBVA joins Qivalis to build a MiCA-regulated euro stablecoin to counter ‘digital dollars’ - BBVA joined the Qivalis bank consortium to develop a regulated euro stablecoin, with Qivalis seeking Dutch central bank authorization under MiCA and aiming to launch in H2 2026 as the euro segment is cited around ~$860M within a ~$300B stablecoin market.

💡Rollouts: Fidelity's FIDD launches and Bybit preps IBAN on-ramps

Fidelity plants its flag with FIDD launch, $1 redemption and Ethereum mainnet transfers included!

• Fidelity launched Fidelity Digital Dollar (FIDD) for retail and institutional investors, issued by Fidelity Digital Assets, National Association on Ethereum.
• The article said FIDD can be purchased or redeemed for $1 and transferred to any Ethereum mainnet address.
• Mike O’Reilly said passage of the GENIUS Act provided regulatory guardrails, and added Fidelity sees stablecoins as part of the digital assets ecosystem’s long-term potential.

Demo Day...Y Combinator to let startups take USDC funding starting Spring ‘26

• YC will allow startups to receive funding in USDC beginning in Spring 2026, while keeping funding amounts and terms unchanged.
• YC’s pitch is speed and cost, with Nemil Dalal saying stablecoin transfers typically cost under one cent and settle in under one second, including cross-border.
• The program will support USDC funding across Ethereum, Base, and Solana, and YC said it expects more startup financial needs to be enabled by blockchains.

Bitrue broadens RLUSD trading with new spot pairs and a 3% earn offer - Bitrue added 10 RLUSD spot pairs (e.g., BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL, DOGE) and promoted up to 3% APR plus contests featuring a 200,000 XRP prize pool and 50,000 RLUSD distribution.

KBank trademarks stablecoin wallets ahead of a fresh March 5 KOSPI IPO bid - KBank filed 13 stablecoin-wallet trademarks and is targeting a March 5, 2026 listing after scrapped 2023–2024 IPO attempts, with users up 500% to ~15M since its 2020 Upbit partnership.

STABLE jumps into v1.2.0 as the chain switches its gas token to USDT0 - STABLE hit ~$0.03 and rose 43% on the week ahead of the upgrade that swaps gas from wrapped gUSDT to USDT0, lifting FDV above $3B and market cap to ~$540M.

Cap drops $12M in cUSD in what it calls crypto’s first stablecoin airdrop - Cap distributed 12M cUSD as a fixed-value “stabledrop,” citing cUSD market cap $282M+ and Cap TVL ~$315M, with its Homestead program running Jan. 29–July 23, 2026.

MegaETH ties MEGA buybacks to USDM revenue, with KPIs that trigger the token launch - MegaETH said it will use USDM revenue (yielding on USDtb reserves backed by BlackRock’s BUIDL fund) to buy MEGA, with TGE set seven days after KPIs like $500M+ 30-day USDM supply or app-fee thresholds are hit.

Polymarket moves to swap Polygon’s bridged USDC.e for native USDC with Circle - Polymarket will replace USDC.e with native USDC for trading and settlement, as Circle frames the migration as improving UX and deepening native network support.

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

👋 That’s your stablecoin scoop for the week!

Until next time — AllScale Weekly

👉 Learn how AllScale can help your team pay, invoice, and scale globally

‍