Welcome to the 25th issue of the "Stablecoin Weekly."

This issue's focus:

• The competition in stablecoins continues to heat up, extending from banks and cross-border payments to exchanges, with even Coinbase having to step out of its "compliance distribution" comfort zone and bet on "on-chain infrastructure."

• Google Cloud has released the **AI Payment Protocol AP2, attempting to build a trustworthy value flow network for the *agent* economy. However, **what does this have to do with stablecoins?

**Market Overview and Growth Highlights
**

The total market capitalization of stablecoins has reached $291.839 billion, with a week-on-week increase of $4.544 billion. In terms of market structure, USDT continues to dominate, accounting for 58.73%; USDC ranks second, with a market cap of $73.989 billion, accounting for 25.35%.

Top 3 Stablecoin Market Capitalization Networks:

1. Ethereum: $160.479 billion

2. Tron: $77.56 billion

3. Solana: $12.411 billion

Top 3 Fastest Growing Networks of the Week:

1. M By M^0 (M): +18.79%

2. EURC (EURC): +6.03%

3. Ethena USDe (USDe): +5.48%

Data from DefiLlama

🎯 The Federal Reserve cuts interest rates, Coinbase transitions from "compliance channels" to "on-chain infrastructure"

The competition in the stablecoin sector is rapidly intensifying, with banks, traditional payment institutions, and emerging issuers all entering the fray, directly impacting the core profit sources that Coinbase relies on. Previously, Coinbase shared the low-risk, high-reward stablecoin dividends with Circle through USDC distribution and reserve interest spreads; however, with the implementation of the GENIUS Act establishing legal status, competition has fully opened up—Tether has entered the U.S. with a compliant version of USAT, and Robinhood and Revolut are preparing their own tokens. Coinbase's monopoly channels and compliance advantages are rapidly disintegrating, forcing it to seek new growth curves.

The macro environment adds to the pressure. The Federal Reserve's interest rate cuts have led to increased trading volumes, which is beneficial for exchange operations but poses a significant challenge to the stablecoin model: interest spread revenues are shrinking, and profit margins are drastically reduced. Coinbase and Circle are highly intertwined, with Coinbase earning about $300 million in distribution fees in just the first quarter of 2025, more than Circle's own net profit, while also holding $1.6 billion in equity. JPMorgan estimates that Circle's assets on Coinbase's books are valued at as much as $55-60 billion. In this context, the narrowing interest spread not only weakens current profits but also directly shakes the capital market's valuation logic for Coinbase.

Today's competitors include not only giants but also countless "grassroots" forces. The white-label model has significantly lowered the issuance threshold, allowing any application with brand and channel control to enter the stablecoin market. Hyperliquid's launch of USDH indicates that liquidity-carrying trading platforms are beginning to awaken, no longer relying on external issuers but instead issuing native stablecoins to capture profits and enhance ecological resilience. If USDH is successfully issued, it could theoretically siphon off about 7% of USDC's market share, posing a substantial threat to Circle and Coinbase. Consequently, Circle has chosen to invest in Hyperliquid and promote USDC's integration into its ecosystem to defend against this potential impact. It is evident that the competition in stablecoins is shifting from a game among a few dominant players to an open competition with multiple layers and models.

Coinbase can no longer rely on a single trading matching and "rent-seeking" stablecoin distribution; it must build an ecosystem flywheel driven by real on-chain activities. From this perspective, Coinbase's recent series of actions reflects this logic: prominently releasing expectations for Base's token issuance and offering over 10% on-chain lending yields to attract funds; leveraging brand and compliance advantages to guide a large centralized user base to on-chain applications; accelerating cross-chain integration to connect with ecosystems like Solana and expand the usage boundaries of USDC.

All of this points to a single goal: transforming Coinbase from a regulatory dividend-driven entry platform into a core gateway for on-chain finance. In an era of fully marketized stablecoins, this is a passive yet necessary adjustment and the only way for Coinbase to maintain its core position in the digital economy.

🎯 Google Cloud Releases AI Agent Payment Protocol AP2, Laying Out the Future of the Machine Economy

This week, Google Cloud released the open-source Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), marking the beginning of AI's capability for economic behavior akin to that of human individuals. AP2 is compatible with traditional payment methods like credit cards and, for the first time, incorporates stablecoins into the system, providing a native, intermediary-free payment method for interactions between agents. Google's core intention is to address the trust issues in AI transactions and position itself towards the trust layer of the future machine economy by reconstructing payment logic.

The trust established in traditional payment systems relies on "humans being accountable for their actions" and the verification of multiple intermediaries, but in an AI-dominated environment, this foundation is no longer effective. Consumers find it difficult to confirm whether authorizations are executed correctly, merchants cannot guarantee the authenticity of instructions, and once a transaction goes wrong, payment networks struggle to clarify responsibility.

The solution offered by AP2 is to shift trust from uncontrollable machine judgments to verifiable user intentions. The AP2 protocol has designed three core authorization credentials (Mandates): Cart Mandate, Intent Mandate, and Payment Mandate. The former ensures explicit consent when the user is present, the latter allows users to set conditional automatic decisions for agents, and the latter serves as the final payment execution credential. All of these are based on cryptographic signatures and verifiable credentials (VCs), forming a continuous proof chain where each operation must generate a credential, and the next step can only be executed after verifying the authenticity of the previous link.

This means that not only the transaction itself but also the capture of preceding intentions is structured into verifiable credentials, allowing the entire transaction process to be traceable and verifiable. Thus, trust no longer relies on the endorsement of centralized institutions but is embedded in a distributed, immutable process. Payments are no longer isolated settlement actions but are redefined as intelligent instructions carrying intent and context, laying a feasible trust foundation for atomic, high-frequency micropayments in the machine economy.

The deeper significance is that payments themselves are redefined as part of computation. Each AI transaction is no longer an isolated monetary settlement but an intelligent instruction carrying intent and context. This instruction is essentially a semantic data packet encapsulating semantic information such as "who initiated it, why it was executed, and under what conditions it occurred," making payments both a flow of value and a flow of information. This will lead to entirely new business models, where developers can price around fine-grained per-use or on-demand services, and the decision logic, consumption preferences, and automation needs of AI agents are recorded in the chain, becoming high-quality intent data with value-added potential. This not only directly benefits Google in its core advertising and cloud services but may also create new competitive barriers in the longer-term AI application ecosystem. Through AP2, Google is essentially attempting to grasp the context and data dividends of the AI business system, aiming to dominate the future digital economy.

This "payment as computation" design can only be efficiently implemented within an on-chain system. Blockchain provides three key elements: flexible data structures, cryptographic-based trust, and a native programmable environment. In the long run, the true leverage of AP2 may be stablecoins. Without stablecoins, AP2 can still enhance efficiency; however, only the native programmability and decentralized characteristics of stablecoins can fully realize "payment as computation," allowing AP2 to evolve into a complete AI economic operating system.

It is worth noting that the encrypted payment channel in this AP2 protocol—the A2A (Agent-to-Agent) protocol's x402 extension—was contributed by the Ethereum Foundation. If previously Stripe's self-built payment chain caused Ethereum to lose its position in the narrative of "everyday consumer payments", then with the implementation of AP2, Ethereum will enter a completely new scenario, serving as the decentralized trust layer required for high-frequency, atomic settlements between AI agents in the machine economy, potentially becoming the underlying coordinate system for "machine payments." In line with this, the Ethereum Foundation has recently announced a pivot to the AI and machine economy sector, forming a dAI team to attempt to build a decentralized AI technology stack, ensuring that the future agent ecosystem does not become overly reliant on a few centralized entities, further confirming the direction of this strategic transformation.

New Product Dispatch

👀 MetaMask launches mUSD stablecoin, joining the increasingly expanding dollar stablecoin camp

Key Highlights

• The new stablecoin mUSD from the MetaMask crypto wallet officially launched on Monday, becoming the first stablecoin introduced by a self-custodial crypto wallet, aiming to become the default digital dollar unit in its ecosystem;

• mUSD is issued by Bridge, a stablecoin issuance platform under Stripe, minted through M0's decentralized infrastructure, fully backed 1:1 by "high-quality, highly liquid dollar-equivalent assets," providing real-time transparency and cross-chain composability of the M0 liquidity network;

• Users will be able to deposit, hold, exchange, transfer, and cross-chain mUSD within MetaMask, with the team expecting to enable spending functionality through the MetaMask card at merchants accepting Mastercard by the end of the year.

Why it matters

• As MetaMask launches mUSD, stablecoin giant Tether has announced plans to launch a U.S. compliant stablecoin, USAT, while Hyperliquid is also developing a native stablecoin, and traditional banks are exploring the issuance or integration of tokenized dollars following clearer U.S. regulations. As of Monday's publication, the circulating supply of mUSD is approximately $18 million. The competition in the stablecoin market is intensifying, with various platforms seeking differentiated advantages through different compliance strategies, technological infrastructures, and ecosystem integrations.

👀 Ethereum Foundation establishes "dAI" team to build Ethereum as the foundational layer for the AI economy

Key Highlights

• The Ethereum Foundation has formed a new "dAI" team, led by core developer Davide Crapis, to accelerate work at the intersection of blockchain and artificial intelligence;

• The team has two main missions: to establish Ethereum as the "preferred settlement and coordination layer for AI and the machine economy," and to build a decentralized AI technology stack to ensure that AI does "not rely on a few entities";

• The current focus is on developing the ERC-8004 standard for AI agent identity and transactions, which is planned to be released at the November Devconnect conference. This standard aims to allow applications to verify AI agent identities, compliance with rules, and credibility.

Why it matters

• As autonomous software increasingly triggers payments, signs messages, and calls on-chain services, reliable identity and policy execution become key to security and scalability. Crapis defines this effort as "Ethereum + AI," providing a neutral, verifiable foundational layer for intelligent agents to share value, reputation, and rules. This is the latest strategic focus of the Ethereum Foundation following the end-to-end privacy roadmap and L2 interoperability framework.

👀 Coinbase launches USDC lending service, offering up to 10.8% on-chain yield through Morpho

Key Highlights

• Coinbase has launched a new USDC lending feature, offering current on-chain yields of up to 10.8%, allowing users to complete all operations without leaving the Coinbase app;

• This service is supported by the Morpho protocol and Steakhouse Financial on the Base chain, with Coinbase creating smart contract wallets for users to connect to the Morpho protocol, allowing funds to start generating yield immediately after deposit;

• The service will gradually be available to users in the U.S. (excluding New York), Bermuda, and other countries, allowing users to withdraw funds at any time as liquidity permits while maintaining the familiar user experience of Coinbase.

Why it matters

• This is an important step for Coinbase to further expand its DeFi services, providing USDC holders with a higher passive income option than the previous 4.1% (up to 4.5% for Coinbase One members). With the circulating supply of USDC exceeding $73.6 billion, this service will enable more traditional users to participate in decentralized finance through a trusted platform, while Coinbase continues to expand its role as a bridge between cryptocurrency and DeFi.

👀 PayPal launches crypto payment links, enabling cross-application, cross-border, and cross-currency transactions

Key Highlights

• PayPal has introduced a new "PayPal links" feature, allowing users to create custom one-time payment links to share in any conversation, initially launching in the U.S. and later expanding to markets like the UK and Italy;

• Cryptocurrency functionality will soon be directly integrated into the P2P payment process, allowing U.S. users to send cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and PYUSD to PayPal, Venmo, and other digital wallets that support cryptocurrencies;

• PayPal supports various fund management options, including a PayPal savings account offering a 3.80% annual yield (FDIC insurance provided by Synchrony Bank), as well as various cryptocurrency purchase and trading services.

Why it matters

• PayPal is connecting the world's largest digital payment systems and wallets through its global platform, PayPal World, making P2P payments as simple as sending a text message. The company reported a 10% year-on-year growth in total P2P and other consumer payments in the second quarter, with Venmo achieving its highest payment growth rate in three years, demonstrating its strategic value in driving global fund flows and expanding its user ecosystem.

👀 Cloud service platform Vercel launches x402-mcp, integrating account-free open payment protocols for AI agents

Key Highlights

• Vercel has released the open-source protocol x402-mcp, enabling direct payment capabilities for AI agent tools through the HTTP 402 status code, without the need for pre-registration of accounts or management of API keys, allowing AI agents to autonomously discover and pay for new services;

• The protocol seamlessly integrates with Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers and the Vercel AI SDK, allowing developers to set prices for API routes and MCP tools, with clients only needing simple wrappers to handle the payment process;

• Currently, implementations are primarily based on USDC stablecoin settlements on the Base blockchain, but the x402 standard itself supports multiple payment networks, including non-cryptocurrency payment methods, with Vercel providing one-click deployment templates integrated with Coinbase wallets.

Why it matters

• This addresses a key pain point in the AI agent economic system—payment settlement. When large language models need to call paid APIs or tools, existing solutions require pre-establishing accounts and configuring payment relationships, while the x402 protocol allows AI agents to programmatically pay directly through open standards, providing true economic autonomy for AI systems and significantly reducing the complexity of payment integration for developers.

👀 Offline Protocol launches the world's first offline stablecoin settlement network, OfflinePay

Key Highlights

• Offline Protocol has announced the launch of the stablecoin settlement network OfflinePay, aimed at enabling unbanked and digitally vulnerable populations to make peer-to-peer stablecoin payments in offline environments using ordinary smartphones;

• The company has also established the Stable Institute research organization, focusing on exploring inclusivity issues in the evolution of currency forms and studying how stablecoin infrastructure can provide fairer financial services for those lacking connectivity and banking services;

• The company will continue to develop products such as Fernweh, OfflineID, and Proof of Location AVS, while OfflinePay will be launched as a new core product, particularly targeting areas with weak infrastructure, limited internet access, and frequent disasters.

Why it matters

• This addresses the pain point of mainstream cashless payment systems excluding millions of unbanked individuals. By supporting true peer-to-peer offline stablecoin payments, OfflinePay reduces remittance costs and enhances transparency, allowing populations traditionally excluded from finance to participate in the digital economy, providing practical solutions for financial inclusion.

👀 PayPal stablecoin PYUSD expands to 9 new blockchains, reaching a scale of $1.3 billion

Key Highlights

• PayPal's dollar stablecoin PYUSD has expanded to 9 new blockchains through the LayerZero interoperability protocol, surpassing its native issuance on Ethereum, Solana, Arbitrum, and Stellar;

• LayerZero will integrate PYUSD, issued by Paxos, into its Hydra Stargate system, creating a permissionless version called PYUSD0, which is 1:1 interchangeable with the underlying stablecoin;

• This expansion allows PYUSD to be used on Abstract, Aptos, Avalanche, Ink, Sei, Stable, and Tron, while existing community-issued versions on Berachain and Flow will be automatically converted.

Why it matters

• PayPal launched PYUSD in 2023, becoming one of the first stablecoins supported by major payment companies. Through LayerZero's expansion, the token aims to enter new markets more quickly and provide a dollar-pegged stablecoin in the crypto economy. Since its launch, the supply of PYUSD has grown to $1.3 billion, and this expansion indicates that PayPal is actively enhancing its presence in the broader blockchain ecosystem.

Market Adoption

🌱 International remittance company MoneyGram's new app will use stablecoins as core payment infrastructure

Key Highlights

• MoneyGram's new app has launched, utilizing Circle's USDC stablecoin, Stellar blockchain, and Crossmint wallet technology as its digital payment infrastructure, allowing users to receive and store dollar stablecoins;

• The first market to launch is Colombia, a major remittance-receiving country, where families receive overseas remittances that are 22 times the amount sent, and the Colombian peso has depreciated by over 40% in the past four years;

• As a leading global remittance company, MoneyGram has approximately 150 million customers, covering over 200 countries and regions with more than 400,000 physical locations, and is also the largest cash in and out channel for cryptocurrencies.

Why it matters

• MoneyGram CEO Anthony Soohoo likens stablecoins to revolutionary applications such as spreadsheets in the personal computer era and browsers in the internet era, believing that with the passage of the U.S. GENIUS Act, the regulatory framework has become clearer, and stablecoins will become a killer application in the crypto industry, providing the foundation for real-time settlement and stable asset storage.

🌱 American Express launches blockchain "Travel Stamp," recording digital souvenirs of travel experiences

• American Express has launched Ethereum-based "Travel Stamps" digital souvenirs, essentially ERC-721 tokens, minted and stored on Coinbase's Base network;

• These travel stamps technically belong to NFTs but are currently non-tradable and have no economic value. Customers can collect them when using their American Express cards. Although not positioned as a blockchain loyalty program, they possess reward and collectible attributes;

• American Express has provided wallet-as-a-service support for this product, and the new travel app also includes travel tools and Centurion lounge upgrade features.

Why it matters

• This is a typical case of traditional financial institutions exploring non-financial applications of blockchain technology. Colin Marlowe, Vice President of American Express Digital Labs, stated that the project's purpose is not to create short-term revenue but to enrich the American Express travel experience, making it unique while laying the groundwork for potential future loyalty programs and partnerships.

Capital Layout

💰 Standard Chartered's venture capital arm plans to launch a $250 million digital asset fund

Key Highlights

• Standard Chartered's venture capital arm, SC Ventures, plans to raise $250 million to establish a fund focused on digital asset investments in the financial services industry, expected to launch in 2026;

• The fund will receive support from Middle Eastern investors and aims for global investments, as revealed by SC Ventures partner Gautam Jain at the Money 20/20 event in Saudi Arabia;

• Additionally, SC Ventures plans to establish a $100 million Africa investment fund and its first venture debt fund, but it is unclear whether these funds will focus on digital assets.

Why it matters

• This move reflects the growing interest of institutions in digital assets. Projects like JPMorgan's Kinexys and Goldman Sachs' tokenized money market fund in collaboration with BNY Mellon indicate that mainstream banks are expanding their range of crypto services, while the involvement of Middle Eastern investors highlights the region's rising status as a hub for crypto and blockchain.

💰 MoonPay acquires payment startup Meso to expand crypto payment business

Key Highlights

• Crypto fintech company MoonPay has acquired payment startup Meso, further expanding its crypto payment network, though the specific acquisition amount and completion date were not disclosed;

• Meso co-founders Ali Aghareza and Ben Mills (both from PayPal and Venmo) will join MoonPay as Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of Product, respectively;

• This is MoonPay's second acquisition in the payment industry this year, having previously acquired Solana-based crypto payment processor Helio for $175 million in January.

Why it matters

• MoonPay is solidifying its position as an infrastructure provider for the crypto and Web3 industries through strategic acquisitions, similar to the model of traditional payment provider Stripe. This acquisition indicates that the company is actively integrating talent and technology in the payment sector to build the world's largest crypto payment network to meet the demand for seamless crypto transactions from institutions and individuals.

Regulatory Compliance

🏛️ Quantexa launches platform to help small banks tackle stablecoin compliance challenges

Key Highlights

• Data and analytics software company Quantexa launched an anti-money laundering (AML) solution based on the Microsoft cloud platform, specifically designed for small and community banks in the U.S.;

• The product, named Cloud AML, aims to help financial crime investigation teams make faster decisions with less overhead while maintaining accuracy and reducing "false positives," addressing the issue that all banks face the same compliance standards but have different resources;

• Chris Bagnall, head of North American financial crime solutions at Quantexa, pointed out that banks may see customer transactions with cryptocurrency exchanges, but funding sources outside of exchanges could be blind spots.

Why it matters

• The product launch coincides with the U.S. passing stablecoin legislation this summer, which is expected to unleash new competitors, including Bank of America and Citigroup. As stablecoins become more prevalent, most banks are focusing on monitoring the inflow and outflow of funds to combat financial crime. Quantexa's survey shows that 36% of AML professionals believe digital assets will have the most significant impact on the AML industry in the next five years, indicating that as stablecoins become more common in everyday payments, financial institutions need to take a more comprehensive view of their crypto-related risk exposure.

🏛️ Tether launches U.S. regulated stablecoin USAT, former Trump administration official appointed CEO

Key Highlights

• Tether announced that former White House Crypto Council Executive Director Bo Hines will serve as the CEO of its newly established U.S. division, responsible for launching the new U.S. regulated stablecoin USAT;

• USAT will serve as a complementary product to USDT (market cap approximately $169 billion), issued by crypto infrastructure company Anchorage Digital, with Cantor Fitzgerald involved, and is planned for launch by the end of 2025;

• The new USAT team will be based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Tether Group CEO Paolo Ardoino emphasized that the company will focus on reducing intermediaries between users and inviting U.S. financial institutions to collaborate in expanding the stablecoin business.

Why it matters

• This move marks a strategic entry of the world's largest stablecoin issuer, Tether, into the U.S. regulatory market, reinforcing its political connections and compliance status by appointing a former Trump administration official. As the 18th largest holder of U.S. Treasury bonds globally, Tether is projected to achieve $13 billion in profits in 2024, and the launch of a regulated stablecoin will further expand its dominance in the global stablecoin market.

🏛️ South Korea's first Korean won-pegged stablecoin KRW1 launched on Avalanche

Key Highlights

• South Korean crypto custody service provider BDACS announced the launch of South Korea's first fully won-backed stablecoin KRW1 on the Avalanche network, successfully completing a technical feasibility proof of concept (PoC);

• Each KRW1 is fully collateralized by won held in one of South Korea's largest banks, Woori Bank, with real-time bank API integration ensuring transparent and verifiable reserve proof;

• KRW1 is currently still in the proof of concept stage and is not publicly circulating. The company plans to position it as a stablecoin for global remittance, payment, investment, and deposit purposes, and expand to other blockchains to enhance interoperability.

Why it matters

• South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol supports the development of local currency-pegged stablecoin markets to strengthen monetary sovereignty in the digital finance era, but the Bank of Korea insists that stablecoin issuance should be limited to licensed banking institutions. Amid unclear regulations regarding stablecoins, BDACS is strategically positioning itself as a key player in South Korea's upcoming local stablecoin market through partnerships with Woori Bank and global blockchain partners.

🏛️ U.S. Congressman Hill proposes amendment to GENIUS Act to prohibit non-financial companies from issuing stablecoins

Key Highlights

• U.S. House Representative French Hill seeks to adjust the recently passed GENIUS stablecoin law in the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, with Senate member Cynthia Lummis expressing support for this direction;

• Proposed key amendments include: strengthening the legal responsibilities of CEOs and CFOs for financial data disclosure, explicitly prohibiting non-financial companies from entering the stablecoin business, and ensuring that U.S. investors can maintain hardware or software wallets for legal self-custody of digital assets;

• Republican members of the Senate Banking Committee have released a draft bill, with Lummis planning to complete the market structure bill by the end of this year. U.S. Treasury advisor Tyler Williams also supports this timeline.

Why it matters

• The GENIUS Act is a landmark achievement for the Washington crypto industry and its allies, but Hill believes further refinements are needed. Although the House version passed with overwhelming bipartisan support of 308-122, the Senate version still faces scrutiny from some senators, such as John Kennedy from Louisiana. These amendments will determine the final shape of the U.S. stablecoin regulatory framework.

🏛️ Bank of England plans to limit individual stablecoin holdings to £20,000 and corporate limits to £10 million

Key Highlights

• According to the Financial Times, the Bank of England plans to set limits on systemic stablecoin holdings: individuals will be restricted to £10,000-£20,000 ($13,600-$27,200), while corporate limits will be around £10 million ($13.6 million);

• Tom Duff Gordon, Vice President of International Policy at Coinbase, stated that setting limits on stablecoins "is detrimental to UK savers, harmful to the City of London, and unfavorable to the pound," emphasizing that other major jurisdictions have not implemented similar restrictions;

• Simon Jennings from the UK Crypto Assets Business Council warned that without new systems like digital ID, such restrictions would be nearly impossible to enforce, while Riccardo Tordera-Ricchi from the Payments Association pointed out that these limits are "meaningless" since cash or bank accounts do not have similar caps.

Why it matters

• The Bank of England's proposal would make the UK's regulatory environment stricter than that of the U.S. and EU. The GENIUS Act passed in July in the U.S. and the EU's MiCA regulation do not impose limits on individual holdings but focus on issuer licensing, reserves, and redemption standards. This could lead to a shift of crypto businesses to more regulatory-friendly regions, undermining the UK's position as a center for financial innovation.

🏛️ Australian regulator ASIC relaxes rules for stablecoin intermediaries

Key Highlights

• The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) announced regulatory relief for stablecoin intermediaries, allowing them to distribute stablecoins issued by AFS-licensed issuers without needing to apply for additional financial services, market, or clearing facility licenses;

• This is Australia's first significant move to address regulatory uncertainty in the stablecoin market. ASIC stated it would consider further expanding the relief as more issuers obtain AFS licenses;

• The relief requires intermediaries to provide customers with product disclosure statements from issuers to ensure transparency, while issuers remain responsible for disclosure and prudential obligations. This regulation will take effect after the registration of federal regulations.

Why it matters

• This move creates a more favorable regulatory environment for the Australian stablecoin market, bridging the regulatory friction before the Treasury perfects the stablecoin system. Steve Vallas, CEO of Blockchain APAC, stated that the market's success will depend on demand, and the interest of global players in meeting Australian regulatory requirements will provide development clues for the industry.

🏛️ Israel requests to freeze $1.5 billion in Tether assets suspected of being linked to Iran

Key Highlights

• Israel's National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing has released a list of 187 USDT addresses, claiming these addresses have collectively received $1.5 billion related to the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which should be frozen and blacklisted;

• Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic stated it could not determine whether all addresses were directly related to the Iranian armed forces, noting that some addresses might be controlled by cryptocurrency services as wallet infrastructure for multiple clients' transactions;

• Tether has previously cooperated with law enforcement to freeze USDT related to criminal activities, and Iran has long used cryptocurrency to evade sanctions, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps considered one of the largest Bitcoin miners in the country.

Why it matters

• This is the latest case of geopolitical conflict extending into the cryptocurrency realm. Following the 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June this year, tensions have continued to escalate. Israel's actions indicate that law enforcement agencies are intensifying efforts to track crypto assets that may be used to evade sanctions, placing mainstream stablecoins like Tether under stricter regulatory scrutiny.

Macro Trends

🔮 BitMEX co-founder Hayes: Global money printing will drive the crypto bull market to continue until 2026

Key Highlights

• BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes stated in an interview with Kyle Chassé that global money printing under Trump's fiscal policies will drive the cryptocurrency bull market to continue until 2026;

• Hayes believes that the large-scale spending plans for Trump's second term have not yet fully unfolded, expecting more liquidity to be released after mid-2026, and that investors are underestimating the potential scale of funds flowing into the stock and crypto markets;

• He refuted concerns about Bitcoin stagnating after hitting a record of $124,000 in mid-August, pointing out that Bitcoin has performed stronger than traditional assets in responding to currency devaluation.

Why it matters

• Hayes links the continuation of the crypto bull market to geopolitical changes, including the collapse of the unipolar world order. He believes that internal tensions in Europe (even hinting that a potential default by France could lead to euro instability) will accelerate the global money printing process. He advises investors to remain patient, as Bitcoin's true advantage comes from years of compounded excess returns rather than short-term speculation.

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