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US crypto exchange Coinbase leads a $2.5 billion race with Mastercard to acquire the stablecoin startup BVNK. That’s according to a report by Fortune, which cited sources familiar with the matter as saying the two companies have held advanced talks with BVNK on the acquisition. The terms and winning bidder have not been finalized yet with the sale price expected to be between $1.5 and $2.5 billion. Three of the sources said Coinbase appears to have an edge over Mastercard. If a deal is reached, it could be one of the largest acquisitions of a stablecoin firm to date. Citi Buys Stake In BVNK BVNK’s core technology is a blockchain-payments rail that facilitates stablecoin transactions globally. It also allows customers to seamlessly move funds between fiat and stablecoins. The reported talks between Coinbase, Mastercard and BVNK comes hard on the heels of news that banking giant Citi has acquired a stake in the stablecoin infrastructure firm.  Excited to announce...

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The cryptocurrency market is shifting focus toward undervalued assets with the potential for significant growth in 2025. Litecoin emerges as a promising candidate due to its similarities with Bitcoin and regulatory clarity. The digital silver narrative gains renewed attention as investors seek established cryptocurrencies with proven track records. Market sentiment strengthens around Litecoin’s potential for spot ETF approval under the upcoming Trump administration. Canary Capital’s recent ETF filing sparked a ten percent price increase in Litecoin’s market value. The cryptocurrency’s commodity status and regulatory compliance position it favorably for institutional investment products. New cryptocurrency Releases, Listings, & Presales Today    SoonChain’s recent airdrops and alliances with leaders like Creo Engine elevate its community and technological prowess. Level USD reinvents stablecoins with yield-bearing Features , simplifying comp...

1. Trump Elected 47th President of the United States link On Wednesday, Donald Trump effectively secured his position as the 47th President of the United States, clinching the necessary 270 electoral votes with a victory in Wisconsin. CCTV-2’s Economic News broadcast reported that “Bitcoin’s price has surged to an all-time high, reaching $75,000 with an increase of over 8%.” The report noted that Trump previously pledged to make the U.S. the global capital for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency and to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve. Rune Christensen, founder of Sky (formerly MakerDAO), commented on social media that Trump’s win could catalyze a genuine, sustained revival of DeFi, with user numbers potentially increasing tenfold, as DeFi stands to benefit the most from reduced regulatory uncertainty in the U.S. compared to other areas of the crypto sector. 2. Trump’s Team Considers Robinhood’s Chief Legal Officer, Dan Gallagher, for SEC Chair link On Friday, Reuters reported that Donald ...

Payments giant PayPal has reportedly completed its first business transaction using the dollar-pegged stablecoin it launched last year. Bloomberg reports that on September 23rd, the San Francisco-based company used PayPalUSD (PYUSD) to pay an invoice to the Big Four accounting firm Ernst & Young. Paypal settled the undisclosed amount using SAP digital currency hub, a platform that enables users to make and receive payments in cryptocurrencies and stablecoins without intermediaries. Jose Fernandez da Ponte, PayPal’s senior vice president of blockchain, cryptocurrency, and digital currencies, says the payment demonstrates a new use case for the stablecoin, which now has a market capitalization of nearly $700 million. “The enterprise environment is very well-suited for it. It’s a very rational conversation to have with the CFO.” According to da Ponte, business-to-business transactions can be expensive and risky particularly those that cross borders becau...

The firm behind the largest US dollar-pegged stablecoin by market cap will soon be launching on another layer-1 blockchain. According to a new announcement from Tether, USDT will soon be available on Aptos (APT), a high-speed Ethereum (ETH) rival blockchain built for scalability. “Tether, the largest company in the digital assets industry, today announced that they will soon be launching U.S. dollar-pegged Tether tokens (‘USDT’) on the Aptos Network. This integration is part of Tether’s broader strategy to make digital currency more accessible and useful globally, capitalizing on Aptos’ advanced blockchain technology and exceptional speed and scalability… Recent data highlights significant ecosystem growth; average daily active users increased from 96K in January to 170K in July of 2024. Additionally, a record-breaking 157 million transactions were processed in a single day in May 2024.” Aptos utilizes a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensu...

Ripple enters the stablecoin market with a USD-pegged token. Backed by USD deposits, treasuries, and audits, Ripple’s stablecoin targets institutional adoption. The new stablecoin will initially be issued on Ethereum and XRP Ledger. Ripple, the blockchain enterprise behind XRP Ledger, has announced its entry into the stablecoin market with plans to introduce a USD-pegged stablecoin. 1/ The stablecoin market is booming – around $150B today, and projected to soar past $2.8T by 2028. There's a clear demand for trust, stability, and utility. That's why later this year we’re launching a stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the USD on the XRP Ledger and Ethereum.… — Ripple (@Ripple) April 4, 2024 Backed by a robust reserve of USD deposits, short-term U.S. government treasuries, and other cash equivalents, Ripple aims to rival existing stablecoin s like Tether (USDT) and Circle’s USD Coin (USDC). Ripple’s move into the stablecoin...

Circle, the issuer of USDC, said the stablecoin will now be available on six more blockchains and layer-2 platforms , including Base, Cosmos, NEAR Protocol, Optimism, Polkadot, and Polygon. This development comes two days after Coinbase, the crypto exchange, said it had invested in Circle, paving the way for the dissolution of the Centre Consortium. According to a report on Aug. 23, the goal of this expansion is to spur USDC adoption . The stablecoin has steadily lost market share to USDT since March 2023 but remains one of the most liquid coins. In March, Circle revealed that it had over $3 billion in reserves at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), which collapsed in the largest bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis. Following this news, USDC briefly depeg, allowing capital to shift over to USDT and more liquid coins, mostly Bitcoin and Ethereum.  Top stablecoins by market capitalization | Source: CoinMarketCap Currently, USDC is available on multiple platforms , including Ethereu...

The Spring Development Bank is Myanmar’s first financial institution to run entirely on crypto and blockchain. Myanmar’s first entirely crypto - based banking institution has announced a soft launch for July 22 — a move that could see the country’s shadow government given greater access to financial services and funding. The Spring Development Bank is named after the Spring Revolution, the opposition movement led by Myanmar’s exiled National Unity Government (NUG) against the ruling State Administration Council (SAC) — a military junta that seized control of the country in February 2021. The bank’s target demographic isn’t just the 55 million Burmese living in Myanmar, but also the two-million-strong “Burmese diaspora”, who live and work outside of Myanmar and frequently send money back to the country. Constructed on Polygon, the bank’s main goal is to make both domestic and international payments faster and more efficient, as well as offer international access to a broad array of...

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated the need of robust central-bank oversight in the ongoing development of stablecoin regulations by the House Financial Services Committee. Powell further disclosed that the Federal Re serve ’s staff has been actively engaged in discussions with lawmakers from both sides of the aisle regarding the cryptocurrency legislation currently under consideration by committee members. Two crypto bills underway During a twice-yearly hearing on monetary policy, Federal Re serve chairman Jerome Powell expressed his perspective on payment stable coins , stating, “We do see payment stable coins as a form of money, and in all advanced economies, the ultimate source of credibility in money is the central bank.” Powell emphasized the necessity of a strong federal role in overseeing stable coins , indicating that he believes it would be appropriate to establish robust federal oversight in this domain. During the hearing, chairman ...

The market frenzy that started with the Silicon Valley Bank collapse is pushing BTC price higher but with some casualties left behind. The panic caused due to USD Coin's (USDC) depeg from the U.S. dollar manifested itself in a wrong order, costing traders $50,000 per Bitcoin (BTC), albeit for several minutes. Bitcoin price sees $50K in "fat finger" error  The BTC/USDC pair on Binance flash spiked to $50,000 on March 12 around 7 pm UTC. The reason for the impulse spike is unknown and was likely due to a "fat finger" trade of a large order. BTC/USDC hourly price chart on Binance. Source: TradingView The potential reason for the flash spike is likely thin order books for the newly launched BTC-USDC pair on Binance. The exchange listed the pair only a few hours before the impulse price surge. According to a trader on Crypto Twitter, it is likely that a Bitcoin market order ate through the limit sell-orders on the pair up to $50,000. The pair's trading price re...

Given Silicon Valley Bank’s direct involvement in destabilizing USDC prices, CZ blamed banks for increasing the risks of stablecoins. The death spiral of the Terra (LUNA) and TerraUSD (UST) ecosystem served as a catalyst to the 2022 bear market — causing losses in the millions, damaging investor sentiment and intensifying the regulatory spotlight over cryptocurrencies. However, the recent depegging of Circle’s USD Coin (USDC) led Binance CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao to believe that traditional banks are a risk to stable coins that are usually pegged 1:1 with fiat currencies, like the US dollar. On March 11, Circle disclosed that Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) did not process its $3.3 billion withdrawal request. The crypto market responded to the revelation by selling off their USDC holdings, causing the US dollar-backed stablecoin to lose its peg. Given SVB’s direct involvement in destabilizing USDC prices, CZ blamed banks for increasing the risks of stablecoins. Banks are a risk to fiat-back...

While on-chain stablecoins settlements are growing rapidly, many people pointed out that comparing stablecoin settlements to Visa transactions is not fair as they represent two different things. Stablecoins play a very critical role in the crypto economy today and despite the recent run-down in the broader market, stablecoin volumes continue to dominate most exchanges. According to Coinmetrics data, on-chain stablecoin settlements reached over $7 trillion in 2022 and are expected to end the year at around $8 trillion. While the largest card network, Visa, processes ~$12tn/yr. Peter Johnson, co-head of the venture at Brevan Howard Digital, said that stablecoin settlements had already surpassed MasterCard and American Express. Furthermore, he predicted that in 2023 on-chain stablecoin volumes will surpass the Visa transaction volumes. He also noted that stablecoins volume would not only surpass Visa but most likely surpass the aggregate volume of all four major card networks (Visa, ...