This week shows two financial heavyweights approaching the stablecoin era from opposite sides. JPMorgan has brought JPM Coin onto the Base network, extending bank-grade trust and compliance into 24/7 settlement and signaling a shift from closed banking rails to open networks. Coinbase, moving the other direction, is entering traditional finance with an FSCS-insured high-yield GBP savings account, using fiat trust to reshape how retail deposits interface with crypto.

Circle’s StableFX introduces on-chain atomic (PvP) FX settlement, removing T+2 delays and freeing an estimated $27 trillion in idle capital.

Adoption is accelerating: Cash App (58M users) plans stablecoin payments in 2026; SoFi becomes the first U.S. bank to offer in-app crypto trading; Visa pays employees in USDC; BNY Mellon launches a stablecoin-reserve fund aligned with the GENIUS Act.

As finance converges, the strategic question sharpens: will users choose apps that behave like banks, or banks that acquire crypto-native capabilities?

Market Overview & Growth Highlights

Total stablecoin market cap reached $304.979b, with a week-over-week decrease of $164.09m. In terms of market structure, USDT continues to maintain its dominant position at 60.32%; USDC ranks second with a market cap of $75.024b, accounting for 24.6%. 。

Blockchain Network Distribution

Top 3 Networks by Stablecoin Market Cap:

1. Ethereum: $67.541b

2. Tron: $77.879b

3. BSC: $13.336b

Top 3 Networks by Weekly Growth:

1. PayPal USD (PYUSD) :+22.44%

2. CASH (CASH) :+8.42%

3. Circle USYC (USYC)：+7.07%

Data from DefiLlama

🎯Circle launches StableFX — a blueprint for the liquidity internet

The efficiency gains unlocked by stablecoins are beginning to ripple through the trillion‑dollar foreign‑exchange market. This week, Circle introduced StableFX, a stablecoin‑based FX engine built for atomic on‑chain settlement — an attempt to position itself as the next‑generation liquidity and settlement layer of global finance.

FX remains the world’s largest financial market, with daily turnover exceeding $9.6 trillion. Yet its plumbing is still anchored in legacy processes: batch settlement, bilateral credit lines, time‑zone windows, and T+2 delivery. Roughly $27 trillion sits idle in correspondent accounts — a structural tax the payment system levies on liquidity. The market has long managed risk at the expense of capital efficiency, and that trade‑off is now being rewritten.

Stablecoins and blockchains resolve the tension between immediacy and safety. StableFX is built around that efficiency dividend. It combines three layers: atomic PvP settlement, enabling simultaneous delivery with zero counterparty exposure; on‑chain RFQ aggregation, where market makers compete to compress spreads; and interoperable currency rails, linking EURC, GBP‑backed tokens, and Latin American stablecoins directly to USDC — without detouring through dollar banks. The outcome is a 24/7 programmable FX platform where liquidity becomes software — accessible, composable, and embedded into treasury operations, payroll, and cross‑border flows.

Traditional FX manages risk by locking up funds; StableFX manages it by removing delay. No bilateral trust, no pre‑funding — just capital returning to productive use. The shift from collateralized safety to protocolized safety defines the foundation of a new settlement architecture.

As the StableFX white paper notes, it is Circle’s blueprint for building the liquidity internet — a universal layer capable of connecting all forms of value and embedding them into any application. Starting with institutional FX pairs, the roadmap extends to tokenized treasuries (USYC), deposit tokens (e.g. JPMD), and real‑world assets. Each becomes a node in a shared PvP network, evolving into what Circle calls a universal programmable value‑exchange layer — a trust, compliance, and interoperability base for the era of regulated digital money.

If the past decade of fintech was about connecting accounts, the next decade will be about connecting liquidity itself. Circle is now encoding trust, compliance, and finality at the protocol layer — rebuilding the global clearing and settlement logic from the ground up through StableFX.

🎯JPMorgan’s Deposit Token and Coinbase’s Reverse Convergence

The technological dividend of stablecoins is seeping into every corner of the global financial system, forcing incumbents to rethink their architecture. Two of the world’s largest financial institutions are now taking opposite routes in response.

One is JPMorgan, the world’s biggest commercial bank. This week, it took an inward turn—absorbing the technology behind stablecoins—by launching a deposit token, JPM Coin, on the public Base chain. The product offers institutional clients the same on‑chain efficiency as USDC: instant settlement, global reach, and 24/7 operability. The bank has also filed a trademark for “JPME,” suggesting a forthcoming euro‑denominated version.

A deposit token is a digital liability issued by a commercial bank, representing an on‑chain claim on real deposits. It is, in essence, a tokenized bank balance. Unlike stablecoins—typically issued by non‑banks and backed one‑for‑one by government securities or other liquid assets—deposit tokens are anchored directly to regulated deposits within the banking system.

In doing so, JPMorgan is capturing the efficiency premium of stablecoins while retaining the compliance and trust of the banking model. The result is a hybrid asset: the speed of crypto with the safety of bank money. When JPM Coin enables funds to move freely across weekends and holidays, the settlement gap between bank tokens and stablecoins largely disappears. Once speed converges, banks regain their old advantages—compliance, deposit insurance, and interest‑bearing liabilities. In that sense, JPM Coin can be viewed as a regulated deposit functioning like software. By combining low risk with high efficiency, deposit tokens could outcompete non‑yielding stablecoins and reassert banks’ dominance in B2B settlements.

JPMorgan’s Kinexys Network (formerly JPM Coin Network) now processes more than $3 billion per day, while its global payments infrastructure clears close to $10 trillion daily. For the first time, trillions of dollars in regulated liquidity are entering the public blockchain world — fully compliant, fully auditable.

If JPMorgan represents a traditional giant moving forward, Coinbase is its mirror image — a crypto‑native firm evolving backward toward traditional finance. This week, Coinbase launched a regulated GBP savings account in the UK, offering 3.75% interest and protection under the FSCS, with custody provided by ClearBank. The product blends the safety of a regulated bank account with the digital experience of a crypto platform, targeting savers who are risk‑averse yet dissatisfied with low bank yields.

High‑yield savings are just the entry point. Coinbase’s real aim is strategic: to use a low‑risk, low‑margin fiat savings product as a funnel into its high‑margin crypto business. The savings account acts as a bridge — one tap moves fiat balances directly into crypto trades. Coinbase is using the trust of traditional finance as the gateway, and the returns of crypto as the conversion engine — a form of reverse integration that brings banking savers into digital markets.

Stablecoin‑driven efficiency has become the new baseline of financial competition. On one side, incumbents like JPMorgan are anchoring trust and regulatory credibility on‑chain through tokenized deposits, adapting the banking model to the logic of stablecoins. On the other, crypto‑native institutions like Coinbase are moving toward the fiat system, reconstructing trust and accessibility while redefining the retail banking experience.

Market Adoption

🌱Block’s Cash App will add stablecoin support in early 2026 for its 58 million users, giving each user a blockchain address that auto-converts incoming stablecoins to dollars and outgoing dollars to stablecoins. A spokesperson said Cash App plans to integrate USDC—the second-largest stablecoin—across multiple blockchains, following customer demand rather than any single-asset ideology. Cash App will also let users pay BTC-accepting merchants directly in dollars, automatically converting USD to Bitcoin at checkout so customers don’t need to hold crypto. The shift under Jack Dorsey’s Block highlights the growing recognition of stablecoins as practical payment rails.

🌱Circle revealed it is exploring a native token for its Arc blockchain as part of a broader push to expand programmable finance on-chain. The stablecoin issuer reported strong third-quarter results with total and reserve revenue of 740 million dollars, up 66 percent year-over-year, and net profit of 214 million dollars, up 202 percent, as USDC circulation doubled to 73.7 billion dollars. Circle also raised its 2025 “other income” guidance to 90–100 million dollars on subscription, service, and transaction growth, with its payment network now active in eight countries, 29 financial institutions onboarded, and 500 more in queue. Research by J.P. Morgan shows USDC’s on-chain expansion has surpassed Tether’s USDT, while William Blair calls Circle a “top stablecoin play” and Bernstein projects its supply to triple by 2027 to capture roughly one-third of the global stablecoin market under GENIUS Act-driven clarity and institutional adoption.

🌱 NH Nonghyup Bank, one of South Korea’s five major banks, has launched a proof-of-concept project to test stablecoin-based VAT refunds for foreign tourists. Conducted in collaboration with Avalanche, Fireblocks, Mastercard, and Worldpay, the project leverages Avalanche smart contracts to automate refund processing and enable instant stablecoin settlement. It aims to replace traditional paper-based refund systems with a blockchain-powered digital platform offering faster and frictionless currency exchange. With inbound tourism surging 48.4 percent in 2024 to 16.37 million visitors, the initiative supports Korea’s strategy to enhance competitiveness and advance its regulatory framework for won-denominated stablecoins under bank-led issuance.

🌱BNY Mellon has launched the BNY Dreyfus Stablecoin Reserve Fund, a money-market vehicle designed to help stablecoin issuers meet U.S. GENIUS Act requirements by holding cash-equivalent reserves. Anchorage Digital, a federally chartered crypto bank, provided the fund’s initial investment, and access is open to qualified institutional investors such as custodians, broker-dealers, and trustees. BNY expects the stablecoin market to grow from roughly $300 billion today to $1.5 trillion by the end of 2030, positioning the fund alongside BlackRock’s USDC reserve structure for Circle. The move underscores how major financial institutions are building stablecoin infrastructure as regulated issuance accelerates under the GENIUS Act.

Regulatory Compliance

🏛Singapore’s central bank will pilot tokenized government bonds settled with wholesale CBDC as the next phase of its blockchain integration strategy. MAS is drafting a stablecoin regulatory bill, with Managing Director Chia Der Jiun emphasizing the need for robust reserves and reliable redemption. The authority views wholesale CBDC as a financial anchor while allowing regulated private settlement assets to meet market needs, noting that oversight will tighten if certain stablecoins become systemically important. The move reinforces Singapore’s leadership in asset tokenization as Project Guardian accelerates near-instant settlement across FX and fixed income markets.

🏛The Czech National Bank has created a $1 million test portfolio of crypto assets consisting of Bitcoin, USD stablecoins, and tokenized deposits. The pilot is designed to evaluate the operational processes of buying, holding, and managing blockchain-based assets, with findings to be shared over the next two to three years. CNB Governor Aleš Michl first floated the idea of investing in Bitcoin in January, a move mocked at the time by ECB President Christine Lagarde. The initiative marks the first appearance of Bitcoin on a central bank balance sheet and signals that some monetary authorities are beginning to treat crypto as a potential tool for reserve diversification.

🏛The Italian Banking Association’s director general Marco Elio Rottigni said Italy’s banks support the European Central Bank’s digital euro initiative but want the hefty upfront investment spread over a longer period. EU finance ministers, the ECB, and the European Commission have reached a compromise addressing bank‑run concerns, with pilot tests planned for 2027 and a full rollout in 2029. The ABI backs a dual‑track approach that develops both central bank and commercial bank digital currencies to prevent Europe from falling behind regions like the US that already have stablecoin frameworks. The debate highlights Europe’s cautious yet competitive path toward implementing a CBDC.

🏛The Bank of England has softened its stance on stablecoins, proposing to let systemic issuers invest up to 60 percent of their reserves in short‑term government debt— a shift from its 2023 position requiring 100 percent to be held in non‑interest‑bearing central bank accounts. Individual and corporate holding caps remain at £20,000 (about 26,800 dollars) and £10 million, diverging from EU and US approaches. The central bank is also considering liquidity support for issuers during market stress when reserves cannot be readily sold. The change aims to balance oversight and innovation, offering a more competitive business model for stablecoins, while non‑systemic coins used mainly in crypto trading will stay under FCA supervision. The UK’s approach now stands alongside the US GENIUS Act and the EU’s MiCA rules as one of three distinct global regulatory models.

🏛Japan’s Financial Services Agency plans new rules requiring crypto custody and trade‑management providers to register with authorities, with exchanges permitted to use only registered firms. The move aims to close regulatory gaps around third‑party service providers after a 2024 hack on DMM Bitcoin caused roughly 312 million dollar losses through outsourced vendor Ginco. The FSA will compile a report and seek to amend the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act during the 2026 regular Diet session, with most working‑group members supporting the proposal. Strengthened custody oversight is expected to enhance Japan’s crypto security and mark further expansion of its digital‑asset regulatory framework.

🏛Venture firm a16z has urged U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to exempt decentralized stablecoins from oversight under the GENIUS Act, calling for a clear distinction between decentralized and payment stablecoins. Citing the Ethereum‑backed LUSD as an example, a16z argued that decentralized stablecoins operate via smart contracts without a central controlling entity and should not be restricted under Section 3(a). The firm also proposed leveraging decentralized digital identity tools—such as zero‑knowledge proofs and multiparty computation—to counter illicit finance while preserving user privacy. Defining this regulatory boundary could shape the growth trajectory of decentralized stablecoins and highlight the industry’s push for tailored oversight.

🏛The Central Bank of Brazil has introduced its most comprehensive crypto regulations to date, requiring service providers to obtain licenses and maintain capital between 2 million and 7 million dollars. The rules, effective February 2, 2026, give existing firms a nine-month compliance window. The framework creates a new category of Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), divided into intermediaries, custodians, and brokers, with foreign entities required to establish a local presence. It also brings stablecoin transactions, cross-border payments, and self-custody wallet transfers under foreign-exchange and capital-flow controls, capping each transaction at 100,000 dollars and mandating monthly reporting to the central bank. The policy marks Brazil’s first full regulation of its fast-growing crypto sector, balancing innovation with security but potentially reshaping competition through capital requirements and localization mandates.

🏛SoFi has become the first nationally chartered consumer bank in the United States to offer in‑app crypto trading, allowing users to buy and sell assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana alongside checking, savings, and investment services. A company survey found that 60 percent of users prefer trading crypto with a licensed bank rather than an exchange, and SoFi is rolling out its Crypto service to all users in the coming weeks. After pausing digital‑asset offerings in 2023 while applying for its banking charter, SoFi is reentering the crypto space and plans to develop a U.S.‑dollar stablecoin to integrate crypto into remittance and lending products. The move combines banking‑grade compliance with digital‑asset innovation, setting a new model for traditional financial institutions entering crypto and enhancing industry trust.

New Launches

👀J.P. Morgan’s Kinexys and DBS Bank’s Token Services have jointly developed an interoperable framework to enable seamless movement of tokenized deposits across public and private blockchains, breaking down the “walled‑garden” silos of traditional banking systems. The solution allows secure, instant settlement of payments from a “Bank A deposit token” to a “Bank B deposit token,” letting clients on Coinbase’s Base blockchain send tokens directly to recipients at other banks, who can choose to redeem or hold them. This cross‑institution connectivity extends the value of tokenized deposits from internal efficiency gains to a global institutional payments network, directly addressing the inefficiencies, costs, and opacity of legacy cross‑border systems. It signals how traditional banks are moving preemptively—collaborating within regulated frameworks to build next‑generation clearing infrastructure and safeguard relevance in the digital era.

👀New York–based crypto payments company MoonPay has begun offering stablecoin issuance and management, using its existing money-transmitter licenses to operate across all U.S. states. The firm’s new head of stablecoins, Zach Kwartler—formerly at Paxos—previously helped build stablecoin and crypto infrastructure for PayPal, Interactive Brokers, and MercadoLibre. MoonPay will provide the service to enterprise clients in the U.S., Asia, and Latin America, supporting multiple blockchains to improve payment operations. The move comes as fintech companies race into the sector following the U.S. stablecoin law passed in July, putting MoonPay alongside Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe in the growing competition.

👀Standard Chartered has partnered with DCS Card Centre to launch Singapore’s first stablecoin-enabled credit card service, supporting the DeCard program that allows users to make real-world payments using stablecoins. The bank will provide DeCard users with full transaction banking and financial markets services, including top-up processing, account management, and fiat-to-stablecoin settlement. The collaboration begins in Singapore with plans to expand into other major markets, leveraging Standard Chartered’s virtual accounts and API connectivity to verify and reconcile cross-channel payments. The initiative highlights Singapore’s push to become a regulated crypto hub and marks a significant step in bridging traditional banking with digital-asset payments, setting a new benchmark for stablecoin adoption in mainstream finance.

👀 Global payments giant Visa has launched a new pilot program enabling businesses to pay creators, freelancers, and gig workers directly in USDC stablecoins, achieving near-instant cross-border settlement. Using Visa Direct, U.S. companies can fund payments in fiat while recipients choose to receive USDC—particularly beneficial for users in markets with currency volatility or limited banking access. Recipients must use compatible stablecoin wallets and meet KYC and AML requirements. The pilot will begin with selected partners and expand in the second half of 2026 as demand and regulation evolve. Following the passage of the U.S. GENIUS Act, Visa is accelerating its stablecoin strategy, already processing over 140 billion dollars in crypto and stablecoin volume across more than 130 card programs in 40 countries, with an annualized volume exceeding 2.5 billion dollars.

Capital Deployment

💰 Video platform Rumble has agreed to merge with German AI and HPC infrastructure firm Northern Data in a deal valued at about 967 million dollars, with each Northern Data share convertible into 2.0281 new Rumble Class A shares. The merger, backed by roughly 72 percent of Northern Data shareholders including Tether, is expected to close in the first half of 2026. Rumble will gain access to around 22,400 Nvidia H100 and H200 GPUs and multiple data centers. Tether, which invested 775 million dollars last year for a 48 percent stake in Rumble, plans to launch crypto tipping for its 51 million monthly users in December, supporting BTC, USDT, and XAUT via a non-custodial Rumble wallet. The deal underscores Tether’s broader push into AI and its effort to build a freedom-first tech ecosystem outside Big Tech’s control.

💰Nasdaq-listed Malaysian firm VCI Global is acquiring 100 million dollars worth of OOB tokens from crypto payments company Oobit, half paid via restricted shares to the OOB Foundation. The token, rebranded from OBT and migrating from Ethereum to Solana, powers Oobit’s tap-to-pay merchant system and launches on November 12. After the deal, Tether, an Oobit shareholder, will become VCI Global’s largest shareholder as the firm forms a new digital-asset division. The move shows Tether extending its grip on crypto payments while drawing traditional public companies deeper into digital finance.

💰Safe has launched its venture arm Safe Ventures to invest in teams advancing self‑custody in crypto, with 24 portfolio companies to date. The fund targets three areas: user applications such as Clave and Picnic, DeFi primitives like Wildcat and Sablier, and infrastructure tools including Pimlico and Rhinestone. Beyond capital, Safe Ventures builds economic links between the Safe ecosystem and investees through tokens and incentive models, offering technical support and strategic partnerships. Safe sees self‑custody as crypto’s only viable future—without it, “we’re just rebuilding traditional finance with extra steps.” The initiative aims to make self‑custody mainstream and strengthen a networked ecosystem that drives large‑scale decentralized ownership.

💰Enterprise stablecoin payments firm Rain has acquired on‑chain rewards platform Uptop, which turns everyday spending into loyalty points through simple card linking and receipt scanning. The deal follows Rain’s 58 million‑dollar Series B round and creates a full‑stack offering spanning on‑ramp, wallet, global payment card, off‑ramp, and native rewards. Uptop has powered loyalty programs for clients such as the Cleveland Cavaliers, boosting sponsor spend by 21 percent and in‑store sales by 51 percent, and plans expansion into retail, entertainment, and travel. The acquisition unites stablecoin payments with blockchain‑based loyalty, enabling brands to launch integrated card and wallet programs while driving everyday use of stablecoins through seamless, low‑latency rewards on Avalanche.

💰Tempo, a stablecoin‑focused blockchain backed by Stripe and Paradigm, has made its first strategic venture investment—25 million dollars in crypto infrastructure firm Commonware. As part of the deal, Tempo will adopt the Commonware Library and join as a core contributor, using its modular blockchain components to create differentiated payment experiences. Commonware previously raised 9 million dollars in seed funding from Haun, Dragonfly Ventures, and angels from projects like Avalanche, Cosmos, and Solana. With 500 million dollars in capital, Tempo is building open, high‑performance infrastructure for stablecoin payments, underscoring its ambition to redefine the cross‑chain payment ecosystem.

💰Coinbase has terminated its planned 2 billion‑dollar acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure firm BVNK, which processes about 20 billion dollars in annual enterprise transactions. The collapse leaves BVNK as the last major independent player in the stablecoin infrastructure market. Earlier in October, both Coinbase and Mastercard were in talks to acquire BVNK, with Coinbase holding an exclusive agreement that ultimately fell through. Mastercard is now seen as the leading contender, reportedly revisiting negotiations after losing an earlier bid while also pursuing Zerohash. Other potential buyers include Visa — already a BVNK investor — and Citigroup, which joined its cap table in October. Ownership of BVNK could determine who controls critical global channels for payroll, treasury, and cross‑border stablecoin settlements.

Big Picture

🔮Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin said the security level available to DeFi users today is “worlds apart” from the DeFi Summer era, marking a pivotal shift toward safer, more mature decentralized finance. He believes DeFi is evolving from high‑risk speculation into a viable savings alternative and a potential escape from fiat systems where funds can be seized. Buterin highlighted the importance of the “walkaway test,” ensuring users can always recover their assets independently and encouraging developers to build applications for both Ethereum mainnet and broader Layer 2 networks. Although total crypto losses in 2025 exceeded the prior year—largely due to February’s historic Bybit hack—Buterin stressed the need to keep Ethereum open, interoperable, and censorship‑resistant. With new products like Lighter reaching 10,000 transactions per second, scalability across L1 and L2 is improving, laying the foundation for applications that can deliver genuine financial freedom.

🔮U.S. banking giant BNY has projected in a new report that the combined value of stablecoins and tokenized cash equivalents will reach 3.6 trillion dollars by 2030, including 1.5 trillion dollars in stablecoins and the rest from tokenized deposits and money‑market funds. The report highlights that these “digital cash equivalents” enable faster settlement, lower counterparty risk, and improved collateral mobility across markets—for example, pension funds could soon use tokenized money‑market funds to post margin for derivatives almost instantly. BNY emphasized that blockchain will not replace traditional payment systems but will integrate with them, with regulatory clarity serving as the key catalyst; progress under the EU’s MiCA framework and emerging policies in the U.S. and Asia‑Pacific are already supporting innovation. The outlook underscores how institutional adoption is set to drive explosive growth in digital assets, fundamentally reshaping global capital markets and the way participants transact.