Stablecoin

Lawmakers are moving toward a compromise that would ban yield payments on stablecoins, but allow other rewards. The distinction is functionally meaningless, and leaves small banks in danger of losing deposits.

Amendments to a long-awaited crypto market structure bill slated to be marked up in the Senate Banking Committee Thursday would force lawmakers to vote for or against the banking industry's desired changes to the legislation.

The community bank trade group says crypto firms are combining stablecoin rules, Fed master account access and trust charters to replicate banking without bank rules.

Banks continue to push back on what they describe as insufficient protections against stablecoin yield as the Senate Banking Committee is poised to mark up its long-awaited crypto market structure bill this week.

Public comments on the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's GENIUS Act implementing regulations highlighted the rift between banks and crypto firms over the permissibility of yield on stablecoin holdings, an issue that has stalled crypto market structure legislation for months.

Mainstream financial services firms moving into the crypto realm are rightly skittish about consolidating trading, custody, lending, staking and settlement in a single provider. The crypto industry is, instead, entering a world of "co-opetition."

The company is officially releasing a digital asset product that it first announced back in October.

Banks are scrambling to find their place in a rapidly growing market for stablecoins. Before making major commitments, though, they need to be sure of the market segment they're trying to compete in and who their opponents are.

Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., have released compromise language on stablecoin yield for a long-awaited crypto market structure bill, clearing the way for a markup in the near future.

The B2B payments fintech contends the digital asset can wring inefficiencies out of corporate payments processing.

Expenses and foreign exchange pressured Western Union; while Visa added more blockchains to its stablecoin settlement pilot. That and more in American Banker's global payments and fintech roundup.

While stablecoins aren't widely used for payments, banks still have a role to play in leading the market.

Banks weighing stablecoin partnerships need to know whose playbook regulators will endorse before another major crypto theft tests the question.

The cryptocurrency company has collaborated with payment tech firm Nium to enable conversions to traditional currency, a play to boost use of the digital assets for payments and diversify Coinbase's revenue sources.

Tether launches a wallet, Rain issues a crypto card and MoneyGram extends stablecoin services in El Salvador. That and more in American Banker's global payments and fintech roundup.

Slash Financial, a fintech originally founded for sneaker resellers, closed a Series C funding round and launched an AI assistant for digital-native business customers.

The stablecoin provider recently applied for a national trust bank charter from the OCC after acquiring a New York trust charter last year.

Brazil's real-time payment rail is adding PayPal as an option for small- to medium-size business payments; HSBC is launching a Hong Kong dollar-denominated stablecoin; Sezzle expands BNPL; and more in this week's global payment roundup.

The card network expanded work with blockchain firms OwlTing and Tempo, increasing its reach into agentic commerce and stablecoins.

The credit card giant's BVNK acquisition wasn't a bet on crypto hype. It was a hedge against irrelevance. It suggests that the companies that defined the last era of finance are now preparing for a very different future.