Stablecoin

Macquarie has reportedly advised investors to cut back spot Bitcoin ETF positions and shift some exposure toward Circle, the USDC issuer whose shares trade on the NYSE as CRCL. The view frames Circle's newly listed equity as a potentially more attractive risk-reward approach than a direct Bitcoin price proxy, emphasizing revenue tied to USDC reserves and rates rather than BTC volatility.

Tether has filed seven trademark applications in South Korea's KIPRIS database, including KRWT and WONTETHER, prompting market speculation about a KRW-linked stablecoin. The filings sit under Classification 09 and also include marks tied to XAUT, QVAC, USDT0, USAT, and Tether's shield logo, while the company has not confirmed any launch plans. Separately, Tether International took full control of Twenty One Capital after buying SoftBank Group's stake; the firm holds more than 43,500 BTC (around $4 billion), and the deal value was not disclosed.

Sui said on May 20, 2026 it is introducing a protocol-level feature that enables peer-to-peer transfers of supported stablecoins without users holding SUI for gas. As the rollout reaches validators, Sui says stablecoin transfer fees drop to $0.00, with support live for USDsui, suiUSDe, AUSD, FDUSD, USDB, USDC, and USDY. Fireblocks integrated the solution ahead of the rollout to support enterprise access to stablecoin activity on Sui.

Bank of England Deputy Governor Sarah Breeden said on May 19 that the central bank plans to publish draft rules for systemic stablecoins next month and aims to finalize a broader framework by year-end. She also outlined plans spanning tokenized markets, the Bank-FCA digital securities sandbox, and upgrades to the UK’s RTGS settlement infrastructure, including a push toward near-24/7 operations by the early 2030s.

Hyperliquid-linked ETFs brought in nearly $8.2 million in net inflows this week, after 21Shares posted its strongest day since launch and Coinbase was named the official treasury deployer for Hyperliquid's stablecoin ecosystem. 21Shares said its new fund saw about $8.1 million in Thursday trading volume and nearly $4.9 million in net inflows, while HYPE was up roughly 8% at about $43.63 by Friday.

The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s clearance of national trust charters tied to Coinbase, Ripple, Bitgo and other digital-asset firms has widened a regulatory dispute involving Sen. Elizabeth Warren. On May 19, Bitgo CEO Mike Belshe published an open letter arguing that fiduciary custody keeps client assets segregated in bankruptcy-remote accounts and does not involve deposits or lending. He also said stablecoin reserves are held in full and supported by twice-monthly attestations plus quarterly and annual audits.

XDC Network (XDC) rose more than 14% over the past 24 hours at press time, flipping its weekly performance into a 9% gain. The move followed a strategic partnership with Animoca Brands and a pickup in network metrics, while charts showed a breakout on higher timeframes but hesitation near $0.037 on lower ones.

Ethena's latest reserve dashboard update dated 20 May shows USDe's backing tilting toward DeFi lending and liquid stablecoin reserves, indicating a more conservative posture than earlier derivatives-heavy yield tactics. DeFi lending represents about 47.7% (around $2bn) of backing, while liquid stablecoins make up about 52.7%, alongside a reported 101.55% backing ratio versus roughly $4.45bn USDe supply.

Catena Labs, co-founded by Circle co-founder Sean Neville, raised $30 million in a Series A to build regulated banking infrastructure for AI agents. The company also filed for a national trust bank charter with the OCC, aiming to pair agent identity, spending controls, and compliance with multi-rail payments.

Wintermute has unveiled Armitage, a DeFi vault-curation platform built to apply institutional-style trading, liquidity, and risk controls to onchain lending. Two USDC-denominated vaults are already live on Morpho, with plans to expand to more chains and lending venues. Wintermute says it processes over $10 billion in average daily trading volume across 70+ venues and 10 blockchain networks.