Stablecoin

Monad, an Ethereum-compatible Layer 1 blockchain, completed its token sale on Coinbase, raising $269 million from 85,820 participants. The sale exceeded its initial $187 million target despite weak early demand. Co-founder Keone Hon emphasized that participant count mattered more than the funds raised, noting that many newcomers joined alongside crypto insiders.

Robbie Mitchnick, BlackRock's head of digital assets, said institutional investors focus on Bitcoin's store-of-value characteristics rather than its potential as payment infrastructure. He described the payments use case as speculative, requiring substantial scaling advancements including Lightning Network development. Meanwhile, Mitchnick noted stablecoins have already achieved significant traction in value transfer and payments.

Stablecoins are positioned to displace traditional infrastructure in the $150 trillion annual cross-border payments market, according to Howard Davidson, CMO of Almond Fintech. With 15% of banks already offering stablecoin services and 57% exploring adoption, the technology reduces settlement times from days to seconds and can lower transaction costs by up to 99%. Recent partnerships by Western Union, Citi, and ClearBank signal institutional momentum toward blockchain-based payment rails.

Solana network participants are reviewing a governance proposal to halve the timeline for reaching a 1.5% annual disinflation rate from six years to three. The plan would remove over 22 million SOL from projected circulation while maintaining current validator rewards. Staking yields are expected to decline from approximately 6.4% to 2.4% over the period, assuming stable participation rates.

Tether Treasury transferred $1 billion USDT while holding 87,556 BTC valued at $7.62 billion in reserves. On-chain data reveal concentrated support between $77,000 and $81,900 as Bitcoin enters this price range. The stablecoin issuer's portfolio totals approximately $11.19 billion, positioning it as a major participant in liquidity flows.

TRON trades at $0.28 after a 14.52% monthly decline, while the network hosts over $78.5 billion in USDT supply—more than 60% of global circulation. The protocol recently closed its USDJ stablecoin with a 1 USDJ = 1.5532 TRX redemption rate. The blockchain now focuses on collateral-backed stablecoin models including USDD and USDT.

Strategy founder Michael Saylor rejected the argument that stablecoins compete with Bitcoin after ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood revised her 2030 Bitcoin price forecast. Wood lowered her projection from $1.5 million to $1.2 million on November 6, citing stablecoin adoption in hyperinflation-affected emerging markets. Saylor countered that Bitcoin serves as digital capital while stablecoins function within transactional finance, describing them as complementary rather than competitive.

Hong Kong has transitioned Project Ensemble from sandbox testing to live pilot operations, enabling real-value transactions with tokenized deposits and digital assets. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced the initial focus will include tokenized money-market fund transactions and real-time treasury management. Interbank settlements will utilize the HKD Real Time Gross Settlement system.

On-chain data show substantial USDC transfers to centralized exchanges as Bitcoin declined to $81,000. CryptoQuant analyst Maartunn reported that the USDC Exchange Inflow indicator recorded multiple spikes, suggesting traders may be positioning to buy digital assets at lower prices. Short-term holders face significant unrealized losses not seen since November 2022.

BlackRock registered the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust in Delaware on November 19, establishing a legal structure for a staking-enabled Ethereum ETF pending regulatory approval. The Delaware filing does not constitute a formal SEC application but positions the asset manager to offer yield-bearing ETH products. Current spot Ethereum ETFs operate without staking functionality, causing investors to forfeit approximately 3% in annualized network rewards.