Stablecoin

New York’s Department of Financial Services proposed a state stablecoin regulation on 9 June 2026, aiming to align with the federal GENIUS Act and qualify for Treasury certification. The draft keeps the 2022 1:1 reserve and audit standards but adds custodian concentration caps and a ban on issuer self-custody of reserves, with final rules expected to take effect alongside the GENIUS Act around 18 January 2027 and a 12-month transition for current licensees.

Banca Sella said it became Italy's first bank authorised to provide crypto-asset services under MiCA on May 27, 2026, after completing a notification process with the Bank of Italy in forty days. The Biella-based lender is focusing on custody and transfer rather than retail trading, with a custody, send, and receive solution planned before the end of 2026 and initially aimed at corporate and institutional clients.

Coins.ph has extended the Philippines’ national QR Ph network to support bitcoin and ethereum, in addition to USDT and USDC, enabling crypto spending across nearly 700,000 merchants. Early program activity recorded thousands of retail payments totalling millions of Philippine pesos, with users paying for items such as groceries, tuition, and appliances. Coins.ph is also seeking BSP approval to exit a regulatory sandbox and potentially list its peso-backed PHPC stablecoin within the same QR Ph ecosystem.

Stablecoin supply has remained firm near $315 billion even as broader crypto markets stay soft, but exchange inflows for USDT and USDC have cooled markedly. Monthly deposits fell to about $2.9 billion, and the average dropped from roughly $4.47 billion to $3.87 billion, pointing to more selective capital deployment. At the same time, stablecoins are increasingly used in regulated products and real-world payments, rather than purely to fuel trading.

Sui has drawn increased stablecoin activity after Mysten Labs introduced a protocol change that lets users move stablecoins on-chain without paying gas in SUI. Since June 10, the network has settled nearly $65 billion in stablecoin transactions, and it has recorded over $2.27T in stablecoin volume since early 2024. Mysten Labs' Adeniyi Abiodun said the feature reduces operational overhead for service providers, while Sui tests private transactions on its devnet.

World Liberty Financial (WLFI) said it will sponsor a new Performance of the Night bonus pool for UFC Freedom 250 on June 14, 2026, paying its $250,000 contribution in USD1 stablecoin. UFC CEO Dana White said Fight of the Night winners will receive $400,000 each and Performance of the Night winners $425,000 each, with the overall post-fight bonus pool reaching about $1.65 million when combined with a separate $1 million CRO bonus. Polymarket activity around the card surpassed $4.1 million across 18 markets, led by $2 million on Ilia Topuria vs. Justin Gaethje.

The House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing last week to examine eight digital-asset tax proposals spanning payments, mining, staking, donations, and compliance. Chairman Jason Smith said the crypto market exceeds $2 trillion and argued current rules create uncertainty for users and businesses. The package includes six bills and two discussion drafts, with several measures aimed at easing reporting for routine transactions and stablecoin-related price moves.

ESMA said the MiCA transitional period will end on 1 July 2026 across all 27 EU member states, leaving crypto-asset service providers serving EU clients required to hold a MiCA licence. It warned that firms operating without authorisation after that date would be in breach of EU law and must stop offering those services.

Earlier this week, Tether's USDT briefly moved ahead of Ethereum by market capitalization, with trackers placing both assets in the $183–188B band during the crossover. One snapshot showed USDT at $187B versus ETH at $186B, a gap of under $1B, before Ethereum returned to second place as prices stabilized. The episode reflected continued USDT issuance alongside ongoing ETH price weakness rather than a sudden supply change on Ethereum.

MUFG Bank, Mizuho Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation have set up a joint council to develop and co-issue a yen-pegged crypto stablecoin by the end of Japan’s fiscal year 2026, which runs through March 2027. The token is planned to be issued via a trust structure with the banks as joint settlors and a trust bank (or similar institution) acting as trustee. The effort sits within the FSA’s Payment Innovation Project and follows a late-2025 pilot on whether multi-bank co-issuance could be done legally.