Stablecoin

On December 17, Ripple and AMINA Bank unveiled a partnership to integrate Ripple Payments for 24/7 real-time cross-border settlement, with AMINA described as the first European bank to adopt the service. The collaboration seeks to reduce correspondent-banking friction and improve stablecoin settlement capabilities for crypto-native enterprises.

On Wednesday, an affiliate of Circle Internet Group, Inc. (NYSE: CRCL), the issuer of USDC, said it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with licensed cross-border payments provider LianLian Global to explore wider adoption of the stablecoin. The collaboration will assess how USDC-based infrastructure and Circle's Arc blockchain can support faster, more transparent and cost-efficient international payments for merchants, especially in emerging markets.

On Dec. 17, SBI Ripple Asia signed a memorandum of understanding with Doppler Finance to explore XRP-based yield infrastructure and real‑world asset tokenization on the XRP Ledger. The companies described this as their first partnership with an XRPL‑native protocol and named SBI Digital Markets as the institutional custodian with segregated custody, aiming to route XRP into regulated yield sources despite the asset's lack of native staking.

Coinbase projects AI-driven productivity could spur a new crypto upswing in 2026. Total market capitalization peaked near $4.2 trillion in 2025 before easing toward $3.0 trillion, framed as a transition rather than cycle end. Institutional treasuries, tokenization, stablecoins, and regulated DeFi are cited as structural adoption signals.

Kyrgyzstan introduced USDKG, a USD-pegged stablecoin the project says is backed by physical gold, with an initial 50 million tokens issued on Tron and plans to support Ethereum. Launch materials describe an issuer with 100% state participation and operations run by a local private firm. Next, independent reserve attestations, clear redemption and real-world liquidity will determine credibility.

Senators Elissa Slotkin and Jerry Moran introduced the bipartisan SAFE Crypto Act to strengthen federal responses to crypto fraud. The move follows the FBI's finding that U.S. residents lost about $9.3 billion in 2024, a 66% rise year‑over‑year. The bill would require the Treasury to convene a cross‑agency task force within 180 days.

Uniform Labs has introduced Multiliquid, an institutional liquidity layer designed for tokenised financial markets that enables atomic swaps between stablecoins and blue-chip tokenised money market funds or other real-world assets. The protocol, live on Ethereum with a Solana deployment planned, currently supports stablecoins such as USDC and USDT alongside tokenised Treasuries and other regulated RWA portfolios.

Bhutan has committed up to $1 billion in Bitcoin from its sovereign reserves to support the long-term development of Gelephu Mindfulness City in Southern Bhutan. The government plans to allocate as much as 10,000 BTC over time, with the vision guided by King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and backed by state-run mining, renewable energy, and a partnership with Cumberland DRW. Additional renewable projects, including a 120-megawatt solar tender under the Solar Farm Expansion Project, are being advanced to reinforce the kingdom's clean energy-based digital asset strategy.

On December 17, 2025, security firm PeckShield reported an exploit against Yearn Finance V1's legacy TUSD vault, with losses of about $300,000. The attacker swapped the proceeds for 103 ETH held at address 0x0F21…4066 and allegedly used flash loans and price distortions on a misconfigured vault. A researcher linked the method to a similar 2023 Yearn vulnerability.

On Dec. 17, Aave founder Stani Kulechov outlined a 2026 roadmap featuring the V4 upgrade, Horizon's tokenised real‑world asset lending, and a mobile app push. Horizon deposits are around $550 million after surpassing $50 million by Sept. 1, with a goal above $1 billion. The plan follows the SEC ending its investigation.