Stablecoin

Polygon finished the fourth quarter of 2025 with a sharp rise in on-chain usage, led by payments, stablecoin flows, and tokenized real-world assets. The network handled about $3.50 billion in payment transfers and nearly $363 million via ten Mastercard and Visa card programs, while RWAs approached $1.10 billion and stablecoin supply neared 3 billion. MATIC's price, however, remained range-bound despite higher activity and a 44% increase in average daily DEX volume.

In Senate Banking Committee testimony on Thursday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged passage of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act and told firms seeking minimal oversight to "move to El Salvador." Coinbase withdrew support in January 2026 over proposed limits on passive stablecoin yields, while Bitcoin is down over 32% this year near $63,100.

Crypto firms have floated giving community banks a bigger role in stablecoins, including holding part of issuers' reserves, to salvage a market‑structure bill. An analyst warned stablecoins may drain up to $500 billion of deposits by 2028, while supply has grown about 40% over the past year. Talks reportedly remain unresolved.

On Thursday, Tether said it will invest a total of $150 million in Gold.com, initially buying about $125 million in common shares and adding $25 million after regulatory approval. The stablecoin issuer, which already directly holds roughly 140 tons of gold and dominates over half of the gold stablecoin market through Tether Gold, will also gain the right to nominate a Gold.com board member as the firms pursue a vertically integrated gold ecosystem.

On 5 February 2026, Circle announced a strategic partnership with prediction market platform Polymarket to embed its fully reserved USDC stablecoin infrastructure into onchain markets. The collaboration is intended to make USDC a core settlement layer for prediction-based trading, aiming to enhance reliability, capital movement, and scalability as market activity and liquidity increase.

On 5 February 2026, Tether Investments announced a $100 million strategic equity investment in Anchorage Digital. The move expands an existing partnership and centers on regulated, secure infrastructure for institutional digital asset adoption. According to the article, Anchorage Digital Bank is the issuer of USA₮ and the first federally regulated digital asset bank in the U.S.

Polymarket, the largest fully onchain prediction market on Polygon, will shift from bridged USDC.e to a native USDC integration, according to an announcement with Circle on Thursday. USDC.e currently supports trading, order placement, and settlements. Circle said native Polymarket USDC will roll out in the "coming months."

Brazil's Chamber of Deputies is advancing Bill 4.308/2024, requiring stablecoin issuers to hold 1:1 reserves and segregate client funds, effectively prohibiting algorithmic models. In parallel, Bitcoin Hyper ($HYPER) reports an ongoing presale exceeding $31.2M, with Etherscan data showing three whale wallets accumulating a combined $1M in early 2026.

U.S. lawmakers opened a House inquiry into World Liberty Financial after a Wall Street Journal report on a $500M UAE-linked bid for a 49% stake. On Feb 5, 2026, Rep. Ro Khanna said he sent a letter seeking ownership records, payment flows and internal communications, with responses due by March 1, 2026. Donald Trump told reporters he was unaware of the deal.

Spain's BBVA, the country's second-largest bank by assets, has joined the Qivalis consortium of around a dozen EU lenders to develop a euro-denominated stablecoin under the MiCA framework. The project aims to offer a bank-backed digital euro alternative to dollar-pegged tokens such as USDT and USDC, with the group targeting a launch in the second half of 2026, subject to regulatory approval.