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Stablecoins Secure a Growing Role in Crypto Payments and Remittances

Stablecoins are increasingly acting like specialized infrastructure rather than direct substitutes. New usage data highlighted by Dune suggests that Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC are consolidating around different on-chain and real-world roles—USDT leaning into commercial payments while USDC remains tightly linked to decentralized finance (DeFi) activity. At the same time, Europe’s MiCA framework appears to be accelerating demand for euro-pegged stablecoins, while traditional finance continues to warm to tokenization. Elsewhere in Crypto Biz, Strategy’s latest Bitcoin sale to fund shareholder dividends has reopened discussion around the company’s “never sell” posture, and Vanguard has moved closer to digital assets by hiring a head of the division. Key takeaways Dune data indicates USDT and USDC are diverging in use cases: USDT is leading identified commercial payments, while USDC is most active in DeFi settlement and on-chain trading. USDT’s identified commercial payments reache...
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Bitcoin Whales and Coinbase Premium Push BTC Toward $64K, Says CryptoQuant

Bitcoin’s latest bounce toward the mid-$60,000s has drawn fresh attention from on-chain analysts, with new commentary pointing to US whale activity as an early driver of demand-side momentum. Separately, Bitcoin Suisse is highlighting signs that market conditions may be shifting—despite persistent caution in US spot Bitcoin ETF flows. According to a Friday blog post from CryptoQuant contributor Burak Kesmeci, the “Coinbase Premium” is showing evidence of strengthening buy-side behavior, even while the broader reading for the index remains below neutral levels. Key takeaways CryptoQuant says the Coinbase Premium is rebounding from local lows and reclaiming its 14-day SMA, helping explain the move from around $58,000 to $64,000. The index is still negative (reported around -0.08), meaning the signal is supportive for a short-term bounce rather than a confirmed long-term regime change. Bitcoin Suisse points to ETF flow data and wider conditions as part of a “bottom signal framework,...
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Andreessen Appointee Brings Fed Role to A16z Amid AI Policy Shift

The U.S. Federal Reserve has named Marc Andreessen, a co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), to help lead a new task force examining how artificial intelligence and other general-purpose technologies could reshape productivity and jobs. Alongside Andreessen, the Fed’s Productivity and Jobs task force will include Charles I. Jones of Stanford University and Asha Sharma, a Microsoft executive vice president and Xbox CEO. The group’s mandate is to evaluate potential employment and productivity effects from technologies such as AI to inform future central bank policymaking. The Fed outlined the appointments in a Thursday press release . Key takeaways The Fed is forming a Productivity and Jobs task force to study how AI and other broad technologies may affect employment and productivity. Marc Andreessen joins economist Charles I. Jones and Microsoft/Xbox executive Asha Sharma as part of the new working group. The appointments come under a wider task-force overhaul led by Fed Chair ...
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US Files Charges Against Prisoner for Alleged Laundering of Seized Kraken Crypto

U.S. prosecutors have brought fresh criminal charges against Rossen Iossifov, a Bulgarian national already serving a federal prison sentence, alleging he helped move and launder roughly $290,000 in cryptocurrency tied to a court forfeiture order. The Department of Justice says the alleged conduct took place in January 2024, after a federal court had ordered the assets forfeited following Iossifov’s earlier conviction. According to the DOJ, the crypto was stored in a Kraken account registered to Iossifov that had been restrained during the investigation. Prosecutors allege that he and others withdrew and transferred the assets using mixing services and crypto exchanges to obscure the trail—before the government could take possession. Key takeaways Federal prosecutors say Iossifov attempted to remove about $290,000 in crypto subject to a forfeiture order after his 2021 conviction. The DOJ alleges the funds were moved through mixing services and exchanges, which prosecutors view as st...
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Wall Street Banks Tighten Prediction Market Rules Over Insider Concerns

Major US investment banks are tightening internal rules around prediction market trading, according to reporting by CNBC. The move is driven by concerns that employees could use nonpublic information when trading event-based contracts—an issue that has increasingly drawn regulatory and political scrutiny in the United States. CNBC said Goldman Sachs has reportedly banned employees from trading certain event contracts tied to the bank, including those related to financial markets, macroeconomic developments, elections, and geopolitics. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America have also outlined or are preparing employee restrictions, reflecting how quickly predictive markets have moved from a niche concept to an area regulators and policymakers are willing to investigate. Key takeaways Goldman Sachs has reportedly restricted employee trading on bank-specific event contracts after insider-trading concerns resurfaced. Other large banks are also implementing or updating internal p...
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TeraWulf Considers $3.5B Debt Funding for Anthropic-Linked DC: Report

US-listed Bitcoin miner and hosting operator TeraWulf is reportedly exploring a major debt financing package aimed at expanding its Justified Data campus in Kentucky, a site tied to long-term AI compute demand through a lease with Anthropic. According to a Thursday Bloomberg report , TeraWulf chief financial officer Patrick Fleury said the company is expected to seek $3.5 billion in debt financing, with investment bank Morgan Stanley leading the effort. The financing is described as potentially including leveraged loans and high-yield bonds—TeraWulf’s first move into the leveraged loan market. Key takeaways TeraWulf is reportedly considering a $3.5 billion debt raise to expand its Justified Data campus in Hawesville, Kentucky. The Kentucky facility is leased by AI company Anthropic under a long-term agreement tied to AI compute workloads. Bloomberg reports the financing may involve leveraged loans and high-yield bonds, marking a new debt-market path for TeraWulf. TeraWulf says ...
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Metaplanet Tests Bitcoin-Backed Digital Credit With JPYC in Japan

Metaplanet, a Japan-based investment firm best known for building a large Bitcoin reserve, says it is commissioning a joint study into Bitcoin-backed digital credit products in the country. The research ties together Metaplanet’s securities arm, Metaplanet Securities, stablecoin issuer JPYC, and tokenization infrastructure provider Progmatia, with the goal of testing whether Bitcoin can serve as collateral and credit enhancement for tokenized credit instruments. In a filing shared by Metaplanet on Friday, the company outlined a concept in which BTC would be used alongside JPY Coin (JPYC)—a Japanese yen-pegged stablecoin—for settlement and payments. Security tokens would then be used to manage holder rights. Metaplanet emphasized that the work is exploratory, and that no product launch is planned as part of the study. Key takeaways Metaplanet and partners are studying whether BTC can function as collateral and credit enhancement for blockchain-based corporate credit instruments in Jap...
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