Arkham data shows wallets associated with the Official Trump meme team pulling about $94 million in USDC from TRUMP liquidity pools in December and routing the funds to Coinbase. Onchain analysts tracking the Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin on Solana have flagged large transfers from wallets labeled as parts of the “Official Trump Meme” cluster moving about $94 million in USDC from TRUMP liquidity pools over the past month. The most recent movement, highlighted by blockchain data platform Arkham, involved 33 million USDC (USDC) being withdrawn from liquidity on Tuesday and sent to an entity labeled Fireblocks, which then routed funds to wallets labeled as belonging to Coinbase. Public Solana records on Solscan corroborate the large USDC outflows from TRUMP‑linked wallets. Read more
Visa launched USDC settlement for US financial institutions, starting with Cross River and Lead Bank on Solana, with a wider rollout planned for 2026. Payment processing giant Visa has launched USDC settlement services for some United States-based financial institutions. Visa said Tuesday that its USDC (USDC) settlement service is available for US financial institutions, with Cross River Bank and Lead Bank as the first participants; they have already begun settling with Visa in USDC on the Solana blockchain, and a broader rollout is expected in 2026. The report follows USDC issuer Circle’s launch of the public testnet for its layer-1 blockchain Arc, with over 100 major partners, including Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock and Goldman Sachs, in late October. Visa noted that it is a design partner for the network, which “offers the performance and scalability needed to help support Visa’s global commercial activity.” Read more
The company updated its terms to prohibit the purchase or sale of weapons “in contravention of applicable laws,” suggesting that legally permissible transactions were possible. Stablecoin issuer Circle updated its policy for one of its tokens to clarify rules around prohibited transactions, explicitly addressing the use of legally obtained firearms and weapons. Crypto sleuths and reports from this week noted that Circle had updated its terms for its USDC (USDC) stablecoin. The terms specifically stated that the platform had the “right to monitor and, if appropriate, block or otherwise prevent transactions” related to the purchase of firearms, ammunition, explosives and other weapons. However, users noted that Circle had updated the terms to include weapons “in contravention of applicable laws,” suggesting that US-based users and others could legally purchase firearms using the stablecoin. Read more
JPMorgan sees Coinbase unlocking billions through its Base layer-2 network and USDC rewards overhaul, lifting its price target and fueling a sharp stock rally. Shares of Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN) rallied sharply on Friday after JPMorgan Chase upgraded the cryptocurrency exchange, highlighting new monetization opportunities tied to its Base network and USDC payout strategy. The bank’s analysts lifted their rating to “Overweight” from “Neutral” and raised their price target to $404 per share, implying roughly 15% upside from current levels. JPMorgan said Coinbase is “leaning into” its Base layer-2 blockchain and exploring ways to better capture value from the platform’s growth. Read more
JPMorgan sees Coinbase unlocking billions through its Base layer-2 network and USDC rewards overhaul, lifting its price target and fueling a sharp stock rally. Shares of Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN) rallied sharply on Friday after JPMorgan Chase upgraded the cryptocurrency exchange, highlighting new monetization opportunities tied to its Base network and USDC payout strategy. The bank’s analysts lifted their rating to “Overweight” from “Neutral” and raised their price target to $404 per share, implying roughly 15% upside from current levels. JPMorgan said Coinbase is “leaning into” its Base layer-2 blockchain and exploring ways to better capture value from the platform’s growth. Read more
JPMorgan sees Coinbase unlocking billions through its Base layer-2 network and USDC rewards overhaul, lifting its price target and fueling a sharp stock rally. Shares of Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN) rallied sharply on Friday after JPMorgan Chase upgraded the cryptocurrency exchange, highlighting new monetization opportunities tied to its Base network and USDC payout strategy. The bank’s analysts lifted their rating to “Overweight” from “Neutral” and raised their price target to $404 per share, implying roughly 15% upside from current levels. JPMorgan said Coinbase is “leaning into” its Base layer-2 blockchain and exploring ways to better capture value from the platform’s growth. Read more
Despite dominating stablecoin inflows, Tether’s USDt and Circle’s USDC have slowly lost market share, signaling the end of the “stablecoin duopoly.” Tether’s USDt and Circle’s USDC, the two largest stablecoins by market capitalization, have slowly lost market share in the past year, suggesting a major shift in the stablecoin landscape. Despite Tether’s USDt (USDT) and Circle’s USDC (USDC) steadily increasing their market caps, the stablecoins have lost more than 5% of their combined market share since Oct. 2, 2024, according to data from DefiLlama and CoinGecko. Nic Carter, industry analyst and Castle Island Ventures partner, took to X on Wednesday to address the decline of USDT and USDC dominance in a post titled “The stablecoin duopoly is ending.” Read more
The crypto exchange integrates Morpho lending into its app, letting USDC users tap DeFi yields of up to 10.8%. Coinbase is rolling out a new way for users to earn yields on their USDC holdings, marking one of the exchange’s first large-scale integrations with decentralized finance (DeFi) at a time of accelerating stablecoin adoption. The company announced Thursday that it is integrating the Morpho lending protocol, with vaults curated by DeFi advisory company Steakhouse Financial, directly into the Coinbase app. The move will allow users to lend USDC (USDC) without navigating third-party DeFi platforms or wallets. Coinbase already pays up to 4.5% APY in rewards for holding USDC on its platform. With the new DeFi lending option, however, users can tap into onchain markets and potentially earn yields of up to 10.8% as of Wednesday, according to Coinbase. Read more
Circle is now a HYPE holder, has introduced native USDC to Hyperliquid and is considering becoming a network validator. Stablecoin issuer Circle is expanding into Hyperliquid with an investment and the launch of native USD Coin on the protocol, as stablecoin competition on the network intensifies. According to a Tuesday announcement, Circle is now a stakeholder in the Hyperliquid ecosystem, directly holding its native cryptocurrency Hyperliquid (HYPE). Circle is also considering becoming a validator for the protocol. The company, which went public on June 5, is behind the USDC (USDC) stablecoin, a digital asset redeemable 1:1 for US dollars. The token will be natively deployed on HyperEVM, Hyperliquid’s smart contract layer. Read more
Circle is embedding USDC into global payment networks as part of a broader push spanning Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Circle has unveiled two partnerships to embed stablecoins settlement into mainstream finance. New deals with Mastercard and Finastra aim to expand USD Coin's role to merchants and banks worldwide. Mastercard said on Wednesday that it will enable acquirers and merchants in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EEMEA) to settle transactions in USDC (USDC) and Euro Coin (EURC). Arab Financial Services and Eazy Financial Services will be the first to adopt the service, marking the first stablecoin settlement available through Mastercard in the region. Finastra, a London-based financial software provider, also announced on Wednesday the integration of USDC into its Global PAYplus platform, which is said to processes more than $5 trillion in cross-border transactions daily. Read more
Coinbase has revived its fund to boost USDC liquidity in DeFi, starting with supporting the stablecoin on Aave, Morpho, Kamino, and Jupiter. Coinbase is relaunching its Stablecoin Bootstrap Fund first introduced in 2019 to boost the liquidity of the stablecoin USDC in a range of popular and emerging decentralized finance protocols. Coinbase said on Tuesday its first placements will provide USDC (USDC) liquidity into Ethereum-based lenders Aave and Morpho, and Solana-based trading platforms Kamino and Jupiter. “As we scale the fund over time and distribute liquidity across more protocols and stablecoins, we’re particularly eager to collaborate with pre-launch teams or those seeking to drive stablecoin growth from day one,” it added. Read more
USDC issuer Circle introduced its layer-1 blockchain, Arc, and said its Q2 revenue and reserve income increased 53% year-over-year. Circle, a publicly traded US company and the issuer of USDC stablecoin, said it will launch a layer-1 (L1) blockchain compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) later this year. The company released its second-quarter results on Tuesday and announced the introduction of Arc, a new network designed to offer an “enterprise-grade foundation” for stablecoin payments, foreign exchange and capital markets applications. Expected to launch in public testnet, Circle’s Arc will feature USDC (USDC) as its native gas token, enabling users to pay transaction fees with the stablecoin. Read more