Stablestats Dispatch May 19-23, 2025

Industry News 

U.S. Senate Advances GENIUS Act Stablecoin Bill to Create First Federal Oversight. The U.S. Senate voted 65–32 to open debate on the bipartisan GENIUS Act stablecoin bill, a significant step toward establishing a national regulatory framework for dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies.

JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Others Plan Bank-Issued Stablecoin. JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and several of the world's largest banks are in early talks to jointly issue a dollar-pegged stablecoin, effectively a bank-backed digital dollar, as a way to modernize payments and reclaim ground from the crypto sector's leading stablecoins.

Founders Fund Plasma Strategic Investment into Plasma, a Strategic investment from Peter Thiel's Founders Fund to scale its stablecoin-focused blockchain.

Ripple and Coinbase Explored Circle Acquisition. In mid-May 2025, Ripple and Coinbase engaged in informal talks to acquire Circle, the company behind the USDC stablecoin. Circle sought a valuation of around $5 billion, and Ripple's $4–5 billion takeover bid was reportedly rejected as too low. 

Societe Generale-Forge, the French bank's crypto arm, is set to launch a U.S. dollar stablecoin on Ethereum, initially for institutional clients. 

Fireblock Integrates Layer Zero for stablecoin connectivity. With LayerZero, thousands of Fireblocks customers can issue and manage stablecoins across more than 35 chains with ease, security, and governance.

Hong Kong's Legislative Council passed the Stablecoins Bill, establishing a licensing regime for fiat-backed stablecoin issuers.

Circle launched the Circle Payments Network (CPN) for stablecoin-based international payments, and the platform is now live for institutional partners. 

Banco Industrial, Guatemala's largest bank, partnered with fintech SukuPay to use USDC on Polygon for U.S.-to-Guatemala remittances. 

Brazil's Braza Group launched a U.S. dollar–pegged stablecoin, USDB, on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) on May 22 to enable fast, low-cost cross-border payments in Latin America. 

Kraken announced the launch of "xStocks" tokens, which represent U.S. equities like Apple, Tesla, and Nvidia and are tradable 24/7 for non-U.S. customers. 

BlackRock Tokenized fund launch on Avalanche. The fund's token (sBUIDL), issued by Securitize and backed by BlackRock's Treasury holdings, is now integrated with the Euler protocol on Avalanche, allowing it to be used as on-chain collateral. 

Centrifuge expands services to Solana. Centrifuge, a real-world asset tokenization platform, is extending its services to the Solana blockchain, starting with a $400 million tokenized U.S. Treasury fund managed by Anemo. The fund's token (deJTRSY) will let Solana users earn yield from short-term Treasurys natively on Solana DeFi apps like decentralized exchanges and lending platforms. 

Apollo & Securitize Launch Tokenized Credit Fund on Solana, Asset manager Apollo Global Management, in partnership with tokenization platform Securitize, is rolling out the Apollo Diversified Credit Fund (ACRED) as a token on Solana's DeFi network. 

What I am reading this week 

Visa Whitepaper on Stablecoins

Stablestats.xyz Updates 

We have added all the companies from the African on-chain market landscape to the companies directory; please let me know if we are missing any. 

This Week's Big Picture 

  GENIUS Act: Stablecoin Clarity

The Senate's 66–32 cloture vote this week to advance the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act is a rare bipartisan consensus in crypto regulation, Lawmakers from both parties have coalesced around the need to "set high standards for issuers" and deliver "a safer, more transparent framework" for stablecoins. Senator Mark Warner mentioned that the stablecoin market neared $250 billion, and the U.S. can't "keep standing on the sidelines" without clarity. This cross-aisle momentum shows that dollar-backed digital cash is now critical infrastructure. "If American lawmakers don't shape it, others will," Warner said, emphasizing that stablecoin innovation will advance with or without U.S. leadership. The GENIUS Act's broad support,15 Democrats joined Republicans on the vote to legitimize stablecoins under federal law as a payment medium rather than let them linger in a gray zone.

For traditional banks like JPMorgan and Citi, the bill's clarity is a green light to explore issuing their stablecoins. The GENIUS Act mandates fully reserved, 1:1 USD-backed tokens with regular audits, issued only by licensed entities. This framework plays to the banks' strengths in compliance and balance sheet strength. "This legislation is a critical first step to establish a safe and pro-growth regulatory framework," said sponsor Senator Bill Hagerty, predicting it will "unleash innovation" in digital assets. Banks had been cautious, but are now pivoting. In Europe, major banks have begun applying to issue stablecoins, and Bank of America and others in the U.S. have also signaled interest. With regulatory uncertainty eased, banks see an opportunity to retain deposits by offering digital dollars, rather than ceding the field to fintechs. Stablecoin issuers reap substantial interest income from reserves, Tether earned roughly $4 billion from U.S. Treasurys in 2023. Under clear rules, banks can capture that revenue stream and integrate stablecoins into mainstream payments and settlement networks, potentially cutting client transfer costs. Committee Chairman Tim Scott said that industries and consumers have been "in the dark for far too long" and that clarity will ensure stablecoins become "safe and reliable tools in the financial system". Wall Street is now incentivized to bring stablecoins into the regulated banking fold.

Stablecoin issuers Circle, Ripple, and Tether may face a new competitive landscape defined by high compliance standards. The most prepared players have long anticipated this moment. Circle's CEO, Jeremy Allaire, hailed the Senate vote as "a huge step forward" toward "prudentially supervised, programmable digital cash" at internet scale. Having voluntarily published reserve attestations and pursued licenses, Circle and Coinbase are positioned to transition USDC into a federally approved stablecoin with minimal friction. They recognize that with clarity "comes confidence" – precisely what institutions "have been waiting for" to embrace stablecoins. By contrast, issuers that operated offshore or with less transparency may need to upgrade oversight or face users gravitating to regulated alternatives. The GENIUS Act explicitly tightens oversight on foreign issuers. Crypto native companies will likely seek partnerships or charters to meet the new standards. We may see consolidation or alliances (for instance, fintech issuers teaming with banks) as everyone aims to comply with requirements on reserve quality, liquidity, and AML controls. Competition will push innovation: some issuers are already experimenting with yield-bearing stablecoins to share interest income with users. 

Regulatory clarity means stablecoins can easily be plugged into financial systems. Industry leaders predict an onslaught of institutional adoption now that legal ambiguities are fading. With the Senate moving toward passage, White House crypto advisor David Sacks is already envisioning a surge in demand. "We already have over $200 billion in stablecoins, it's just unregulated," Sacks told CNBC, explaining that clear laws could unlock "trillions of dollars" of new stablecoin activity and corresponding demand for U.S. Treasurys. A codified framework means dollar stablecoins can be used more confidently in everything from e-commerce and remittances to capital markets. Financial institutions can integrate stablecoins for instant settlement, and dollar-backed tokens may increasingly serve as a "foundational layer of the internet financial system," as Allaire puts it. We can expect regulators (the Fed, OCC, and state watchdogs) to oversee this sector much like money market funds or banks, mitigating run risks and illicit use without stifling the core innovation.

The U.S. framework could harmonize with Europe's MiCA rules and other jurisdictions, enabling a more unified, borderless digital dollar ecosystem. Crucially, the dollar's primacy stands to strengthen if regulated U.S. stablecoins become the global standard, a point not lost on lawmakers focused on dollar hegemony. Stablecoins are graduating to a regulated utility, poised to link traditional finance with the speed and programmability of crypto. This new regime's likely winners will be those combining robust compliance with network scale. Big U.S. banks are clear beneficiaries; they can now issue stablecoins within their existing regulatory perimeter, leveraging trust and access to the Fed system. A JPMorgan or Citi stablecoin could quickly gain traction among corporate clients for settlement, crowding out unlicensed rivals. At the same time, crypto-native firms like Circle (with Coinbase) stand to retain and expand their market share by being early adopters of stringent standards. They have spent years building transparency and government relationships; as a result, USDC is already "far better than the status quo," aligning with what policymakers want regarding reserve quality and oversight. These firms' head start in infrastructure and partnerships (from fintech apps to Visa's stablecoin settlement pilot) gives them an edge in the race to serve global digital dollar markets. Payment companies and fintechs such as PayPal, which recently launched its USD stablecoin, are well-positioned. Regulatory clarity will allow them to aggressively market stablecoins to retail users and merchants without fear of a crackdown.

In contrast, players that thrived on regulatory arbitrage face a reckoning. For instance, Tether may continue dominating offshore crypto trading platforms. Still, its ability to win institutional or U.S. market share will be limited unless it undergoes the same audits and disclosures expected of U.S. issuers In terms of business models, those that earn interest on reserves but now operate under bank-like supervision could see slightly compressed margins (if, for example, regulators eventually push issuers to pass some yield to customers). Still, the overall pie of stablecoin circulation is set to grow enormously. Infrastructure providers from blockchain networks that support stablecoin transactions (Ethereum, emerging payment-centric chains like Plasma) to custody and wallet services will also benefit from the influx of institutional volume. Ultimately, the market will likely consolidate around a handful of well-regulated, highly liquid stablecoins. These winners will capture revenue and market share and a strategic role in the future of money. As Senator Cynthia Lummis observed, establishing clear rules now gives the U.S. "a competitive edge in the rapidly evolving digital asset space", ensuring the leading stablecoin issuers will be those aligned with U.S. regulatory rigor.