Latest news with #stablecoin
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Mastercard Integrates Fiserv's New FIUSD Stablecoin into Global Payment Network
Fiserv Inc. (NYSE:FI) is one of the undervalued S&P 500 stocks to buy according to hedge funds. On June 24, Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) and Fiserv announced that the companies are expanding their partnership to integrate Fiserv's new programmable and blockchain-based stablecoin, called FIUSD, into Mastercard's global payment network. The partnership will enable seamless on/off-ramping and allow consumers and businesses to easily transition between fiat currencies and FIUSD. Mastercard will also facilitate FIUSD as a settlement option for its global acquirers, which means that merchants can receive payments in FIUSD regardless of the original payment method used. A programmer coding on a laptop in the center of a creative workspace. A key component of this integration involves the Mastercard Multi-Token Network/MTN. Fiserv's Digital Asset Platform, which is powered by Finxact, will use MTN to support programmable on-chain commerce for banks. Furthermore, the collaboration will lead to the issuance of stablecoin-linked cards and enable FIUSD transactions at any of the over 150 million Mastercard-accepting locations worldwide. Fiserv Inc. (NYSE:FI) provides payments and financial services technology solutions internationally. Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) is a technology company that provides transaction processing and other payment-related products and services. While we acknowledge the potential of FI as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the . READ NEXT: and . Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Anchorage to Phase Out USDC, Agora USD Citing Risks, Stirring Fierce Backlash
Anchorage Digital, a crypto custodian and federally chartered bank, said it will start phasing out and direct institutional clients to convert USDC USDC and other stablecoins into rival token Global Dollar (USDG) in a sweeping move that drew criticism from industry players. The firm released a "Stablecoin Safety Matrix" that ranks stablecoins based on regulatory oversight and reserve asset management on Tuesday. Circle-issued USDC, which is the second-largest stablecoin with a $61 billion supply and is popular among institutions, was deemed no longer suitable under Anchorage's security framework. Two other, smaller tokens, Agora USD (AUSD) and Usual USD (USD0), were also slated for removal. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies with their prices tied to an external asset, predominantly to the U.S. dollar. "Following our Stablecoin Safety Matrix, USDC, AUSD, and USD0 no longer satisfy Anchorage Digital's internal criteria for long-term resilience," Rachel Anderika, head of global operations at Anchorage, said in a statement justifying the decision. 'Specifically, we identified elevated concentration risks associated with their issuer structures — something we believe institutions should carefully evaluate." "Anchorage Digital is focused on supporting stablecoins that demonstrate strong transparency, independence, security, and alignment with future regulatory expectations," she added. The move came at a time when competition in the stablecoin market is heating up with global banks, payments firms and crypto companies jockeying for position in the rapidly-growing sector. The U.S. Senate recently passed the GENIUS Act that aims to enact clear rules for the asset class and issuers, which could open the gates for broader adoption. On Friday, White House crypto czar David Sacks suggested that the bill may become law as soon as next month, pending passage in the House of Representatives. Reports by Citi and Standard Chartered reports projected the asset class to grow from the current $250 billion to trillions through the next few years. Circle (CRCL), the company behind the USDC token, recently went public and skyrocketed in valuation. Anchorage gave USDC a score of 2 out of 5 for regulatory oversight and reserve management. The report said there was "no substantive prudential oversight" and that Circle had a large — about 15% — amount of its reserves held in cash at banks. Notably, USDC depegged temporarily in March 2023 when partner bank Silicon Valley Bank went under. Tether's USDT, the world's largest stablecoin, had a higher rating with Anchorage pointing to it being regulated in El Salvador. S&P Ratings rated USDC "strong," its second-best rating in its stablecoin stability assessment. Bluechip, a crypto-native stablecoin rating firm, gave USDC a B+ rating in its economic safety rating. Anchorage's decision met with fierce pushback. Nick Van Eck, whose firm Agora issues AUSD, accused Anchorage of misrepresenting facts about his stablecoin and failing to disclose its commercial interest in Global Dollar. USDG is issued by Paxos and is backed by a consortium of firms that share the income from the reserve assets backing the token. Anchorage is a founding partner in that consortium. "If Anchorage had just delisted USDC and AUSD to prioritize the stablecoins that they have an economic interest in, I would understand it as a business decision," he said in an X post. "But attempting to delegitimize AUSD and USDC for 'security concerns,' while knowingly publishing false information, is unserious and bizarre." "Never seen such an obvious hit piece be so poorly executed," said Viktor Bunin, protocol specialist at digital asset exchange Coinbase. Coinbase jointly launched USDC with Circle in 2018, and shared revenue from the reserve assets backing the token. Jan Van Eck, father of Nick Van Eck and CEO of asset manager Van Eck, which manages AUSD's backing assets, also questioned the risk assessment. "If you need a laugh, check out this 'safety' matrix before Anchorage pulls it down. According to the matrix, Circle's USDC (world's second largest stablecoin) and AUSD (backed 100% by treasuries) have reserve issues," he posted on X. "Oh, and by the way, AUSD's reserve manager is regulated by umpteen different regulators." Circle, in a statement sent to CoinDesk, defended the firm's "long-standing compliance record" and "strong reputation as an industry leader." "We comply with the prevailing U.S. regulatory standards that apply to leading fintech and payments firms, and we were the first stablecoin issuer to achieve full compliance with the European Union's landmark crypto law," a Circle spokesperson said. "USDC is 100% backed by fiat-denominated reserves and has robust primary liquidity through a well-developed network of banks, representing what we view as the highest levels of transparency, safety, and operational resiliency in our industry." Support came for Circle and Agora outside of the two stablecoins' camp. "For the record, BitGo is not dropping USDC support," said Chen Fang, chief revenue officer at crypto custodian BitGo. "Agora and Circle are long-standing partners of ours, and our customers count on safe, transparent rails for USD settlement," said Joshua Lim, co-head of markets at crypto prime broker FalconX, adding that his company "is ready to support clients using AUSD and USDC." Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Digital asset recap 2025: Coinbase, bitcoin, Circle, & more
Yahoo Finance Senior Business Reporter Ines Ferré joins Market Domination Overtime with Josh Lipton to recap the year digital assets have had so far and outline which companies are considering stablecoin adoption in the future. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Domination Overtime here. 2025 is shaping up to be a booming year for crypto, as regulatory tailwinds and forecasts of mass adoption send Bitcoin and stablecoin related companies higher. We're joined now by senior markets reporter, Ines Ferre, with an important recap on digital assets. Hi Elena, Ines. Hey Josh. Yeah, and if we just take a look at where Bitcoin is at year to date, it's up 13%. Since President Trump won the White House last year though, it is up roughly 50%. So you really see the boom that has happened in the Bitcoin space, uh, given President Trump's promises for, uh, crypto-friendly, uh, crypto-friendly framework. So you've had a lot of regulatory tailwinds, uh, this past half year, uh, you've had also the executive order that President Trump, uh, signed to start a strategic Bitcoin reserve, and you've had companies that have really benefited from this. I'm going to pull up a year to date chart so you can see the biggest beneficiaries. Robinhood up 122%, the trading platform. Also, you've got Coinbase that is up more than 40%. I do want to mention that even though today we saw Coinbase pulling, pulling back from its record close, this stock has seen a turnaround that is impressive. You've had this stock that was at its lows in 2022, it has emerged from those lows up more than 900% since then, and you've had a lot of bullish calls around Coinbase with one analyst earlier this week calling this company the Amazon of crypto financial services. Also want to mention that Coinbase is a minority, uh, stakeholder of Circle. This is the company that went public earlier in June, on June 5th. And Circle is up year to date, well since, since its IPO, almost 500%, 480%. This is the issuer of stable coins, and, uh, the stable coins are digital tokens that are backed by assets like the US dollar. And Wall Street is very bullish on this entire stable coin market because they are seeing a large, uh, addressable market. They are saying that this is going to revolutionize the way that payments are made, especially when it comes to cross-border payments. And we've seen a lot of deal making in this space as well. We've seen companies that have wanted to get involved in the stable coin space. And it's interesting because issuers of stable coin, you've got Circle, and then you've got Tether, which is privately owned that you, as far as Circle is concerned, it is a pure play when it comes to stable coins, and they're a big buyer of short-term debt, US Treasuries. So this is a very important link between, uh, between the government and also these, uh, issuers of stable coin because they, they also drive some of this demand for US, uh, treasury bills, short term. Ines, before I let you go, what, what can you tell us just quickly about the risks that we should think about associated with adopting stable coins? Yeah, I mean, you've had a couple of, uh, analysts that have talked about these risks that is that are, uh, you've got increasing competition, uh, on the heels of the Genius Act that was passed in the Senate. It's expected to be finalized by the end of this year, so it'll pass through the house and also will be signed into law. And so that's expected to go through, um, but then with that you're going to have increased competition. And then on top of that, the other risk is, is that if you have interest rates coming down, then that is going to impact the reserve income that, uh, a company like Circle makes because, uh, it invests those dollars into US treasuries for its stable coins. So, uh, that'll have some type of an impact. Some analysts that I've spoken to say that this means that they are going to have to get, gain more market share, grow faster, and perhaps go into other products as well. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump-Linked DeFi Project World Liberty Teams With Re7 for USD1 Stablecoin Vault
World Liberty Financial (WLF), the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol associated with U.S. President Donald Trump and his family, is working with Re7 Labs to establish a vault for its USD1 stablecoin on lending platforms Euler and Lista, the companies said in a statement Friday. The move is part of World Liberty's broader initiative to scale USD1 across Binance's BNB Chain, a blockchain known for its low transaction costs and high-speed infrastructure. The stablecoin is positioned as a dollar-pegged digital asset designed for use within DeFi ecosystems. Re7 Labs, an arm of London-based DeFi hedge fund Re7 Capital, is playing a key role in the effort. Just last week, Re7 Labs disclosed it would receive up to $10 million from Hong Kong-based VMS Group. The family office, which oversees roughly $4 billion in assets, is making its first foray into crypto with the investment. 'This collaboration reflects a shared commitment to building the next generation of DeFi infrastructure — where stability, transparency and capital efficiency converge,' said Evgeny Gokhberg, founder of Re7 Capital, said in the statement. 'Working alongside World Liberty, Euler and BNB Chain, we're advancing a model for stablecoin adoption that meets the expectations of both crypto-native and institutional users.' Euler and Lista are decentralized lending platforms that enable users to borrow and lend digital assets using smart contracts. The addition of a USD1 stablecoin vault to these platforms could make it easier for traders and institutions to access dollar-pegged liquidity within the DeFi environment. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Finextra
19 hours ago
- Business
- Finextra
Bolt launches support for stablecoin payments
Bolt, the checkout, identity and payments platform, today announced Bolt Connect, a new product designed to help marketplaces onboard merchants faster, streamline operations and scale with fewer resources. 0 This content is provided by an external author without editing by Finextra. It expresses the views and opinions of the author. Bolt Connect gives marketplace operators a single integration to support one-click merchant onboarding, built-in compliance workflows, and low-fee or no-fee payouts. With Bolt managing the infrastructure, marketplaces can grow more efficiently while controlling their own brand experience and business model. The company also announced support for stablecoin payments, giving merchants and shoppers enhanced flexibility through new digital payment infrastructure. "Marketplaces shouldn't have to choose between scale and simplicity," said Ryan Breslow, Founder and CEO of Bolt. "With Bolt Connect, we're giving them the tools to grow without the usual technical burden, while stablecoin support opens the door to faster, borderless payments for everyone in the network." Bolt Connect: Built for Marketplaces Bolt Connect is designed to manage costly and time-intensive commerce infrastructure for marketplaces. It enables them to easily onboard and support sellers—whether they have 10 or 10,000—without significant development work and resources. Bolt handles the compliance, payouts, and infrastructure behind the scenes, giving marketplaces a clean path to scale while maintaining a seamless experience for both merchants and end users. Stablecoins: Faster, Cheaper, Global Payments Bolt's support for stablecoins will benefit both sides of the transaction. For merchants, it means faster settlement, lower transaction fees, and easier cross-border payouts—especially relevant for marketplaces using Bolt Connect. Stablecoins allow operators to move money globally without relying on banks or card networks. For shoppers, stablecoins offer a private, instant and borderless way to pay, no credit card, bank account or international fees required. These announcements follow a string of recent product launches from Bolt, part of the company's mission to make commerce easier for merchants and more intuitive for shoppers, regardless of platform, payment method or geography. Recent highlights include a strategic partnership with Palantir to launch Checkout 2.0, an AI-powered, personalized checkout experience that adapts in real time to shopper behavior and preferences, and the debut of Bolt's SuperApp, an all-in-one finance and crypto hub. It also recently launched Bolt Charge, a subscription solution that powers recurring payments for digital goods with no platform fees.
