#stablecoins

#stablecoins

The blockchain is coming to Wall Street. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) said on Monday that it was developing a platform to trade tokenized securities, digital representations of assets like stocks and bonds. But exactly when the 233-year-old financial institution will turn it on is still up in the air. Supporters of the technology argue that the change could modernize the NYSE, giving traders some of the same advantages that are enjoyed by investors in the cryptocurrency world.

Technologies tend to have a natural ceiling built into their utility and popularity. Once they've solved all the problems they can solve, their growth is effectively capped. As soon as all potato fans own a potato peeler, the peeler market's growth potential is largely tapped out. Indeed, the big question around AI at the moment is how many problems it will be able to solve. The market could already be overblown, or it could be practically limitless.

In a major regulatory win for the cryptocurrency sector, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has granted conditional approval for Circle Internet Group ( ) and Ripple to establish new national trust banks. The OCC also conditionally approved Paxos, BitGo, and Fidelity Digital Assets to convert their existing state trust licenses into national charters. These five approvals mark a significant step toward integrating digital asset firms into the federal banking system.

The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has granted conditional approvals for five digital asset firms - Ripple, Circle, Fidelity Digital Assets, BitGo, and Paxos - to become federally chartered national trust banks, marking a major milestone in the integration of cryptocurrency into traditional finance. The approvals, announced Friday, allow the firms to convert from state-level trust charters to federal status, subject to meeting the OCC's conditions.

The recent crypto boom has been marked by blockchain companies working to expand their appeal to mainstream consumers. That now includes Aave Labs, the developer behind a popular decentralized lending service, which on Monday announced plans to launch an app in Apple's App Store and opened up a waitlist for interested users. Aave is well-known in crypto as a leading project in DeFi, or decentralized finance.

One of the largest deals ever for a stablecoin startup has fallen through. Coinbase has called off acquisition talks with the U.K.-based BVNK, a spokesperson for the crypto exchange confirmed to Fortune. It wasn't immediately clear why Coinbase iced the deal, which had gotten as far as the due diligence process and seen the crypto giant and BVNK enter into exclusivity in October, meaning the startup couldn't entertain offers from other bidders.

XRP was on a wild ride in August. The token hit $3.66 back then, riding a wave of optimism that had traders excited about altcoins again. Institutions were buying, retail was jumping back in, and everything looked bullish. Then reality hit. Profit-takers showed up first, locking in gains after the August peak. Trading volume started dropping off, the broader crypto market lost steam, and XRP couldn't hold the highs.

Mastercard is in talks to buy Zero Hash, following earlier interest in BVNK, in a push toward 24/7 stablecoin settlement. The deals could give Mastercard a turnkey onchain payments stack, accelerating its move from pilot to production. Stablecoin-based settlement would let banks and merchants transact continuously, bypassing batch cutoffs and weekend delays. Yet operational, compliance and liquidity challenges mean a hybrid phase will likely persist before full 24/7 adoption.

Zelle, the bank-owned service that facilitates consumer money movement, said it plans to expand its services internationally. Zelle will rely on stablecoins to enable cross-border money movement, according to a statement Friday from Early Warning Services LLC, Zelle's parent company. All Zelle network banks will have the option to provide the service, according to the statement. Financial-technology firms such as Wise Plc have long operated in the cross-border money-movement space, but the banks' scale gives them an advantage in the crowded market.

Modern Treasury, a payments infrastructure company valued at $2.1 billion, has acquired the stablecoin startup Beam, the companies announced Wednesday. The acquisition was an all-stock transaction worth about $40 million, according to a source familiar with the deal, who asked to remain anonymous while discussing private business discussions. Founded in 2022, Beam provides banks and other corporations with software to send and receive stablecoins, or cryptocurrencies pegged to underlying assets like the U.S. dollar.