Stablecoin

According to the CFTC, it reissued a staff letter on Friday to broaden payment stablecoin issuer criteria to cover national trust banks, amending Staff Letter 25-40 issued on Dec 8, 2025. The move aligns with the GENIUS Act signed in July 2025 and follows the FDIC's December 2025 proposal outlining how banks could issue stablecoins via subsidiaries.

China's central bank and seven other agencies have issued a joint notice prohibiting any domestic or foreign entity from issuing yuan-pegged stablecoins overseas without explicit approval. The measures, which also classify unauthorized offshore yuan token issuance as illegal financial activity, tighten control over capital flows and reinforce the primacy of the state-backed digital yuan over private stablecoins.

In the last 24 hours, 2,500,000 RLUSD were burned at the RLUSD treasury on Ethereum, cutting the circulating supply of Ripple's USD stablecoin. Earlier this week, a separate burn event removed 25,014,695 RLUSD across Ethereum and XRP Ledger, while recent minting activity has pushed RLUSD's market cap to $1.49 billion on XRPL and Ethereum.

Binance has converted about $250 million worth of stablecoins into 3,600 BTC for its SAFU user protection fund, bringing the wallet's holdings to 6,230 BTC as of Saturday, Feb. 7. Changpeng Zhao says the ongoing plan to shift all SAFU stablecoin reserves into Bitcoin within 30 days has so far come at a "perfect" time amid the asset's recent price downturn.

In early 2026, stablecoin dominance has climbed about 25% to roughly 14% of the crypto market, even as the TOTAL market cap has fallen around 23% and Bitcoin trades about 50% below its $126k peak. Over the same period, weekly stablecoin inflows have doubled to nearly $102 billion and Tether has added $4.75 billion in new USDT supply, suggesting investors are moving into stablecoins as a defensive position rather than exiting crypto entirely.

Ripple's XRP fell from the $3.00 area in late September to the $2.00 demand zone as the OI‑weighted funding rate turned negative. Whale activity rose with 1,389 transactions above $100,000 and 78,727 active addresses in eight hours, while November's XRP ETFs reached $1 billion AUM. These shifts support a recovery toward $2.80–$3.00.

On Wednesday, analyst Wendy O said XRP spot ETFs attracted roughly $19.5M in net inflows, surpassing Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana funds, while XRP’s price remained subdued. She linked the disconnect to broader weakness with many majors below the 200‑week EMA, and highlighted DeFi ties via Ripple Prime’s Hyperliquid integration and Flare’s new yield path for XRP holders.

Tether said it has made a strategic investment in the t-0 network to push USD₮ into institutional cross-border payment infrastructure. The USD₮-powered platform is designed for licensed banks and fintechs, enabling near-instant, net-settled fiat-to-fiat transfers on a non-custodial basis. The company did not disclose the investment size or rollout timeline.

On February 6, 2026, the People's Bank of China and seven agencies barred unauthorized RMB-pegged stablecoins and extended liability to firms that assist such projects. Earlier, on January 1, 2026, e-CNY was reclassified as digital deposit money, and in January 2026 banks were permitted to pay interest on verified wallets, aligning the state token with deposit protections.

The MegaETH Foundation announced on Friday that it will channel yield generated by its native USDM stablecoin into ongoing purchases of MEGA tokens. USDM, designed with MegaLabs and Ethena and backed by USDtb reserves tied to BlackRock's BUIDL fund, will help fund these buybacks as circulating supply and ecosystem usage grow. The foundation also detailed performance-based conditions for the MEGA token generation event, including USDM supply, app launches, and protocol fee milestones.