Stablecoin

During the first half of May, bitcoin’s attempt to push and hold above $80,000 coincided with the fastest increase in BTC perpetual futures open interest seen so far in 2026. Binance took the largest share of the new derivatives capital as open interest built on an already elevated base. At the same time, rising exchange stablecoin reserves and higher altcoin deposits suggested broader positioning beyond BTC.

On May 18, three French crypto industry stakeholders warned that France's 2019 tax rules can apply a 31.4% charge when regulated euro stablecoins are moved from wallets to bank accounts, potentially discouraging onshore conversions. They said the friction could drive capital offshore and reduce public revenue by an estimated 1 billion to 3 billion euros a year as AI-agent payments increasingly settle in stablecoins.

On May 18, 2026, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said commerce between autonomous AI agents could surpass the size of the human economy, arguing that this shift is "happening on Base." He pointed to Coinbase's Agentic.market and the x402 payment protocol, alongside reported activity such as 169 million transactions totaling $50,338,035.60 and 99.8% of transfers settled in USDC.

Standard Chartered said in a May 18 report it expects tokenized assets on blockchain networks to total USD 4tn by end-2028, which it believes would elevate DeFi protocols into core market infrastructure. The bank expects the total to be split evenly between stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets, with more deposits and lending potentially increasing protocol activity and capital efficiency.

Iran’s largest crypto exchange Nobitex processed at least $2.3 billion on Tron and BNB Chain since January 1, 2023. The activity continued after February when Trump’s war began, including at least $22.6 million on BNB Chain and at least $550,000 on Tron. World Liberty Financial said it has no relationship with Nobitex and does not own, operate, or control Tron.

A pseudonymous analyst, @Whiplash437, said the US Digital Asset CLARITY Act contains provisions that could affect XRP, Ripple, and Ripple's stablecoin RLUSD. The post focuses on Sections 105, 110, 401, and 404, covering potential commodity treatment for XRP, compliance rules for digital-commodity intermediaries, bank use of digital assets, and limits on stablecoin yield payments.

On May 18, 2026, the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England published a joint vision to expand tokenisation and distributed ledger technology across wholesale financial markets, aiming to help the shift from pilot projects to live production use. The plan pairs regulatory work with infrastructure changes, including a consultation on near-24/7 settlement operations and updated prudential guidance covering tokenised exposures and stablecoins.

Bernstein said the Senate's 15-9 Clarity Act markup vote on May 14 and its stablecoin yield compromise could reinforce Circle's USDC model by limiting passive interest while allowing activity-based rewards. Analysts also pointed to an all-time-high dollar stablecoin supply above $300 billion and said adjusted stablecoin volumes are running at $15 trillion per month, with annualized volumes at $100 trillion.

On May 18, security researchers flagged an active exploit on the Verus-Ethereum Bridge that drained about $11.5 million in assets. The attacker took 1,625 ETH, 103.6 tBTC, and 147,000 USDC, then consolidated the proceeds into a wallet holding roughly 5,402 ETH, while VRSC fell 4.1% over the last 24 hours.

Bitcoin spent the week locked in a fight around $80,000 as ethereum and most altcoins stayed rangebound. The editorial highlights tradfi-crypto convergence, including Binance listing perpetuals tied to firms like Walmart and Visa, and CME preparing index futures that span BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, ADA, LINK, and XLM. It also notes U.S. regulatory momentum after the CLARITY markup on Thursday advanced out of Senate Banking by a 15-9 vote, alongside Circle’s ARC raise of $222 million at a $3 billion valuation.