Stablecoin

Ripple president Monica Long predicts that by the end of 2026, around half of Fortune 500 firms will have formal digital asset strategies and that balance sheets will collectively hold over $1 trillion in digital assets. She expects rapid growth in institutional use of tokenized assets, stablecoins and onchain instruments, along with broader integration of stablecoins into global payment systems.

Stablecoin appchain Noble plans a standalone EVM Layer 1, departing its Cosmos SDK stack. People familiar with the upgrade say mainnet is slated for March 18, while the team maintains short‑term Cosmos support. The new network targets sub‑second finality for stablecoin and FX use cases, after processing over $22 billion across 50 chains since 2023.

On January 21, 2026, Hong Kong's Financial Secretary Paul Chan reaffirmed that the city regulates digital asset activities by risk level rather than by the underlying technology. Hong Kong is piloting tokenized deposits, expanding tokenized green bond issuance worth about $2.1 billion, and preparing a stablecoin licensing regime while also testing cross-border blockchain payments with partners such as Brazil.

NYSE said it is developing an on-chain platform to trade and settle tokenized U.S. equities and ETFs, and will seek regulatory approvals for a proposed venue built on that infrastructure. According to ICE, the system targets 24/7 operations, instant settlement, dollar-sized orders, and stablecoin-based funding, with post-trade systems capable of supporting multiple chains for settlement and custody.

On January 20, 2026, the Cardano Foundation confirmed it had delegated 220 million ADA, valued at about $77 million, to 11 community-selected Delegated Representatives to strengthen governance resilience and diversity. The move follows a November 2025 proposal from key Cardano organizations to draw 70 million ADA from the community treasury to fund core infrastructure such as stablecoins, custody solutions, analytics, cross-chain bridges and pricing oracles.

On January 20, 2026, Delaware Life Insurance Company, a Group 1001 subsidiary with $60B in assets under management, introduced BlackRock's U.S. Equity Bitcoin Balanced Risk 12% Index into three fixed indexed annuity products. The strategy uses the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF to provide Bitcoin price exposure while maintaining principal protection features and targeting 12% volatility. This move makes Delaware Life the first U.S. insurer to integrate cryptocurrency-linked exposure into its annuity structure.

The combined stablecoin market cap has climbed to a record $307.7 billion, while tokenized funds and other RWAs are also at all-time highs. At the same time, Bitcoin's market cap has dropped faster than stablecoin supply, driving the Stablecoin Supply Ratio sharply lower and signaling unusually large sidelined buying power. This pattern has historically appeared near local market bottoms, with on-chain liquidity waiting for clearer risk conditions before rotating back into volatile assets.

At a closed-door World Economic Forum workshop in Davos, Hong Kong Finance Secretary Paul Chan reaffirmed the city's "same activity, same risk, same regulation" framework for digital assets and called for guardrails to match financial innovation. He highlighted Hong Kong's licensing regime for virtual asset trading platforms, upcoming stablecoin licenses in the first quarter and the issuance of $2.1 billion in tokenized green bonds since 2023.

The Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act of 2025 is a U.S. market structure proposal that seeks to define when a digital asset is treated as a security or a commodity and how trading venues and intermediaries should register under federal oversight. The House passed H.R. 3633 in July 2025, and in January 2026 the Senate Banking Committee postponed a key markup amid criticism from industry leaders over CFTC authority and stablecoin rewards. Supporters say the framework could reduce regulation-by-enforcement, while critics warn it may weaken state powers and create new pressure points for decentralization and DeFi.

World Liberty Financial faced criticism after a USD1 growth proposal, created on December 28 and closed on January 4, passed with 77.75% support while nine large wallets controlled about 59% of the voting power. Community members objected that many WLFI holders with locked tokens could not vote, questioned dilution from using WLFI for USD1 incentives, and flagged large transfers such as 500 million WLFI sent to Jump Trading as early investors remained locked. The dispute has intensified even as the project pursues a U.S. national banking charter and launches World Liberty Markets to expand its USD1 and WLFI ecosystem.