On 13 March 2026, HSBC and a Standard Chartered-led joint venture emerged as frontrunners for Hong Kong's first stablecoin issuer licenses, which are expected to be announced by 24 March 2026. The new regime mandates 100% high-quality liquid asset reserves, strict AML rules, and next-day redemptions, while Hong Kong simultaneously advances broader digital asset reforms covering custody, derivatives, tax, and wholesale settlement. The initiative positions Hong Kong as a tightly regulated hub for institutional on-chain payments and cross-border trade finance.

On 11 March 2026, Mastercard announced that its Crypto Partner Program now includes more than 85 companies from traditional finance and the blockchain sector, such as Binance, PayPal, Ripple, JPMorgan Chase, Coinbase, Stripe, and others. The initiative is built around a private Multi-Token Network that settles tokenized bank deposits and regulated stablecoins, connects over 176 million wallets, and supports spending at more than 150 million merchants amid monthly crypto volumes nearing $1 trillion.

On March 4, 2026, Zero Hash submitted an application to the OCC for a national trust bank charter that would bring its digital asset infrastructure business under federal oversight. The planned Zero Hash National Trust Bank would provide digital asset and fiat custody, stablecoin management, custodial staking, and transfer agent services as part of a broader wave of crypto and fintech firms pursuing similar charters in early 2026.

On 5 March 2026, Eric Trump accused JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo of lobbying to derail the Clarity Act and restrict crypto yield products for retail users. He argued that banks pay depositors as little as 0.01% to 0.05% APY while earning around 4.4% from the Federal Reserve, and said this spread motivates efforts to suppress stablecoin yields. During the dispute, Coinbase stock rose about 15% on 4 March 2026 as markets reacted to the regulatory standoff between banks and crypto platforms.

On February 21, 2026, the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets updated guidance to permit broker-dealers to apply a 2% capital haircut to proprietary positions in qualifying payment stablecoins under Exchange Act Rule 15c3-1. Many firms had treated these assets with a 100% haircut; the change, subject to strict reserve, transparency and regulatory criteria, may enhance liquidity.

On 8 February 2026, ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone said the planned digital euro is a cash-like public money for everyday use, including offline. He noted it will not launch before legislation is in place, with a pilot slated for 2027 and a possible rollout around 2029. Safeguards include holding caps, no interest and privacy protections.

On 8 February 2026, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission updated its no-action framework to confirm that stablecoins issued by federally chartered national trust banks can be used as collateral in regulated derivatives markets. The move aligns collateral rules with the GENIUS Act’s federal stablecoin framework and is already supporting greater institutional use of compliant, bank-issued digital assets.

On 6 February 2026, Japanese investment firm Metaplanet reiterated that it will keep increasing its Bitcoin holdings even after a sharp market drop took BTC close to $60,000. CEO Simon Gerovich addressed shareholder concerns, emphasizing that the company will not alter its strategy and that recent volatility has also affected Metaplanet's stock price. Bitcoin later recovered to around $72,000, while Metaplanet reported holding 35,102 bitcoin acquired at an average of about $107,606 per coin, for a total of roughly $3.78 billion.

XRP rebounded more than 22% in the last 24 hours after a sharp market sell-off briefly pushed the token to about $1.14. The recovery carried price back toward the $1.45–$1.50 zone, with weekly performance still down over 14%. Liquidations totaled roughly $55 million, split between $28.9 million longs and about $26.4 million shorts.