Stablecoin

Blockrise founder Jos Lazet argues that Bitcoin’s next phase could be driven by crypto-native "anarchistic neobanks" that combine onchain settlement with regulated banking safeguards. In April 2026, Blockrise partnered with European neobank bunq to embed insured bank accounts into its Bitcoin-only platform, with fiat deposits protected up to €100,000 under the Dutch Deposit Guarantee Scheme. The article also highlights stablecoin rails and regulation—including $33 trillion in stablecoin transaction volume in 2025—as factors pushing more activity into licensed financial channels.

Nine Italian banks began testing Eur.Bank infrastructure on June 3, 2026, in a technical phase that is not a consumer launch. The European Central Bank is awaiting payment service provider feedback by the end of June 2026 after inviting applications by May 14, and it is aiming for an operational pilot in the second half of 2027.

Japan’s lower house has moved forward a bill that would reclassify cryptocurrencies as financial instruments, positioning them for securities-style oversight and potentially changing how gains are taxed. The legislation cleared a key committee on June 10, 2026 after being submitted by the cabinet in April, and is now headed to the House of Councillors. Under the current system, crypto profits can face taxes up to 55%, while reclassification could pave the way for a flat 20% rate similar to stocks and bonds.

HTX, the Justin Sun-owned exchange formerly known as Huobi Global, has reportedly transferred $1.3B in reserve assets to an undisclosed third-party custodian following U.K. sanctions. The move includes 1,719 BTC, 76,515 ETH, 99% of its $238M USDC, and $819M of its $906M USDT, while HTX says it still maintains 1:1 reserves for user assets.

Ripple rolled out the XRPL AI Starter Kit on June 10, aiming to let autonomous AI software initiate and settle payments on the XRP Ledger using XRP and Ripple USD (RLUSD). The kit’s first phase includes X402-enabled payments plus tools for wallet creation, balance checks, transfers, and transaction tracking, while RippleX’s engineering lead said agent-to-agent flows could eventually move “billions of dollars” in value.

Average monthly trading volume across South Korea’s five major KRW exchanges fell from 125.2 trillion won to 98.1 trillion won in Q1 2026. The pullback was linked to a shift toward long-term holding, stronger domestic equities, and macro headwinds such as higher oil prices and interest rates. Policymakers are also weighing DABA Phase 2 rules, including potential caps and stablecoin issuance frameworks.

Visa introduced new AI-commerce and stablecoin infrastructure offerings at the Visa Payments Forum 2026, including identity tools for AI agents and a partnership with OpenAI to enable payments inside AI-driven experiences. The company said stablecoin settlement processed through VisaNet reached an annualized run rate of roughly $7 billion as of March 2026, alongside plans to broaden seven-day settlement and support tokenized bank deposits.

On Wednesday, Visa used its annual payments forum to argue that stablecoins are becoming core plumbing for global payments while it broadens efforts in AI and tokenization. The company said it has moved billions in stablecoins via VisaNet, with an annualized run rate of $7 billion as of March 2026, and it plans to expand stablecoin settlement pilots across regions, blockchains, and currencies.

Luno CEO James Lanigan said South Africa's proposed Capital Flow Management Regulations could weaken the country's competitiveness by constraining stablecoin use and cross-border payments. He pointed to Bloomberg figures showing stablecoins handled $33 trillion in 2025 payments and blockchain transfers, warning restrictive wording could keep local businesses from accessing that market. The National Treasury and SARB extended the public comment deadline from May 18 to June 30, 2026, and plan to publish a draft manual defining what counts as a cross-border crypto transaction.

Mastercard announced on June 10 that it has launched Agent Pay for Machines (AP4M), a platform aimed at enabling AI agents and software services to execute payments autonomously. The system is built for continuous, high-frequency, machine-speed transactions and can settle via multiple rails, including stablecoins and bank accounts. Coinbase, Ripple, Solana Foundation, OKX, and several payment firms said they are participating in the effort.