Stablecoin

Elon Musk's X Money payment app has entered a limited external beta, featuring cashback on selected card purchases and a 6% annual percentage yield on deposits. Actor William Shatner was among the early testers, sharing screenshots that also highlighted FDIC-insured deposits held at Cross River Bank up to $250,000 per user. Shatner later worked with X to auction a total of 208 beta invitations at $1,000 each to raise funds for charity.

Western Union has entered into a partnership with Crossmint to support the launch of its USDPT stablecoin and Digital Asset Network on the Solana blockchain. The collaboration will integrate Crossmint's wallet and payment APIs with Western Union's infrastructure so fintech platforms can move funds via USDPT and tap into Western Union's global payout network.

On March 3, 2026, TCS Blockchain and PayPal announced the integration of PayPal USD (PYUSD) into a freight payment system aimed at shortening trucking payment cycles that can stretch from 30 to 180 days. The solution routes digital invoices through TCS utility tokens and the INX-Republic exchange into PYUSD, enabling same-day settlements and potentially cutting costs by up to 90% compared with traditional invoicing and factoring. TCS Blockchain expects the platform to process over $1 billion in freight invoices in 2026, in a market where truckers can lose more than 30% of net revenue to early payment services.

Electronic trading firm Tradeweb has led a $31 million Series B round in institutional crypto platform Crossover Markets, giving the CROSSx operator a $200 million valuation. The deal includes a strategic partnership to connect Tradeweb's global institutional network to spot crypto liquidity on CROSSx and will fund the expansion of the ECN, which has handled over $50 billion in volume since 2023. Additional venture funding has recently gone to infrastructure firms Talos, Mesh, Rain and VelaFi as investors target trading, payments and settlement services for digital assets.

On March 3, 2026, Visa and Bridge announced plans to extend their stablecoin-backed card program to more than 100 countries by year-end, up from the current 18. Cardholders will be able to spend stablecoins at over 175 million Visa-accepting merchants, while a separate pilot with Lead Bank is testing direct on-chain settlement for issuers.

In a March Truth Social post, President Donald Trump accused banking groups of trying to weaken the GENIUS Act, a stablecoin regulation law passed in July, and of blocking broader U.S. crypto market structure legislation. He argued that banks, despite strong profits, should not influence rules for digital assets and warned that delays could drive crypto firms to move to countries like China with clearer regulations. At the center of the dispute are restrictions on stablecoin yield payments, which have divided banks and crypto industry representatives and slowed progress in the Senate.

SoFi Technologies' share price closed at $18.61 on March 3, 2026, after announcing an expanded partnership that will allow its SoFiUSD stablecoin to be used as a settlement option on Mastercard's global payments network. The company also disclosed that CEO Anthony Noto purchased roughly $1 million of SOFI stock in the open market, coinciding with a premarket rise to $19.23 on March 4. SoFiUSD, issued by SoFi Bank, N.A., is fully cash-reserved and is expected to support around-the-clock settlement for SoFi's card transactions.

On 4 March 2026, White House Digital Asset Advisor Patrick Witt publicly rejected JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon's claim that yield-bearing stablecoins operate like bank deposits, pointing to strict reserve rules under the 2025 GENIUS Act. The clash has complicated negotiations over the CLARITY Act, while Coinbase offers a 3.5% return on USDC that traditional banks struggle to match.

On March 4, 2026, a senior official from Russia's finance ministry stated that Moscow wants to legalize stablecoin payments under a dedicated law while continuing to prohibit cryptocurrency as a means of settlement. The ministry intends to classify stablecoins, other crypto assets, and digital financial assets as different types of instruments, with fiat-pegged tokens treated as closest to standard money and regulated after a broader crypto framework is adopted.

On 4 March 2026, Deloitte issued a reserve attestation for Tether's new U.S. dollar stablecoin USAT, which launched in late January 2026. The report showed $17,604,716 in reserves backing 17,501,391 tokens, with assets held in cash and reverse repos backed by U.S. Treasuries. USAT is structured as a federally compliant alternative to USDT and is positioned to compete with USDC in the U.S. institutional market.