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Odaily Odaily news, according to the official announcement, Bitget's Staking Borrowing section has newly added support for 39 stock tokens (rToken) as collateral assets. The newly listed targets include popular US stocks and ETFs such as rAMD, rSMH, rARM, and rSKHY, covering diverse categories including semiconductors, finance, healthcare, and energy.Users holding relevant stock tokens can now use them as collateral to borrow mainstream assets like USDT and USDC, unlocking liquidity without selling their holdings. The corresponding feature on the Web platform has been launched, with the App version expected to go live within this week. Specific collateral parameters and more details can be found on the Bitget official platform.It is reported that rTokens, identified by the letter r + stock ticker (e.g., rNVDA for NVIDIA), are issued by Reality, a licensed RWA protocol under Bitget. By partnering with the compliant brokerage Alpaca, it connects directly to global liquidity pools such as Nasdaq and the NYSE. Its features include: 1:1 reserve of underlying assets held by a licensed custodian, stock dividends distributed 1:1 in token form, synchronized mapping of corporate actions (stock splits, reverse splits, etc.), and the ability to use holdings as combined margin for unified accounts and USDT-margined contracts, allowing users to manage funds flexibly while holding global stock assets.
According to the Financial Times, stablecoin issuer Circle banned crypto fund Heka Funds at the end of 2023. Court documents reveal that Circle accused Heka of leveraging large-scale arbitrage operations to buy discounted USDC and redeem cash from Circle during the 2023 Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) crisis, suspecting that the relevant funds ultimately flowed to Tether to help it expand its USDT market share. Arbitration documents disclosed that Tether had invested approximately $800 million in Heka, accounting for about 75% of the fund's assets, and waived its minting fees, but Heka did not disclose this support relationship to Circle. Heka previously filed for arbitration claiming approximately $49 million in lost profits due to the account ban, but the arbitrator rejected all its claims in February this year, determined that Heka engaged in bad faith conduct, and ordered it to pay Circle approximately $166,000 in attorney and expert fees. Heka denied engaging in market manipulation and stated it was not under regulatory investigation.
on July 13, the Czech Ministry of Finance added Polymarket to its list of unauthorized internet gaming platforms, identifying it as an unlicensed gambling platform. Internet service providers are required to block access to the platform within 15 days. The Czech Institute for Gambling Regulation stated that Polymarket settles payments using the USDC stablecoin and operates as a decentralized exchange, without providing services through licensed local operators. The institute noted that several EU countries have recently restricted or blocked Polymarket; Italy has reinstated it on the blocklist, while the Netherlands has dismissed the platform's appeal. Separately, this month, the EU market regulator ESMA warned that event contracts meeting the definition of financial instruments are already prohibited from being sold to retail investors under existing binary options rules. Gibraltar has introduced a dedicated regulatory framework for prediction markets this week, while Malta has indicated it is exploring a similar regime. (Bitcoin.com News).
the European Central Bank (ECB) has selected 36 banks and payment companies to participate in the digital euro pilot project, preparing for the potential issuance of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) possibly in 2029. Selected institutions include Deutsche Bank, Revolut, Adyen, SumUp, UniCredit, and Worldline. The list was selected from 50 applicant institutions.The digital euro pilot program is scheduled to launch in the second half of next year, lasting for 12 months. It will test the Beta version of the digital euro across various payment scenarios, including: online person-to-person transfers, offline payments, in-store payments, and e-commerce payments. The pilot scope will cover the ECB and the central banks of 19 eurozone countries. ECB employees and staff from national central banks will participate as users, while some restaurants, cafes, and online merchants will support digital euro payments.Although the digital euro currently lacks legal tender status, its design will closely align with the relevant legislative framework being developed by the European Union. The ECB stated that the final decision on whether to issue a digital euro will await the passage of relevant regulations and a decision by the ECB's Governing Council.One of the key reasons for the ECB's push for a digital euro is concern that the development of private dollar-pegged stablecoins could impact Europe's monetary sovereignty. In recent years, dollar-backed stablecoins like Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC have grown rapidly in global payment volumes, drawing the attention of European regulators to financial autonomy.However, the CBDC project still faces privacy controversies. Some privacy advocacy groups worry that a central bank digital currency could lead to transaction tracking or even pose a risk of restricted account access. In contrast, the United States has recently passed laws restricting the Federal Reserve System from issuing a digital dollar before the end of 2030.Currently, Europe's digital euro project is entering its practical testing phase, while EU legislative bodies are advancing the relevant legal framework. If the regulatory process proceeds smoothly, the digital euro could potentially be officially launched as early as 2029. (CoinDesk)
According to The Block, Mizuho Bank analysts noted that while Circle's approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a national trust bank helps enhance its compliance credibility, it is insufficient to resolve current core pressures—the continued shrinkage of USDC market cap and increasingly fierce competition from Open USD—which still constitute a significant drag on $CRCL stock price.
According to BLOCKMEDIA, South Korean police are investigating a case of political interference in crypto market competition. The former aide of independent lawmaker Kim Byung-ki was alleged to have pressured the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) in February last year, forcing Upbit to terminate fee reduction campaigns for $USDC and $USDT to alleviate the financial pressure suffered by competitor Bithumb due to launching zero-fee promotions. The suspicion lies in the fact that the aide secured an informal advisory position at Bithumb several months after the interference occurred, while the lawmaker's son was also hired as an intern by the exchange. Bithumb denied knowledge of any political interference, insisting that the fee adjustment was an independent business decision.
According to The Block, Japanese financial group SBI Holdings has recently made a series of aggressive moves, completing multiple major crypto investments in succession: exclusively investing $125 million in Gauntlet's Series C, $76 million in EDX Markets' Series C, spending approximately $289 million to acquire Japanese crypto exchange Bitbank, and taking a stake in Singaporean exchange Coinhako. In addition, SBI also participated in Digital Asset's $355 million financing, Morpho's $175 million token round, and Circle's $222 million token presale, and launched Japan's first trust bank-backed yen stablecoin, JPYSC. SBI stated that the company is driving the group's overall on-chain transformation, aiming to provide end-to-end services across exchanges, asset tokenization, market platforms, and other segments, to position itself ahead of the upcoming "token economy" era. Analysts point out that SBI is building Asia's first scaled on-chain asset management business; its strategic core is not purchasing crypto exposure, but controlling the infrastructure of the next-generation financial system. On the regulatory front, the Japanese parliament is advancing legislation to include cryptocurrencies as regulated financial instruments, and plans to significantly reduce the capital gains tax on crypto assets from 55% to 20% by 2028, aligning it with stocks and bonds, providing policy support for institutional entry.
stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group has received approval from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a national digital currency trust bank, aiming to further expand its stablecoin business scope. Circle stated that the OCC has approved the creation of an entity to be named "Circle National Trust." The institution will operate under the federal trust bank regulatory framework, providing clients with institutional-grade services including digital asset custody.This approval means that Circle will further enter the regulated digital asset custody sector beyond its USDC issuance and payment operations, consolidating its regulatory system through a single federal trust charter. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire has repeatedly emphasized that stablecoins are becoming key infrastructure connecting traditional finance with the on-chain economy. The acquisition of this bank charter is seen by the market as a significant step in the stablecoin company's transformation into a financial infrastructure provider. (Bloomberg)
According to official sources, Circle announced that it has received final approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish the national trust bank Circle National Trust. The institution will initially provide digital asset custody services for Circle and its affiliates, and may open to selected institutional clients in the future based on demand.
Odaily Odaily reports, according to official announcement, Bitget Margin Lending has now added support for stock tokens (rToken) as collateral assets. The first batch includes 26 popular US stock and ETF tokens such as rNVDA, rAAPL, rGOOGL, and rQQQ, covering sectors including technology, semiconductors, and index funds.Users holding these stock tokens can now use them as collateral to borrow mainstream assets like USDT and USDC, thereby unlocking capital liquidity without selling their holdings. The web version of this feature is now live, and the app version will be available next week. For specific collateral parameters and more details, please refer to the official Bitget platform.It is reported that rTokens, identified by the letter "r" followed by the stock ticker (e.g., rNVDA for NVIDIA), are issued by Reality, a licensed RWA protocol under Bitget. Through a partnership with compliant broker Alpaca, they are directly connected to global liquidity pools such as Nasdaq and NYSE. Their features include: 1:1 reserve of underlying assets custodied by a licensed custodian; stock dividends distributed 1:1 in token form; support for synchronous reflection of corporate actions (such as stock splits and reverse splits); and the ability to serve as joint margin for unified accounts and USDT-margined futures contracts, allowing users to flexibly manage their capital while holding global stock assets.
prosecutors from Wisconsin and New York have expressed dissatisfaction with stablecoin issuer Circle, as the company has repeatedly refused to cooperate with law enforcement agencies in recovering stolen funds.According to the report, multiple law enforcement agencies had requested Circle to help victims of fraud and hacking incidents recover their losses by burning and reissuing USDC. However, Circle declined these requests based on its own policy stance.Circle stated that modifying the blockchain ledger to reverse transactions would undermine the fundamental properties of the USDC stablecoin and could set a dangerous precedent for the entire crypto industry. This incident highlights the conflict between the immutability of blockchain and the need for law enforcement to recover assets. (Protos)
Elliptic (@elliptic) officially announced that blockchain analytics company Elliptic has received strategic investment from Circle Ventures. Previously, the company completed a $120 million Series D funding round in May this year, led by One Peak, with participation from Nasdaq Ventures, Deutsche Bank, and British Commercial Bank. Meanwhile, Circle has officially joined Elliptic's Agentic Design Partner Program. The program brings together infrastructure providers, compliance institutions, and technical teams to jointly develop compliance solutions for AI agents. Elliptic noted that AI agents differ from traditional bots, as they can set goals autonomously and make independent decisions. Their operating speed and scale have far exceeded the capacity limits of manual compliance systems, urgently requiring specialized solutions to address.
According to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), stablecoin issuer Circle has been criminally charged by Wisconsin prosecutors for refusing to comply with a court order to assist in recovering funds for fraud victims. A victim in Wisconsin was defrauded of approximately 381,000 USDC. Last December, the court issued an order requiring Circle to transfer the frozen assets to a law enforcement wallet, but Circle refused to comply, citing "technical inability to burn and reissue tokens." Previously, New York prosecutors also wrote to the U.S. Senate, accusing Circle of repeatedly refusing requests to freeze assets without a court order and questioning its profit motive—Circle currently holds at least 119 million frozen USDC, from which it can continue to earn interest income. In response, Circle denied the allegations, stating that the Wisconsin court lacks jurisdiction, and indicated that it has reached a preliminary agreement with federal prosecutors regarding a victim compensation mechanism. Cryptocurrency tracking experts pointed out that Circle could achieve token burning and reissuance by updating code, casting doubt on its claim of technical inability.
Patrick Hansen, Senior Director of EU Strategy and Policy at Circle, cited the MiCA provisional registration data from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), releasing the compliance statistics one week after the regulation's full implementation. Currently, the EU has 21 authorized Electronic Money Token (EMT) issuers, distributed across 12 member states, collectively issuing 35 EMTs pegged to 8 types of fiat currencies. Among them, France leads other member states with 6 licensed issuers. Meanwhile, the number of approved Asset-Referenced Token (ART) issuers remains at 0, while the total registered Crypto Asset Service Providers (CASP) under the MiCA framework has exceeded 270.
According to TechFlow Research, minutes from Goldman Sachs' July 5 Circle management meeting indicate that stablecoin growth has decoupled from crypto market cycles, with use cases rapidly expanding towards cross-border payments, consumer e-commerce, capital market settlement, and AI agent payments. USDC accounts for approximately 99% of trading volume in the x402 agent payment protocol. Circle pointed out that the "digital dollarization" trend in emerging markets is accelerating, with USDC becoming a tool to replace local currencies and unreliable banking systems. If passed, Circle believes the CLARITY Act will be a catalyst rather than a headwind; the bill allows issuers to continue revenue sharing to incentivize distribution and encourages usage-based reward mechanisms rather than passive holding.
Odaily报道 According to data from Visa's on-chain data platform, USDC has expanded its lead over USDT in stablecoin transaction volume during the first half of 2026. Data shows that the adjusted stablecoin transaction volume in June rose to $1.79 trillion, an increase of 63% month-over-month and 125% year-over-year from June 2025, setting a new all-time high. Visa's statistics have excluded non-genuine economic activities such as bot transactions and internal exchange transfers.The total stablecoin transaction volume for the first half of the year reached $8.82 trillion, surpassing the full-year 2024 level of $5.8 trillion, but still below the record $10.8 trillion set in 2025.Structurally, USDC accounted for approximately 70% of the volume in the first half of 2026, while USDT accounted for about 25%, indicating a significant shift in market share towards compliant stablecoins.Analysis points out that as banks and institutions increasingly use stablecoins for settlement and fund management—with institutions like Standard Chartered and BNY Mellon accelerating integration into the USDC ecosystem—stablecoin infrastructure is entering a phase of institutional expansion. (CoinDesk)
Kraken has begun allowing eligible users to use select tokenized stocks and ETFs as collateral for futures and margin trading, enabling them to open leveraged positions without selling their existing holdings.The initial offering includes 10 tokenized stocks and ETFs, featuring Apple, Nvidia, Tesla, Strategy, SPDR S&P 500 ETF, and Invesco QQQ Trust. This feature is currently only available to eligible users outside the United States.Kraken has also set collateral limits for different assets, with a maximum collateral value of $1 million for large-cap ETFs, $250,000 for most individual stocks, and $100,000 for tokenized gold and Circle stock. The platform stated that collateral limits and haircut rates will be reviewed periodically and may be adjusted based on market conditions. (Cointelegraph)
Sui posted on X platform, stating that this week's highlights include ensuring data privacy, expanding decentralized capital markets, and welcoming new teams into the network development pipeline. LoquaApp has launched a privacy-first AI agent messaging app on Sui, supporting users in sending messages, interacting with AI agents, and conducting peer-to-peer token transfers within chats; RipStationxyz has deployed a graded Pokémon card platform on Sui for on-chain trading and physical redemption; suidevelopers held a technical meeting, where kostascrypto and abhinavg6 analyzed the cryptography behind protocol-level confidential transfers; 0xfluid has chosen Hashi to build an institutional-grade Bitcoin credit market, enabling native BTC to be used as collateral through formally verified contracts on Sui; realtbook has partnered with paga to create a compliant financial bridge, offering tokenized real-world assets to African consumers and businesses; six early-stage development teams, including AssetoFinance, audricai, gendotpro, kash_bot, predikt_gg, and transact_sh, have completed the third cohort of the Sui Hydropower Fellowship; tradeonhudi announced the upcoming launch of 7×24 hour leveraged perpetual contracts on Asia-Pacific stocks, targeting markets in Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong; Turbos_finance released its Q2 2026 report, having launched its CLMM and once became the highest-volume AMM DEX with a single-day SUI-USDC trading volume exceeding $17 million. The upcoming Sui Tunnels experiment will be opened for system testing of the network's TPS limit under load.
Decentralized privacy protocol Hinkal Protocol announced that it has detected abnormal activity involving USDC on the Ethereum network within its system. Currently, only the Ethereum blockchain is affected, while other chains remain unaffected. As a precautionary measure, the affected smart contracts have been paused, and a comprehensive investigation and analysis of relevant on-chain transactions and activities is currently underway. The investigation is still ongoing, and updates will be released once information is confirmed.
According to official news, Standard Chartered Bank announced a partnership with Circle to launch USDC minting and redemption access capabilities for institutional clients, becoming the first global systemically important bank to offer such integrated services. Eligible institutional clients can use USDC through a single onboarding and service process without needing to open a Circle account directly. The service will initially be provided through Standard Chartered's business in the Dubai International Financial Centre, supporting scenarios such as on-chain settlement, treasury management, and liquidity management, with plans to expand to more markets subsequently upon obtaining regulatory approval.