News linked to both this project and an event.
Bitget Wallet has launched a Labor Day QR code payment campaign, running from April 28 to May 7, further driving the adoption of stablecoin payments in everyday consumption and travel scenarios across the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. During the campaign, users who complete offline QR code payments using USDT or USDC will receive RLUSD cashback for each transaction. From May 1 to May 7, Bitget Wallet will randomly select one paying user per day to receive an additional 1,000 RLUSD cashback. To lower the barrier to first-time usage, Bitget Wallet will also airdrop XRP to eligible participants—serving as the account reserve required to activate RLUSD withdrawals. RLUSD is a compliant U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by Ripple and regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). This campaign marks Bitget Wallet’s first real-world consumer application following its integration of the XRP Ledger (XRPL) mainnet and onboarding of the RLUSD payment ecosystem at the end of March—and represents a key milestone in advancing Bitget Wallet’s Everyday Finance strategy.
Visa has partnered with WeFi, an on-chain banking company founded by former Tether CEO Reeve Collins, aiming to enable digital asset payments through WeFi's on-chain banking infrastructure. WeFi allows users to hold assets in self-custodial wallets and retain control of their private keys, while ensuring they can spend at any merchant that accepts Visa payments.The project will initially launch in select markets in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, with plans to expand to other regions pending regulatory approvals. WeFi CEO Maksym Sakharov stated that stablecoins will be directly embedded into the underlying infrastructure, with settlement processes handled in the background, eliminating the need for users to manually perform conversions.
According to The Block, Visa has partnered with WeFi—a “blockchain-based bank” founded by Reeve Collins, former CEO of Tether—to enable users to hold digital assets in self-custodial wallets and spend them directly across the global Visa acceptance network, without depositing assets into centralized exchanges. Maksym Sakharov, Co-Founder and CEO of WeFi, stated that stablecoins are natively embedded into the underlying infrastructure, with settlements processed automatically in the background, delivering a user experience indistinguishable from conventional payments. This partnership will initially launch in select markets across Europe, Asia, and Latin America, with further expansion contingent upon regulatory approvals.
Odaily Odaily: U.S. President Trump stated at a private event for TRUMP Meme coin holders held at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida that the White House will not allow banking lobbying groups to hinder the progress of the crypto market structure bill, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. He said the crypto industry has entered the mainstream, declaring "America is the leader in crypto," and that banks should not obstruct the establishment of stablecoin and crypto regulatory frameworks.Dubbed the "most exclusive meeting in the world," the event invited hundreds of large TRUMP coin holders. Guests included Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, Ark Invest founder Cathie Wood, Anchorage Digital CEO Nathan McCauley, and boxing champion Mike Tyson. Previously, the U.S. banking industry had expressed concerns that stablecoin reward mechanisms could impact traditional deposit businesses, which had slowed the legislative process. (CoinDesk)
According to a report released by a16z crypto researchers Robert Hackett and Jeremy Zhang, stablecoins are evolving from early-stage tools for trading and savings into core financial infrastructure. On the regulatory front, the U.S. GENIUS Act has established the first federal framework for stablecoin issuance. Although the European Union’s MiCA regulation—after coming into effect—led to the delisting of USDT from several exchanges, it has instead spurred sustained demand for non-U.S. dollar stablecoins, with monthly trading volume remaining steady in the $15–25 billion range. In terms of usage, consumer-to-business (C2B) stablecoin transaction volume grew 128% year-on-year in 2025, reaching 284.6 million transactions. Stablecoin velocity rose from 2.6x in early 2024 to 6x, indicating that existing supply is now being used more frequently for payments rather than held as savings. After excluding transactional and financial flow activity, an estimated $350–550 billion in stablecoin value in 2025 was attributable to genuine payment use cases. Geographically, nearly two-thirds of stablecoin payment volume originates from Asia (primarily Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan), roughly one-quarter comes from North America, and approximately 13% from Europe. Notably, cross-border transaction share has actually declined, while domestic transactions have risen from ~50% in early 2024 to nearly 75% by early 2026. The BRL-pegged stablecoin BRLA, for example, now sees monthly transfers totaling approximately $400 million—evidence of the growing adoption of localized stablecoin payments.
According to The Block, OSL Group has announced a partnership with Circle’s affiliated entities to expand USDC integration across its payment and trading platforms. Through OSL Global, users can exchange USD for USDC at a 1:1 ratio and trade BTC, ETH, SOL, USD, and USDT pairs in a dedicated USDC trading zone. Meanwhile, OSL has adopted USDC as its unified margin asset and integrated USDC into its payment services to support compliant digital dollar settlement and payment use cases. OSL also stated that it plans to support Circle’s tokenized money market fund, USYC, subject to regulatory requirements and platform eligibility criteria.
Odaily News Aurise Foundation announced the launch of the yield-bearing gold token XAUE on Ethereum, designed to serve as a yield-bearing treasury for Tether Gold (XAU₮). XAUE targets compliant institutional participants, introducing crypto-native yield to traditional non-yielding gold through quantitative strategies and institutional lending, transforming it into a programmable and capital-efficient on-chain asset.Current ecosystem partners Aurelion and Antalpha have jointly contributed 16,052 XAU₮ (approximately $76 million) to XAUE. The protocol employs an exchange rate growth model, where the gold value pegged to each XAUE increases as yields accumulate, and it will integrate with more decentralized finance protocols such as DEXs in the future.
According to Protos, adult website Pornhub has stopped using Tether (USDT) for creator payout settlements and has switched to Circle-issued USDC. In an email sent to creators, Pornhub stated that this switch aims to make payout disbursements “more reliable” and emphasized that USDC is a fully reserved, compliant stablecoin adhering to the EU’s MiCA regulatory framework. Pornhub initially adopted USDT in 2020 after PayPal announced it would sever ties with the platform, leveraging TronLink—the crypto wallet owned by Justin Sun—to build its payment infrastructure. Following this latest switch, the aforementioned partnership has also been removed from Pornhub’s creator page.
Odaily News Tether disclosed in a regulatory filing that it holds 1.95 million shares in Antalpha through the company's 2025 initial public offering, representing approximately 8.2% of the post-IPO outstanding shares. Antalpha provides lending and financing solutions for the Bitcoin mining industry and is a key partner of Bitmain. Antalpha listed on Nasdaq in May 2025, raising approximately $49 million with an offering price of $12.80 per share. Tether subscribed to over half of the offered shares, becoming one of the largest investors. Its full-year 2025 revenue increased to nearly $80 million, with net profit rising to $18.5 million. However, its stock price fell over 27% this Monday, trading at around $9.30 per share.
According to CoinDesk, KAIO, a regulated tokenization firm based in Abu Dhabi, has announced the completion of an $8 million strategic funding round, with investors including Tether. Combined with its prior funding, KAIO’s total capital raised now stands at $19 million. KAIO primarily provides infrastructure for asset management firms to distribute funds on-chain, enabling products from institutions such as BlackRock, Brevan Howard, and Hamilton Lane to be integrated into blockchain systems. KAIO stated it plans to expand into credit, structured investment products, and ETFs, and intends to launch on-chain funds in partnership with Mubadala Capital. The company reported currently managing approximately $100 million in assets and having processed over $500 million in cumulative transactions.
Pablo Hernandez de Cos, General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), stated that global coordination on stablecoin regulation is critical to preventing severe market fragmentation; otherwise, regulatory divergences across jurisdictions could trigger regulatory arbitrage. He noted that stablecoins are typically pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar and may undermine monetary and fiscal policy, exert stress on financial markets, and hinder efforts to combat illicit financing. Currently, the two largest stablecoins—issued by Tether and Circle—account for approximately 85% of the global $315 billion stablecoin circulating supply. He also remarked that these stablecoins resemble securities more than money—particularly in terms of redemption frictions—and operate more like ETFs.
According to an official announcement by USDT0 (@USDT0_to), the USDT0 cross-chain bridging infrastructure resumed normal operations today. System integrity and risk exposure remain unaffected, and all pending transactions submitted prior to the suspension have been safely settled. Previously, on April 19, USDT0 proactively suspended its OFT bridging service as a precautionary measure pending the conclusion of the KelpDAO rsETH incident investigation. USDT0 emphasized that it bears no risk exposure related to this incident, and all USDT0 tokens remain fully backed 1:1 by USDT.
Odaily News Cantor Fitzgerald has donated $10 million to the pro-crypto political action committee Fellowship PAC, which is chaired by Tether U.S. executive Jesse Spiro.Fellowship PAC, established in 2025, has secured over $100 million in pledged funding and aims to support candidates who advocate for digital asset-friendly regulation. The organization has previously spent over $1 million on advertising support in multiple elections.Cantor has a close relationship with Tether, having provided custody services for its stablecoin reserves since 2021. This donation further strengthens their collaboration at the policy level.In addition to Cantor, institutions such as Anchorage Digital have also participated in the donations. Industry insiders believe that as regulatory battles intensify, the crypto industry is continuously increasing its political investment in Washington to push for a clearer and more enforceable regulatory framework.
The People’s Bank of China Shaoguan Branch, in collaboration with the General Office of the Shaoguan Municipal People’s Government, issued a risk alert on virtual currencies ahead of the “4·15” National Security Education Day for All Citizens. It also disclosed four typical cases: money laundering through “high-paying U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin (USDT) part-time jobs,” illegal fundraising under the guise of “capital-guaranteed, high-yield cryptocurrency trading,” pyramid scheme fraud involving the “RWA Digital Culture & Tourism Fund,” and offline “currency swapping” activities constituting de facto foreign exchange transactions. Regulators clarified that virtual currency exchange, trading, and RWA tokenization activities are all illegal financial activities. Projects promising “high returns, low risk, and guaranteed profits” are mostly scams. The public should abandon fantasies of getting rich overnight, steer clear of virtual currency-related investments, opt for legitimate financial channels, and promptly report any suspicious activity to the police to minimize losses.
According to DL News, several “revenge intermediaries” in South Korea that accept cryptocurrency as payment have recently remained highly active. These organizations receive orders via Telegram and offer services including intimidation, assault, and even murder disguised as accidents. They require clients to pay a 50% deposit in USDT and promise to send footage of the operation—recorded using body-worn cameras—via Telegram. Although the alleged ringleader was arrested on April 3, related online advertisements continued to appear as recently as April 13. This year, South Korean police have launched investigations into more than 50 such cases and arrested approximately 30 individuals; all cases were confirmed to involve cryptocurrency payments.
According to Decrypt, Ben Delo, co-founder of BitMEX, revealed that he donated $5.4 million (approximately £4 million) to Reform UK, the political party led by Nigel Farage—prior to the UK’s introduction of a new £100,000 cap on donations from overseas residents. Delo pleaded guilty in the U.S. in 2022 to BitMEX’s violations of anti-money laundering compliance requirements and paid a $10 million fine; he was later pardoned by Donald Trump. Reform UK has previously received a £11.4 million donation from Christopher Harborne, a Thai national and investor in Tether. The party positions itself as the UK’s most crypto-friendly political party, though the UK government has imposed a suspension on cryptocurrency donations to political parties. Delo stated he plans to relocate to the UK, after which he would no longer be subject to the donation cap.