stablecoins

According to The Block, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) pointed out in its "2026 Annual Economic Report" that current stablecoins do not meet monetary standards in terms of singularity, resilience, interoperability, and integrity, and their operational model is closer to ETFs rather than payment tools.The report estimates that even if the market value of stablecoins expands to between $1 trillion and $3 trillion, the net effect on economic output will still be slightly negative, while also exacerbating banks' financing pressures and weakening credit capacity. The BIS also warned of the risk of "stablecoin dollarization" in emerging economies, which could erode their monetary sovereignty.The report suggests using central bank currencies as a benchmark to construct a "unified ledger" that encompasses tokenized central bank reserves and commercial bank currencies as an alternative, and uses the Project Agora cross-border payment prototype as a feasibility proof.

The Hong Kong government stated in a written response to the Legislative Council that the Hong Kong Monetary Authority will grant stablecoin issuer licenses to two bank-backed institutions in April 2026. According to the existing business plans of the two institutions, the regulated stablecoins in Hong Kong are expected to be launched in the middle to the second half of this year.The Hong Kong government mentioned that the Monetary Authority has sent letters to unregulated entities operating stablecoin issuance businesses in the market explaining the legal requirements and will continue to follow up; cases may be referred to the police or the Department of Justice if necessary. The government also stated that it will submit a bill to the Legislative Council this year to establish a regulatory framework for providers of virtual asset trading, custody, consulting, and management services.

According to Jinshi News, the Governor of the Bank of Thailand stated that banks will be allowed to issue Thai baht stablecoins this year.

According to Cointelegraph, cryptocurrency infrastructure company BitGo Holdings announced layoffs of about 15%. BitGo co-founder and CEO Mike Belshe stated that this move aims to optimize team structure and focus resources on core areas such as security, trading, stablecoins, settlement, and AI-driven infrastructure.According to data disclosed in BitGo's annual report (with a total of 603 full-time employees by the end of 2025), this round of layoffs may involve about 90 people. Belshe described this as a "one-time adjustment" and does not expect further job cuts in the future. Affected by related news and the overall downturn in the cryptocurrency market, BitGo's stock price (BTGO) fell 4.67% to $4.80 on Thursday, down nearly 73% from its issuance price of $18 when it went public in January this year.

According to The Block, since June 2026, the Google search volume related to "stablecoins" has dropped to 31, a significant decline from 98 in May and down over 69% from the historical peak of 100 in August 2025. Even if the current trend is annualized, the search volume in June is only about 45, with a month-on-month decline of approximately 54%.At the same time, the total supply of global stablecoins has fallen by about $5 billion after reaching a peak of around $300 billion in early June, with a cumulative growth of only 0.23% this year, far below the growth rates of 56% in 2024 and 46% in 2025.The report points out that the peak in search volume in August 2025 coincided closely with the advancement of the GENIUS Act and announcements from institutions like Stripe, Visa, and Mastercard regarding the issuance of stablecoins. The current decline in both search volume and supply indicates that 2025 may have been the stage for large-scale retail user adoption, and there is currently no new large-scale retail incremental capital flowing in at the same cost.

According to CoinDesk, Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh will testify before Congress for the first time on July 14 at 10 AM (Eastern Time), and traders are closely watching for signals regarding stablecoins, bank custody, and interest rate policy.

According to Cointelegraph, former Bank for International Settlements President Agustín Carstens stated at the Point Zero Forum that stablecoins can promote financial innovation and inclusivity while reducing costs.He pointed out that efforts should be made to create conditions for the coexistence of fiat currency and stablecoins. If we hope to establish a global system where stablecoins interact with global currencies, this must be a global cooperative effort. Improved regulation and a fair competitive environment for issuers can help stablecoins thrive dramatically.

According to PYMNTS, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller delivered the opening remarks at the Federal Reserve's fifth conference on the international role of the dollar on June 22, positioning stablecoins and tokenized assets as new channels for expanding the global influence of the dollar, and emphasizing that the purpose of this conference is to bring together multiple perspectives to jointly assess the core forces affecting the international status of the dollar.

The European Commission is publicly soliciting opinions on the revision of the MiCA framework, with the industry focusing on core issues such as stablecoin reserve rules, the decentralization identification of DeFi, and the regulatory jurisdiction of prediction markets.

According to FinanceFeeds, Tether co-founder Reeve Collins stated that the stablecoin industry is entering the "2.0 era." Currently, the stablecoin infrastructure still has structural issues, and the next-generation solutions need to address the problem of users not being able to earn returns on reserve assets. The core logic of the stablecoin 1.0 model is "users provide 1 dollar, and the issuer issues 1 token," but users only gain the convenience of payments and transfers without sharing in the reserve earnings. In the future, financial services will gradually become infrastructure, and "users will not care which bank sends the funds," while AI agents may choose different financial ecosystems based on user interests. The next phase of competition in stablecoins will revolve around financial infrastructure and revenue distribution models.Regarding regulatory issues, Reeve Collins disclosed that he still holds Bitcoin for the long term, while also pointing out that dollar stablecoins essentially remain an extension of the U.S. financial system, which carries regulatory reach risks and differs from central bank digital currency (CBDC) models, the latter of which may bring stronger programmability and financial monitoring capabilities.

According to a report by Kyodo News, the Osaka Prefectural Police arrested three men on suspicion of violating the Organized Crime Punishment Law for laundering criminal proceeds on behalf of an investment fraud gang. It is said that these three individuals exchanged approximately 14 million yen from 10 victims across six prefectures into stablecoins and other cryptocurrency assets to conceal the source of the funds.According to the Osaka Prefectural Police, these three individuals belong to "over-the-counter traders" who conduct personal cryptocurrency transactions without using trading platforms and are believed to have participated in money laundering activities amounting to billions of yen.

According to the Federal Reserve's official website, the Federal Reserve Board is seeking public comments on a proposal that would require certain payment stablecoin issuers to establish and maintain effective Customer Identification Programs (CIP). This proposal was jointly issued by the Federal Reserve and four other agencies.According to the proposal, the relevant stablecoin issuers must comply with Customer Identification Program standards similar to those for banks and credit unions. The comment period is 60 days after the proposal is published in the Federal Register.