Crypto.com will leverage Green Dot’s embedded finance platform, Arc, as an on-ramp and off-ramp for customers’ Cash Accounts and enable them to earn interest and easily fund accounts using U.S. dollars digitally or with cash at thousands of Green Dot Network cash access locations nationwide. Additionally, Crypto.com will launch a new interest-earning savings vault powered by Arc, with additional features and functionality planned for the future. “Increasing everyday utility of cryptocurrencies and providing customers more ways to enhance their financial lives are both central to our vision and roadmap at Crypto.com,” said Joe Anzures, General Manager, Americas and EVP of Payments, Crypto.com. “We are thrilled to partner with Green Dot, a true leader that shares our vision for digital payment utility and financial empowerment, in offering banking services to Crypto.com’s U.S. customers.” With more than 350 cryptocurrencies on its platform*, Crypto.com has one of the largest selections in the industry. By providing an on-ramp and off-ramp to fund Crypto.com Cash Accounts, either digitally or with cash, at thousands of convenient cash-in and cash-out locations at retailers nationwide via the Green Dot Network, Green Dot is enabling Crypto.com customers to utilize cryptocurrencies more easily and affordably. The Cash Account’s new savings vault will also allow Crypto.com customers to earn interest on the funds they are already using to purchase cryptocurrency. “We are thrilled to partner with Crypto.com to enhance the customer experience for their millions of users in the U.S. with more seamless and affordable means of buying and selling cryptocurrencies,” said Renata Caine, GM/SVP of Embedded Finance, Green Dot. “Crypto.com has been a trailblazer in safely and securely advancing the adoption of cryptocurrency in the U.S., and we are looking forward to innovating on behalf of their customers for years to come.”
Apple Pay’s integration with Mesh to enable merchants to accept stablecoin payments without building their own crypto infrastructure through a plug-and-play solution
Mesh, the first truly global crypto payments network, today unveiled its Apple Pay integration live on stage at Token2049 during Co-Founder and CEO Bam Azizi’s keynote address. This marks the first public demonstration of the new capability – available later in Q2 – that will enable merchants partnered with Mesh to accept crypto payments through Apple Pay without building their own crypto infrastructure. The new Apple Pay integration leverages Mesh’s proprietary SmartFunding technology, which allows users to pay with the crypto of their choice, such as BTC, ETH, or SOL, while merchants settle in the stablecoin of their choice, such as USDC, USDT, PYUSD, and others. Breaking down this inherent misalignment of incentives between consumers and merchants topples the largest barrier preventing crypto payments from becoming a mass market product to date. Users simply select the Apple Pay option at checkout, authenticate with Face ID, and complete the transaction as they would with any fiat payment. “We believe that as soon as crypto payments are as seamless as fiat payments, nothing is left to stop the mass migration of global commerce onto blockchain rails. Crypto already offers countless benefits over fiat, and Mesh is solving the UX and convenience pieces,” said Bam Azizi, CEO and Co-Founder of Mesh. “With our Apple Pay integration, we’re solving crypto’s existential last-mile problem, bringing to life a plug-and-play solution that turns on global crypto payments through our existing partners.” As demonstrated live moments ago by Azizi, Merchants with physical retail locations will now be able to leverage Apple Pay’s NFC capabilities, offering customers the same frictionless experience in-store as they experience online. And this innovation isn’t limited to point-of-sale terminals – it extends to e-commerce, too. Mesh’s latest innovation comes on the heels of its $82 million Series B fundraise, led by Paradigm, with participation from Consensys, QuantumLight Capital, Yolo Investments, and others. With over 300 integrations – including Coinbase, Binance, MetaMask, Phantom, and more – Mesh’s infrastructure ensures broad access and seamless connectivity across the crypto payments ecosystem.
Rain to offer closed loop financing utilizing stablecoins by fully tokenizing its credit card receivables to lower the total cost of capital and need for collateral for fintechs
Rain, a global card issuing platform built for stablecoins, has joined Visa’s pilot program for stablecoin settlement. Rain has fully tokenized its credit card receivables and has transitioned all settlement transactions for its Visa cards to USDC, to now be able to settle with Visa 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Rain provides backend infrastructure – APIs, compliance layers and settlement logic – that enables fintechs and wallets to build and launch stablecoin-linked card programs. Rain’s technology stack allows for card transactions on the Visa network to be interoperable with stablecoins across multiple blockchains. When a user makes a payment with a Rain-issued Visa card, Visa settles with the merchant acquirer as usual. Rain’s platform has also fully tokenized its credit card receivables, enabling more efficient capital management and transparency across the system. These capabilities help fintechs go to market faster with new products. While giving consumers access to digital-first globally interoperable payment experiences. Rain also announced a world first: closed loop credit card receivable financing utilizing stablecoins. By borrowing from and programmatically repaying lenders Rain has been able to reduce the total cost of capital for consumer and b2b credit programs while providing lenders access to superior collateral and programmatic repayments powered by smart contracts. This powerful construct has the potential to unlock credit access for users in underdeveloped financial markets, all while unlocking significant operational and capital efficiencies for Rain and Rain powered programs. “USDC settlement allows us to be more capital efficient – helping to reduce the need for collateral while providing our counterparties the same level of protection. This sets a new standard for issuers and further enhances digital asset utility,” said Farooq Malik, CEO & Co-founder of Rain.
Crypto companies “actively reassessing potential opportunities” in the U.S after “the recent shift towards a more favorable regulatory stance on crypto”
Dubai-based Deribit is “actively reassessing potential opportunities” in the U.S., CEO Luuk Strijers said, after “the recent shift towards a more favorable regulatory stance on crypto in the U.S.” Deribit joins a wave of crypto companies from Europe and Asia aiming to capitalize on President Donald Trump’s pledge to make the U.S. the global digital assets hub. The crypto exchanges OKX — based in the Seychelles — and Bulgaria’s Nexo are both planning to open U.S. offices, as are Switzerland’s Wintermute and Dubai’s DWF Labs, two of the sector’s biggest market makers. Crypto companies had for the past few years been shifting their focus away from the U.S. due to a regulatory crackdown by agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) following the downfall of the FTX exchange. Trump, however, has courted the crypto industry, promising to “make the U.S. the crypto capital of the world,” with the SEC having halted or ended several high-profile cases since the election, and the Department of Justice disbanding its cryptocurrency enforcement unit. “I think the entire market feels good about regulatory clarity,” David Rutter, CEO of British blockchain firm R3, told. “The Trump memecoin was a big signal that things had changed for the U.S. in a pretty sizable way.”
BlackRock to create a blockchain-based share class for its BLF Treasury Trust Fund, a cornerstone of cash management
BlackRock Inc. signaled its growing ambition to bring digital technology to mainstream institutional finance, filing to launch a new share class of its $150 billion money market fund that is registered on a blockchain. The world’s largest asset manager submitted paperwork to the US Securities and Exchange Commission this week to create a blockchain-based share class — labeled DLT, an acronym for distributed ledger technology — for its BlackRock’s BLF Treasury Trust Fund, a cornerstone of cash management. DLT will seek to utilize blockchain technology to record share ownership or streamline certain fund operations for the money market fund, which invests in high-quality, short-term US Treasury securities. Bank of New York Mellon Corp. will manage the sale of these shares as an intermediary, for a minimum of $3 million. BNY, one of the world’s largest custodians of traditional assets, will play a role in representing the ownership of the shares through the technology, a process known as tokenization. These will simply mirror the fund ownership and will be nonbinding. Bryan Armour, director of passive strategies research at Morningstar said, “This is a step toward incorporating blockchain technology in investments, but it’s not a new strategy or a fully tokenized offering.”
Tether aims to launch stablecoin in US within a year; significant as Tether tokens represent 70% of the stablecoin market, and is currently dominant on offshore exchanges, emerging markets and decentralized finance protocols
Tether is preparing to launch a U.S.-based stablecoin as soon as this year, as its CEO ramps up his presence in Washington to shape crypto regulation. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino revealed that the company is working on plans to issue a new dollar-pegged stablecoin in the U.S. as soon as this year. The move comes as Tether, once accused of being a criminal’s ‘go-to cryptocurrency’ – rebrands itself as a partner to American lawmakers and law enforcement. “A domestic stablecoin would be different from the international stable coin,” Ardoino told. “It depends on the timeline of the final legislation… but we are looking at that by the end of the year, or early next year at the fastest,” he said. Tether, whose tokens represent 70% of the stablecoin market, is currently dominant on offshore exchanges, emerging markets and decentralized finance protocols, where fiat banking access is constrained or unreliable.
Specialized blockchains are shaping the future of DeFi attracting robust ecosystems and offering developers more freedom to innovate in areas like algorithmic credit scoring, IP rights management, and tokenized commodities
Specialized blockchains like Berachain, Story (IPfi), Unichain, Monad, and MegaETH are leading a wave of specialized blockchain launches designed to serve diverse decentralized finance applications. These chains challenge the notion that a handful of general-purpose networks can support all use cases and declare that the future is not one monolithic chain to rule them all. Financial institutions are entering DeFi with expectations shaped by decades of traditional finance, and the demand is clear: performance-optimized platforms catering to high-speed trading, tokenized intellectual property, and sophisticated real-world asset markets. Critics warn that a highly fragmented landscape could dilute liquidity and create inefficiencies, making it harder for assets to flow seamlessly across different platforms. However, emerging data from beta deployments indicates that specialized networks can attract robust ecosystems, offering developers more freedom to innovate in areas like algorithmic credit scoring, IP rights management, and tokenized commodities. Experiments in liquid staking, real-world asset tokenization, and hybrid on-chain/off-chain data verification further validate the need for these chains as key infrastructure layers for the next wave of institutional DeFi. The long-term viability of this multi-chain paradigm will depend on whether interoperability frameworks can facilitate frictionless asset movement and whether institutions gain confidence in the governance and security of specialized chains. The future of blockchains is not monolithic; it’s modular, specialized, and taking off. As the market evolves, it’s crucial to develop seamless user interfaces and robust interoperability mechanisms that abstract away technical friction.
Playtron rolls out Game Dollar programmable stablecoin for gaming to enable purchases, subscriptions and rewards, giving a seamless and consistent experience for payments and rewards
Playtron, a Web3 gaming operating system, announced plans to roll out Game Dollar, a stablecoin for gaming that will be used to power purchases, subscriptions, and rewards across Playtron’s and other gaming ecosystems in the future. Game Dollar will be used to power Playtron’s GameOS, aiming to unify gaming ecosystems across platforms, where gaming economies remain mostly siloed. With Game Dollar, Playtron seeks to create a neutral, programmable financial layer across games and gaming marketplaces, giving a seamless and consistent experience for payments and rewards. Game Dollar will be built on top of the M0 stablecoin platform with seamless payments APIs powered by Bridge-supporting game marketplaces, publishers, and gamers. Importantly, Game Dollar will be available for use in a new, first-of-its-kind handheld gaming console, the SuiPlay0X1, allowing for payments and rewards on a wide range of PC games as well as new titles developed using the Sui blockchain within the console. “Programmable stablecoins are the next evolution of digital assets, and Game Dollar is a powerful example of how this innovation unlocks real utility in one of the world’s most dynamic sectors,” said Adeniyi Abiodun, chief product officer of Mysten Labs. Game Dollar will initially launch exclusively on Sui. M0 is the universal platform powering builders of application-specific stablecoins. With M0, developers can build safe, programmable and interoperable digital dollars.
Visa invests in Stabelcoin infrastructure platform BVNK that processes more than $12 billion annually for companies like Ferrari and Rapyd
Stabelcoin infrastructure platform BVNK received an investment from Visa. The new capital comes on the heels of a $50 million Series B funding round in December. “We’re proud to support BVNK as they help accelerate global adoption of stablecoin payments,” Rubail Birwadker, head of growth products and partnerships at Visa, said. “Stablecoins are fast becoming a part of global payment flows, and Visa invests in new technologies and builders like BVNK, staying at the forefront of what’s next in commerce to better serve our clients and partners.” There was $27 trillion in total stablecoin transaction volume globally across 1.25 billion transactions in 2024, per Visa Onchain Analytics. BVNK processes more than $12 billion annually for companies like Ferrari and Rapyd. “We’re experiencing a once-in-a-generation shift to a new foundational payment technology, powered by stablecoins,” BVNK co-founder and CEO Jesse Hemson Struthers said. “At BVNK, we’re building the infrastructure to make these new rails accessible to businesses, empowering them to operate at the speed of today’s economy.”
OCC clarifies banks may buy and sell assets crypto-assets; can also outsource custody to third parties
The OCC has clarified that institutions under its oversight can now buy and sell crypto assets on behalf of their customers. In addition, the OCC stated that national banks may outsource crypto-asset services to third parties, including custody and trade execution, provided those third parties maintain sound risk management practices. The latest OCC letter follows a similar directive issued in March, which rescinded the 2021 policy requiring banks to seek prior supervisory approval before engaging in crypto-related services. “The services national banks may provide in relation to the cryptocurrency they are custodying may include services such as facilitating the customer’s cryptocurrency and fiat currency exchange transactions, transaction settlement, trade execution, recordkeeping, valuation, tax services, reporting, or other appropriate services,” the March letter stated. It further clarified: “A bank acting as custodian may engage a sub-custodian for cryptocurrency it holds on behalf of customers and should develop processes to ensure that the sub-custodian’s operations have proper internal controls to protect the customer’s cryptocurrency.” Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve recently dropped its supervisory guidelines that previously required American banks to notify it in advance of any crypto-asset activities. Banks are also no longer required to obtain formal approval from the Fed before engaging in stablecoin-related operations. The decisions by both US regulators reflect the broader shift toward more crypto-friendly policies under the Trump administration.