Plasma, a provider of stablecoin infrastructure based in Milan, has launched Plasma One, which it claims is the first neobank dedicated to stablecoin users. The neobank aims to address existing inefficiencies in stablecoin usage, such as poor interfaces, lack of localization, and difficulties in cash conversion. Founder and CEO Paul Faecks emphasized the importance of delivering permissionless financial services to those facing financial exclusion, thereby enhancing access to saving, spending, and transferring digital dollars. Plasma One accepts registrations for its services, which include both virtual and physical cards offering 4% cash back, instant digital dollar transfers, direct stablecoin payments, and yields exceeding 10%. The neobank plans to cover over 150 countries and provide card acceptance at approximately 150 million merchants globally, with a focus on markets where demand for dollars is greatest. It will implement localized strategies, including native language support and the integration of peer-to-peer cash systems. The launch precedes the mainnet beta release on September 25, and will follow a phased rollout to facilitate development and user onboarding. Earlier in July, Plasma raised $373 million in its public token sale, significantly exceeding its $50 million goal, with investments from notable participants such as Bitfinex, Framework Ventures, and the Founders Fund led by Peter Thiel.
Chainlink joins privacy focused blockchain Canton Network as Super Validator integrating Data Streams and Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol, supporting $6 trillion in tokenized RWA
Canton Network, a blockchain built for regulated finance, has struck a strategic partnership with Chainlink to broaden institutional adoption. The agreement will see Canton integrate Chainlink’s suite of services, including Data Streams, Proof of Reserve, and its Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol. Canton has also joined the Chainlink Scale program, which helps cover the costs of running oracle nodes that feed external data into blockchains. Chainlink Labs will take on the role of Super Validator in Canton’s Global Synchronizer, a system designed to keep transactions across the network in sync. That places Chainlink alongside a roster of more than 30 super validators and 500 validators already supporting Canton, which processes $280 billion in daily repo transactions and secures over $6 trillion in tokenized real-world assets. For institutions, the deal could mean faster access to tokenized securities, stablecoins, and digital identity tools without sacrificing compliance or privacy. Imagine a bank issuing tokenized bonds on Canton and relying on Chainlink to confirm collateral values in real time—a scenario designed to cut costs while reducing counterparty risk. “The collaboration brings together Canton’s focus on regulated finance with Chainlink’s infrastructure, paving the way for real-world institutional use cases,” Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov said.
Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic achieves exclusive four G-SIB backing through HSBC investment; roadmap includes AI-driven compliance copilot and comprehensive blockchain coverage for financial institutions
Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic has secured a strategic investment from HSBC, making it the only company in the sector to be backed by four globally systemically important banks (G-SIBs). HSBC joins JPMorgan Chase, Santander and Wells Fargo on Elliptic’s investor roster. As part of the deal, Richard May, Group Head of Financial Crime at HSBC’s corporate and institutional banking arm, will take a seat on Elliptic’s board. Elliptic’s technology is used by financial institutions, crypto exchanges and governments to monitor blockchain transactions for signs of financial crime. With HSBC’s investment, Elliptic says it will step up hiring and expand its footprint in financial services. May said HSBC’s decision reflects the need for greater visibility into digital asset flows as regulation tightens. “With the rapid evolution of digital assets and currencies, mitigating financial crime risks has never been more important,” he said. “Elliptic’s solution provides HSBC with greater transparency, helping to meet rising regulatory expectations and industry standards.” The firm is also pushing ahead with an “AI-driven roadmap,” including a compliance-focused copilot launched this year to shorten onboarding times for banks entering crypto. Another priority is expanding blockchain coverage.
Securitize enables Ripple stablecoin integration into smart contract, with BlackRock and VanEck tokenized treasury funds creating institutional 24/7 liquidity pathway for real-world assets
Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin is being integrated into tokenized money-market funds from BlackRock and VanEck, giving holders of the products a direct redemption path into on-chain liquidity. Through a new smart contract on Securitize’s platform, investors in BlackRock’s BUIDL and VanEck’s VBILL funds can now swap their shares for RLUSD on demand, creating what Ripple calls a 24/7 stablecoin off-ramp for tokenized treasuries. The move positions RLUSD as a settlement layer for real-world assets (RWA) while broadening its institutional footprint. Jack McDonald, Ripple’s SVP of Stablecoins, said that the tie-up “is a natural next step as we continue to bridge traditional finance and crypto,” framing RLUSD as regulatory-compliant and enterprise-grade. RLUSD — backed 1:1 with liquid reserves and issued under a New York DFS trust charter — has climbed past $700 million in circulation since launching last year. Ripple has been pushing its use in cross-border payments and DeFi pools, while now anchoring it to institutional RWA platforms. The Securitize tie-in also sets up RLUSD for deployment on the XRP Ledger, giving Ripple a dual push of a regulatory-compliant stablecoin issuance on one side, and DeFi-facing usability on the other.
Xone Chain launches live mainnet with Behavior Value Incentive (BVI) mechanism, privacy enhancements, and now a clarified global compliance structure to deliver an high-integrity and high performance blockchain ecosystem
Xone Chain, a live Layer-1 blockchain platform, is proud to reinforce its legal and compliance framework alongsideits technical and economic innovations, as it continues scaling for global adoption by investors and general crypto users. With its live mainnet, Behavior Value Incentive (BVI) mechanism, EVM + Cosmos compatibility, privacy enhancements, and now a clarified global compliance structure, Xone Chain is cementing its position as a high-integrity, high-performance blockchain ecosystem. Key updates on Xone Chain detail its governance and operational structure. Xone Chain is managed by XONE Network Ltd., based in the British Virgin Islands, employing a hybrid governance model that incorporates DAO-based voting alongside traditional board meetings for decision-making related to roadmaps and budgets. The operational framework includes Local Operating Entities (LOEs) across various regions, which ensure compliance with local laws and support ecosystem growth. Additionally, Xone has outlined jurisdiction policies that specify permitted and prohibited activities by region, such as the USA, EU, Hong Kong, Singapore, and South Korea, while clearly stating that public content is not investment advice and addressing brand misuse through established restrictions. Technical & Functional Highlights: Behavioral Value Incentive (BVI): Users are rewarded for constructive on-chain behaviors (e.g. DApp interaction, governance participation). Rewards are transparently tracked and integrated into consensus/governance. Hybrid Consensus & Fast Finality: Delegated PoS plus behavior scoring, ~1-second finality enabling responsive applications and reducing congestion. EVM Compatibility & Cosmos SDK Modularity: Developers familiar with Ethereum tools (Solidity, wallets) can build on Xone Chain; Cosmos SDK modules bring governance, staking, IBC, modular extensions. Privacy & Interoperability: zk-SNARKs, ring signatures, stealth addresses, and cross-chain bridges support private transactions and cross-ecosystem connections.
NYDFS-chartered Bastion secures strategic funding from Coinbase, Sony and Samsung to scale its white-label stablecoin infrastructure, enabling enterprises to launch branded digital dollars without regulatory licenses
Bastion, which offers a Stablecoin-as-a-Service platform, has raised a $14.6 million funding round led by Coinbase Ventures. Other participants include Sony Innovation Fund, a16z crypto, Samsung Next and Hashed. This brings total funds raised to $40 million. The company’s solution helps enterprises and financial institutions to issue, hold and utilize stablecoins, including solutions for reserve management. Bastion says it holds a limited trust charter from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), although it is not yet listed on the NYDFS website. “We’ve seen meaningful growth at Bastion over the last year, and we’re encouraged by the overwhelming interest and engagement from major industry stakeholders and enterprises,” said Caroline Friedman, Bastion COO.
Cloudflare introduces an enterprise USD backed stablecoin with x402 protocol enabling instant and autonomous AI agent payments and microtransactions across global connectivity cloud infrastructure
Cloudflare plans to introduce NET Dollar, a new U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin that will enable instant, secure transactions for the agentic web. NET Dollar will help power a new business model for the Internet that rewards originality, sustains creativity, and enables innovation in an AI-driven world. NET Dollar will help modernize the payment ecosystem for the future of the agentic web by: Making payments easy anywhere in the world: Agents will need systems to enable payments that are not only fast and secure, but also trusted, recorded transparently, and executed reliably at a global scale – across currencies, geographies, and time zones. Enabling instant, automated transactions: Personal agents will be able to take instant, programmatic actions like paying for the cheapest flight, or ordering an item the moment it goes on sale. Business agents could be instructed to pay suppliers when a delivery is confirmed. Unlocking a new business model for the Internet: NET Dollar will enable creators to be rewarded for unique and original content, developers to easily monetize APIs and applications, and AI companies to contribute back to the ecosystem that fuels them by compensating content sources fairly.
Tether and Circle capture treasury yield for themselves now; however new competitive protocols are introducing programmable-yield stablecoins that redirect interest to apps or end users to reshape the market
Stablecoin giants like Tether and Circle are profiting from the current high-interest rate environment while stablecoin holders see none of the returns, said Wormhole’s co-founder, Dan Reecer. He said the companies are effectively “printing money” by keeping the yield from the U.S. Treasuries backing their tokens. Tether, for example, reported $4.9 billion in net profit in the second quarter of the year. That has seen the company’s valuation soar to a reported $500 billion in a new funding round. As interest rates remain elevated, Reecer suggested it’s only a matter of time before users expect a share of that yield or move their funds elsewhere. Platforms like M^0 and Agora are already responding to that demand, he suggested. These projects allow stablecoin infrastructure to be built in a way that routes yield to applications or directly to end users, instead of the issuer capturing all of it. Tether and Circle likely do not share the yield generated from their stablecoins directly with users as doing so could draw the ire of regulators. An alternative that’s steadily growing are money market funds, which allow investors to gain exposure to the yield behind these stablecoins. The stablecoin market is evolving towards real-world use cases, including cross-border payments and FX services, with innovations like tokenized money market funds being used as collateral on exchanges.
Chainlink-led consortium with Swift, DTCC, UBS and others has demonstrated an AI+blockchain workflow that standardizes corporate actions data into “golden records” to power tokenized equities and automate post‑trade across public and private chains
A host of banking and capital market players – including Swift, the DTCC and UBS – have closed out the second stage of a Chainlink-led project to use AI and blockchain technology to standardise and streamline corporate actions processing. For phase 2 of the project, 24 organisations – including ANZ, DBS Bank and TMX – introduced a production-grade deployment by making substantial improvements to the speed, reach, and accessibility of corporate actions data in a move the partners claims could save the global financial system tens of billions of dollars a year. The system uses Chainlink’s Runtime Environment to validate outputs from multiple AI models and convert them into ISO 20022-compliant messages, which are then transmitted via the Swift network. Simultaneously, Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol distributes the same verified data across DTCC’s blockchain and other networks, ensuring synchronized access across both traditional and blockchain-based platforms. New roles for data attestors and contributors were introduced to verify and complete data, creating a secure and traceable data lifecycle. The system achieved nearly perfect consensus among AI models during testing, resulting in a unified, real-time source of truth for corporate actions. This enables smart contracts, custodians, and post-trade systems to access consistent data, and supports tokenized equities by allowing them to reference the same records across different blockchains. The initiative is expected to save the global financial system tens of billions of dollars annually and will next expand to handle more complex corporate actions, broaden jurisdictional coverage, and enhance privacy and governance features.
Visa tests pre-funded stablecoins for cross-border payments, without users having to tie up cash for extended periods of time; Visa Direct will use USC dollar and EURC for the pilot
Visa is testing a pilot programme that gives financial institutions, banks and remittance providers the option of using pre-funded stablecoins to make cross-border payments faster and more flexible, without users having to tie up cash for extended periods of time. Visa Direct, the payment network’s real-time platform, will use Circle Internet Group’s USC dollar and EURC euro-backed stablecoins for the pilot. The Visa programme has the potential to eliminate a worst-case scenario for clients: an underfunded account causing service delays for their end customers. A remittance company, for example, must maintain pre-funded accounts in each of the markets where it operates in preparation for customer withdrawal requests. If the company receives more requests than expected and cannot fund all of them, it runs the risk of service interruptions. If that occurs when traditional payment systems are not running, like during weekends, there could be days-long delays for consumers who use the service, according to Mark Nelsen, head of product for Visa’s commercial and money movement solutions. “We’re giving this immediate ability to get money to the accounts in real time,” Nelsen said. “It’s a more efficient use of capital so you can deploy it as needed as opposed to having to deploy two or three days’ worth of money in one stop.” The added support for stablecoins means clients can now fund their network of global accounts in real time and avoid the off-hours delays associated with existing payment systems, Nelsen said.