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📝 In Today’s Edition
Top Stories: The Federal Reserve’s Payments Innovation Conference, China considers yuan-backed stablecoins, and more
Stablecoin Story: Rektdiomedes’ Perspective on the Stablecoin Space
Commentary Corner: Why are stablecoin-specific blockchains emerging, and how do they differ from networks like Ethereum?
Chart We’re Watching: Percent of Crypto Funding to Stablecoin Companies
Project Spotlight: Stable
📰 Top Stablecoin Stories We’re Following
The U.S. Federal Reserve announced it will hold a Payments Innovation Conference on Oct. 21, featuring panels on stablecoin business models, tokenization of assets, and the convergence of TradFi and DeFi. The move follows a broader policy shift under the Trump administration that has eased restrictions on banks engaging with crypto and stablecoins.
Our thoughts: By dedicating a full conference to stablecoins and tokenization, the Fed is signaling that digital dollars are not a fringe experiment but a serious part of the payments system. The public livestream also ensures that both policymakers and industry players can engage openly. Expect the event to shape how U.S. regulators frame stablecoins in relation to efficiency, safety, and demand for U.S. Treasuries.
Hyperliquid, the largest decentralized perpetuals exchange, is preparing to launch its own stablecoin, USDH. Major contenders include Paxos, Frax, Agora, and Native Markets, each offering different reserve strategies and revenue-sharing models. With $378 billion in monthly trading volume, the new stablecoin could quickly become a cornerstone of the protocol.
Our thoughts: Stablecoin issuance is no longer limited to fintechs and centralized players. Hyperliquid’s USDH represents a direct challenge to USDC and USDT dominance within its ecosystem. How validators vote will determine USDH’s structure and could set a precedent for how decentralized exchanges leverage stablecoins as revenue drivers and liquidity anchors.
Tether has brought on Bo Hines, a former executive director of the Presidential Council of Advisers for Digital Assets, as a strategic adviser for U.S. expansion. Hines played a key role in shaping the GENIUS Act and broader crypto regulation before returning to the private sector in August. His mandate at Tether will include engagement with policymakers and industry groups.
Our thoughts: By hiring a senior figure who directly shaped U.S. crypto policy, Tether is positioning itself for legitimacy and influence in the world’s biggest market. This marks a clear pivot from defense to offense: Tether wants to be seen not just as a market leader, but as a regulatory-aligned institution shaping the future of digital dollars.
China’s State Council is reviewing a roadmap that could approve yuan-backed stablecoins. The plan would fast-track pilots in Hong Kong and Shanghai and set guidelines for risk management. If approved, this would mark a reversal from China’s previous ban on crypto trading and stablecoins, signaling that digital assets may now play a role in extending the yuan’s global reach.
Our thoughts: While the U.S. pushes dollar stablecoins, China is exploring its own digital counterpart to expand yuan usage worldwide. If launched, a yuan stablecoin would become a powerful tool in global trade, potentially eroding dollar dominance. The move highlights how stablecoins are entering the realm of geopolitics, where monetary policy and digital infrastructure intersect.
Visa-backed Rain raises $58M to scale stablecoin payments
Rain, a payments startup integrating stablecoins with Visa’s global network, raised $58 million in a Series B led by Sapphire Ventures, with participation from Samsung Next, Dragonfly, and others. Rain enables fintechs, banks, and marketplaces to issue stablecoin-powered cards and wallets, making it easier for stablecoins to be used in everyday transactions.
Our thoughts: This is stablecoin infrastructure going mainstream. By connecting stablecoins directly to Visa’s rails, Rain is turning digital dollars from a trading and savings tool into everyday money. Backing from Samsung and other major investors highlights the consumer potential here: stablecoins embedded not just in finance apps, but also in devices and global payment networks.
🎤 Rektdiomedes’ Unique Perspective on the Stablecoin Space
Last week, we spoke with Rektdiomedes, founder of The Daily Degen, to get a crypto-native perspective on where stablecoins are headed. As the writer of a newsletter read by more than 27,000 people daily and an active voice on X with over 100,000 followers, he has been on the frontlines of DeFi and stablecoin adoption for years.
In this conversation, he shares how stablecoins are solving real-world payment problems today, why DeFi rails are poised to replace TradFi infrastructure, and why he believes stablecoin growth to the multi-trillion-dollar level is inevitable.
From paying employees abroad to moving investments across borders, his personal journey has fueled a strong conviction in stablecoins as digital dollars. He capped the conversation with a bold prediction for what comes next:
I think that stablecoins will hit a $2 - 3T market cap before the end of the current Trump administration. This makes perfect sense as it will help cement the dollar's role as the reserve currency worldwide, and also provide a large demand source for U.S. Treasuries.
🤔 Commentary Corner
Q: Why are stablecoin-specific blockchains emerging, and how do they differ from networks like Ethereum?
Up until now, stablecoins have primarily lived on general-purpose blockchains like Ethereum, Solana, and Tron. These platforms were critical in driving early adoption but were never designed with stablecoins at their core. As stablecoins move beyond trading into payments, savings, and business finance, that mismatch between user needs and infrastructure is becoming too costly to ignore.
Here’s what sets them apart:
Cheap and predictable fees: General-purpose blockchains often expose users to volatile gas costs. Stablecoin chains aim for zero-fee or stablecoin-denominated gas, making payments feel as simple and transparent as sending a message.
Instant finality: For use cases like payroll and point-of-sale payments, even brief settlement delays are unacceptable. Purpose-built chains target sub-second finality to support real-time commerce.
Privacy with compliance built in: Businesses need confidentiality for sensitive transactions, but regulators demand auditability. Stablecoin chains are experimenting with ZK cryptography that enables compliant confidential payments.
TradFi integrations: To replace or rival systems like SWIFT and Visa, stablecoins need seamless connectivity to banks, card networks, and fiat rails. Stablecoin chains are prioritizing these integrations from day one.
Institutional confidence: Enterprises require rails they can rely on. Stablecoin chains are responding with dedicated blockspace, predictable throughput, and compliance tooling to meet that standard.
📊 Chart to Watch: Percent of Crypto Funding to Stablecoins
Beyond adoption and mindshare, stablecoins are now dominating crypto funding too:
The percent of total crypto funding by stablecoin companies reached new all-time highs: Stablecoin-related companies made up more than 25% of total fundraising activity in Q2.
Individual deal activity remains strong: In Q1 2025, stablecoin companies set a record with 28 individual raises. This trend has continued, dominated by Series A and B activity.
🔎 Project Spotlight: Stable
The rise of stablecoins has created one of the largest markets in crypto, but the underlying infrastructure hasn’t kept up. As adoption accelerates, the cracks in today’s systems are becoming harder to ignore.
What is it? Stable is a purpose-built Layer 1 blockchain optimized for USDT transfers, offering sub-second block times, instant finality, and gas-free peer-to-peer transactions. Unlike general-purpose blockchains, every layer of Stable’s architecture is engineered to streamline stablecoin settlement. The protocol uses USDT0 as its native token, eliminating dual-token complexity and enabling frictionless payments.
Why is it important? Stablecoins power billions in daily transfers, but today they move on blockchains that weren’t designed for them. Stable is changing that by providing a high-performance, dedicated environment where USDT can settle instantly, securely, and at scale. With support for compliant confidential transactions and seamless integration into traditional finance rails, Stable aims to become the backbone of stablecoin payments worldwide.
Until next time,