In this issue:
- US Digital Asset and Fintech Companies Announce Stablecoin Initiatives
- Crypto and Fintech Firms Achieve Licenses, Launch New Products
- SEC Approves Rule Changes Allowing Generic Listing Standards for Crypto ETFs
- Treasury Publishes GENIUS Act Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
- Israeli Authorities Target Crypto Wallets Allegedly Linked to Iran’s IRGC
US Digital Asset and Fintech Companies Announce Stablecoin Initiatives
According to recent reports, Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin, has announced plans to launch USAT, a stablecoin that would be regulated in the U.S. under the recently enacted GENIUS Act. USAT will reportedly launch using Tether’s proprietary tokenization platform, Hadron, with Anchorage Digital as the issuer and a major investment bank acting as the reserve custodian and preferred primary dealer.
In more stablecoin news, a major U.S. payments company recently announced “its next-generation mobile app, introducing a digital, USD-backed stored value account designed to work seamlessly with both traditional fiat currencies and stablecoins.” According to a press release, the new product will initially launch in Colombia and “will leverage USD-pegged stablecoins to provide access to a fast and modern way to move and hold money across borders.”
In another press release, the issuer of the PYUSD stablecoin recently announced a new “links” feature, which is described as “a new way to send and receive money through a personalized, one-time link that can be shared in any conversation.” According to the press release, “Crypto will soon be directly integrated” into the new feature within the company’s app, which will “make it more convenient for … users in the U.S. to send Bitcoin, Ethereum, PYUSD, and more, to … a rapidly growing number of digital wallets across the world that support crypto and stablecoins.”
In a final related item, Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, recently announced a partnership with Kraken, a major global crypto exchange, to “increase utility of USDC and EURC” on the Kraken platform. Circle also recently announced that USDC will soon be deployed on the Hyperliquid blockchain, “a high-performance blockchain built for decentralized finance.”
For more information, please refer to the following links:
- Tether reveals USAT stablecoin, appoints Bo Hines, former White House advisor, to lead U.S. business
- MoneyGram Reinvents Cross-Border Finance with Next-Generation App
- PayPal Ushers in a New Era of Peer-to-Peer Payments, Reimagining How Money Moves to Anyone, Anywhere
- Kraken and Circle partner to accelerate global access to USDC and EURC
- Native USDC & CCTP V2 are Coming to Hyperliquid: What You Need to Know
Crypto and Fintech Firms Achieve Licenses, Launch New Products
In a recent press release, Bullish, “an institutionally focused global digital asset platform that provides market infrastructure and information services … announced that its U.S. digital asset trading and custody business, Bullish US Operations LLC, has been granted a BitLicense and Money Transmission License by the New York State Department of Financial Services.” The license “allows Bullish to provide institutions and advanced traders in New York State digital asset spot trading and custody services.”
In another recent announcement, a major U.S. technology company launched “the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), an open protocol developed with leading payments and technology companies to securely initiate and transact agent-led payments across platforms.” According to a blog post by the company, “AP2 is designed as a universal protocol, providing security and trust for a variety of payments like stablecoins and cryptocurrencies.” The blog post further notes that the AP2 launch includes “the A2A x402 extension, a production-ready solution for agent-based crypto payments.”
A third recent press release announced that a major U.S. digital asset infrastructure company, has received approval for its European subsidiary to expand its crypto trading services operating out of Frankfurt, Germany. And in a final notable development, a major global bank recently announced the launch of new trading and lending solutions in the Singapore market that are “powered by tokenised money market funds and Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin.”
For more information, please refer to the following links:
- Bullish secures New York BitLicense from the NYDFS, paving way for U.S. launch
- Powering AI commerce with the new Agent Payments Protocol (AP2)
- Google releases AI payments protocol that includes support for stablecoins, partners include Coinbase and Salesforce
- BitGo Expands European Offering to Include Regulated Trading Services
- DBS and Franklin Templeton to launch trading and lending solutions powered by tokenised money market funds and Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin
SEC Approves Rule Changes Allowing Generic Listing Standards for Crypto ETFs
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently published a press release announcing that it has “voted to approve proposed rule changes by three national securities exchanges to adopt generic listing standards for exchange-traded products that hold spot commodities, including digital assets.” In a quote from the press release, SEC Chair Paul S. Atkins said, “By approving these generic listing standards, we are ensuring that our capital markets remain the best place in the world to engage in the cutting-edge innovation of digital assets.” The same press release also noted that the SEC had approved “the listing and trading of the Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund, which holds spot digital assets based on the CoinDesk 5 Index” and the listing and trading of p.m.-settled options on a major Bitcoin ETF Index “with third Friday expirations, nonstandard expirations, and quarterly index expirations.”
For more information, please refer to the following link:
Treasury Publishes GENIUS Act Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
On Sept. 19, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) in the Federal Register to solicit public comment on questions relating to the implementation of the GENIUS Act. According to the ANPRM, “The GENIUS Act tasks Treasury (and various other federal agencies) with issuing regulations that encourage innovation in payment stablecoins while also providing an appropriately tailored regime to protect consumers, mitigate potential illicit finance risks, and address financial stability risks.” Through the ANPRM, “Treasury is seeking public comment on potential regulations that may be promulgated by Treasury, including regarding regulatory clarity, prohibitions on certain issuances and marketing, Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) anti-money laundering (AML) and sanctions obligations, the balance of state-level oversight with federal oversight, comparable foreign regulatory and supervisory regimes, and tax issues” as well as “other issues that Treasury should consider.”
The ANPRM includes 58 specific questions on which Treasury is seeking input. The questions broadly fall into the following categories: Issuance and Treatment of Payment Stablecoins; Requirements for Issuing Payment Stablecoins; Illicit Finance; Foreign Payment Stablecoin Issuers; Taxation; Insurance; Economic Data; and Other Topics. Comments on the ANPRM must be received on or before Oct. 20, 2025.
For more information, please refer to the following links:
Israeli Authorities Target Crypto Wallets Allegedly Linked to Iran’s IRGC
By Amos Kim
Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF) has issued a seizure order targeting 187 cryptocurrency addresses allegedly linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its Qods Force. According to Elliptic, a blockchain analytics firm, the targeted wallets have collectively handled more than $1.5 billion worth of crypto assets. This is the latest in a series of actions by Israeli authorities aimed at disrupting the use of crypto for terror financing.
The NBCTF order identifies specific wallets and their connection to businesses, such as Al-Huda, which allegedly act as financial conduits for sanctioned entities. Following the seizure order, Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin, has reportedly frozen $1.5 million in assets held in the designated wallets. The majority of the activity was observed to be USDT transacted on the Tron blockchain, which has been previously identified in other terror financing cases involving groups like Hezbollah.
This action follows previous seizures by Israeli authorities targeting crypto assets linked to the IRGC and Hezbollah. According to Elliptic, the ability for issuers like Tether to freeze or “blacklist” assets associated with sanctioned addresses is a key tool being utilized by authorities in these enforcement efforts.
For more information, please refer to the following link: