09-10-2026 
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You’re nobody in finance these days without your own stablecoin, or your own Asia-focused cross-border stablecoin payments firm, or your own stablecoin-based lending platform, apparently.
- US Bancorp debuts stablecoin; Circle buys remittance firm Tazapay
- Chelsea-USDC deal has Hong Kongers worried
- Tether freezes $52 million linked to Asian pig butchering marketplace
- Iran leaning on USDT to dodge U.S. sanctions
- Tether, Visa eye stablecoin lending
U.S. Bancorp (NASDAQ: USB) has launched its proprietary dollar-backed stablecoin (USBDC) following “the successful execution of a live pilot transaction using USBDC … to enable a cross-border payment between U.S. Bank entities in North America and Europe.”
The transaction in question was conducted via the Stellar payments network, in keeping with USB’s announcement last November that it had partnered with Stellar on the then-unnamed stablecoin project.
USB CEO Gunjan Kedia said the pilot “demonstrates our ability to accelerate global cash management and money movement abilities.” The pilot was intended to evaluate “minting, payment redemption, freezing and clawback capabilities,” while also giving a boost to USB’s in-house Digital Asset Platform, on which USB’s plans for tokenizing assets will be based.
USB’s head of digital strategy Jamie Walker called the pilot “another step forward in our broader digital asset strategy.” Potential USBDC applications being evaluated include “enhanced liquidity management, collateral mobility, cross-border treasury operations, and other institutional use cases where blockchain technology can improve efficiency, transparency and settlement speed.”
USB is one of the few U.S. banks to adopt a go-it-alone stablecoin strategy, mirroring JPMorgan’s (NASDAQ: JPM) launch last year of its stablecoin/‘deposit token’ JPM Coin (JPMD). Just last week, ten other U.S. banks announced their involvement in a global consortium of 21 banks that plan to issue stablecoins based on G7 member-state currencies, starting with USD, adding a euro-backed token at some later date, before pondering whether to pursue other tokens.
It remains to be seen how much of a threat these bank-backed stablecoins might pose to the market’s two major incumbents, USDT-issuer Tether and USDC-issuer Circle (NASDAQ: CRCL). Both companies have promoted cross-border transfers as a key feature of their respective tokens, and neither appears eager to surrender their first-mover advantages.
On September 8, Circle announced that it had signed an agreement to acquire Tazapay, a Singapore-based B2B cross-border payments infrastructure company. Tazapay boasts over 60 banking and fintech partners, along with over $25 billion in annualized payment volume, of which ~60% involves stablecoins.
The acquisition will see Circle acquire all outstanding shares beyond the 5.23% stake it already holds in Tazapay. A filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reveals that the deal, which Circle expects to close next year, is an all-stock affair with aggregate consideration of $400 million, although the final figure will depend on Tazapay’s debt and transaction expenses.
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire claimed the two companies “share a deep alignment,” noting that Tazapay was an early design partner of the Circle Payments Network. Tazapay already offered USDC options to its customers, and Allaire predicted that the deal would further accelerate USDC’s global adoption.
Tazapay CEO Rahul Shinghal issued a statement saying his company built licensed infrastructure “in the markets where demand for stablecoin-denominated payments is growing fastest … Our customers were not waiting for stablecoin settlement to arrive. They were already using it, at scale, through rails they trusted. Bringing that together with the network behind USDC is the logical next step, not a change of direction.”
Shinghal claimed that “over time,” the Circle deal means “more routes, wider coverage, and the ability to move money in more corridors and outside local banking hours. When those are available, we will share the news.”
Circle’s Chelsea deal making Hong Kong footie fans nervous
The Tazapay acquisition isn’t the only wheeling and dealing Circle’s been up to lately. On September 1, Circle announced it was teaming up with the OKX digital asset exchange to “expand USDC liquidity and trading utility” on the platform, including spot, margin and futures trading.
OKX quickly rolled out rewards for USDC-based activity, with OKX CEO Star Xu claiming the deeper integration meant “better capital efficiency, more trading flexibility, and a stronger foundation for global markets.” It also means a bigger payday for OKX, as stablecoin issuers pay handsomely for increased exposure to exchange customers (what Circle refers to as ‘distribution’ costs).
The week before the OKX deal was announced, Circle teamed up with United Arab Emirates-based digital bankers Zand, whose customers will now enjoy USDC-based payments, settlement, treasury operations, trading, and cross-border transactions.
Meanwhile, Circle’s recent deal to feature USDC on the shirts of English Premier League mainstays Chelsea FC is causing some uneasiness in football-mad Hong Kong, where Chelsea fans are wondering if supporting their team might land them in jail.
More than a year after local legislators approved their Stablecoins Ordinance, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) authorized its first locally approved stablecoin, the Anchorpoint Financial-issued HKDAP, this April. That same month, Circle partnered with Hong Kong-listed OSL Group (0863.HK) to permit USDC-based transactions on OSL’s platform. But Circle has yet to receive HKMA approval.
According to the South China Morning Post, the fact that Circle has not yet received a license to operate in Hong Kong has Chelsea fans wondering if wearing clobber with the USDC logo featured so prominently might make them guilty of violating the HKMA’s ban on “actively market[ing] the issue of unlicensed [tokens] to the public.”
The unease felt by some local Chelsea fans was on full display, given that some of those who talked to the SCMP didn’t want to use their real names. A local football apparel shop merchant expressed similar confusion regarding the legality of the shirts and suggested the HKMA needed to clarify whether or not such promotions fall afoul of the regulations.
An HKMA spokesperson told the SCMP that the regulator approached the enforcement of its rules on a case-by-case basis, but wouldn’t comment on any individual case, including this one. However, they emphasized the ‘active marketing’ language of the prohibition.
OKX’s logo currently features on the sleeve of Chelsea’s EPL rival Manchester City, while the Kraken exchange has a similar tie-up with Tottenham Hotspur FC. Several other prominent football shirts feature the logos of online gambling companies that are definitely not authorized to operate in Hong Kong.
Broadcasters and publishers have generally been given a pass for airing matches or publishing photos featuring unauthorized products and services, but the HKMA retains the right to lower the boom as it sees fit. For the moment, it has chosen not to lower the boom on Circle. For the moment.
Tether deals blow to Xinbi scam marketplace
Fresh off being sued by some alleged ‘pig butcherers’ who want Tether to unfreeze their USDT, Tether has now frozen a different group of digital wallets linked to the same activity. On September 8, blockchain sleuths at MistTrack flagged 10 addresses on the TRON network that had nearly $39.3 million worth of USDT frozen by Tether. MistTrack suggested the freeze marked “another crackdown on illicit Telegram-based escrow platforms.”
The platform in question is Xinbi Guarantee, another in a series of ‘guarantee’ sites that provide products, services, and support for pig butchering scam compounds across Southeast Asia. Various actions have been taken by global law enforcement agencies to disrupt these platforms, including the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) seizing a cloud computing account used by subsidiaries and successors of the infamous Huione Group (Huione/Haowang/Tudou Guarantee).
The day after that initial USDT freezing report, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions against Xinbi Guarantee for operating “a large illicit online marketplace used to support cyber scams, fraud, money laundering, and other criminal activity targeting Americans.”
OFAC’s action was taken in coordination with the DoJ’s Scam Center Strike Force (SCSF), which confirmed that it had seized infrastructure and digital wallets used by Xinbi Guarantee. OFAC claimed Xinbi had “processed the equivalent of over $24 billion in digital assets and fiat currency through its marketplace and via its platforms” since its launch in 2022. Almost all of this volume would have been conducted in USDT.Neither Tether nor its CEO Paolo Ardoino has yet commented on the freeze of the Xinbi wallets, despite the company having previously been keen to promote its cooperation with law enforcement agencies. OFAC, which was reportedly keen to slap a scarlet letter designation on Tether prior to Donald Trump’s White House return, also neglected to mention Tether in its Xinbi announcement.
However, the DoJ issued its own statement thanking Tether “for its proactive assistance in this investigation.” The DoJ also indicated that the total amount of Xinbi-related tokens frozen was around $52 million, and that two wallets containing ~$12 million had been officially seized by the feds.
Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic reported on its own cooperation with the U.S. Secret Service on this action. Elliptic shared screenshots of a message Xinbi sent to its users protesting the “widespread freezing of USDT by Tether today.” Xinbi said it “strongly condemns Tether’s arbitrary freezing of addresses and expresses its deep regret for the numerous users affected by Tether.”
Xinbi also announced some changes to its operations, including a transition from USDT to USDD, the dollar-backed stablecoin launched by TRON founder Justin Sun that lacks a centralized freezing capacity. Xinbi converted $2.8 million worth of USDT to USDD in the immediate aftermath of the USDT wallet freeze.
USDD has a highly controversial history, mirroring the equally controversial career of Justin Sun. The token’s new embrace by pig butchering scammers is perhaps not the best endorsement one could hope for, but you could argue it’s fairly on-brand.
Tether can’t shake Iran sanctions ties
Tether is likely all too eager to cede its pig butchering crown to USDD, much as it was eager to cede the sanctions evasion crown to the Kyrgyzstan-based, Russia-supported, ruble-backed A7A5 stablecoin.
Tether has frozen vast quantities of USDT linked to Iran’s efforts to evade U.S. economic sanctions, including $344 million that Tether confirmed having frozen in April. By June, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was bragging about having seized “about a billion dollars of [Iran’s] crypto,” although Tether was less forthcoming about its possible role in this amped up action.
OFAC has targeted other Iranian crypto conduits, including four Iranian exchanges it deemed to be assisting the country’s sanctions-dodging efforts. OFAC also targeted Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority, which had promoted its willingness to allow ships to pass through the strait in exchange for $2 million tolls payable in USDT, Chinese yuan, or BTC.
In late August, Treasury launched Operation Economic Outcast, “an unprecedented, whole-of-government, economic campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran and its enablers.” The goal is to “sever [Iran’s] economic lifelines” by targeting “the networks, facilitators, and financial channels that Iran uses to smuggle oil, evade sanctions, and fund terror.” Treasury cited five sectors of Iran’s economy to be targeted, with ‘digital assets’ getting prominent play.
On September 9, the Financial Times reported that Iran was looking to digital assets to keep the country’s economy humming. Iran is reportedly telling traders to figure out ways to repatriate the estimated $100 billion in undeclared earnings that businesses have socked away abroad over the decades.
As one executive put it, “receiving cryptocurrencies for exports is now totally established.” A political economist put it more succinctly, saying: “The blockade has holes.”
The ‘by whatever means necessary’ methods of repatriating these funds include USDT and BTC, using Iranian exchanges to carry the flow. Tether declined to comment when contacted by the FT, but Alireza Bozorgmehri, a member of the Iran Digital Transformation Association, expressed skepticism that digital asset transactions alone would prove sufficient to meet Iran’s ever-growing and ever more urgent financial needs.
Lend us a stable-tenner
In a more positive Tether development, the company has partnered with London-based asset manager/‘fintech lending pioneer’ Fasanara Capital to launch StableFund, a private credit vehicle jointly funded with $400 million and targeting “up to $3 billion in third-party institutional capital.”
The idea is to steer this institutional capital to small- and medium-sized businesses, with Fasanara serving as investment manager and Tether acting as ‘originator and advisor.’ Tether’s more concrete responsibilities include “sourcing USDT-linked financing opportunities and providing the stablecoin settlement infrastructure, including on/off-ramp connectivity and treasury rail integration.”
With over $6 billion in assets under management, Fasanara CEO Francesco Filia said his company will help “direct institutional capital to borrowers that the traditional finance systematically underserves.” Tether CEO Ardoino said the two companies will turn “Tether’s origination network into a direct channel for capital to flow to the businesses and communities that need it most.”
Not to be outdone, this week saw credit card giant Visa (NASDAQ: V) announce “a new approach to onchain credit designed to help stablecoin-linked card programs and fintechs access working capital using onchain lending infrastructure and Visa data.”
Visa says it wants to help expand the growing stablecoin-denominated onchain lending sector beyond its committed crypto audience. By combining VisaNet settlement data with onchain credit infrastructure, lenders can glean greater insights into program performance and improve their capacity to evaluate financing opportunities.
Emerging payment companies experiencing rapid growth spurts can find it hard to obtain sufficient working capital in a timely manner. Visa is betting that blockchain-based lending infrastructure and trusted payment data can make that process easier while offering greater transparency and efficiency.
Visa’s global head of growth products and partnerships Rubail Birwadker believes “trusted payment data and onchain technologies can work together to unlock new forms of liquidity, helping businesses access capital in ways that are more transparent, programmable and aligned to the speed of modern commerce.”
Visa’s network boasts over 160 stablecoin-linked card programs through which payment volume is growing nearly 200% year-on-year. Meanwhile, Visa’s stablecoin settlement volume is up 15x year-on-year to an annualized run rate of $20 billion. In July, Visa launched its Visa Stablecoin Platform, part of its ongoing effort to bridge the tradfi and digital asset sectors.
Watch: CBDCs or stablecoins? What the industry leaders actually think
