#usd

World Liberty Financial, the project championed by Donald Trump’s sons and fueled by a recent $14 million private investment, is moving closer to releasing its USD-pegged stablecoin. According to Decrypt, the team is now focused on solidifying the technical backbone for the new coin.

Tether, the issuer behind the USDT stablecoin, has published a new report showcasing user statistics. The release comes shortly after the company debuted its documentary, “Stability and Freedom in Chaos: The Story of USD₮.”

At the end of September, Ripple got a major update related to its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin. The blockchain payments company minted 800,000 RLUSD, or 99% of the total supply in 24 hours, according to an X post by XRP Ledger validator Vet.

The Real USD stablecoin (USDR), backed by crypto assets and real estate, has lost its peg to the dollar, resulting in nearly a 50% price drop.

The former MT. Gox CEO shared a remarkable story. After his 2015 arrest, he faced a daunting task: sifting through 20,000 pages of evidence using just a basic accounting calculator he bought for $120 from the prison commissary. "I'd spend the next couple of months going through the accounting information provided by the prosecution, and managed to find some 5.5 million USD worth of revenue that wasn't accounted for. Suddenly, the argument raised by the prosecution didn't make sense," commented Mark Karpeles. This simple calculator changed the game. After nearly a year in custody, he was granted bail and, two years later, fully cleared of charges.

Despite advances in payment effectiveness and customer care, analysts Alkesh Shah and Andrew Moss from Bank of America think that PayPal USD (PYUSD) won't be widely adopted anytime soon. They wrote, "Over the longer term, we expect PYUSD to experience additional adoption headwinds as competition from central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and yield-bearing stablecoins increases."

Partnering with Paxos Trust, financial giant PayPal has unveiled PayPal USD (PYUSD), focusing on swift and budget-friendly payments. With backing from dollar deposits, short-term government securities, and similar cash equivalents, PayPal's CEO, Dan Schulman, envisions the stablecoin bolstering the company's foothold in the digital currency space: "The vision over time is that this becomes a part of the overall payments infrastructure."

On October 21, 2024, the Avalanche L1 blockchain team announced the launch of their crypto card in collaboration with Visa. This card allows users to pay for virtually any goods and services using cryptocurrencies like WAVAX (Wrapped AVAX), USDC (USD Coin), sAVAX (Staked AVAX), and several others.

A recent report from Kaiko reveals that Crypto․com has become the market leader in the U.S. for platforms supporting USD transactions. With over 50% of market share in weekly trading volume, the platform has outpaced Coinbase nearly three times over.

Xapo Bank, a crypto-focused financial institution, received a license in the UK and officially launched interest-bearing accounts in USD and BTC. The Bitcoin account offers an annual interest rate of 1% paid directly in BTC, without the need to lock funds or lend to other users.

Facing increased competition from conventional financial giants like PayPal Holdings Inc., Circle is taking strategic measures. To counter this threat and counterbalance the diminishing market share of its USD Coin stablecoin, Circle is expecting leveraging a substantial cash reserve surpassing $1 billion. The circulating supply of Circle’s USD Coin has experienced a decline, shrinking from $45 billion to around $26 billion since the start of this year.

According to the March 2023 reserve report , a total of 8.7 billion USDC is being held in six banks. However, three of these banks – Silvergate, Signature, and Silicon Valley Bank – are currently experiencing liquidity and solvency issues. The situation is especially dire for Silicon Valley Bank, which held 3.3 billion USDC and has been forced to close by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation. The USDC price has dropped by 15%, to $0.86, in response to these developments. Additionally, the DAI stablecoin has fallen by 10%, as up to 50% of its collateral is held in USDC. Currently, US Treasury bills account for 77% of the USDC reserves. The remaining 23% is held in cash at various banking institutions. The fate of these funds will depend on the outcome of the bankruptcy process for the affected banks and the amount of funds that can be recovered.