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Consumers shopping at Walmart and Amazon could soon settle their baskets with the retailers’ dollar-pegged digital tokens after both firms confirmed they are exploring proprietary stablecoins. People familiar with the plans told The Wall Street Journal that preliminary technical work is underway, although neither company has yet committed to a launch date. The move would represent the deepest incursion by non-financial multinationals into the U.S. payments system, potentially diverting billions of dollars in card fees from banks and networks towards the two retail behemoths. Industry analysts say the timing is no coincidence. The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act on June 17, establishing a clear legal framework for corporate issuers. Both companies have long chafed at the cost of traditional card rails; Walmart alone paid an estimated $2.1 billion in processing fees last year. By issuing...

Banking giant Citigroup says 2025 could be a “ChatGPT moment” in terms of adoption for stablecoins and blockchain technology. “The main catalyst for their greater acceptance may be regulatory clarity in the US, which could enable greater integration of stablecoins specifically, and blockchain more widely, into the existing financial system,” financial analysts at the bank said in an April 23 report . Citigroup Sees Stablecoin Market Cap Soaring To $3.7 Trillion By 2030 “The tailwinds of regulatory support and the increased integration of digital assets into incumbent financial institutions are setting the stage for increased usage for stablecoins,” the Citigroup analysts said in the report. With the anticipated surge in usage for stablecoins, the banking titan predicted that the market cap for stablecoins could soar to as high as $3.7 trillion by the end of the decade in a bull case. In a base case, this figure is expected to rise to $1.6 trill...

Following Ripple’s successful political activism via Fairshake and its other Washington DC lobbying efforts, its critics are reinvigorated. After it scored a victory in Donald Trump’s executive order that deprioritized bitcoin (BTC) and emphasized stablecoins like Ripple USD, Bitcoiners have focused their vitriol on the billionaire-led company for allegedly derailing plans for a US National Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. Leading the attack is Riot Platforms’ Pierre Rochard, a Bitcoin maximalist. Leading the defense is Ripple CTO David Schwartz, who has fired back against Rochard’s claims that the XRP Ledger (XRPL) blockchain is centralized. Behind them, thousands of the communities’ supporters are rallying support for their causes. For example, Rochard retweeted a thread describing XRPL as being centrally administered by Ripple Labs. The thread highlights a legal notice from Ripple asserting that it and its logo are trademarked. Rochard went on to make the case that XRP is...

Polygon (POL, formerly MATIC) price is crashing by 38% year-to-date, suffering a high-time frame hit with the rebranding. Additionally, recent developments related to Polygon’s and Aave’s (AAVE) governance proposals have brought more turmoil to POL price this week. In particular, Allez Labs, Morpho Labs, and YearnFi have come together to make a governance proposal for Polygon’s bridged stablecoins. According to the pre-PIP, these DeFi protocols want to activate the $1.3 billion in stablecoin reserves of the PoS bridge. Pre-PIP: Polygon PoS Bridge Liquidity Program. Source: Polygon Governance The community, however, received this proposal with bad eyes, bringing fear, uncertainty, and doubt regarding the safety of users’ assets. Comments in the Polygon Foundation’s related post talk about how this is “not a good idea,” “the worst idea ever,” or a “terrible idea from a risk-awareness perspective,” said Torgin, auditor at Chain Security. ...