Stablecoin

Paxos, the infrastructure provider for PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin, mistakenly minted $300 trillion worth of PYUSD due to a “technical error.” The error, detected and rectified quickly, involved burning the excess tokens. While customer funds remained safe, the incident highlights critical questions about safeguards and operational protocols in stablecoin issuance. The event underscores the role of custodians and the importance of swift error correction in maintaining trust. This comes as stablecoins gain traction, increasing scrutiny of their resilience and regulatory compliance.

World Liberty Financial (WLF), a crypto venture linked to the Trump family, announced at Token2049 its plans to launch a debit card and explore tokenized commodities. CEO Zach Witkoff highlighted the debit card aiming to bridge crypto with traditional spending, and their active work on tokenizing assets like oil and timber. WLF also launched USD1, a stablecoin reportedly among the top five globally. Donald Trump Jr emphasized WLF’s independence, while Witkoff noted USD1’s potential to boost demand for U.S. Treasuries. The company plans to launch USD1 on the Aptos blockchain.

Tether is reportedly exploring a capital raise of $15-$20 billion through private placement, potentially valuing the stablecoin giant at $500 billion. This move would place Tether among the world’s most valuable private companies, rivaling OpenAI and SpaceX. The company aims to use the capital to diversify reserves, enhance transparency, and solidify its market dominance amid increasing regulatory scrutiny and competition. This comes as Tether expands its presence in the U.S. with a new stablecoin, USAT, targeting institutional clients. The outcome could reshape the stablecoin market.

Tether is deepening its commitment to the U.S. market by appointing a CEO for U.S. operations, Bo Hines, and launching USAT, a stablecoin for U.S. institutions. USAT, operating under the GENIUS Act framework, will utilize Tether’s Hadron platform and involve Anchorage Digital as issuer and Cantor Fitzgerald as a reserve custodian. While USDT remains dominant globally, USAT aims to compete directly with competitors like USDC within the U.S. This strategic move seeks to address regulatory concerns and attract risk-averse entities, integrating digital assets into traditional finance.

World Liberty Financial’s (WLFI) USD1 stablecoin, claimed to be the fastest-growing, is now available on Coinbase. This expands USD1’s accessibility to Coinbase’s extensive user base, aligning with WLFI’s goal of wider digital asset adoption. CEO Zach Witkoff emphasizes Coinbase’s trustworthiness as a major crypto platform. USD1 is a Genius-compliant stablecoin backed by a reserve portfolio of treasury bills, cash deposits etc. This follows ALT5 Sigma’s $1.5 billion capital raise to adopt a WLFI Treasury Strategy, highlighting institutional interest. WLFI aims to democratize DeFi access.

Ant Group has publicly denied rumors of a joint venture with the People’s Bank of China and China Rare Earth Group to launch a rare earth-backed RMB stablecoin. This follows a previous denial from AntChain regarding collaboration on Real World Assets with Hainan HuaTie. Ant Group cautions the public against investment scams and misinformation related to digital assets, particularly those falsely implying association with Ant Group or AntChain. The company reserves the right to pursue legal action against unauthorized brand use.

Above Food Ingredients (ABVE) is merging with Palm Global Technologies, with ~90% shareholder support. ABVE appointed CBIZ CPA to regain Nasdaq compliance. Palm Global partners with Promax United to tokenize $1.5T in sovereign assets and launch a gold-backed stablecoin ($350B US gold). Fifteen African nations may adopt the stablecoin as official currency, adding over $100B in assets to Palm Global’s balance sheet. ABVE faces Nasdaq delinquency but anticipates audit completion within 4-6 weeks.