Stablecoin market size and usage have led the Federal Reserve to include them in its dollar policy research agenda. Stablecoins are dollar‑denominated tokens used for payments and as trading tools. They have grown to large market caps, with Tether valued at about $186 billion and USDC near $74 billion as of late June 2025. Their 24‑day trading volume exceeds $80 billion, roughly double Bitcoin’s volume. The Federal Reserve treats them as part of the dollar’s international role. At the Fed’s June 22‑23 International Roles of the Dollar conference, Governor Christopher Waller said stablecoins are part of the research agenda on the dollar’s global role. The conference agenda listed digital assets, market structure, reserve‑currency status and geopolitical considerations. Waller noted that stablecoins can serve as channels for global dollar intermediation alongside traditional banks and payment systems. He emphasized that the Fed is studying how private digital‑dollar claims interact with banks, reserves and wholesale payments. The stablecoin market now includes two of the five largest crypto assets by capitalization, Tether and USDC. Tether’s market capitalization is near $186 billion and its daily trading volume around $81 billion, while USDC’s capitalization is near $74 billion. These figures indicate that stablecoins have reached a scale that central‑bank researchers consider relevant to dollar liquidity and monetary policy. Circle, the issuer of USDC, reports that the token’s circulating supply was $74.3 billion on June 22 and that reserves are held in a BlackRock‑managed money market fund registered with the SEC. That structure links stablecoin demand to bank deposits, Treasury repo markets and short‑term Treasury bills. On June 5, The Clearing House announced a plan for major banks to back an on‑chain commercial‑bank‑money initiative that enables 24/7 tokenized settlement while keeping customer funds in regulated deposit accounts. The initiative aims to provide tokenized deposit clearing that matches the speed of stablecoins while remaining within the banking system. Research from the New York Fed in 2026 suggested that stablecoin activity can transmit liquidity stress to banks and complicate monetary‑policy implementation. A June BIS working paper found that dollar‑backed stablecoin inflows can lower short‑term Treasury bill yields, especially during periods of Treasury market stress. Treasury advisory materials indicate that major stablecoin issuers hold less than 1 percent of outstanding Treasury securities. The same presentation noted that growth in stablecoins could increase demand for short‑end Treasury issuance if offshore dollar demand expands. The Fed’s recent conference signals that policymakers will watch whether stablecoin growth stems from offshore dollar demand or from domestic substitution of bank deposits. Banks are testing tokenized deposits to see if they can provide the same programmability as stablecoins while remaining under regulatory oversight. Issuers must demonstrate that reserve management, redemption processes and concentration risks can withstand rapid changes in supply. Stablecoins therefore move from a peripheral crypto asset to a private dollar rail that can affect bank funding, Treasury‑bill demand and short‑term liquidity. Their continued expansion raises questions about the integration of private token issuers into the public dollar infrastructure. The next step for policymakers is to determine how the system absorbs growing stablecoin volumes and whether tokenized deposits can serve as a regulated alternative to private dollar rails.

Aave founder Stani Kulechov rejected a CoinDesk report that Kraken parent Payward is negotiating to acquire a 15% stake in Aave at a $385 million valuation. The report said the deal would involve 35,000 ETH, 250,000 AAVE tokens and a 15% equity stake in Aave Group. Kulechov said there is no way the protocol would be sold at a 70% discount and that the valuation represents about 30% of the fully diluted AAVE token price. He added that 100% of Aave protocol and GHO revenue goes to the AAVE token, as established in the Aave Will Win proposal. Aave Labs holds an allocation of AAVE tokens that market participants have explored purchasing through strategic partnerships, he said. Kraken declined to comment, and Aave did not respond to the publication’s request for comment before publication. Two sources familiar with the discussions told CoinDesk that Kraken intends to syndicate part of the investment, with an estimated value of around $71 million. A third source said the proposed transaction would be the first in a series under Payward Asset Management, a new business the company plans to use for investments in decentralized finance and other digital assets. Aave operates the largest decentralized lending protocol, allowing users to lend and borrow assets via smart contracts without intermediaries. Kraken and Aave have previously collaborated, including the launch of a white‑label version of Aave called Tydro on Kraken’s Layer 2 network Ink. Governance changes earlier this year approved the Aave Will Win proposal, which directs all protocol revenue to the DAO and approves multi‑year funding for Aave Labs. Aave released version 4 in March with an updated hub‑and‑spoke architecture and introduced a revised risk framework after the April KelpDAO exploit, though the smart contracts were not compromised. Kulechov said Aave Labs now serves as a development provider for the DAO and is designing Aavenomics 3.0, which will include an automated, non‑discretionary buyback mechanism for the AAVE token, details of which have not been released.

Polymarket announced it will refund users after a phishing attack that stole about $2.94 million from at least 11 wallets. The company removed a malicious frontend dependency and contained the incident. The attack was traced to a compromised third‑party vendor that injected malicious code into the platform’s frontend, enabling phishing of connected wallets, according to blockchain analyst Specter, who said the incident was a phishing campaign rather than a protocol exploit. Stolen assets were swapped for ETH and consolidated into a single address, and DefiLlama recorded the breach as the 89th security incident in the second quarter, the highest count for the quarter. In June, crypto exploits resulted in $74.9 million in losses across 29 incidents, lower than April’s $644 million but higher than May’s $60.5 million, with the largest June attack being a $36 million Humanity Protocol exploit followed by a $4.7 million Secret Network bridge exploit and two $2.1 million Aztec exploits. About a month earlier Polymarket disclosed a separate incident in which attackers used a six‑year‑old private key to steal roughly $600,000, a case the company said did not compromise user funds or smart contracts after revoking permissions linked to the compromised key. Polymarket said all affected users will receive full refunds, underscoring the risks of relying on third‑party components in decentralized finance platforms.

South Korea has revised its New Start Fund debt relief program to include cryptocurrency holdings in asset assessments. The changes were announced after a June 25 meeting between the Financial Services Commission and the Korea Asset Management Corporation. Applicants using the five major won‑based cryptocurrency exchanges must submit balance certificates that the Korea Asset Management Corporation reviews during eligibility checks. Debt forgiveness under the program will be tied more closely to each borrower’s repayment capacity. Borrowers whose repayment capacity exceeds 100% will face a minimum principal reduction of 30% instead of the previous 60% threshold. The minimum reduction for unsecured debt that has been delinquent for more than 90 days remains at 60% to 80%, while vulnerable borrowers may receive reductions of up to 90%. The commission said the revisions aim to distribute public support and limit unnecessary spending. Amendments to the Credit Information Act effective August 13 allow agencies to obtain cryptocurrency and unlisted share data in bulk for verification after restructuring approvals. The updates are part of a series of digital asset policy measures introduced this month, including a proposal to expand the regulatory sandbox to cover digital asset laws and a licensing framework for cross‑border virtual asset transfers that will take effect in December.

Kraken is in discussions to acquire a 15% stake in the decentralized finance lending protocol Aave through its parent company Payward, a transaction that values Aave at $385 million.

Aave operates a decentralized lending platform that enables users to supply assets to liquidity pools and borrow against crypto collateral using smart contracts.

The proposed investment would involve 35,000 ETH and 250,000 AAVE tokens in exchange for the equity stake, according to a CoinDesk report that cited three sources familiar with the matter. A separate arrangement would syndicate part of the transaction, valued at about $71 million, the same report said. A Kraken spokesperson declined to comment, and Aave did not respond to CoinDesk’s request for comment before publication. A document reviewed by CoinDesk estimated the deal’s total value at $385 million. Two sources familiar with the discussions said the investment would be the first in a series of transactions under Payward Asset Management, which plans to pursue additional investments in decentralized finance and other digital asset opportunities. Payward has indicated it has sufficient capital and external partners to support such deals. The transaction follows Payward’s acquisition of the U.S. crypto derivatives platform Bitnomial in April for up to $550 million and the launch of a tokenized IPO program in June that allows Kraken users to register interest in upcoming U.S. public offerings. The program processed more than $30 billion in transaction volume during its first year, including over $6 billion settled on chain, and serves more than 125,000 holders worldwide.

The outcome of the negotiations remains uncertain, and Aave has not indicated whether it will participate in the investment.

BitGo Holdings announced on Thursday that it is reducing its workforce by about 15%, affecting roughly 90 employees, as the firm refocuses on trading, stablecoin and artificial intelligence services. The San Francisco‑based crypto infrastructure company reported 603 full‑time employees at the end of 2025 in its March 2025 annual report, meaning the cuts could impact about 90 staff members. CEO Mike Belshe posted on X that the ecosystem has evolved and the company must concentrate on security, trading, stablecoins, settlement and AI‑powered infrastructure. He described the reductions as a one‑time action and said BitGo does not anticipate further layoffs. BitGo’s shares fell 4.67% to $4.80 on Thursday, extending a decline of about 73% from its debut price of $18 in January. The company is currently hiring for 51 positions across multiple regions. Industry data show more than 5,000 crypto jobs cut this year, with Block Inc. eliminating 4,000 staff in February, Robinhood reducing its workforce by 10% in June, and Kraken cutting 150 positions in May.

Sharplink, an Ethereum treasury company, bought 5,000 Ether worth $7.85 million from crypto prime brokerage FalconX on Thursday, marking its first Ether acquisition in eight months. The transaction occurred as Ether traded at $1,537, its lowest price this year. On‑chain data from Arkham indicated the wallet linked to Sharplink received the Ether, which had last been purchased by the firm in October 2023 when it spent $78.3 million. Sharplink, founded in 2019 as an affiliate marketing service for sports betting, converted to an Ethereum treasury firm in June 2025 and now holds 876,285 Ether, making it the largest publicly traded corporate holder of ETH before Bitmine surpassed it in August. Bitmine currently holds 5.67 million Ether after acquiring 52,203 Ether last week. The purchase comes as Sharplink prepares to join the Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 indexes on Monday, a move that could broaden its shareholder base and improve access to capital markets. Sharplink CEO Joseph Chalom said he identified three catalysts that could support Ether’s price growth: the pending U.S. CLARITY Act, a potential easing of geopolitical tensions that would restore market risk appetite, and continued growth in tokenized real‑world assets, which have reached a cumulative value of $31.55 billion. The Senate has not yet voted on the CLARITY Act, and the House Financial Services Committee plans a hearing on the bill for July 17. Andri Fauzan Adziima, research lead at Bitrue Research Institute, said he observed strong corporate accumulation of Ether despite subdued price action. The acquisition aligns with Sharplink’s strategy of maintaining a steady accumulation pace throughout 2026 while awaiting regulatory developments and index inclusion.

Coinbase's Base layer‑2 network resumed block production on Thursday after a roughly two‑hour outage that stopped transaction processing. Base is an Ethereum layer‑2 scaling solution developed by Coinbase. The outage began at 16:03 UTC when Base reported that mainnet block production was unhealthy. By 16:52 UTC the team said it had identified the issue and was pursuing remediation. Transaction processing was halted during the period. Internal nodes were reported to be syncing correctly after the chain resumed. The team advised ecosystem node operators to restart their nodes to restore synchronization. It continues to investigate the root cause, which it described as an invalid block, without specifying whether a software bug or a consensus fault was responsible. The network has not disclosed the cause of the invalid block. The incident marks the first downtime for Base since 2023, following a previous outage in August 2025. The Base team said it will monitor network stability and provide further updates as the investigation proceeds.

Grant Cardone said he will keep buying bitcoin with cash flow from his rental properties as the price slipped 4.7% this week to about $60,000.

Cardone Capital, which held roughly $200 million in bitcoin as of May and manages about $5.3 billion in assets, uses rental income to purchase bitcoin on a regular schedule, smoothing purchases through dollar‑cost averaging.

He contrasted his real‑estate‑funded buying with corporate treasury models used by firms such as Strategy, which raise equity or debt to acquire bitcoin.

Cardone said the hybrid structure is designed to increase cash flow from real assets and accumulate bitcoin as prices decline, a view he posted on X.

He projects the model could deliver returns between 22% and 32%, a claim based on his own expectations rather than verified results.

The recent price decline was driven by a broader tech‑stock selloff and reduced inflows into U.S. bitcoin exchange‑traded funds.

Cardone’s firm, which owns thousands of residential units and Class A office space, says it is the largest real estate‑bitcoin hybrid without institutional investors shaping its strategy.

Analysts at CryptoQuant noted that corporate treasury approaches have come under pressure this week, with Strategy’s share price falling below the value of its bitcoin holdings.