Stablecoin

Qivalis said it expanded to 37 member banks across 15 European countries on May 20, 2026, after adding 25 institutions, including Intesa Sanpaolo and BPER Banca. The consortium is aiming for an end-2026 launch of a 1:1 euro-pegged stablecoin designed for institutional use and cross-border payments, ahead of the ECB's digital euro timeline.

VanEck launched the VanEck BNB ETF (VBNB) on Thursday, positioning it as the first U.S. exchange-traded product intended to track BNB's spot price moves. The prospectus says the Nasdaq-listed shares are physically backed by BNB held in cold storage with Anchorage Digital Bank and charge a 0.39% sponsor fee. VanEck first filed for a BNB ETF in May 2025, while Grayscale is also pursuing approval for a spot BNB ETF; both filings exclude staking at launch but include conditional staking language.

On May 28, Samsung Securities, Samsung SDS, and Samsung Card said they will jointly buy a 4% stake in Dunamu, the operator of South Korea's largest crypto exchange Upbit, for about 612.8 billion won ($408 million). The shares are being acquired from Kakao-affiliated funds at around 439,250 won per share, implying a Dunamu valuation of roughly 15.3 trillion won, with closing scheduled for June 19.

Bybit said transfers to or from blockchain addresses associated with HTX may face enhanced reviews and could be restricted until users submit supporting information. The notice follows U.K. sanctions this week against the Panama-incorporated entity linked to Huobi Global, amid allegations of Russia-connected sanctions-evasion flows.

Bitcoin's 30-day exchange net flow shifted into inflow territory and reached +103K BTC on May 26, after first turning positive on May 18. Over the same window, stablecoin net flow to centralized exchanges flipped negative and fell as low as -$153M per day on May 27, signaling reduced on-exchange buying liquidity. The combination points to rising sell-side supply alongside weakening demand, while key inflection levels are whether BTC inflows stay above +100K BTC and whether stablecoin flows recover back toward zero.

The stablecoin market is estimated at about $318B-$322B, a scale described as larger than the official FX reserves of 95 countries. Hyperliquid L1 holds $6.79B in stablecoins, including $1.04B added over seven days, with USDC representing 95.3% of supply. Total tokenized asset value is cited at roughly $350.6B, led by stablecoins at $308.6B alongside tokenized funds ($32.9B), commodities ($7.4B), and stocks (over $1.7B).

On May 27, 2026, the CFTC filed a civil enforcement action against Google software engineer Michele Spagnuolo, alleging he used nonpublic Google search-trend data to trade Polymarket event contracts. The complaint says he earned about $1.2 million and that the agency is seeking restitution, disgorgement, monetary penalties, bans, and a permanent injunction. The filing also describes how Polymarket runs on Polygon and settles outcomes via the UMA Oracle, with winning positions redeemable for USDC.e.

On May 26, the U.K. announced a sanctions package aimed at crypto-linked routes allegedly used to move funds into Russia, with measures taking effect immediately. The list includes 18 named exchanges, payment providers, banks, companies, and individuals, and separately highlights targets tied to the A7 network. The action also increases scrutiny on stablecoin infrastructure, including references to A7A5 and USDKG and their related entities.

Visa is processing roughly 90% of on-chain crypto card payments as total crypto card spending reached a record $7.8 billion. Monthly crypto card volume has risen 230% since May 2025, helped by card-based spending of stablecoins held in self-custody wallets. Visa's spending through Jupiter Global climbed 648% over the past two months, while central banks and financial firms also tested blockchain settlement rails via Project Agorá.

Circle Internet Group Inc. and cross-border payments firm Nium announced a partnership on May 27, 2026, bringing Nium into the Circle Payments Network to connect USDC settlement with last-mile fiat payouts. The combined setup supports end-to-end USDC transfers and local delivery across more than 190 countries and 100 currencies via a single payment rail. Circle said the network reached $8.3 billion in annualized transaction volume based on trailing 30-day activity measured on March 31, 2026.