Stablecoin

Ripple said it posted an April 2 update on X about its $15 million RLUSD contribution to Accion Opportunity Fund, outlining lending activity and employment effects tied to U.S. small businesses. The company cited results including $53.6M in capital deployed, 905 loans to 895 borrowers, a $59K average loan size, and 1,003 jobs created with 1,631 retained.

NovaBay Pharmaceuticals is shifting away from its legacy pharma operations and repositioning around crypto, including an on-chain treasury approach tied to token holdings and staking. The company said in a Form 8-K that it will adopt the name Stablecoin Development Corporation and start trading under the ticker SDEV on NYSE American on 3 April.

Solana (SOL) fell nearly 35% in Q1, but its stablecoin market cap still rose by around 5%, signaling a gap between price performance and on-chain conditions. The network’s total transaction volume has crossed 500 billion, while Solana’s RWA value reached a new all-time high of $2 billion, up more than 40% QoQ. The setup suggests liquidity—particularly USDC supply growth—could play a larger role than price action in driving interest this cycle.

Blockchain investigator ZachXBT alleges that since 2022, Circle did not freeze more than $420M in stolen or illicit USDC across 15 incidents. He cites examples including GMX in July 2025 (~$9 million), Cetus in May 2025, and Drift Protocol (~$232 million), where funds were moved within six hours via 100+ transactions.

Onchain investigator ZachXBT alleges Circle did not freeze or blacklist roughly $420 million in illicit USDC flows since 2022 across 15 hack-and-fraud cases. He says Circle sometimes had hours or days to act, including cited incidents tied to GMX, Cetus and Drift Protocol, but took limited action or acted after funds were swapped into ETH.

An on-chain report from ZachXBT alleges more than $420m in USDC-related compliance lapses tied to illicit flows since 2022. Shared on 3 April, it cites cases where funds were not frozen or were frozen only after delays, including activity linked to the $280m Drift Protocol exploit.

Ripple Labs says it is speeding up XRPL integration with Ripple Treasury, positioning the XRP Ledger for a potentially sharp rise in on-chain usage in 2026. Ripple Treasury handled $13 trillion in payments last year and was bought for about $1 billion in October 2025, while RLUSD and XRP are already being adopted to streamline enterprise payments.

On April 2, 2026, Coinbase Global (COIN) joined the Linux Foundation to formally establish the x402 Foundation, a nonprofit set up to steward an open-source protocol built around HTTP 402 "Payment Required". The X402 protocol turns the long-unused status code into a machine-readable payment flow that lets websites, APIs, and autonomous AI agents price and settle requests via digital wallets, including stablecoin-based settlement such as USDC.

Japan’s revised Payment Services Act framework limits “digital-money type stablecoins” to licensed domestic issuers, with rules effective from June 2023 and additional refinements scheduled by June 2026. JPYC Co. launched a fully regulated yen-pegged stablecoin in October 2025 and set targets of 10 trillion yen in circulation over three years and 60 trillion yen within five years. The structure also constrains access to foreign dollar stablecoins, with USDT largely restricted and USDC offered through a limited regulated pathway via SBI VC Trade.

World Liberty Financial (WLFI) is drawing ethics scrutiny over a structure that sends 75% of net revenue to DT Marks DEFI LLC, an entity tied to Donald Trump and his family, while shielding them from operational liability. A House Democrats staff report dated November 24 described WLFI as a focal point of alleged self-dealing, alongside claims of at least $890 million collected and tokens valued at $3.8 billion. The project has also been linked to large inflows including Justin Sun's $75 million purchase and a $100 million stablecoin transfer from the UAE-based Aqua 1 Foundation, while WLFI tokens are reported down 50% from all-time highs.