Stablecoin

On 11 January 2026 at 17:42, the International Monetary Fund highlighted that stablecoins are increasingly used for cross‑border payments. Its analysis says stablecoin flows are growing faster than Bitcoin and Ethereum activity, and heavy backing with short‑term US Treasuries is binding these tokens to traditional finance while policy responses remain uneven.

Vitalik Buterin outlines three structural issues he believes still undermine decentralized stablecoins: dependence on USD-based price pegs, vulnerability of oracle systems, and conflicts created by staking yields when used as collateral. He argues that long-term resilience will require new reference indexes, more robust oracle designs, and mechanisms that balance staking returns with stablecoin usability and risk management.

Lithuania-licensed payments app Brighty has arranged over 100 real estate purchases worth $500,000 to $2.5 million across the UK, France and Malta. Serving 100–150 wealthy clients who spend about $50,000 monthly, Brighty reports average euro stablecoin transactions rising from €15,785 in Q3 to €59,894 in Q4 as buyers shift to EURC over USDC.

Over the weekend, XRP spot ETFs amassed $1.47 billion in assets, representing 1.16% of the token's market capitalization, while a single Shiba Inu address accumulated 1,923,043,775,311 SHIB from Coinbase Prime. At the same time, Vitalik Buterin published a three-point framework targeting decentralized stablecoin design, focusing on alternative indices, resilient oracles and resolving yield competition. These moves highlight shifting liquidity in XRP and SHIB markets alongside renewed debate on how future stablecoins should be structured.

TRM Labs said in a January 9 report that UK‑registered exchanges Zedcex and Zedxion enabled about $1 billion in flows linked to Iran's IRGC. Illicit share peaked at 87% in 2024, with transfers largely in USDT on TRON, and corporate records tied Zedcex to sanctioned financier Babak Morteza Zanjani.

Tether has worked with U.S. authorities to block wallets allegedly linked to Venezuelan oil trade sanctions evasion involving PdVSA. The company’s actions have intensified scrutiny of stablecoins, even as USDT holds its $1.00 peg with a market cap of $186.72 billion and 24-hour trading volume of $37.45 billion. These enforcement-aligned freezes are prompting debate over stablecoin compliance and future regulatory expectations.

On January 11, a report said Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro used Tether (USDT) to help PdVSA settle oil trades under U.S. sanctions. Tether reiterated cooperation with U.S. authorities and freezes wallets on official request. USDT was near $0.99 with a $186.76 billion market cap and about $37.36 billion in 24-hour volume.

In 2025, Russia's Social Fund handled about 37 million inquiries, with many asking about pension payments in crypto and whether mining income affects benefits. Officials said all state payments are in rubles and crypto taxation is under the Federal Tax Service. Senior official Maxim Oreshkin urged treating mining as export activity, while exchanges prepared for rules taking effect by July 1, 2026.

Brazilian exchange Mercado Bitcoin has released a report projecting that Bitcoin’s market capitalization will more than double by the end of 2026 to reach 14% of gold’s market value. The exchange also expects stablecoin capitalization to climb to $500 billion and altcoin ETFs, led by XRP and Solana products, to see strong institutional inflows.

On-chain data indicates that more than $1.25 billion in USDT was withdrawn from Binance in a single session, while the exchange's stablecoin reserves fell by nearly $1.7 billion over two days. At the same time, very large wallets holding over $100 million in USDT reportedly added about $4.7 billion, suggesting capital is moving into off-exchange storage, softening short-term trading activity but not necessarily signaling market distress.