Visa's stablecoin settlement run rate hits $20B, up 15x in a year

Stack
- Visa's stablecoin settlement run rate tops $20B, up more than 15x year over year
- Payment volume tied to that settlement grew nearly 200% in the same period
- Visa's total annual payments volume runs near $15 trillion for scale

Story
This isn't Visa courting crypto users. It's Visa cutting its own settlement costs by routing bank-to-bank flow through stablecoins instead of correspondent banking.

Watch
- Watch for stablecoin volume showing up in Visa's 10-K as an audited line item
- Watch whether Mastercard reports a matching settlement figure

Full read: https://stackandstory.com/stories/visa-stablecoin-settlement-20-billion-run-rate

Miners are the only crypto stocks losing to bitcoin's own rally.

Stack
- Only Canaan among tracked miners has beaten bitcoin's price this cycle, per The Block
- Exchange and stablecoin equities have outrun both miners and bitcoin over the same stretch

Story
Miners aren't underperforming because they're bad businesses. Their revenue is capped by a fixed, shrinking block reward while exchanges and stablecoin issuers scale with volume.

Watch
- Watch revenue-per-terahash trends across major miners next two quarters
- Watch whether more miners copy Canaan's pivot into hardware and hosting revenue

Full read: https://stackandstory.com/stories/bitcoin-miners-missing-crypto-rally

Block files for a federal bank charter that can't take deposits

Stack
- Block's Builders Bank would take zero deposits and make zero loans, per Cointelegraph
- Circle and BitGo already hold final OCC approval for the same charter type
- Ripple, Payward and Zerohash are all in the same OCC queue as Block

Story
This isn't Block chasing legitimacy alone, it's the fifth firm in a queue the OCC already validated with Circle and BitGo. The real story is how fast that queue is filling.

Watch
- Does the OCC attach conditions to Builders Bank like it did with Ripple
- Which applicant, Payward or Zerohash, clears the OCC first

Full read: https://stackandstory.com/stories/block-trust-bank-charter-bitcoin-stablecoin

BTC ETFs lose $167M, but ETH and SOL funds are back in the green

Stack
- ARKB and GBTC shed $69.9M and $92.7M combined over two days
- ETH ETFs took in $34.7M Wednesday, same day IBIT lost $19.5M
- 2026 net BTC ETF flows are still -$1.07B despite $55B in lifetime inflows

Story
This reads like risk-off but it's rotation. Money left Bitcoin funds and landed in Ether and Solana ETFs the same two days.

Watch
- Do ETH/SOL ETFs stay net positive next week while BTC stays negative?
- Does GBTC's $92.7M two-day loss keep accelerating on its own?

Full read: https://stackandstory.com/stories/bitcoin-etfs-167m-outflow-after-inflow-run

Uniswap's new hook charges stablecoin traders by the risk they carry

Stack
- Static stablecoin pools on Uniswap v3 often ran fees as low as 0.01%
- Uniswap remains the largest DEX by trading volume industry-wide
- Curve's StableSwap has held stablecoin liquidity dominance for years

Story
Flat fees on stablecoin pairs quietly pay arbitrage bots at LPs' expense. Dynamic fees are Uniswap's move to take that spread back and go after Curve's turf.

Watch
- USDC/USDT liquidity migrating from v3 static pools into v4 StablePair pools
- Curve's stablecoin volume or fee revenue dipping after the rollout

Full read: https://stackandstory.com/stories/uniswap-stablepair-hook-lp-fees

Lords force UK Treasury toward a written crypto strategy, Labour resists

Stack
- 194–138: Lords vote margin forcing Treasury's hand on crypto strategy
- 12 months: statutory deadline for Treasury to publish once the bill becomes law
- July: Labour minister told peers a strategy already exists and is "being executed"

Story
This isn't a crypto policy win yet, it's a procedural skirmish. Labour can still strip the amendment in the Commons, and its July line that a strategy "already exists" shows zero shift in position.

Watch
- Watch whether the Commons keeps, amends or kills Amendment 88 when the bill returns
- Watch for any Treasury document clarifying what its current strategy contains

Full read: https://stackandstory.com/stories/uk-lords-mandatory-digital-asset-strategy

Bitcoin ETFs shed $449M in three days, ARK alone lost $164M

Stack
- ARKB's single-day outflow ($164M) was 58% of the entire market's $282.6M loss
- Ether ETFs gave back $29.8M, almost exactly Wednesday's $34.8M inflow
- Cumulative inflows still sit at $55.17B against $97.5B in total assets

Story
This reads like a market cooling off, not turning. One fund, ARKB, drove more than half the outflow, and Ether's flows just round-tripped what came in a day earlier.

Watch
- Watch if ARKB's outflow repeats over the next two sessions
- Watch if cumulative net inflows dip below $54B

Full read: https://stackandstory.com/stories/bitcoin-etf-outflows-449m-three-days

Anchorage adds custody for a stablecoin with $100K locked

Stack
- Frgmnt holds about $100,000 in TVL per DeFiLlama
- sfUSD offered 13.32% APR as of Sept. 4
- Anchorage's platform was valued at $4.2B in February

Story
A $4.2B chartered bank just built custody rails for a protocol worth $100K. This is a distribution bet ahead of Frgmnt's Sept. 15 public launch, not a sign institutional money has already moved.

Watch
- Does TVL grow materially after the Sept. 15 cap lift and public launch
- Does sfUSD's 13.32% APR hold as deposits scale up

Full read: https://stackandstory.com/stories/anchorage-frgmnt-fusd-stablecoin

Ripple's stablecoin chief eyes $13T in corporate cash for RLUSD

Stack
- RLUSD supply sits near $700M against a claimed $13T addressable market
- Tether's cap is near $172B, USDC near $73B, the incumbents RLUSD trails
- Visa's stablecoin settlement already runs at a $20B annualized rate

Story
Ripple is pitching RLUSD against money market funds, not against Tether. The catch: GENIUS Act rules block stablecoins from paying interest directly, so the yield argument that wins treasurers over doesn't exist yet.

Watch
- Watch for nine-figure corporate treasury disclosures naming RLUSD holdings
- Watch whether a compliant yield-bearing wrapper around RLUSD launches

Full read: https://stackandstory.com/stories/rlusd-13-trillion-corporate-treasury

Revolut leaked KYC and BTC data via a fake gov't domain request

Stack
- Attackers spoofed a government domain to pull real KYC records
- Exposed data paired identity info with Bitcoin transaction history
- ZachXBT flagged the incident as possibly targeting high-net-worth users

Story
This isn't a generic data leak. Pairing KYC with wallet history is exactly what you'd need to turn anonymous balances into a target list of real people.

Watch
- Watch whether Revolut discloses a confirmed count of affected accounts
- Watch for unusual onchain movement tied to exposed wallets in coming weeks

Full read: https://stackandstory.com/stories/revolut-kyc-bitcoin-data-fake-govt-domain

Italy's second-biggest bank is shopping for a crypto custody vendor

Stack
- Cecabank, managing €400B+, went live with crypto custody in June via Bit2Me
- UniCredit is one of 37 banks across 15 countries building a euro stablecoin under Qivalis
- BBVA built its own custody stack rather than using a third-party vendor

Story
This isn't a bitcoin bet, it's a licensing race. MiCA gave banks a legal box to check, and five of them are checking it inside the same twelve months.

Watch
- Watch which custody vendor UniCredit signs
- Watch whether retail clients get access or only professional ones

Full read: https://stackandstory.com/stories/unicredit-crypto-custody-italy

TRM says AI agents barely touch the $52.7M moving through x402

Stack
- $52.7M moved across 198.9M x402 settlements, per TRM's review
- Filtering self-payments and anomalies cut that to $25.62M in likely commerce
- Agents accounted for a small share under even that reduced total

Story
The agentic economy pitch says AI agents are already paying their own way. TRM's numbers say almost half the volume is test traffic and the rest is mostly humans.

Watch
- Next TRM cut showing agent-attributed share actually rising
- Integrators disclosing self-payment volume separately from real commerce

Full read: https://stackandstory.com/stories/x402-protocol-ai-agent-spending-research

Circle pays $400M for licenses it can't build itself

Stack
- Circle is paying roughly $400M for Tazapay, a Singapore payments firm
- Tazapay's value sits in emerging-market banking licenses built over years
- USDC growth increasingly hinges on local fiat on/off-ramps in those markets

Story
This isn't a tech buy. Circle is paying $400M for regulatory permission it can't earn any faster any other way.

Watch
- Watch USDC volume growth in Tazapay's licensed markets over 2-3 quarters
- Watch for local regulators confirming license transfer to Circle

Full read: https://stackandstory.com/stories/circle-400m-tazapay-emerging-market-access

Mexico finds its fourth hidden crypto mine near the same dam since 2025

Stack
- Fourth crypto farm found in the same area since early 2025, per Reuters via The Block
- Site sits near a local hydroelectric dam, same power source as three prior raids
- Charges cover both stolen electricity and money laundering, two separate revenue streams

Story
Four raids near one dam in eighteen months means someone keeps finding the same hole in the grid, or the same operators keep rebuilding after getting caught.

Watch
- Watch for seized equipment or stolen power figures in follow-up filings
- Watch for a fifth site near the same dam within six to twelve months

Full read: https://stackandstory.com/stories/mexico-fourth-hidden-crypto-mine-power-theft

Trump backs tougher ethics rules in Clarity Act's final push

Stack
- Revised Clarity Act text dropped Sunday, two days before the Tuesday floor vote
- Republicans call it their "last, best and final offer," leaving no room to renegotiate
- Bill concedes ground on both DeFi and stablecoin provisions that had stalled talks

Story
The ethics rules are the cheap part of this deal. The real price Republicans paid was loosening DeFi and stablecoin restrictions, which is what the industry wanted all along.

Watch
- Does Tuesday's vote get enough Democratic crossovers to pass?
- Do the final DeFi and stablecoin terms match Sunday's draft?

Full read: https://stackandstory.com/stories/clarity-act-ethics-trade-crypto-votes

WTO: stablecoins stuck at 3% of trade payments, rules are why

Stack
- Stablecoins are just 3% of global trade payments, per WTO
- Only 11 of 28 jurisdictions have finished stablecoin rules, per FSB
- Stablecoin cross-border use grew 35x from 2020 to mid-2024

Story
The 3% number reads like stalled adoption. The 35x growth number says the tech already works, the rulebook just hasn't shown up.

Watch
- FSB's next framework count, watching if 11-of-28 rises by end of 2026
- Western Union's wallet expansion from 37 to 60-plus markets

Full read: https://stackandstory.com/stories/stablecoins-stall-at-3-percent-trade-payments

Kraken lets you lend tokenized Nvidia stock into DeFi for yield

Stack
- Kraken DeFi Earn already holds $800M+ in deposits since January
- Tokenized equities hit $2.84B, up from $540M a year ago
- Vaults excluded in the US, UK, Canada, Australia and UAE

Story
Kraken built a yield product it can't legally offer in its five biggest regulated markets. The exclusion list tells you more than the launch does.

Watch
- Watch for a default or liquidation in the Kamino-based lending pool backing xStocks
- Watch whether any excluded jurisdiction names tokenized-equity vaults in guidance

Full read: https://stackandstory.com/stories/kraken-defi-yield-tokenized-stocks

Orlen's $230M oil deal ran on USDT. Only $29M in oil showed up.

Stack
- $230M wired by Orlen, mostly in USDT, for Venezuelan crude in Dec 2023
- $50M gap when Horizon Global returned less USDT than it received
- $29M in oil actually delivered against the full advance

Story
USDT moved exactly as told at every step traced. What failed was a payment chain with no escrow and no verification, built specifically to reach a sanctioned seller.

Watch
- Watch whether Poland's prosecutors add USDT-tracing evidence to the executives' case
- Watch if Tether issues any statement on the sanctioned-counterparty use

Full read: https://stackandstory.com/stories/usdt-trail-orlen-230m-oil-loss

House panel bundles crypto tax fixes into one markup

Stack
- $10 de minimis exemption proposed for fees paid in crypto, per The Block
- Bill also sets separate rules for stablecoins, mining, and staking
- Markup scheduled for Wednesday

Story
The $10 fee exemption is the easy part everyone will cheer. The real fight is staking and mining rules riding along in the same vote.

Watch
- Watch whether staking language matches or breaks from the IRS's current position
- Watch if the $10 threshold gets indexed or capped in markup

Full read: https://stackandstory.com/stories/house-crypto-tax-bill-10-dollar-exemption

Deutsche Bank's crypto custody license lands three years late

Stack
- Deutsche Bank first announced custody plans in 2023; license still pending in 2026
- LBBW beat it to launch by 18 months, DZ Bank by 10 months
- Initial asset list: just BTC, ETH, and three stablecoins

Story
Everyone's calling this Deutsche Bank entering crypto. It's actually Deutsche Bank arriving last among Germany's major banks, three years after it said it would.

Watch
- Does the October MiCA license land on time, or slip again?
- Does a Deutsche Bank stablecoin launch before or after custody goes live?

Full read: https://stackandstory.com/stories/deutsche-bank-crypto-custody-mica

World bundles stablecoins, Stripe, Kalshi behind an iris scan.

Stack

- World ID verification unlocks "boosted rewards" inside the new app, per The Block.
- Stripe, Kalshi, and Morpho are all wired into the single wallet at launch.
- Stablecoins still sit near 3% of global trade payments despite years of rail-building.

Story
This reads like a payments app but it's really an identity retention play. World needs people to keep scanning their eyes, and money is the hook it's using to make that happen.

Watch
- Watch active World ID verifications tied to app usage over the next two quarters.
- Watch whether Stripe or Kalshi disclose user growth from the World integration.

Full read: https://stackandstory.com/stories/world-money-super-app-world-id-rewards