Bitcoin Magazine
Circle (CRCL) Wins Final OCC Approval for National Trust Bank
Circle Internet Group secured final approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency today, to establish a national trust bank, a milestone that sent the stablecoin issuer’s shares higher and deepened its ties to the federal banking system.
The regulator cleared Circle to charter First National Digital Currency Bank, N.A., which will operate under the name Circle National Trust.
The company, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker CRCL, said the charter places the new entity under direct federal oversight by the OCC, the primary supervisor for national banks and national trust banks.
Circle National Trust will provide fiduciary custody services for digital assets held by Circle and its affiliates. Under the business plan the OCC approved, the bank could extend custody services to a limited set of institutional customers, with a focus on banks and regulated derivatives organizations.
The charter opens a path for the bank to manage the reserve backing USDC, the largest regulated stablecoin, which would bring that multibillion-dollar pool under federal supervision.
National trust banks differ from traditional lenders. They safeguard client assets and provide fiduciary services, and they do not take deposits or issue loans. The structure aligns its digital-asset infrastructure with a long-standing model for holding client assets under strict fiduciary standards.
“OCC approval to establish Circle National Trust marks a defining step in bringing blockchain technology and digital assets into the core of the U.S. financial system,” said Jeremy Allaire, co-founder, chairman, and chief executive of Circle. He said federal oversight of the trust bank “sets a new standard for transparency, governance, and scale” and unlocks a phase of adoption in which large financial institutions can build on public blockchains with confidence.
Investors welcomed the decision. CRCL shares climbed as much as 14% on the day of the announcement, a rebound from a three-month low. Other crypto-linked names, including Coinbase and Strategy, posted gains near 5% this morning as bitcoin bounced.
CRCL shares have since settled to 5% gains.
The approval caps a process that began when Circle filed its application on June 30, 2025. The OCC granted conditional approval in December 2025, alongside peers such as Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos.
The final decision arrives as the GENIUS Act, the federal stablecoin law enacted in July 2025, moves toward full implementation in early 2027.
That statute requires OCC supervision of large stablecoin issuers, and the trust charter positions Circle to meet the mandate while bringing USDC reserves into a federal framework.
Circle has built a record of regulatory engagement across markets. It received a BitLicense from New York in 2015, became the first global stablecoin issuer to comply with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework in 2024, and holds licenses in the United Kingdom, Singapore, Bermuda, and Abu Dhabi.
The charter strengthens USDC’s role as regulated digital-dollar infrastructure for payments, settlement, and capital markets, Circle said.
This post Circle (CRCL) Wins Final OCC Approval for National Trust Bank first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.
A criminal complaint filed by Wisconsin prosecutors against Circle, the company behind USDC, has put an uncomfortable question back in the spotlight. Why does the world’s second-largest stablecoin issuer appear far less willing than Tether to help law enforcement recover stolen crypto?
An ICIJ investigation published on July 8 points to three issues driving the debate. Circle insists it only freezes funds after receiving valid legal orders, disputes claims it can simply burn and reissue stolen tokens, and rejects allegations from New York prosecutors that it profits by leaving frozen assets untouched. Meanwhile, critics say that the policy leaves scam victims waiting while their money disappears.
The case started with a romance scam in Walworth County, Wisconsin. A resident identified only as “Victim #1” was convinced to buy USDC and send about 381,000 tokens to what turned out to be a fake investment platform. After investigators traced the funds, a judge ordered Circle to freeze the wallet. The company did so without delay.
Months later, the court took the next step. It ordered Circle to invalidate those frozen tokens and issue the same amount of fresh USDC to the Walworth County Sheriff’s Office. Circle refused, saying it does not have the technical ability to burn and reissue USDC held inside someone else’s wallet. Prosecutors responded with a criminal complaint, an unusual move against a company of Circle’s size.
Circle later asked the court to dismiss the case. It argued the Wisconsin court lacked jurisdiction and said prosecutors ignored alternative proposals it had offered to compensate the victim. Walworth County prosecutor Thomas Binger said the dispute shows how quickly scammers can move funds compared with the pace of the legal system.
ICIJ: Circle Faces Criminal Complaint in Wisconsin Over Refusal to Recover Scam Victim Funds
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) July 9, 2026
An ICIJ investigation reported that law enforcement authorities in Wisconsin and New York accused Circle of refusing to assist in freezing or recovering scam victims’ USDC. Wisconsin… pic.twitter.com/QZv7PNN0Du
The Wisconsin case is not the only one raising questions. Earlier this year, New York prosecutors told U.S. senators that Circle generally requires court orders before freezing USDC and has not consistently returned stolen funds after courts approved their release. Since stablecoin transfers settle within seconds, investigators argue valuable time is often lost before legal paperwork is complete.
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New York prosecutors also made a more serious allegation. They argued Circle continues earning interest on reserve assets backing frozen USDC, giving the company little financial incentive to return those funds quickly. Circle has not accepted that claim.
Blockchain researcher Yury Serov estimates that at least 119 million USDC is currently frozen. Those tokens cannot move, but they remain backed by reserve assets unless another process removes them permanently.
Circle’s technical explanation has also drawn criticism. Joshua Cooper-Duckett of Cryptoforensic Investigators told ICIJ the company could update its smart contracts to support burning and reissuing tokens held in third-party wallets. Circle did not answer when asked whether it could make those changes.
One detail from the court filings caught investigators’ attention. Circle disclosed it had already discussed a victim compensation process with federal prosecutors that involved permanently freezing stolen tokens before issuing replacement USDC. The company did not explain whether that arrangement applies outside federal cases.
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The difference between Circle and Tether is hard to ignore. AMLBot data shows Tether froze about $3.3 billion in USDT across more than 7,200 wallets between 2023 and 2025. Circle froze about $109 million in USDC over the same period, a 30 times gap by value.
Part of that difference comes from Tether’s burn and reissue process. After freezing stolen USDT, the company can destroy those tokens and issue clean replacements to law enforcement or victims.
Tether says it has already reissued around $1.1 billion and frozen $4.7 billion linked to illicit activity. Circle does not currently offer the same public process for third-party wallets, although its court filings show it has discussed similar arrangements with federal authorities.
The companies also draw the line in different places. Tether has said it sometimes acts before courts become involved if law enforcement requests help. Circle says it only responds through formal legal process, arguing that the approach protects users from wrongful or politically motivated freezes. Investigators counter that by the time those orders arrive, stolen crypto is often long gone.
Milwaukee County detective Scott Simons told ICIJ he has worked on more than a dozen cases where Circle either declined an early freeze request or where the court order came too late. For many victims, he said, the answer is simply that the money is gone.
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The post Criminal Complaint Against Circle Puts USDC Freeze Policy Under a Microscope appeared first on Cryptonews.
Bitcoin Magazine
Tether Invests $20 Million in Brazil’s Mercado Bitcoin
Tether said Tuesday it will invest $20 million in a strategic growth financing round for Mercado Bitcoin, a move that deepens the stablecoin issuer’s push into Latin America’s fast-growing market for blockchain-based financial services.
Tether, the largest company in the digital asset industry and the issuer of the USDT stablecoin, framed the deal as part of a broader strategy of backing platforms that pair regulatory licensing with market scale.
Mercado Bitcoin, founded in São Paulo in 2013, has grown from a cryptocurrency exchange into what it describes as a full-stack on-chain financial services platform.
The company now serves 4.5 million users and says it has issued more than 2 billion reais in tokenized assets. It holds more than 10 licenses across Brazil and Europe, including a payment institution license from Brazil’s central bank, along with broker-dealer, securitization and asset management capabilities.
Its business spans trading, tokenized investment products, credit and lending, stablecoin-based payments, and cross-border services.
“Mercado Bitcoin has built exactly that, a regulated, full-stack on-chain financial platform serving millions of users across one of the world’s most dynamic financial markets,” Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said in a statement. He said the company’s mix of licensing, tokenization infrastructure and integrated services is unmatched in the region.
Roberto Dagnoni, chairman and chief executive of Mercado Bitcoin, said the shift of finance onto blockchain rails is underway and that the focus has turned to building infrastructure for tokenization, stablecoins, payments and capital markets at scale. He said the investment strengthens the company’s ability to expand its on-chain services in Brazil and abroad.
Mercado Bitcoin said it will use the capital to expand its payments infrastructure, scale tokenized investment offerings for retail and institutional investors, grow its lending and credit business, advance on-chain capital markets, and continue international expansion.
The investment lands as banks and consumers move toward programmable, blockchain-based systems for moving and accessing money.
Tether pointed to Brazil as a leader in that transition, citing the country’s large financial market, high digital adoption and developing regulatory framework. Brazil has drawn attention from crypto and payments firms in part because of Pix, the central bank’s instant-payment system, which has reshaped how money moves in the country.
The deal continues an active stretch of dealmaking for Tether, whose reserves back one of the world’s most widely used stablecoins. In June, the company said it would lead a Series C round of up to $1.4 billion for the German firm NEURA Robotics, one of the largest private raises on record in humanoid robotics.
It also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre to explore work on tokenization and blockchain education. The same month, Tether said it would wind down Alloy by Tether and its aUSDT token after reviewing user activity and market demand.
Neither company disclosed the size of the full financing round or the valuation attached to the investment. Tether described its role as that of a strategic partner and investor in Mercado Bitcoin’s next phase of growth.
The transaction reflects a wider bet across the industry that tokenization and stablecoins will move into mainstream finance, and that regulated platforms in high-growth markets are positioned to capture that demand.
For Tether, backing Mercado Bitcoin extends its reach beyond issuing USDT and into the infrastructure that companies and consumers use to hold, invest and transfer digital value.
This post Tether Invests $20 Million in Brazil’s Mercado Bitcoin first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.
Bitcoin Magazine
Taiwan Passes Crucial Crypto Law With Licensing Rules, Stablecoin Framework
Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan approved the Virtual Asset Service Act in its third reading on Tuesday, the island’s first comprehensive framework for the crypto sector. Lawmakers sent the bill to President Lai Ching-te, who is expected to sign it into law within ten days.
The act establishes a licensing regime for all virtual asset service providers in Taiwan and hands broad oversight to the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC). Under the law, crypto businesses must secure FSC approval before operating in Taiwan. The framework covers seven categories of providers, including exchanges, trading platforms, transfer firms, custodians, underwriters and lending services.
The legislation creates Taiwan’s first stablecoin framework. Issuers must win approval from both the central bank and the FSC before releasing tokens. The law requires them to hold full reserves, place those reserves in trust, and submit to routine audits and public disclosures.
Domestic stablecoin issuance is restricted to banks, a measure that ties the emerging asset class to the country’s established financial institutions.
JUST IN:
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) July 1, 2026Taiwan's legislature passes law establishing a regulatory framework for the Bitcoin and crypto industry.
"We're officially entering a new era of digital finance."
pic.twitter.com/wWH0n2I4cH
Penalties for breaking the rules are steep. Operating an unlicensed virtual asset service, or issuing a stablecoin without approval, can bring up to seven years in prison and fines that reach NT$100 million ($3.14 million).
Fraud and market manipulation carry sentences of three to ten years and fines between NT$10 million and NT$200 million ($314,000 to $6.28 million).
To ease the shift, the FSC set a transition window for firms that completed anti-money laundering registration before the law takes effect. Those companies get twelve months to file license applications and up to twenty-one months to obtain full approval. The FSC said it can extend the window by three months, a one-time option.
The vote positions Taiwan among a growing list of jurisdictions moving from patchwork guidance to a single statute. Kenya and Ghana signed virtual asset laws in recent months, and lawmakers across Asia continue to draft rules for exchanges and stablecoin issuers.
Taiwan’s approach pairs an open door for licensed operators with some of the region’s harsher criminal penalties, a balance regulators framed as a bid to protect investors without stifling the industry.
The passage builds on a broader shift in Taiwan’s stance toward digital assets. The government has disclosed holdings of 210 bitcoin valued near $18 million, and officials have floated plans to launch a strategic bitcoin reserve and study broader BTC regulation.
The new act gives that ambition a legal foundation, defining who may operate, under what conditions, and with what consequences for those who ignore the rules.
This post Taiwan Passes Crucial Crypto Law With Licensing Rules, Stablecoin Framework first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.
Bitcoin Magazine
Visa, Mastercard, And Over 140 Companies Launch Stablecoin Open USD
A coalition of more than 140 companies — among them Visa, Stripe, Mastercard, BlackRock, and Coinbase — announced today the formation of Open Standard and the launch of Open USD (OUSD), a new dollar-pegged stablecoin built to redistribute the economics of the $300 billion stablecoin market.
The project is led by Zach Abrams, co-founder of Bridge, the stablecoin infrastructure firm that Stripe acquired in 2024.
“Existing stablecoins have great strengths,” Abrams said in a statement, “But to use them at scale, businesses need something that’s open, low-cost, high-throughput, broadly accessible, and aligned to their interests.”
The announcement sent Circle shares down as much as 15% Tuesday, a sign of how directly Open USD targets the USDC issuer’s business model.
The core proposition of Open USD is straightforward: no minting fees, no redemption fees, no volume limits — and most of the interest generated by the stablecoin’s reserves goes to the companies using it, minus a management fee retained by Open Standard.
That reserve income is what makes Circle and Tether profitable. Both issuers park stablecoin backing in short-term U.S. Treasuries and keep the yield themselves. Circle’s USDC carries a market cap of roughly $73 billion; Tether’s USDT sits at around $145 billion. Open USD proposes to share that yield with its distribution network instead.
Governance follows the same logic. Rather than a single issuer calling the shots, Open Standard will be managed by an independent organization with decision-making shared among partner companies.
The partner list spans nearly every corner of finance. Payment networks include Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover. Banks include BNY, Standard Chartered, DBS, and U.S. Bank. On the technology side: Google, Shopify, and IBM. Crypto firms include Coinbase, Ripple, MetaMask, Aave, Bybit, OKX, Galaxy, Fireblocks, and Anchorage Digital.
“Today, we announced Visa is joining Open Standard alongside Stripe, Coinbase, Mastercard, American Express, BlackRock, U.S. Bank, BBVA, Standard Chartered and 100-plus initial partners with the mission of issuing Open USD,” Visa’s head of crypto, Cuy Sheffield, wrote on X.
Open USD is expected to go live later in 2026 on Solana, Stellar, Base, and Polygon. Tempo CEO Matt Huang confirmed OUSD will be natively issued on its network from day one, with support for payments, liquidity, exchanges, and DeFi.
Open Standard is not the first consortium to try this model. Paxos leads the Global Dollar Network (USDG) — backed by Robinhood, Kraken, and Galaxy Digital — on the same premise: share reserve income, grow adoption.
In Europe, 37 banks and payment providers have organized around Qivalis, a euro-denominated stablecoin, as institutions push back against U.S. dollar dominance in the digital asset space.
The timing is not accidental. Stablecoins have migrated out of crypto trading and into cross-border payments, merchant settlements, and corporate treasury operations.
Citi projects the market will reach $4 trillion by 2030.
This post Visa, Mastercard, And Over 140 Companies Launch Stablecoin Open USD first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.
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