Stablecoin

RedotPay, a Hong Kong-based stablecoin payments firm, is planning to raise $150 million in a pre-IPO round at a targeted $4 billion valuation ahead of a potential US stock market listing this year. The company reports more than $10 billion in annualized payment volume and over $150 million in annualized revenue, but is moving forward despite recent senior executive departures and the absence of a sitting CFO. Major banks are reportedly lined up as underwriters, making the deal a key test of investor demand for crypto payments infrastructure.

On Wednesday, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index held at 26 after touching 28 the previous day, ending a 48-day spell in the extreme fear zone and hinting at improving risk appetite. Over March, total crypto market capitalization has risen 7.65%, adding about $174 billion and marking the first positive month since September 2025. At the same time, Binance saw a $2.2 billion USDT inflow on March 18 and exchange stablecoin reserves climbed to $68.5 billion, suggesting traders are preparing to re-enter the market.

Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis said at the DC Blockchain Summit on Wednesday that the U.S. digital asset market structure bill is close to clearing Congress, with stablecoin yield and rewards remaining the primary obstacle. She indicated that disagreements between banking and crypto industry representatives over these returns are being worked through with the White House, and added that lawmakers believe concerns around DeFi have largely been resolved.

SBI VC Trade, the digital asset arm of SBI Holdings, will start a USDC lending service in Japan on Thursday, allowing individual users to lend Circle's stablecoin to the platform under fixed-term contracts. Participants can apply to lend up to 5,000 USDC per offering, earning interest while bearing direct counterparty risk as SBI may re-lend the assets and user funds lack bank-style segregation protections.

Tempo, the payments-focused blockchain incubated by Stripe and Paradigm, has appointed RedStone as its oracle provider to power FX data and stablecoin pricing, including the first native feed for its pathUSD token. The integration will support local-currency pricing and settlement for Tempo applications, such as a global payroll platform and a financial institution testing tokenized deposits. RedStone's RED token traded around $0.13 at 13:00 UTC on Wednesday, while the oracle network reports securing over $8.5 billion in total value locked.

On March 18, 2026 in George Town, British Virgin Islands, Aster announced an expanded collaboration with World Liberty Financial (WLFI) that brings USD1‑denominated perpetual contracts and new trading incentives to its platform. The upgrade adds USD1 as collateral with fee discounts on USD1 pairs and WLFI token rewards, aiming to strengthen USD1 liquidity and prepare the ecosystem for the Aster Chain Layer 1 mainnet. Early users of USD1 markets can access reduced maker and taker fees and may qualify for additional incentive programs linked to Aster Chain's launch.

Hong Kong-based stablecoin payments firm RedotPay said it has consolidated teams to boost efficiency while scaling, after a report highlighted executive departures and China-linked sensitivities. The company is exploring raising up to $150 million and previously considered a US IPO that could exceed $1 billion in proceeds and a $4 billion valuation, but it insists there is no urgent need for new capital. RedotPay, founded in 2023, now employs more than 250 staff globally and offers a stablecoin spending app paired with a Visa card, along with yield and remittance services.

Moody's said on Tuesday that it launched a network-agnostic Token Integration Engine to move its credit analysis onto blockchain infrastructure, initially by running a node on the Canton Network. The firm also released its finalized methodology for rating stablecoins, centered on the credit quality and composition of their reserve assets alongside market, liquidity, operational and technology risks.

Stablecoin payments infrastructure provider TransFi has raised $19.2 million, including $14.2 million in Series A equity and a $5 million committed liquidity facility. The company plans to use the capital to expand its stablecoin-based cross-border payments platform across Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa while deepening regulatory licensing and enterprise merchant onboarding.

Mastercard plans to acquire London-based stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK in a transaction valued at up to about $1.8 billion, including $300 million in contingent payments. The deal, reported on a Tuesday by Bloomberg, deepens Mastercard's push into 24/7 crypto settlement rails, tokenized bank deposits, and stablecoin-based payments after an earlier $2 billion transaction between BVNK and Coinbase fell through. Mastercard's broader strategy and its March 11 industry initiative highlight how major payment networks are positioning stablecoins as core infrastructure for global value transfer.