Stablecoin

The International Monetary Fund published a briefing paper on December 5, 2025, examining regulatory frameworks for stablecoins across the US, UK, Japan, and EU. The IMF warned that rapid stablecoin expansion—now exceeding $300 billion—may generate inefficiencies and regulatory gaps due to divergent national approaches and interoperability challenges.

The International Monetary Fund published a comprehensive stablecoin assessment on December 5, 2025, warning that inconsistent national regulations are creating structural obstacles for oversight and cross-border payments. The fund called for harmonized definitions, uniform reserve requirements, and coordinated supervision as the market exceeds $300 billion. Divergent national frameworks allow issuers to operate from jurisdictions with lighter oversight while serving users in stricter markets, undermining authorities' capacity to monitor reserves and compliance.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission authorized spot cryptocurrency trading on federally regulated exchanges for the first time. Acting Chairman Caroline D. Pham announced December 4 that CFTC-registered futures exchanges may now list spot digital assets under federal supervision. The decision ends decades of state-level-only oversight and opens institutional access to compliant spot crypto markets.

Binance will remove FDUSD-denominated margin pairs from cross and isolated markets on December 11, 2025. Borrowing for these pairs ends December 8. The delisting affects over 20 tokens including PENGU, NOT, FLOKI, and ORDI, with all positions force-closed and orders canceled at implementation.

World Liberty Fi transferred 250 million WLFI tokens worth $40 million to wallets linked to Jump Trading, data show. The tokens were deposited into trading wallets showing moderate DEX activity, though they remained unmoved in the initial hours. WLFI currently trades at $0.15, near its three-month low.

Digital banking platform Revolut integrated native Solana (SOL) functionality on December 3, enabling its 65 million users to make payments, transfers, and stake SOL directly within the app. The update expands beyond previous trading-only capabilities to include peer-to-peer transactions and withdrawals using SOL, USDT, and USDC on the Solana network. Revolut previously offered limited blockchain network access for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple transactions.

U.S. financial regulators are racing to implement the GENIUS Act by July 2025, following Congressional passage of the stablecoin legislation earlier this year. The law requires stablecoins to maintain 100% dollar backing and mandates annual audits for issuers exceeding $50 billion in market value. Multiple agencies including the Federal Reserve, FDIC, NCUA, and OCC are coordinating new licensing frameworks and oversight structures to meet the statutory deadline.

Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission announced plans to introduce a locally pegged stablecoin by the second half of 2026, contingent on legislative approval of the Virtual Assets Service Act. Initial issuance rights will be restricted to regulated financial institutions under a framework inspired by EU MiCA regulations. The initiative positions Taiwan to modernize payment infrastructure and strengthen its role in the digital asset economy.

Ian Krotinsky and Aashiq Dheeraj, former Citadel employees, have raised $17 million for Fin, a stablecoin-based payments platform targeting large-value cross-border transactions. Pantera Capital led the funding round, with participation from Sequoia and Samsung Next, according to Fortune. The startup plans to pilot with import-export businesses next month.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced on December 3, 2025, that major U.S. banks have partnered with Coinbase to pilot crypto-related projects focusing on stablecoins, trading infrastructure, and custody solutions. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink participated in the discussion at the New York Times Dealbook Summit, highlighting Bitcoin's essential use cases. The collaborations reflect the financial sector's growing acceptance of digital assets.