News section

Mizuho downgraded Circle’s stock while JPMorgan lowered earnings estimates for both Circle and Coinbase.Bernstein and William Blair remain bullish, arguing Circle’s network effects and regulatory lead should help preserve its moat.

GOFR taps onchain lending protocols Aave, Morpho, Spark, Kamino, and others to offer a blended borrowing rate.Users will borrow capital from Galaxy, which will act as the sole intermediary between the accredited investors and the blockchain-based lending protocols.

The European Central Bank selected 36 payment service providers for a 12-month digital euro pilot due to begin in the second half of 2027.The pilot will use a beta version of the digital euro to test payment functions, operational processes, and user experience at the ECB and 19 euro area national central banks.

US banking groups urged the Senate to tighten the CLARITY Act, citing stablecoin yield loopholes.Circle shares fell in pre-market trading as regulatory uncertainty added pressure to the stock.Baird cut its CRCL price target to $100 despite maintaining a positive long-term outlook.

JCB and Circle will test USDC for cross border treasury transfers and merchant payments in Japan.The first pilot will focus on JCB’s internal fund transfers before expanding to retail payment use.The agreement extends Circle’s institutional payments push following its U.S. trust bank approval and expansion across Asia.

Stablecoin cross-border payments priced below interbank rates throughout Q2 across Borderless’s global payment network tracked.Single-provider routing cost businesses an extra $2,330 for every $1 million moved during Q2 operations.African corridors saw the sharpest volatility while Latin American spreads continued narrowing during the quarter.

Stablecoin cross-border payments were priced below the interbank FX rate every month of Q2, a threshold that traditional rails rarely cross, according to Borderless.xyz.Sticking with one payment provider instead of routing to the best price cost businesses $2,330 per $1 million moved, the biggest cost lever left in cross-border payments, the firm said.

OKX will pause Solana USDC deposits and withdrawals while keeping related trading services fully operational.The suspension begins July 14 at 14:30 UTC+8 and resumes after maintenance without separate announcement.Solana remains a major USDC settlement network despite this short exchange-level maintenance window for users.

This is the main section from the 55th edition of The Funding sent to our subscribers on July 12.The Funding is a fortnightly newsletter written by Yogita Khatri, The Block’s longest-serving editorial member.To subscribe to the free newsletter, click here.

Circle will host an invitation only industry event in Seoul as it expands talks with South Korean banks, exchanges and payment firms.The company is strengthening USDC’s regulated banking network through new institutional partnerships and its newly approved U.S. national trust bank.Circle’s Korea outreach comes as competition in the stablecoin market grows with new consortium backed payment models emerging.

Stablecoin supply lost $10 billion since May as USDT and USDC redemptions reduced crypto liquidity.June recorded the largest monthly dollar decline since Terra, but the market contracted only 3%.Transaction volumes remained strong while tokenized assets expanded, showing blockchain finance activity continued despite redemptions.

Thailand will require source checks for cash deposits worth five million baht or more nationwide.Regulators are reviewing large USDT trades for hidden ownership and bypassed domestic remittance channels now.Existing withdrawal checks cut high-value cash activity, prompting matching controls on deposits later this year.

BlackRock’s BUIDL assets on Avalanche doubled within one week, passing the $900 million mark today.Avalanche now holds the second-largest BUIDL allocation behind Ethereum, according to the latest RWA.xyz data.BUIDL’s total value reached about $2.87 billion as tokenized Treasury demand continued growing across blockchains.

SBI led EDX Markets’ $76 million round to expand institutional crypto trading and clearing worldwide.EDX will fund product growth, global expansion, settlement services, and its planned national trust bank.Ripple Prime integration gives institutions unified access to EDX spot markets and perpetual futures liquidity.

An attacker inflated SAUCE’s oracle price and borrowed assets worth about $9.05 million from Bonzo.Supra’s verifier accepted a zeroed signature, allowing the false price update to reach Hedera mainnet.Bonzo paused lending while teams pursue recovery, fixes, and the promised return of white-hat funds.

An attacker borrowed roughly $9.05 million from Bonzo Lend after exploiting a flaw in a Supra oracle verifier to submit a wildly inflated price for the SAUCE token.Bonzo Lend and its points program remain paused, while Supra has patched the affected verifier.A second wallet borrowed another roughly $1 million but identified itself as a white hat and said it intended to return the funds.