138: PayPal, Coinbase, Circle
Hey, it’s Marc.
This was a massive week for digital assets in the US with Coinbase, Circle and PayPal as the big winners:
JP Morgan partnered with Coinbase, allowing 80M Chase customers to fund Coinbase with Chase credit cards. In 2026, they’ll also be able to redeem Chase reward points for USDC and directly link Chase bank accounts to Coinbase. That’s $5B+ in points moving toward digital assets🤯 [RELEASE] [Full analysis]
This is a huge win for Coinbase. They just levelled up as the 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘢𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘜.𝘚. 𝘤𝘳𝘺𝘱𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘯-𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘱 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘞𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. We’ll unpack it below.
FIS, the $82B infrastructure giant behind 95% of the world’s top banks, partnered with Circle to USDC directly into its payment rails. FIS moves $10T+ annually across 20,000 institutions and 1M+ merchants. [Full analysis]
A big win for Circle.
There’s more: The White House has released a 166 page report outlining the United States' strategic approach to digital assets. In short: the US is going all-in on digital assets. The goal? To make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the world.” [Read the summary].
Meanwhile, the SEC launched “project crypto”, basically telling the world that they’re about to move mountains to massively accelerate crypto adoption and bring capital markets onchain. Wow.
Also, this week:
Visa is now supporting PYUSD, USDG, and EURC across Avalanche & Stellar
PayPal launches "Pay with Crypto", letting US merchants accept 100+ cryptocurrencies at checkout.
The European central banks is waking up on stablecoins
FG Nexus launches $200M Ethereum treasury vehicle
And much more.
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Top Boardroom Reads This Week
Digital Assets
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FIS offers USDC payments for banks
Fidelity Information Services (FIS), the $82B infrastructure giant behind 95% of the world’s top banks, enabled USDC payments for U.S. financial institutions through a new partnership with Circle, integrating stablecoin rails directly into its Money Movement Hub. This is a unified platform letting banks process ACH, wires, RTP, and stablecoins via one API in May 2025. [RELEASE] [ANALYSIS]
That means:
Banks can settle with USDC natively
Cross-border payments without SWIFT
Real-time payouts, lower fees, global reach
So what? This isn't just another fintech partnership. FIS moves $10T+ annually across 20K institutions and 1M+ merchants. And now, Circle gets direct, regulated USDC payment rails for FIS’s massive, global client base It's instant access to America's banking backbone.
PayPal vs. Visa & Mastercard
PayPal just launched "Pay with Crypto", letting US merchants accept 100+ cryptocurrencies at checkout. How it works:
Instant conversion to USD or stablecoins = No volatility risk
Faster payouts = merchants get near-instant access to funds
Earn yield = merchants can store funds in PYUSD and earn up to 4%
Translation: Crypto checkout, fiat settlement, all in one click.
So what? This isn't just another crypto integration. This is the biggest crypto consumer roll-out in years. PayPal just onboarded more merchants to crypto than the entire crypto payment industry combined over the past decade. This is potentially billions in transaction value moving away from Visa and Mastercard to blockchain rails.
Our prediction: Visa & Mastercard will have to cut rates or adapt crypto rails (they're already working on it). This isn't just about PayPal vs Stripe anymore. It's crypto rails vs traditional banking infrastructure.
Long live Ethereum
This week, the most interesting Ethereum treasury vehicle launched with a $200M raise at NASDAQ [here’s why]. It’s called FG Nexus and they’re doing it with help from Galaxy, Kraken, and DCG. The firm plans to hold ETH as its reserve asset, generate yield via staking, and act as a capital markets gateway for tokenised assets. [RELEASE] [ANALYSIS]
So what? This isn't just about buying ETH and holding it. FG Nexus runs merchant banking and reinsurance businesses. Real revenue. Real assets. Real tokenization opportunities. It’s the first of its kind. And it’s led by industry veterans with Maja Vujinovic as the CEO. She was an early pioneer in payments and catalyzed corporate blockchains to first pilot on Ethereum in her role as CIO of General Electric in 2015.
The bigger picture: Ethereum is emerging as the clear second choice for digital asset treasuries, behind Bitcoin. Corporate treasuries have added 1.26M ETH — nearly 1% of Ethereum’s total supply — to their balance sheets. Thirteen public companies now hold over 1 million ETH combined, signalling growing institutional conviction.
Visa doubles down on multi-chain stablecoin settlement
Visa now supports 4 stablecoins (USDC, PYUSD, EURC, USDG) and 4 chains (Ethereum, Solana, Stellar, Avalanche) on its global settlement network, expanding its real-world usage across card issuers, merchants, and acquirers. [BLOG]
So what? This is Visa’s first major move post-GENIUS Act. While consumers still pay with cards, merchants rely on Visa’s infra — POS, chargebacks, settlement — making stablecoin rails a backend upgrade, not a replacement. Visa is future-proofing card rails by using stablecoins for issuer-acquirer settlement, preserving its fee model while reducing FX, friction, and delays. By supporting multi-chain, multi-stablecoin flows, Visa is evolving into the “network of networks” — the trusted layer between wallets, banks, merchants, and blockchains.
White House goes all-in on digital assets
The new White House digital asset report backs tokenisation, DeFi sandboxes, and fast-tracks the Genius and Clarity Acts. Major points include:
Banks are being told to support crypto
Crypto tax reform is finally coming
DeFi is being recognized as legit infrastructure
and much more. [Report] [Summary] [Ask questions from the report]
So what? This is the first full-scale U.S. crypto strategy, not just regulation, but a national blueprint for digital financial leadership. It elevates crypto to core economic policy, positions Bitcoin as a sovereign-grade asset, and signals a green light for enterprises and institutions to build, tokenise, and custody with federal backing.
SEC approves in-kind redemptions for Crypto ETPs
The SEC just approved in-kind creations and redemptions for crypto ETPs (starting with BTC and ETH), reversing its previous cash-only policy. [RELEASE]
So what: In-kind mechanisms allow authorised participants to exchange actual crypto for ETP shares, thereby reducing slippage, fees, and inefficiencies. This brings crypto ETPs (exchange-traded products) in line with gold & other commodity-based products.
News Flash
ECB warns: act on stablecoins now or lose monetary sovereignty. Link
OpenAI launches Stargate Norway, OpenAI’s first AI data center initiative in Europe. Link
Google launches Earth AI, its state-of-the-art geospatial AI model. Link
The Ether Machine buys $57M ETH, holds more than the Eth Foundation. Link
eToro plans to launch tokenised U.S. stocks on the Ethereum blockchain. Link
👉 We’re tracking 1000s of blockchain and AI vendors so you can find the right vendors, partners, and bet on the right tech. Sign up for early access.
That’s all for now, folks.
Take care
– Marc & Team
😎