136: Citi’s stablecoin
Hey, it’s Marc.
The United States just rewrote the money playbook with stablecoins. The House passed 3 crypto bills Thursday after a 9-hour standoff — and one is already heading to Trump's desk for a signature. [Read more]
Meanwhile, Bank of America and Citi have released plans to issue their own stablecoins. Whereas, the Bank of England opposes stablecoin issuance.
“I think they’re real, but I don’t know why you’d want a stablecoin as opposed to just a payment.”
— JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon (company’s earnings call)
Also: We have dropped our biggest stablecoin report yet, where we unpack ALL of this – together with Fintech Blueprint 🤖🏦🧭 .
This week:
Grayscale files for an IPO
France to start bitcoin mining with nuclear energy
OpenAI launches ChatGPT agent
Crossmint partners with Visa
And much more.
PS: We’re releasing our “Stablecoins in Commerce” report. Want to partner & expose yourself to 200k+ digital asset leaders? Reach out.
Top Boardroom Reads This Week
Digital Assets
Money Movement 2.0 (51)
Central banks face dilemma over rise of dollar-backed stablecoins (Financial Times)
The state of stablecoins in cross-border payments (FXC Intelligence)
AI
AI Talent Wars (51)
Meta Superintelligence – Leadership Compute, Talent, and Data (Semianalysis)
How to Build an Agent (LangChain)
Investing in energy to secure America's AI future (Anthropic)
The Agent Company: Benchmarking LLM Agents on Consequential Real World Tasks
👉 Get your brand in front of 35,000+ decision-makers — book your ad spot now.
U.S. House just passed 3 major Crypto Bills
The CLARITY Act, the GENIUS Stablecoin Bill, and the Anti-CBDC Surveillance Act all passed the House. For the first time, stablecoin, crypto market structure, and CBDC bans are moving together. [NEWS]
The GENIUS Act lets private companies issue dollar-backed digital currencies.
The CLARITY Act creates crypto business rules.
The Anti-CBDC Act blocks government digital money.
So what? We're watching the biggest payment infrastructure shift since credit cards. With Amazon, Walmart and Citi already exploring stablecoins, this is going to be the catalyst to the real enterprise momentum. However, critics warn that the CLARITY Act may create regulatory loopholes for firms like Meta and Tesla to tokenise assets outside SEC oversight.
Big Banks Are (Finally) Going Stablecoin
Citi and BofA have confirmed plans to issue stablecoins. Citi is prioritising tokenised deposits, while BofA says it’ll be “there just like we were with Zelle.” [NEWS]
So what? 2025’s friendlier rules and rising demand for safe, treasury-backed stablecoins are pushing big banks to act. But here’s the catch: every dollar backing a stablecoin is one less dollar earning interest for the bank. That’s a hit to their bottom line. So instead of full-blown stablecoins, banks may push tokenised deposits — safer for them, and still future-facing.
👉 We are going to release our flagship report on the “Digital Asset Strategies.” Want to partner & expose yourself to 200k+ digital asset leaders? Reach out.
France wants to turn nuclear waste into Bitcoin
French lawmakers propose using surplus nuclear power for Bitcoin mining — potentially earning $150M annually while reducing €80M in annual energy losses. France’s nuclear power plants produce more electricity than the grid can absorb. In 2025, it cost utilities €12,000/MWh just to pay others to take the extra power. [NEWS]
So what? There is a loop: energy → digital infrastructure → financial power. As stablecoins, AI compute, and tokenisation scale, energy-rich nations are leveraging resources to gain an edge in the coming digital economy arms race. [ANALYSIS]
News Flash
Grayscale files for an IPO. Link
Crossmint partners with Visa to power agentic commerce using Visa Intelligent Commerce. Link
US Bank completes first fully digital blockchain trade finance transaction. Link
Ripple backs Dubai’s real estate tokenisation with blockchain custody tech. Link
OpenAI introduces the ChatGPT agent. Link
Anthropic launches Claude for Financial Services - the first industry-specific AI offering from a major AI Lab. Link
Delphi Digital launches AI-focused research platform, Delphi Intelligence. Link
That’s all for now, folks.
Take care
– Marc & Team