🧾Stableview #4 - $9B Surge & a $200M Bet

Welcome to this week’s edition of Stableview — your roundup of the most important moves in the stablecoin world. This week we cover:

• 📈 USDe rockets to #3 stablecoin by market cap in just three weeks

• 💵 Ripple’s $200M Rail acquisition to power global stablecoin payments

• 💳 Slash launches USDSL with Stripe’s Bridge for cross-border business transactions

• ⚖️ Hong Kong and South Korea push forward with regulated stablecoin frameworks

⚡️ Quick News:

• USDS markets on Pendle surpass $570M in TVL, now the platform’s largest pool after Sky Savings and Sky Token Rewards. [Link]

• NYDFS fines Paxos $26.5M over compliance failures tied to Binance’s BUSD, citing weak KYC and oversight. [Link]

• China eyes stablecoin rollout to challenge the dollar, but progress slows as officials fear losing control over money leaving the country via blockchain rails [Link]

• USDT accounts for 40% of all blockchain fees across 9 major chains, as millions in emerging markets rely on USDT to escape inflation. [Link]

• USDC payments are rolling out to tens of thousands of Shopify merchants - enabling global, low-cost, borderless transactions with zero integration required. [Link]

• Bahrain launches a comprehensive stablecoin licensing framework, marking a new era of regulatory clarity and positioning the kingdom as a trusted digital finance hub in the GCC [Link]

Ethena’s USDe Surges to #3 in Stablecoins

Ethena’s USDe has jumped to the third-largest dollar-pegged token by market cap at $9.3B, up 75% in just three weeks, overtaking FDUSD.

The surge began mid-July and was likely boosted by two catalysts: the GENIUS Act and the Anchorage Digital custody deal: enabling USDe issuance in U.S. markets as a GENIUS-compliant stablecoin

🔍 How USDe Works
Launched in early 2024, USDe uses a delta-neutral design — pairing onchain collateral with short perpetual swaps to maintain its $1 peg. Key differences from Terra’s failed UST:

• Fully collateralized with crypto assets & hedged positions

• Diversified collateral (BTC, USDT, etc.)

• Third-party attestations & expanded exchange liquidity

📈 Why It Matters

• USDe is now behind only USDT ($164B) and USDC ($63B) in market cap

• Part of a broader stablecoin expansion - sector supply is at $257B, up from $200B in January

• Ethena is now the 7th largest DeFi protocol with $9.4B TVL

🌍 Real-World Adoption

💵 Ripple Buys Rail for $200M to Power Stablecoin Payments

Ripple is acquiring Rail, a stablecoin-powered payments platform, in a $200M deal expected to close in Q4 2025.

What Rail brings:

• Stablecoin on/off-ramps without users holding crypto

• Multi-asset support (RLUSD, XRP, and others)

• Treasury tools: virtual accounts, collections, third-party payments

• 24/7 API integration & enterprise-grade compliance

• Multi-bank partner network access

Rail’s CEO says the platform is projected to process 10% of all global stablecoin payments in 2025 — a market estimated at $36B.

Why Ripple is doing this?

• Expands Ripple’s enterprise-grade digital asset infrastructure

• Integrates RLUSD into real-world payment flows

• Builds out compliance and banking partnerships for regulated markets

• Strengthens Ripple’s retail reach — RLUSD is already showing growth in self-custodial wallets (e.g., Xaman) and developer integrations (e.g., Transak)

📲 Slash Launches USDS Stablecoin with Stripe’s Bridge for Global Payments

What is Slash?
Slash is a San Francisco-based neobank for businesses, focused on payments and treasury services. Traditionally, it’s been a fintech - not a crypto company.

Key features:

• Lets businesses store, send, and receive USD or stablecoins in one account

• No U.S. bank account needed for USD access

• Faster settlement and no FX fees for cross-border payments to U.S. suppliers

• Automatic conversion between USDSL, USDC, USDT, and dollars — no direct crypto handling required

The launch comes as stablecoins gain traction post-GENIUS Act, with global corporations and payments giants like PayPal, Stripe, Amazon, and Walmart exploring their own offerings. Stripe’s $1.1B acquisition of Bridge in 2024 laid the groundwork for this integration.

⚖️ Regulation Watch

🇭🇰 Animoca, Standard Chartered & HKT Begin Hong Kong Stablecoin Licensing Process

Anchorpoint Financial - a joint venture between Animoca Brands, Standard Chartered, and Hong Kong Telecommunications (HKT), has formally started the process to obtain a stablecoin issuer license from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA).

🧠 What This Means for the Industry?

• Marks one of the first major licensing moves under Hong Kong’s new Stablecoins Ordinance

• Brings together traditional finance (Standard Chartered), Web3 (Animoca), and telecom infrastructure (HKT). Signaling a multi-sector approach to stablecoin adoption

• Suggests growing institutional confidence in regulated stablecoins in Asia

• A licensed HKD-backed stablecoin could strengthen Hong Kong’s position as a regional hub for compliant Web3 payments and settlement

🇰🇷 South Korea Plans Legal Framework for Won-Pegged Stablecoins

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) is moving to integrate Korean won-based stablecoins into its financial system as part of a broader crypto policy shift.

The proposed framework would:

• Regulate issuance of KRW-pegged stablecoins for payments and remittances

• Reduce reliance on offshore USD stablecoins like USDT and USDC

• Potentially give local firms a regulated path to issue tokens — though the Bank of Korea says they should be issued by the central bank

The plan is still in draft form and requires legislative approval, but it indicates a move away from restrictive policies toward regulated stablecoin adoption.