Welcome to another edition of The Weekly Stable, the essential source of stablecoin insights, analysis and news coverage for global fintech professionals, brought to you by This Week in Fintech.

This week we cover:

• The Historic signing of the GENIUS Act
• Western Union’s stablecoin opportunity
• Paypal World’s distribution first cross border payments strategy
• Product launches, partnerships and regulatory news from BitGo, Charles Schwab, Ethena Foundation, Ondo Finance, Perena, Polymarket, Telegram, WisdomTree and more.

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🏆 Top Stories

Trump Signs GENIUS Act, Cementing Stablecoin Regulation

President Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law, establishing the first comprehensive U.S. regulatory framework for payment stablecoins. The law enables both banks and licensed non-banks to issue fully reserved, dollar-backed stablecoins under federal and state oversight. It mandates 1:1 reserves in cash or Treasuries, prohibits interest-bearing coins, and restricts Big Tech issuers. Foreign stablecoins must register to serve U.S. users. A three-year compliance runway begins immediately.

Why it matters: The U.S. just declared stablecoins a legitimate part of its financial system. The strategic shift is already rippling through traditional finance, fintech, and global payments.

• Regulatory clarity unlocks adoption: Banks, corporates, and payment firms now have a clear legal perimeter to integrate stablecoins into payments, treasury, and settlement workflows.
• Dollar strength reinforced: By requiring stablecoins to hold U.S. Treasuries, the law drives demand for U.S. debt and extends dollar dominance into the internet economy.
• Compliance-first design wins: Regulation-first issuers gain tailwinds, while more opaque issuers like Tether face a “comply or exit” U.S. scenario.
• New revenue lines open: Banks can now custody, issue, or settle stablecoins—expect a wave of pilots and partnerships, with attention on reserve yield, tokenized deposits, and B2B flows.
• Infrastructure buildout begins: GENIUS spurs demand for audit systems, KYC/identity tools, stablecoin APIs, and settlement rails connecting legacy and blockchain systems.

A Financial Revolution: For fintechs, banks, and global corporations, stablecoins are no longer optional—they are a strategic imperative. The GENIUS Act resets the playing field, and success will hinge on how fast firms adapt their infrastructure, compliance, and business models to this new internet-native financial layer.

Western Union Sees Stablecoin Opportunity Amid Core Business Slowdown

Western Union CEO Devin McGranahan told Bloomberg the company is actively exploring stablecoin use cases, including global on/off ramps, stablecoin-to-fiat conversion, and digital wallet integration. The company is piloting crypto-related infrastructure in South America and Africa and sees stablecoins as an innovation opportunity in faster remittances and value preservation. While still the largest consumer money transfer player—generating $4B in revenue on ~$100B in volume—Western Union faces mounting pressure from digital-first challengers and is expanding into adjacent services beyond traditional transfers.

Why it matters: The global remittance giant is positioning itself as a key bridge between fiat and stablecoin ecosystems.

• Strategic pivot: Slowing growth in the core business is pushing WU to diversify into settlement, wallets, and liquidity services across frontier markets.
• Omnichannel strength: Payout-to-wallet and payout-to-account are growing >30% globally, reinforcing WU’s shift from pure cash to hybrid digital rails.
• Top-down adoption: The GENIUS Act, combined with WU’s scale, shows that stablecoin adoption is no longer just user-led—it’s increasingly driven by board mandates.

Pivot potential: Western Union’s stock is down 30% over the past year as core remittance revenues stall. But with unmatched distribution across retail and digital channels, it remains one of the best-positioned players to serve as a global on/off ramp for stablecoins. The transition won’t be easy—legacy culture and tech are real hurdles—but the infrastructure, brand, and reach are there. In a stablecoin-powered future, Western Union has a clear role to play if it moves decisively.

PayPal Announces PayPal World to Tackle Cross-Border Commerce

PayPal has unveiled PayPal World, a cross-border platform linking major domestic wallets—including UPI (India), Tenpay (China), and Mercado Pago (LATAM)—to PayPal and Venmo’s global merchant network. Launching this fall, the platform allows consumers to pay international merchants using local wallets and currencies, while businesses gain access to nearly 2B users with no additional integration. It’s built on open commerce APIs and described as technology-agnostic. Stablecoin support is planned in the future.

Why it matters: PayPal World takes aim at a core stablecoin problem set—cross-border payments and interoperability between local RTP systems—but starts with a distribution-first, closed-architecture strategy.

• Distribution-first: PayPal is seeding the network by connecting its existing wallets (PayPal, Venmo) and global merchants to large domestic payment systems like UPI and Weixin Pay.
• Controlled access: While open to third-party wallet connections, PayPal World remains a proprietary network. Wallets “connect”—they don’t participate permissionlessly.
• Stablecoins deferred: Blockchain-native approaches prioritize open rails. PayPal is prioritizing reach, compliance, and UX—betting that scale comes first, stablecoins second.
• Developer leverage: The platform lays the groundwork for developers to build payments-enabled apps, AI agents, and commerce tools on top of a two-sided network.

The big picture: Stablecoins aren’t sidelined—they’re sequenced. PayPal wants to own the distribution layer before plugging in tokenized money. It’s not anti-stablecoin; it’s a bet that whoever controls the endpoints will eventually control the flow. This is both a validation of the stablecoin thesis and a reminder: distribution is still king.

Read on for a round up of this week’s news:

🚀 Product Announcements & Partnerships

Perena announces USD’, a stablecoin issued by Brale, Backed by Franklin Templeton’s BENJI and Superstate’s USTB on the Solana blockchain (read more)

PayPal Launches New Fiat Platform. Is it a Stablecoin Killer? (read more)

TON Wallet Launches in US, Bringing Telegram-Integrated Crypto to Millions of Users (read more)

World Liberty-backed Ondo Finance launches first tokenized Treasury fund on Sei (read more)

ChinaAMC launches first tokenized RMB money market fund in Hong Kong (read more)

WisdomTree unveils its stablecoin strategy for its USDW coin (read more)

💸 Fundraises and M&A

Ethena Foundation to spin up SPAC called StablecoinX dedicated to buying millions worth of ENA (read more)

BitGo Files to Go Public as Crypto Market Surges Past $4 Trillion (read more)

⚡ Stablecoin Adoption 

Tether CEO: US market entry 'well underway' amid plans for institutional stablecoin (read more and here)

Western Union explores stablecoin rollout in digital wallet amid industry optimism: Bloomberg (read more)

PayPal USD Expands to Arbitrum (read more)

Charles Schwab leans into crypto, stablecoins. Tokenization: not so much (read more)

Stablecoins emerge as alternative: Amex CEO (read more)

Crypto Prediction Market Polymarket Weighs Launching Its Own Stablecoin (read more)

USDC on Hyperliquid doubles to $4.9 billion as DEX derivatives trading gains ground (read more)

⚖️ Regulatory Developments

JPMorgan says regulators outside US appear to prefer tokenized bank deposits over stablecoins (read more)

UK gov shares plans for DIGIT digital bond. Willing to decentralize market infra (read more)

Central banks face dilemma over rise of dollar-backed stablecoins (read more)

Russia sets 2026 launch date for digital ruble as public remains wary (read more)

ECB updates status of digital euro work (read more)

Anti-CBDC Surveillance Act shouldn’t prevent wholesale CBDC, tokenized reserves (read more)

Senate’s crypto bill takes different approach from CLARITY Act (read more)

The Market Has Become 'Overly Excited' for Stablecoins, Hong Kong Financial Regulator Says (read more)

US banking associations object to trust bank charters for Circle, Fidelity, Ripple (read more)

Swiss National Bank expands wholesale CBDC trials (read more)

🍻 Upcoming Events

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This Week in Fintech

💬 Posts of the Week

📖 Reads of the Week

In The stable door opens: How tokenized cash enables next-gen payments, Matt Higginson, Partner at McKinsey, provides a strategic primer on the evolving stablecoin landscape that explains how regulatory clarity, institutional demand, and maturing infrastructure are driving adoption—an accessible and data-rich starting point for newcomers seeking to understand why stablecoins matter and how they challenge legacy payments.

In GLOBAL SHIFT: GENIUS Act PASSES, Redefines EVERYTHING, Austin Campbell of Zero Knowledge Consulting argues that the GENIUS Act marks a transformative bipartisan milestone for U.S. financial regulation—ushering in regulated stablecoins that realign incentives for banks, payments firms, asset managers, and consumers, while destabilizing incumbents like Tether, Circle, and legacy institutions unable to adapt.

Messari's latest stablecoin report: State of Stablecoins July 2025

GENIUS Act briefing documents:

• E&Y Parthenon 
• Deloitte