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

This week we cover:

• Western Union Launches USDPT Stablecoin and Digital Asset Network on Solana
• Money Code Ep 7: The Future of Remittances w/ Mark Lenhard (Zepz)
• Product launches, partnerships and regulatory news from Aave Labs, B2C2, Circle, Coinbase, Custodia, Dfns, Hercle, StraitsX, Transak, Utila, Vantage Bank, Vast Bank, ZAR and more.

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🏆 Top Stories

Western Union Launches USDPT Stablecoin and Digital Asset Network on Solana

Western Union announced plans to launch USDPT, a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin issued by Anchorage Digital Bank and built on the Solana blockchain, alongside a new Digital Asset Network linking digital assets to its 400,000+ retail locations. Expected in H1 2026, USDPT will be available through partner exchanges, enabling users to send, receive, hold, and spend digital dollars. The initiative expands Western Union’s blockchain experiments in treasury operations into a full-scale stablecoin platform.

Why It Matters

Western Union is transforming from a legacy remittance operator into a global neobank AND stablecoin access network, combining regulatory trust, scale, and physical reach in a way few others can.

• Dollar access at scale: By enabling recipients to hold USDPT in wallets, Western Union is well positioned to give millions stable, digital dollar savings, especially in high-inflation markets.
• Global cash on/off ramps: WU’s ~400,000 retail locations across 200 countries could become the world’s largest real-world network for converting between digital assets and cash.
• Treasury modernization: Stablecoins reduce reliance on correspondent banks and can enhance WU’s own liquidity management for cost savings and efficiency gains.

Remittance is evolving from send fiat to send digital dollars, shifting control of when the FX transactions (and associated fees) occur. Wise, Remitly, Moneygram and Sendwave have all announced or indicated interest in consumer wallets for this reason (check out our Money Code episode below with Mark Lenhard, CEO of Sendwave owner Zepz for more details and context here).

This announcement appears to be the beginning of real action from Western Union, whose scale and brand trust position it well to capture this shift and who are in a position to onboard several million users to stablecoins.

Given the likely custodial nature of the experience and the influence over the money flow it makes sense for them to launch their own stablecoin as most balances will stay within their ecosystem (see this framework for more here) but will there be enough density of users for USDPT to be valuable outside the WU platform? Potentially, but I doubt it. As users get more comfortable with stablecoins they may realize that there’s more utility to swapping into USDT for transfers given just how deep the USDT network is.

Either way, I’m excited to see Western Union drive real world adoption. Cross border payments and global dollar access are the two most compelling use cases for stablecoins today and WU sits right in the middle of it.

📺 Money Code Podcast 

Ep 7: The Future of Remittances w/ Mark Lenhard (Zepz)

“You still can’t eat stablecoins.” – Mark Lenhard, on why last-mile fiat remains essential.

In episode 7 of Money Code, we speak with Mark Lenhard, CEO of Zepz Group, the parent company behind WorldRemit and Sendwave, to explore the evolution of remittances and the role of stablecoins in transforming financial services. 

We cover:

• How remittances actually work today
• Why remittances were broken
• How Zepz uses stablecoins
• The future of remittances and the shift to receiver centric financial services

Key takeaways

• Remittances ≠ Just Transfers: they are the first mile of financial inclusion — where income enters the system.
• Stablecoins as Digital Dollars: end-users don’t need to know crypto; they just want reliable value they can store, then cash out when needed.
• Financial Inclusion Flywheel: once users hold digital dollars, lending, savings, and insurance become viable — something fiat systems rarely offered at small-ticket scale.
• Incumbent Advantage: trust, brand, and distribution matter more than raw technology — and give firms like Zepz a launchpad for new products.

Give it a listen and share your feedback by sending me a DM or replying to this email. 

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

🚀 Product Announcements & Partnerships

Stablecoin use for payments jumps 70% since US regulation (read more)

Circle launches Arc Testnet with BlackRock, HSBC, Visa, AWS and more (read more)

Coinbase and Citi collaborate to improve on/off ramps (read more)

Coinbase Asset Management and Apollo partner to develop stablecoin credit strategies (read more)

Crypto market maker B2C2 launches PENNY to enable instant, zero-fee stablecoin swaps (read more)

IBM launches a new blockchain wallet offering powered by Dfns (read more)

TIS, Japan’s $2T payment provider, rolls out multi-token platform with Avalanche (read more)

Japan’s first regulated yen stablecoin launches (read more)

Kyrgyzstan launches national stablecoin, sets up cryptocurrency reserve (read more)

Payments processor Zelle to use stablecoins for international transactions (read more)

Plume Chain launches pUSD, its native stablecoin powered by M0 (read more)

Token launches drive activity surge on Coinbase’s x402 (read more)

Transak partners with Cross River to enhance fiat-crypto payment infrastructure (read more)

USBC to launch US Bank Coin tokenized deposit with Vast Bank and Uphold (read more)

Utila launches Payments & Liquidity Network (read more)

Vantage Bank and Custodia announce launch of tokenized deposits for U.S. banks (read more)

Visa adding support for four stablecoins on four blockchains as spend quadrupled last quarter (read more)

Western Union announces USDPT stablecoin on Solana and Digital Asset Network (read more)

💸 Fundraises and M&A

Aave Labs acquires Stable Finance, expands consumer access to onchain savings (read more)

Consensys selects JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs to lead MetaMask developer’s planned IPO (read more)

Fireblocks acquires Dynamic to expand on-chain developer stack (read more)

Hercle raises $10M to build out stablecoin-based global money transfers (read more)

Paytrie spinout Loon raises $3 million to oversee Canadian dollar-backed stablecoin | BetaKit (read more)

StraitsX secures $10M to expand stablecoins in Asia (read more)

ZAR raises $12.9 million in a round led by a16zcrypto (read more)

⚖️ Regulatory Developments

Australia classifies stablecoins and wrapped tokens as financial products in updated guidance (read more)

Blockchain.com gets MiCA license in Malta, boosts European expansion (read more)

FASB votes to tackle stablecoin accounting (read more)

UK Industry Groups push for digital assets inclusion in UK-US Tech Bridge (read more)

🍻 Upcoming Events

Wednesday 5 November, New York: Stablecon Salon Vol 10

💬 Posts of the Week

📖 Reads of the Week

Report: Stablecoin payments from the ground up, Fall update. Artemis have updated their analysis derived from their proprietary data set. B2B payments continues to be the standout category and has grown 300% year on year.

In Crypto Is Now a Stablecoin Industry, Exa Group provides a strategic market overview of stablecoins that charts stablecoins’ evolution, taxonomy, yield sources, and regulation, arguing they now anchor onchain finance. It’s useful as a primer on the space.