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:

• Wyoming’s historic state-issued stablecoin launch
• Key takeaways from Fed leaders during Wyoming Blockchain Symposium
• MetaMask’s new stablecoin
• Product launches, partnerships and regulatory news from Bullish, Cap, Citigroup, Figure, Plasma, Nuvei, USD.AI and more.

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🏆 Top Stories

Wyoming Becomes First State to Launch a Stablecoin

Wyoming officially launched the Frontier Stable Token (FRNT), the first state-issued stablecoin in the U.S. FRNT is backed by dollars and short-term Treasuries, with a mandate for 2% overcollateralization. The token went live on seven blockchains (Ethereum, Solana, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Polygon, Optimism, Base) via LayerZero. Reserves are managed by Franklin Advisers, with audits from The Network Firm. Wyoming-domiciled crypto-exchange Kraken and Rain will be among the first platforms to distribute FRNT. The move comes one month after the GENIUS Act established a federal stablecoin framework, though state issuers may fall outside its oversight.

Why it matters:

This is a historic move that demonstrates Wyoming’s regulatory innovation ability, regardless of whether the token is adopted or not.

• Demonstrated capability: Launching FRNT shows state-level competence across issuance, reserves, audits, and multi-chain ops, reinforcing 45+ digital-asset laws since 2016.
• Signaling effect: The Frontier brand and public launch signal industry collaboration and may draw issuers, custodians, and developers to domicile in Wyoming.
• Adoption challenge: There doesn’t appear to be a compelling use case for a state issued stablecoin. However given their stature it’s not hard to imagine how they might try to incentivize adoption though partnerships with PSPs, tax collection, and government disbursements. 
• Fragmentation risk: Adds another brand to a crowded field, increasing choice paralysis. State-issued tokens compete on different trust terms. Nebraska and Texas are exploring similar moves, more state launches could deepen confusion.

Regulation is the product:

Adoption may be uncertain, but that is not the point. Wyoming has converted policy leadership into operational proof. FRNT is a capability demo that strengthens its role as regulator and industry partner. By demonstrating competence in issuance, reserves, and audits, the state cements its position as a forward-thinking regulator, which in turn helps attract digital asset businesses to Wyoming.

Fed Leaders Call for Balanced Innovation in Payments

At the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium, Fed Governor Christopher Waller and Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle W. Bowman delivered back-to-back speeches on payments innovation. Waller emphasized private sector leadership in stablecoins and AI, with the Fed focused on providing infrastructure and regulatory clarity. Bowman warned that excessive caution could sideline banks and U.S. competitiveness and urged regulators to shift from a defensive posture toward innovation to a constructive, principled framework.

Why it matters:

The Fed is signaling openness to digital asset innovation while underscoring guardrails. For fintech and banks, this marks a shift in tone from defensive skepticism to active engagement.

• Private sector should lead: Most progress in wallets, stablecoins, and AI comes from firms, with the Fed focusing on core rails and standards.
• Modernize supervision, not block it: End “reputational risk,” sunset novel supervision, and apply tailored, risk-based expectations so banks can serve legal digital-asset businesses.
• Tokenize real-world assets to fix settlement frictions: Use tokenization to transfer title faster and cheaper, improving wholesale and international payments as legal frameworks align.
• Use AI aggressively in payments operations: Expand beyond fraud detection to reconciliation, compliance, and risk management as agentic systems mature.
• Deepen Fed–industry engagement: The Fed will research tokenization, smart contracts, and AI, and seek closer dialogue to align public infrastructure with private innovation.

Bottom line: The Fed signals pragmatic openness to digital asset innovation. Waller and Bowman place stablecoins, tokenization, and AI in a private sector-led model, with the Fed modernizing core rails and tailoring supervision. With the GENIUS Act live and “reputational risk” removed from exams, banks have clearer paths to participate without guesswork.

MetaMask Announces Wallet-Native Stablecoin mUSD With Bridge & M0

MetaMask unveiled MetaMask USD (mUSD), a dollar-backed stablecoin issued by Stripe-owned Bridge with onchain infrastructure from M0. The token is slated to launch later this year on Ethereum and their L2 chain Linea, with a linked Mastercard card being available by end of year . MetaMask says it will integrate mUSD across on-ramps, swaps, bridging, and DeFi, leveraging its millions of users.

Why it matters:

A wallet-native dollar becomes the default rail inside one of crypto’s largest distribution channels.

• Distribution capture: MetaMask has millions of users (30M MAU as of 2024) that it can influence to use its stablecoin in a number of ways. Direct onramps have high potential as they can be a much better alternative than going through an exchange or paying sometimes 2-3% with an onramp service. 
• New issuer stack: Bridge handles licensing and reserves, M0 provides interoperability and liquidity, a new pattern for “app-specific” stablecoins.
• Spendable savings: Card acceptance at Mastercard merchants converts self-custody balances into real-world spend. This has become table stakes for consumer wallets.
• Market impact: Raises competitive pressure on existing stables for default placement in wallets, however it’ll take time for any new stablecoin to match the utility and availability in DeFi and exchanges of the incumbents.

Distribution will be monetized

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone following the space over the past year. Stablecoins enable companies to better monetize their distribution and the MetaMask wallet is a powerful touch point. Combine stablecoin linked cards, yield and defi and you have a powerful non-custodial onchain bank in the making. I wouldn’t be surprised to see other popular wallets follow the same path

Notably, earning yield directly from the stablecoin wasn’t mentioned in their announcement, possibly due to GENIUS prohibitions, but I’d expect them to enable passive savings soon, possibly via a workaround or through their earn products. Without that, I think enticing existing users to switch will be challenging.There are still several levers they can pull (e.g. discounted swap fees, free onramps), but in a closed system, yield is the ultimate differentiator, and outside of that system, fighting for dominance in DeFi anywhere outside of their own chain Linea will be a tough uphill battle.

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

🚀 Product Announcements & Partnerships

Nuvei Taps Stablecoin Rails to Power Payouts in Emerging Markets (read more)

Goldman Sachs says we’re on the verge of a stablecoin gold rush worth trillions (read more)

Binance rolls out Plasma USDT 'locked product' with daily stablecoin yield and XPL airdrop; initial $250 million quota fills fast (read more)

Cap Stablecoin Protocol Officially Launches on Ethereum, Introducing cUSD, stcUSD, and the Frontier Program (read more)

Citigroup considers custody and payment services for stablecoins, crypto ETFs (read more)

Korean financial firms sign partnerships in preparation for issuing stablecoins (read more)

USD.AI Goes Live, Public Launch of “The Allo Game” with ICO & Airdrop Program (read more)

MetaMask announces stablecoin, MetaMask USD (read more)

💸 Fundraises and M&A

Bullish's $1.15B in IPO Proceeds Was Entirely in Stablecoins—A First for Public Market (read more)

Figure Joins Crypto IPO Rush With Nasdaq Listing Bid Under FIGR (read more)

Stellar Development Foundation Invests in Archax to Boost Tokenization (read more)

⚖️ Regulatory Developments

Thailand rolls out pilot program for tourists to convert crypto into baht for spending (read more)

BIS proposes grading wallets for permissionless blockchain AML (read more)

China considering yuan-backed stablecoins to boost global currency usage, sources say (read more)

Crypto Lobby Pushes Back Against Bank Effort to Rewrite U.S. Stablecoin Law (read more)

Fed's Waller urges embrace of innovation as central bank's FOMC discusses stablecoins (read more)

Japan to approve its first yen-denominated stablecoin as early as this fall: report (read more)

South Korea’s financial regulator to submit stablecoin regulation bill in October (read more)

Tether Appoints Former White House Crypto Council Executive Director Bo Hines as Strategic Advisor for Digital Assets and U.S. Strategy (read more)

U.S. Treasury Starts Work on Stablecoin Law, Gathering Views on Illicit Activity (read more)

US Federal Reserve shutters crypto bank supervision program amid broader regulatory pullback (read more)

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This Week in Fintech

💬 Posts of the Week

📖 Reads of the Week

In Stablecoin Payments - The Trillion Dollar Opportunity, Keyrock and Bitso provide a market outlook that forecasts stablecoins processing over $1 trillion annually by decade’s end, highlighting FX settlement, cross-border flows, and institutional adoption as growth drivers.

In The Money Layer: LATAM Crypto 2025 Report, Dune provides a data-driven research report that maps how exchanges, stablecoins, on-/off-ramps, and payment apps enable practical crypto use across Latin America.

In Stablecoin Summer, Allison Nathan of Goldman Sachs Research, combines interviews with Brian Brooks, academic experts and in-house research to assess the market outlook for stablecoins, their commercial models, and potential impacts on Treasuries, payment rails, and bank deposits.