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Tether's Success Sparks Banks' Interest in Stablecoins | PYMNTS.com

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Tether's Success Sparks Banks' Interest in Stablecoins | PYMNTS.com

Inspired by Tether’s success, the world’s banking giants are showing interest in stablecoins.

As Bloomberg News reported Saturday (Dec. 28), some banks are already there, with Societe Generale – Forge (SG-Forge) opening its euro-backed stablecoin to retail investors earlier this year. Revolut is reportedly considering its own version, as is AllUnity, a venture involving the Deutsche Bank-owned DWS.

Meanwhile, the report added, American banks are expected to follow suit once Congress enacts stablecoin legislation. A similar thing happened in Europe: the adoption of the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation and Tether’s decision to discontinue its EURt stablecoin has opened the door for competitors.

“Do I think that other banks will be issuing their own stablecoins?” Jean-Marc Stenger, CEO of SG-Forge, said in an interview with Bloomberg. “The answer is yes. It’s heavy lifting, I am not sure it will happen any time soon, but it will happen.”

He added that his firm is already in discussions with other banks that want to use its stablecoins, and is also exploring partnerships or white-labeling its techs to allow banks to issue their own coins.

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Visa, meanwhile, launched a tokenization network in October for banks to issue stablecoins, is collaborating with BBVA on a pilot in next year, and is in talks with many other banks.

“We’ve seen demand from banks in Hong Kong, Singapore and Brazil,” Cuy Sheffield, Visa’s head of crypto, told Bloomberg. “We are actively engaged with a number of banks across the world at various stages of the process.”

As PYMNTS wrote in October, the scale of Visa’s network and its relationship with financial institutions around the world allow it to add stability and legitimacy to stablecoins. 

“By enabling banks to issue their own stablecoins and integrate tokenized deposits into their systems, Visa could foster widespread adoption, reducing the risk of market panic that often leads to de-pegging events,” that report said. 

“Moreover, as banks enter the fray with their regulatory frameworks in place, the perception of stablecoins as a credible asset class could improve.”

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Writing about the issue last week, PYMNTS argued that stablecoins’ rise has become impossible to dismiss, as the currency continues its ascent as the foundation of cross-border and enterprise crypto payments and a bridge to traditional finance.

“Cross-border payments, historically plagued by high fees and slow transaction times, underwent a significant transformation in 2024,” that report said. “Blockchain technology emerged as a key enabler, offering transparency, speed and cost efficiency. Stablecoins played a crucial role, allowing businesses to bypass traditional correspondent banking networks and settle transactions almost instantaneously.”

 

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New Hampshire lawmakers to vote on deregulating cryptocurrency mining

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New Hampshire lawmakers to vote on deregulating cryptocurrency mining
A bill that has passed the New Hampshire House of Representatives and is set to be voted on by the state Senate Thursday would tie the hands of anyone trying to regulate cryptocurrency mining — a move heralded by libertarians and the crypto lobby but decried by environmentalists.
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Should You Buy Bitcoin While It's Under $110,000? | The Motley Fool

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Should You Buy Bitcoin While It's Under 0,000? | The Motley Fool

The price of Bitcoin (BTC 1.02%) has surged 24% over the past month, pushing its value back over $100,000 for the first time since February. Investors are once again regaining their optimism in the world’s leading cryptocurrency, but is it a good time to buy?

Here’s why Bitcoin’s price is jumping higher again and why it might be better to wait out the current wave until the dust has settled on tariffs and their potential impact on the economy.

Image source: Getty Images.

Why investors are getting back on board with Bitcoin

Bitcoin fell in step with plummeting stock prices after President Trump announced a slew of tariffs on imported goods. That caused Bitcoin to drop to around $76,000 in early April.

But over the past few weeks, investors have reassessed their sell-off sentiment and have been buying up equities and cryptocurrencies again. The hope is that the Trump administration will work out trade deals with countries before they cause serious pain to the U.S. economy.

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For example, the administration announced some details about a new trade deal with the U.K. recently, which was the main reason why Bitcoin’s value jumped back over $100,000. Some of the details include a lower 10% tariff for the first 100,000 vehicles imported to the U.S. — as opposed to 25% — and a tariff exemption on steel and aluminum.

Plus, China and the U.S. have recently agreed to ratchet down their trade war. The tariffs on Chinese imports will fall from 145% to 30% for 90 days while a trade deal gets hammered out. China, in turn, will lower its tariffs from 125% to 10%.

Bitcoin isn’t directly impacted by tariffs, but many investors have been buying and selling cryptocurrencies based on tariff news. Currently, it appears some Bitcoin investors believe the trade war with China will get settled and other tariff deals will be made before they hurt the economy.

Bitcoin’s surge of optimism may be premature

I think there are some legitimate reasons to be optimistic about Bitcoin’s future. The cryptocurrency has gained significant institutional adoption recently with the launch of Bitcoin ETFs last year. The Trump administration has also taken a lighter regulatory approach to cryptocurrency and announced a strategic Bitcoin reserve just a few months ago.

All of these things have been positive moves for the long-term viability of Bitcoin as an investment. But there’s bound to be far more volatility in the short term because of the general uncertainty from tariffs and the economy.

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For one, a trade deal between the U.S. and China has not been finalized. Imports from China will still incur a significant 30% tariff and could be higher or lower by the end of the negotiations, depending on how the trade talks play out.

Even if a deal gets worked out over the next three months, the Trump administration has shown it doesn’t mind throwing a wrench into previously established economic norms. That’s bad for the price of Bitcoin because investors tend to respond strongly to any negative economic news — just as they did with the initial tariff announcements.

How much will tariffs impact the economy?

What’s more, even if significant trade deals are made with countries, higher consumer prices because of import tariffs could still impact the economy. For example, after some tariff exemptions were made for autos, Ford recently said prices will increase on three of its models by as much as $2,000 because of tariffs.

The main point here is that there’s still a huge question mark when it comes to how much tariffs will impact the economy. Bitcoin investors have chosen to be optimistic on some of the positive news, but over the coming months, we’ll learn more about how the economy is really doing.

If you’re interested in owning Bitcoin, it’s better to wait until all the trade deals are made with countries. Waiting a few months will likely give you a much better view of whether the Trump administration is kneecapping the economy with bad policy, or if the trade fiasco has been smoothed out.

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With the stock market and Bitcoin’s price moving significantly based on near-daily tariff news, buying now — with Bitcoin flirting with its all-time high — looks like a bad move.

Chris Neiger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Where Will Sui Be in 1 Year?

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Where Will Sui Be in 1 Year?

Sui(CRYPTO: SUI) has emerged as a breakout star in the rapidly evolving cryptocurrency market, climbing about 290% during the past year.

Its unique blockchain platform, designed to address scalability and user experience bottlenecks that have long plagued crypto, has proven transformative in building a growing ecosystem. Indeed, Sui is already the 11th largest cryptocurrency with a $13 billion market capitalization, just two years since its May 2023 launch.

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Let’s discuss the factors driving this remarkable ascent and where Sui might be headed during the year.

Image source: Getty Images.

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Why Sui stands out

With more than 20,000 different cryptocurrencies available to investors, Sui distinguishes itself through its elite development team and robust financial backing.

The project was started by former Meta Platforms engineers after the company abandoned its blockchain-based digital currency, Libra (later renamed Diem), in 2022. Securing $336 million from high-profile investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Binance Labs, and Coinbase Ventures, the Sui project gained immediate credibility with several breakthrough technological advancements.

Sui operates as an independent Layer-1 blockchain, meaning it runs on its own decentralized network rather than being tied to any other cryptocurrency. Its fixed supply of 10 billion Sui tokens enhances its appeal by promoting long-term value retention.

A key innovation lies in its object-centric model, which assigns all types of on-chain assets unique identifiers with defined ownership. This approach eliminates the need for complex smart contract interactions to manage ownership, a departure from the traditional account-based model used by prominent cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum and Solana.

As a result, Sui can handle parallel transaction processing, theoretically achieving up to 297,000 transactions per second (TPS) with 400 milliseconds of finality, referring to the time required for a transaction to be confirmed on the network and irreversible. These performance metrics surpass Ethereum’s 15 to 30 TPS and confirmation times ranging from seconds to minutes, relying on Layer-2 solutions for improved efficiency. Solana performs better than Ethereum with 65,000 theoretical TPS and 900ms finality, but has experienced episodes of network congestion and instability.

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Furthermore, Sui’s architecture employs the Move programming language, recognized for its flexible and efficient framework designed to prevent security vulnerabilities and deliver more predictable performance. Sui’s exceptional speed, scalability, and low fees make it ideal for real-time applications, including decentralized finance (DeFi) and next-generation gaming, driving platform development and ecosystem growth.

Recent developments fueling growth

Robust metrics underscore Sui’s growing utility and ability to attract users and capital from competing Layer-1 and Layer-2 blockchains.

The latest data shows Sui’s total value locked (TVL), representing the value of all blockchain assets, including tokens and decentralized applications (dApps), at $2 billion, surging nearly 10-fold in just over a year from $212 million in January 2024. Though overshadowed by Ethereum, which leverages its decade-long trading history and platform maturity for a $60 billion TVL, Sui outpaces many alternatives in engagement share. Rising daily decentralized exchange (DEX) volume and daily active addresses (DAAs) reflect robust activity on dApps like Cetus, a concentrated liquidity DEX enabling efficient token swaps, and MemeFi, a gaming dApp capturing viral popularity.

Strategic advancements strengthening Sui’s outlook include a partnership with Mastercard to facilitate virtual credit card spending via a Sui wallet at more than 20,000 European merchants. Additionally, multiple U.S. regulatory filings for Sui exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by firms like 21Shares and Canary Capital underscore Sui’s expanding influence and broad-based appeal.

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My prediction for Sui in one year

Despite the wild swings in financial markets this year amid a delicate economic environment, recent headlines suggest easing trade tensions have helped boost investor confidence and stabilize some asset classes. This backdrop of resiliency could be key for the Sui blockchain to continue growing, providing a tailwind for its price this year.

I’m bullish and predict that Sui can surpass its all-time high of $5.35 during the next year. Although the cryptocurrency remains speculative and faces the challenge of staying at the cutting edge of innovation in the highly competitive crypto industry, I believe the project is still in the early stages of its success. Ultimately, Sui has proven itself to be one of the most important cryptocurrencies in the market and deserves to be on your investing radar.

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Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Dan Victor has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Ethereum, Mastercard, Meta Platforms, Solana, and Sui. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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