USDC | Crypto

Travala’s new protocol lets AI agents search and book hotels with USDC on Base, but travelers still approve the final payment. Singapore-based crypto travel platform Travala has launched a protocol it says lets artificial intelligence agents search, reserve and pay for hotels with USDC (USDC) on layer-2 blockchain Base, extending agentic AI stablecoin payments into travel bookings. The Travala Travel MCP is live through Claude Desktop, with outside developers able to integrate it into their own travel agents, Travala said in a statement sent to Cointelegraph. The company said the system connects Travala’s hotel inventory to AI agents through the Model Context Protocol, an open standard for linking AI apps to external tools. Payments use Coinbase’s x402 protocol on Base, with Travala saying the setup allows gasless USDC transactions, near-instant settlement and transaction costs of about $0.01 per booking. Read more

The payments giant said USDC, PYUSD, RLUSD and other stablecoins will support new settlement options across multiple blockchains. Mastercard announced its plans to expand its settlement capabilities to let issuers and acquirers settle some card transactions using regulated stablecoins.  On Wednesday, Mastercard said the new capabilities will include intraday, weekend and holiday card settlement, supporting both fiat currencies and onchain settlement through regulated stablecoins. The company said the new options are designed to give its partners more flexibility in managing settlement liquidity and timing.  The expansion shows stablecoins moving deeper into mainstream financial infrastructure as major payments networks test tokenized dollars for settlement. It follows Mastercard securing a New York BitLicense in May, allowing its US transaction services unit to conduct regulated digital asset business activity in the state.  Read more

Privacy protocol Zama says it will accelerate compliance measures after a court lifted a $12.5 million USDC freeze tied to an unrelated legal dispute. Privacy-focused blockchain protocol Zama said it will accelerate compliance measures and proceed with its confidential USDC launch after a US court lifted a temporary freeze on about $12.5 million in USDC held in its cUSDC smart contract, according to a Tuesday X post by co-founder Rand Hindi. The freeze, first reported by Cointelegraph on Saturday, stemmed from a temporary restraining order obtained in connection with an ongoing dispute involving stakeholders of an unrelated project, Overnight Finance. Circle froze the funds after receiving the court order, even though Zama was not a party to the case, according to Hindi's account. “The same court has now lifted the freeze, determining that it was unwarranted,” Hindi wrote. He added that the protocol's cUSDC contract and all underlying USDC had returned to normal operation. Read more

Ripple RLUSD Targets Türkiye to Rival USDT and USDC The post XRP News: Ripple Targets Turkey Inflation Market: Can RLUSD Beat USDT and USDC? appeared first on Cryptonews.

The $12.6 million in USDC was likely frozen in connection with an ongoing but unrelated civil court case, according to onchain sleuth ZachXBT. Stablecoin issuer Circle froze $12.6 million in USDC dollar-pegged tokens linked to privacy protocol Zama’s confidential USDC smart contract on Saturday, according to onchain sleuth ZachXBT. The smart contract is “publicly labeled” on block explorers and the privacy protocol’s technical documentation, ZachXBT said.  The exact reason for the freeze is “unclear,” he said, adding that wallets linked to the Overnight Finance decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol deposited $12.4 million into the Zama protocol on May 11, 2026. He said: Read more

The feature lets users earn stablecoin yield directly through Trezor Suite without connecting external wallets or using separate DeFi apps. Trezor has integrated native stablecoin yield functionality into Trezor Suite, the hardware wallet provider’s desktop and mobile application, in a move that could make earning yield on stablecoins more accessible to users who have traditionally avoided decentralized finance due to its complexity and security risks. Announced on Thursday, the feature comes through an integration with Morpho, a decentralized lending protocol built on Ethereum. The integration allows users to deposit USDt (USDT) and USDC (USDC) into pre-selected Morpho vaults directly through Trezor Suite without connecting external wallets or using separate DeFi applications. According to Trezor, deposits, withdrawals and reward claims are signed directly on users’ hardware wallets through the company’s clear-signing interface, which displays transaction details in human-readable form on the device screen. ...

XBIT DEX takes the lead in introducing leverage to on-chain prediction markets, prioritizing the 2026 FIFA World Cup for its initial category. The whitelist application is now live. XBIT DEX takes the lead in introducing leverage to on-chain prediction markets, prioritizing the 2026 FIFA World Cup for its initial category. The whitelist application is now live. May 27, 2026 - On-chain prediction markets are undergoing explosive growth. In March 2026, monthly trading volume surpassed $25 billion, a more than 20-fold increase compared to the same period last year. Polymarket has become the official prediction market partner for X, and Coinbase has launched prediction contracts across all 50 US states. However, while users and capital are flooding in, product architecture has yet to keep pace. Currently, mainstream prediction market platforms still predominantly rely on a spot logic of full-amount purchasing and waiting for settlement. Users lack tools to add positions, hedge, or flexibly adjust risk exposure th...

The new card lets users spend USDC balances through online, in-store and contactless transactions while accessing ATM withdrawals in supported regions. Layer-1 blockchain developer Solayer launched a Visa-compatible payment card that allows users to spend USDC balances through in-store, online and contactless transactions. The card supports ATM withdrawals in supported regions and can be ordered through the Solayer Pay app, according to the announcement. Existing users can request the card for free, while new users pay a $20 annual activation fee. Source: Solayer Pay Read more

Circle raised $222 million in an ARC token presale led by a16z Crypto as Q1 revenue hit $694 million and USDC circulation climbed to $77 billion. Circle Internet Group agreed to sell 740 million ARC tokens for $222 million in a private placement led by a16z Crypto, valuing the Arc blockchain network at $3 billion on a fully diluted basis. The New York Stock Exchange-listed issuer of the USDC stablecoin disclosed the token presale Monday alongside its first-quarter 2026 results, which showed higher revenue and reserve income but lower net income. The round was led by a16z Crypto and backed by a consortium including BlackRock, Apollo Funds, ARK Invest, Bullish, General Catalyst, Haun Ventures, Intercontinental Exchange, IDG Capital, Janus Henderson Investors, Marshall Wace, SBI Group and Standard Chartered Ventures. Read more

The new tools let AI agents hold wallets, discover services and make programmable USDC payments across blockchain networks. Circle launched a suite of tools designed to let AI agents hold wallets, discover services and make programmable payments using USDC, as companies race to build financial infrastructure for autonomous software systems. The products, released under Circle’s new “Agent Stack,” include agent-focused wallets, a command-line developer interface, a marketplace for agentic services and a nanopayments protocol for machine-to-machine transactions. Circle said the nanopayments infrastructure supports gas-free USDC (USDC) transfers as small as $0.000001 and is designed for high-frequency autonomous payment flows between software systems. Read more

Meta has launched USDC creator payouts on Solana and Polygon. No confirmed SOL price spike yet — here's the technical breakdown, three price scenarios, and what the infrastructure shift signals for early-stage crypto investors. The post Did Mark Zuckerberg Just Pick Solana? Meta Backs New Blockchains for USDC appeared first on Cryptonews.

Libra launched in 2019, rebranded to Diem, and sold its blockchain assets to Silvergate Bank in 2022, three years of work that ended when regulators pushed back, and bank partners withdrew. On Apr. 29, Meta announced USDC payouts to eligible creators through compatible crypto wallets on Solana and Polygon, starting with selected creators in Colombia […] The post Meta’s USDC pilot shows how stablecoins could capture billions in creator payouts appeared first on CryptoSlate.

A negative Bitcoin funding rate and $7.5 billion in USDC reserves suggest traders may start positioning against the bearish trend. Will BTC price keep rising? Bitcoin (BTC) has rallied 30% since its 2026 low of $60,000, and stablecoin balances on exchanges suggest the market has entered a disbelief phase, with roughly $7.5 billion in USDC on Binance highlighting readily deployable capital that traders could start positioning soon. Data show that derivatives market positioning has not kept pace with the bullish price trend. Crypto analyst Darkfost tracked the 30-day cumulative funding rate, which aggregates funding over time to reveal sustained positioning. The metric stands near -4.5%, reflecting a prolonged bearish bias against the current move. The analyst explained that the negative funding creates conditions that incentivize traders to take the opposite side. Read more

Nium integrates Coinbase’s infrastructure to enable USDC-based cross-border payments, allowing businesses to settle in fiat or stablecoins without relying on prefunded accounts. Singapore fintech Nium has selected Coinbase to integrate USDC payments into its global network to send, receive and convert stablecoins to fiat across more than 190 countries through a single platform. According to a Tuesday announcement, the integration uses Coinbase’s infrastructure for custody, liquidity and wallet services, enabling Nium’s customers to fund cross-border payouts in USDC and settle in either stablecoins or local currencies. Traditional cross-border payment systems often require companies to prefund accounts across multiple jurisdictions, tying up capital while transactions settle across time zones and banking networks, Santhosh Srinivasan, VP of Treasury at Nium, told Cointelegraph. Read more

Polymarket’s plan to roll out its own collateral token sounds, at first glance, like the kind of move that should eat into Circle's USDC. A platform swaps out USDC.e, introduces Polymarket USD, and the obvious retail question follows almost immediately: Does that mean less demand for USDC? The short answer is no. Polymarket USD is […] The post What will happen to USDC now Polymarket is launching its own stablecoin? appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Polymarket is upgrading its exchange infrastructure in the coming weeks, introducing new contracts and a USDC-backed token while phasing out a bridged stablecoin. Prediction platform Polymarket is overhauling its exchange infrastructure in the coming weeks, introducing a new collateral token and upgraded trading system that give the platform greater control over settlement and risk as it moves toward closer alignment with US regulatory expectations. In an announcement on Monday, Polymarket said it will deploy new exchange contracts — dubbed version 2 — designed to simplify how orders are structured and matched. The upgrade is intended to make trading more efficient and to make it easier for developers to connect apps and trading bots to the platform. The new system will also support EIP-1271, an Ethereum standard that allows smart contract-based wallets, such as multisigs and automated trading systems, to sign transactions, expanding compatibility beyond traditional wallets. Read more

Circle's biggest selling point may be becoming its biggest liability. On-chain investigator ZachXBT's “Circle Files” allege that the USDC issuer has inconsistently applied its freeze powers. Circle was too slow in 15 cases involving more than $420 million in allegedly illicit funds since 2022, yet broad enough to sweep 16 operational business wallets in a […] The post Circle’s USDC freeze power faces fresh scrutiny after wallets were blocked while stolen funds moved appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Stablecoin issuer Circle is facing mounting scrutiny from blockchain researchers after millions of USD Coin (USDC) were stolen and flowed unimpeded through its proprietary bridge during the $285 million exploit of the Solana-based Drift Protocol. The inaction during the April 1 attack, which is now the largest decentralized finance (DeFi) hack of 2026, stands in […] The post Circle under fire as $230M in stolen USDC flows unblocked days after freezing legitimate accounts appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Toobit is a popular, award-winning cryptocurrency exchange with an international presence. Just recently, the venue announced a new high-yield opportunity window for USDC – the second-largest stablecoin in the industry. What You Need to Know Beginning on April 7th, Toobit will offer a 30% annual percentage rate (APR) for USDC fixed earn. This is a […]

Stablecoins dominated crypto trading in Q1 as investors sought safety, while rising bot usage and declining retail flows pointed to shifting market dynamics, according to CEX.io. Stablecoins were a rare bright spot in an otherwise subdued crypto market in the first quarter, with supply growth and transaction activity pointing to sustained demand even as broader market conditions weakened. Total stablecoin supply increased by roughly $8 billion to a record $315 billion in Q1, according to data from CEX.IO. Although this marked the slowest pace of expansion since Q4 of 2023, it still represented growth during a period when the wider crypto market contracted. The data suggests investors rotated into stablecoins as a defensive strategy, boosting their share of overall market activity. Stablecoins accounted for 75% of total crypto trading volume during the quarter — the highest level on record. Read more