South Korea’s Gyeonggi Province to test stablecoin for public payments in August

The post NEC Signs MOU With Ava Labs to Build Face-Recognition AVAX Payments appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Avalanche News NEC has signed a memorandum of understanding with Ava Labs, the developer behind Avalanche (AVAX), to jointly explore next-generation on-chain services built on the network. Announced on July 10, 2026, the deal pairs NEC’s biometric technology with the Avalanche blockchain to prototype a digital payments platform that uses facial recognition to authorize stablecoin transactions. The company’s official disclosure frames the collaboration around decentralized identity and verifiable credentials (DID/VC), aiming to balance security with user convenience. It marks one of the more concrete enterprise commitments to Avalanche this year, targeting real-world settlement rather than speculative use cases. The accompanying white paper details an initial service aimed at inbound tourists visiting Japan. Under the design, a visitor would receive a digital ID before arriv

The post South Korea Super-App Toss to Run Won Stablecoin Pilot on OP Stack appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Optimism says Toss is the fourth regulated financial institution in a year to pick the OP Stack, after Bitpanda, Kraken and Mitsui. Toss, the South Korean fintech app with roughly 30 million registered users, is testing a Korean won stablecoin on Optimism’s OP Stack, Optimism said on X Wednesday. The proof of concept also involves Sunnyside Labs, whose “Privacy Boost” tool is meant to shield transaction data on a public blockchain while preserving compliance access. Optimism, the company behind the OP Stack framework used to build layer-2 networks, called the tie-up the fourth time in a year a regulated financial institution has adopted the OP Stack in a new market, following Bitpanda’s Vision Chain in Europe, Kraken’s Ink in the US and Mitsui’s Zipangcoin in Japan. Kyle Jenke, chief business officer at OP Labs, said the pilot is “about demonstrating that the OP Stack can me

Optimism says Toss is the fourth regulated financial institution in a year to pick the OP Stack, after Bitpanda, Kraken and Mitsui.

Circle's OCC approval could reshape the stablecoin landscape, enhancing regulatory trust and influencing future crypto-banking integration. The post Circle gets OCC approval to become a national digital currency bank appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

The post Circle Stock Jumps as Stablecoin Issuer Wins Final Federal Banking Charter Approval appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. In brief Circle secured final OCC approval to establish a national trust bank, shifting its $73.2 billion stablecoin to a unified federal framework. The milestone reflects a dramatic regulatory shift under the Trump administration that has cleared the way for several other firms. While Coinbase praised Circle’s news, the exchange also recently backed a major new rival stablecoin dubbed Open USD. Circle has received final approval to establish a national trust bank from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a move that’s set to shift the stablecoin issuer’s operations from a patchwork of state-by-state rules to a national framework. In an announcement on Friday, the company behind crypto’s second-largest stablecoin, USDC, described the OCC’s approval as a key regulatory milestone, expected to unlock new opportunities regarding safeguarding custo

Circle secured final OCC approval to establish a national trust bank, shifting its $73.2 billion stablecoin to a unified federal framework.

The equity exodus from South Korea and Taiwan highlights vulnerabilities in emerging markets, potentially shifting investor focus to alternative assets. The post South Korea, Taiwan lead $46B emerging market equity exodus in June appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

The post GENIUS Act deadline puts stablecoin issuers on the clock appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Regulators have until July 18, 2026, to turn the GENIUS Act from a statute into access rules for stablecoin issuers that want a clear regulatory path into the US. That date is the Act’s one-year rulemaking deadline, not a blanket cutoff for users or every restriction on issuers. Public Law 119-27 requires primary federal payment stablecoin regulators, Treasury, and state payment stablecoin regulators to issue implementing regulations through notice-and-comment rulemaking within one year of enactment. The law’s effective date is separate from this deadline. According to the OCC, the GENIUS Act takes effect on the earlier of two dates: 18 months after its July 18, 2025, enactment, or 120 days after regulators finalize the implementing rules. Related Reading GENIUS made stablecoins legal, July 18 decides which stablecoins stay competitive GENIUS may make stablecoins safer, but tx and Pla