A consortium of international banks are exploring whether to create a stablecoin-esque digital currency to facilitate payments on-chain across G7 countries, per a press release. Engineering a stablecoin-like digital currency that’s pegged to multiple currencies is a big task for the global banks logistically. These efforts also demonstrate that banks are taking the risk of payment disintermediation seriously—and, in the process, legitimizing stablecoin’s place in the payments ecosystem.

The news: Google Cloud is creating its own blockchain, named Google Cloud Universal Ledger (GCUL), for payments and financial products. Our first take: The post-GENIUS Act environment has major institutions scrambling to get a first-mover advantage on stablecoins. Google likely is betting that it’s better positioned to offer clients and financial institutions than Stripe’s Tempo or Circle’s Arc because its blockchain service simplifies integration for multiple currencies and assets, stabilizes fees, and is designed for safety—as a private and permissioned system, it benefits from Google’s tech security stack.

The stablecoin giant is exploring plans to launch a US-specific token and POS solution

Payment provider innovation and regulatory changes are setting a long-term growth runway for cryptocurrency payments. But providers will still need to overcome low merchant acceptance and a sense of mistrust before crypto can go mainstream.

PYUSD has struggled to gain significant adoption. The Trump admin could change that

This hurdle will make it difficult for payment players’ recent crypto launches to gain traction

B2B payments are fast becoming the biggest opportunity for stablecoins to gain traction—now PayPal has to convince everyone else.

It would likely face similar adoption struggles to PayPal’s stablecoin, and the timing may lessen its revenue opportunities

It has a much smaller market cap than the likes of USDT. The entire asset category is still far from mainstream

By many metrics, the crypto industry is doing just fine. That’s partly because it doesn’t want to work with banks to begin with.

The scale of FTX’s bankruptcy has placed it among the biggest bankruptcies in financial services history, where it sits fourth behind only WorldCom, Enron, and Lehman Brothers. However, there’s a chance of an even bigger disaster if Tether goes down.

We highlight some of the biggest and most shocking failures of the year.

A recent crypto market implosion has magnified the volatility risk of stablecoin—an asset named for stability. Payment incumbents must weigh the crash’s implications and closely watch regulatory advances as they plan for short- and long-term crypto payments growth.

A new paper by the Fed outlines how banks can adapt to the creation of a US central bank digital currency (CBDC). Bank stablecoins could complement it, but standalone issuers would face trouble.

Backed by several FDIC-insured incumbents, USDF has 1:1 redemption with US dollars and runs on a public blockchain. Security and transparency will make good selling points.

On today's episode, we discuss what cryptocurrency is, why it's popular, what it's used for, and which coins will lead the charge and why. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer vice president of content and head of financial services Daniel Van Dyke and financial technology analyst at Insider Intelligence Victor Chatenay.