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21 Banks, One Stablecoin: How the Consortium Plans to Break the Tether-Circle Duopoly
Audio is available on Spreaker — see link below.
Twenty-one of the world's largest banks — including Citi, Goldman, and Bank of America — have formally committed to launching a USD stablecoin by mid-2027, sending Circle's stock down 6% and shaking a near-$290B market. This episode breaks down the regulatory moat, the JPMorgan wildcard, and a $200M Latin America remittance raise that may have cracked retail stablecoin distribution.
Audio is available on Spreaker — see link below.
Twenty-one of the world's largest banks formally committed on September first to building a USD stablecoin. Citi, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and seventeen others are now creating an actual operating company, targeting a product launch in the first half of twenty twenty-seven.
The stablecoin market is two hundred and eighty-nine point eight billion dollars as of September first, nearly double what it was in mid twenty twenty-four. Tether holds sixty-three point three percent of that.
Here's what gives the consortium a structural advantage that Tether and Circle can't easily replicate. The token is being designed for dual compliance with the US GENIUS Act and the EU's MiCA framework simultaneously.
The consortium isn't the only institutional move this week. JPMorgan is separately reviewing an internal stablecoin strategy, which creates an obvious question about whether the world's largest bank intends to compete with the consortium it's reportedly engaged with, or eventually merge tracks.
Away from the stablecoin infrastructure battle, Félix Pago closed two hundred million dollars in combined funding. Eighty-seven million in equity led by Andreessen Horowitz, plus a hundred and thirteen million dollar credit facility.
The near-term watchpoints are specific. OCC GENIUS Act finalization in November twenty twenty-six will determine whether the consortium's reserve architecture holds or needs restructuring.
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