Tether Holdings Limited, the company behind the USDT stablecoin, released an independent accountant report on Monday claiming that its tokens are fully backed by its reserves. Moore Cayman, an accounting network based in the Cayman Islands, reviewed Tether’s latest Consolidated Reserves Report, or CRR, and determined that the company met its reserve obligations for the period that ended on June 30, 2021. According to the report, Tether’s consolidated total assets amounted to at least $62,773,190,075 for the reporting period. The company’s consolidated total liabilities were $62,628,932,116, of which $62,610,829,196 were related to USDT. Moore Cayman’s opinion on the matter is …

We’re living in a time where digital assets are moving towards mainstream adoption. From retail customers to traditional banks and financial service providers, digital assets are on the rise. Many of these assets promised to disrupt financial markets and large incumbents, and while they have received widespread attention, they haven’t quite achieved their potential. That said, large institutions are taking notice — 86% of the world’s central banks are exploring digital currencies, according to a report by the Bank for International Settlements. They recognize that despite being in a golden age of innovation, payment systems remain somewhat archaic. And so, …

The private stablecoin market will surge parabolically in the next four years despite the existing regulatory uncertainty, Unstoppable Domains CEO Matthew Gould believes. In a Thursday interview with Business Insider, Gould predicted that the stablecoin market would hit $1 trillion by 2025 to see roughly a tenfold increase from around $115 billion at the time of writing. “We may even do it quicker than that,” the CEO noted, adding that the global stablecoin adoption will be partly driven by the growing acceptance of decentralized finance applications. “The more people with stablecoins in the pocket, the more people who can participate …

The bid to introduce human-readable addresses as an alternative to the usual lengthy alphanumeric crypto wallet address system is set to achieve another milestone following the recent partnership between Circle and Unstoppable Domains. According to an announcement issued on Wednesday, Unstoppable Domains, a blockchain domain name provider, and USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin issuer Circle are collaborating to release readable “.coin” usernames for USDC transfers. As part of the partnership, both companies will collaborate to enable support for .coin username extensions across wallets and crypto exchanges that support the popular stablecoin. Under this arrangement, USDC transfers will become akin to sending …

Bitcoin’s (BTC) price appears to have faked out investors with its move to $42,000 last week, and while the digital asset struggles to hold above $38,000, altcoins with strong fundamentals and real-world applications are gaining momentum. Terra (LUNA), a blockchain protocol that backs the fiat-pegged TerraUSD (UST) stablecoin, is one such project that has managed to buck Bitcoin’s downtrend and climb higher since the start of August. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the price of LUNA has rallied 162% from a low at $5.53 on July 20 to an intraday high at $14.51 on Tuesday as …

Last week's momentum in Bitcoin (BTC) has all but faded as its price is once again below the $39,000 level, with bears and bulls locked in a heated battle for market dominance. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that while Bitcoin price faltered, several altcoins like Voyager Token (VGX), Perpetual Protocol (PERP) and Terra (LUNA) saw double-digit gains. VGX/USD The top performer over the past 24 hours has been Voyager Token, the native asset of cryptocurrency brokerage platform Voyager, which offers retail and institutional investors a secure place to purchase, trade and lend crypto assets. VORTECS™ data from …

Gary Gensler, chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, is reportedly keen on bright-line regulations for the country’s crypto space. Gensler expressed the SEC’s desire to install safeguards for crypto investors in the U.S. in a Bloomberg interview, stating, “If somebody wants to speculate, that’s their choice, but we have a role as a nation to protect those investors against fraud.” The SEC chairman identified seven crypto-related policy changes currently being examined by the Commission. These include matters concerning token offerings, decentralized finance (DeFi) and stablecoins. Other focus points for Gensler’s SEC are custody, exchange-traded funds (ETF) and …

The digital asset exchange platform Crypto.com has now enabled withdrawals of USD Coin (USDC), meaning that users can withdraw the stablecoin and receive United States dollars at a one-to-one ratio directly to their bank account. The announcement comes just over a month after the platform launched support for USDC deposits, following a new partnership with the stablecoin’s issuer, Circle. The partnership enabled Crypto.com users to transfer fiat currency into their trading accounts to receive an equivalent amount of USDC. USDC, first released by Goldman Sachs-backed Circle in September 2018, is a popular USD-pegged stablecoin that crypto investors can use to …

Representative Ted Budd of North Carolina, a member of the House Financial Services Committee and Congressional Blockchain Caucus, has urged lawmakers to embrace decentralized innovation. On what appears to be the first occasion in which a publicly elected official has met with a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), Budd acknowledged the increasing concern about crypto among lawmakers while speaking to MakerDAO’s Chris Cameron on Thursday. “There are some on the Senate side and some on the House side which fear, especially when it comes to currency, the blockchain, decentralized finance and how it’s going to evolve,” he said. “The fear is …

Promising innovations in DeFi have given rise to a new breed of stablecoins that have the potential to reduce volatility and promote greater decentralization, according to a new research report from ShapeShift. In its latest New Frontiers research study, ShapeShift explores the recent growth of “algorithmic stablecoins,” which are cryptocurrencies that automatically adjust an asset’s supply and other important parameters to reduce volatility. In his analysis, author Kent Barton, who heads research and development at ShapeShift, focuses on three assets: RAI, FRAX and FEI. Related: ShapeShift to decentralize entire company, plans for largest airdrop in history Barton summarizes the potential …

Solana-based cross-chain exchange Saber raised $7.7 million in a seed funding round. The platform launched last month and enables the cross-chain exchange of stablecoins and wrapped assets. Saber Labs, the development team behind Saber, announced the funding round on Wednesday. The development team is currently a three-person unit and the firm will use the funds to hire around seven more staff members this year. It will also expand support to more assets on the exchange. The next step for Saber is to integrate with more assets and protocols across the crypto universe — if you're building an app on Solana …

A network that’s home to tools and applications championing anonymity has announced that it is exploring the development of oxUSD, a privacy preserving stablecoin. Oxen’s network is already used to power the anonymous messaging app Session — as well as Lokinet, a router that offers an alternative to Tor. However, the project’s team say their infrastructure is capable of handling so much more. They believe a private stablecoin would be a powerful complement to the products that are already on offer, delivering instant and untraceable digital payments. When it comes to the rationale behind launching such a digital asset, Oxen …