September 9, 2025 – Global Digital Finance News – World Blockchain Association Reporting

The World Blockchain Association (WBA) highlights this week’s pivotal developments in the digital asset ecosystem, where AI-powered payments and stablecoins are moving into the global policy spotlight. From the U.S. Federal Reserve’s upcoming innovation forum to Stripe’s announcement of its own purpose-built blockchain network, industry leaders and regulators are signaling a new era where Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Web3, DeFi, NFT, DAO, Tokenization, and Stablecoin adoption intersect with the future of finance.

Market Overview: Stablecoins Continue Expanding

The global stablecoin market capitalization climbed to $288.1 billion, up nearly $4.8 billion in the past week.

  • Tether (USDT) remains dominant, representing 59.2% of supply.
  • USD Coin (USDC) follows with $72.1 billion in circulation (25%).
  • Blockchain distribution shows Ethereum ($153.1B), Tron ($81.6B), and Solana ($12.2B) as the top three networks supporting stablecoin liquidity.

Emerging players like Falcon USD (USDf), M by M^0, and Circle USYC recorded double-digit weekly growth, signaling diversification in demand.

Federal Reserve Signals AI + Stablecoin Agenda

The Federal Reserve’s October 21 Payments Innovation Conference will officially feature AI applications in payments alongside stablecoin use cases as headline topics. This recognition suggests that the convergence of AI agents and blockchain-based settlement tools is rapidly entering mainstream policy debate.

According to the World Blockchain Association, the integration of AI Agents and stablecoins appears “structurally natural.” AI systems operate across borders, sourcing compute power, digital goods, and services globally. Traditional banking—fragmented by jurisdictions—cannot support real-time micro-transactions at this scale. Stablecoins, however, provide standardized, programmable, low-cost settlement rails, aligning perfectly with AI-driven financial activity.

Unlike legacy payment records, blockchain transactions embed verifiable metadata, creating an information layer in addition to value transfer. For AI-driven commerce, this dual function—payment as both data and capital flow—could become transformative.

Stripe Launches “Tempo” – A Payment-Optimized Blockchain

Stripe officially unveiled Tempo, its new Layer-1 blockchain dedicated to payments, confirming speculation about its long-term Web3 ambitions.

Key features include:

  • Transaction throughput up to 100,000 TPS.
  • EVM compatibility and multi-stablecoin gas fee support.
  • Sub-second settlement times.
  • Strategic partnerships with Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered, Shopify, Revolut, Visa, and Nubank.

Stripe positions Tempo as the settlement backbone for cross-border commerce, merchant payments, tokenized deposits, and AI agent transactions. The concept of “Agentic Payments” was introduced, enabling autonomous AI agents to perform blockchain-native payments securely.

While Visa collaborates rather than competes directly, industry observers note a brewing contest between Stripe’s Tempo and Circle’s Arc network for control of stablecoin-based settlement flows.

Global Regulatory Shifts

The World Blockchain Association reports that regulatory frameworks worldwide are moving in parallel:

  • Ukraine approved the first reading of its digital asset taxation bill, introducing a clear tax regime while encouraging domestic adoption.
  • India remains stalled in a bureaucratic impasse, missing opportunities as peers like Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong advance stablecoin legislation.
  • European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde warned against risks posed by non-EU stablecoins, urging equivalence with MiCA standards to protect eurozone sovereignty.
  • The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) announced forthcoming proposals on real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, aiming to integrate blockchain into the EU’s fragmented capital markets.
  • South Africa plans to open its national payment infrastructure to non-bank participants, breaking the long-standing dominance of commercial banks.
  • Japan prepares to greenlight its first yen-pegged stablecoin (JPYC), coinciding with expected Bank of Japan rate hikes that may strengthen the yen’s appeal.

Institutional and Corporate Adoption

Industry adoption accelerated this week:

  • Bybit launched a crypto debit card across Europe, enabling Bitcoin and USDC payments under the MiCA framework.
  • Catena Labs released ACK-Lab, a developer preview offering identity and secure wallets for AI agents conducting financial transactions.
  • Visa opened access to its Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, standardizing AI agent integration into Visa’s smart commerce APIs.
  • Ripple expanded its RLUSD stablecoin into Africa, piloting climate insurance programs that automatically release payouts via smart contracts.
  • Ethena’s USDe surged past $12 billion in supply, cementing itself as a high-yield competitor to USDT and USDC.

Macroeconomic Trends and Strategic Outlook

Notable insights shaping long-term strategy:

  • Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz forecast AI agents will surpass humans as the largest users of stablecoins.
  • Financial Times analysis suggested stablecoins will force modernization of global finance rather than simply act as alternatives.
  • Citi projected that tokenized assets and AI-driven automation could represent 10% of global trading volumes by 2030, reshaping post-trade settlement.
  • A new report found check fraud risks 31x higher than real-time payment fraud, reinforcing blockchain-based rails as a safer path forward.

Venture Capital Momentum

Capital deployment in the sector remains strong:

  • Utila raised $22M to scale its enterprise digital asset operations platform.
  • Obita secured $10M to develop a stablecoin-powered cross-border network.
  • Kite, backed by PayPal Ventures, raised $18M to expand its AI agent identity and payment infrastructure.
  • Reflect Money introduced USDC+, a yield-bearing Solana stablecoin, after completing a $3.75M funding round led by a16z CSX.

WBA Analysis: Why This Matters

The World Blockchain Association observes that stablecoins are no longer niche instruments—they are becoming the primary settlement layer for both digital-native ecosystems and traditional institutions. The convergence of AI, Web3, and stablecoin infrastructure marks a turning point where Bitcoin, Ethereum, DeFi, NFT, DAO, and Tokenization will underpin the next phase of global financial integration.

Governments are increasingly forced to define regulatory clarity as cross-border commerce migrates to blockchain rails. Meanwhile, corporate giants like Stripe, Visa, and PayPal are rearchitecting payment systems around programmable digital dollars. Emerging markets, particularly in Africa and Asia, are testing stablecoins for climate resilience, remittances, and e-commerce—use cases largely underserved by legacy finance.

The strategic trajectory is clear: stablecoins and AI agents are poised to become the backbone of real-time global finance.

About the World Blockchain Association

The World Blockchain Association (WBA) is a global organization dedicated to advancing knowledge, policy dialogue, and innovation in blockchain and digital finance. As a leader in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space, the WBA provides stakeholders with trusted insights at the intersection of technology, regulation, and global economic trends through research, reporting, and thought leadership.