For years, stablecoins were treated mainly as a safe harbor inside the volatile crypto market—a way to move between trades without converting back to traditional currency.

That perception is changing.

Stablecoins are increasingly becoming the financial infrastructure itself, creating a new category of companies that can be described as stablecoin-native businesses. These businesses are not simply accepting stablecoins as a payment option. They are building their operations, treasury management, payments, payroll, lending, and global settlement systems around programmable digital dollars.

From Crypto Tool to Business Infrastructure

Traditional businesses depend on banks for many essential financial functions: sending money internationally, receiving payments, managing treasury assets, processing payroll, and settling transactions.

Stablecoins can potentially compress many of these functions into programmable, internet-native infrastructure.

A business can receive a dollar-denominated stablecoin, move it across borders, interact with decentralized protocols, or settle with another company without necessarily relying on the same banking rails used by traditional finance.

This creates an important shift:

Stablecoins are moving from being products used by businesses to infrastructure businesses can be built on.

The New Stablecoin-Native Business Model

Imagine a global software company with customers in ten countries.

Instead of maintaining multiple banking relationships and waiting days for certain international settlements, it could use stablecoins for selected parts of its financial operations.

Revenue could arrive in stablecoins. Contractors could be paid through stablecoin rails. Treasury funds could potentially earn yield through regulated or decentralized financial products. Suppliers could receive near-real-time settlement.

The company doesn’t need to become a crypto company.

It simply needs to recognize that money itself is becoming programmable.

This opens the door to businesses specializing in:

• Stablecoin payment processing
• Cross-border payroll
• Global merchant settlement
• Stablecoin treasury management
• On-chain credit
• Automated financial operations
• Stablecoin-based remittances
• Business-to-business settlement
• Stablecoin lending markets
• Compliance and transaction monitoring

The opportunity may be much larger than simply building another payment app.

Why Businesses Are Paying Attention

One of the biggest advantages of stablecoins is their ability to operate on internet-native networks.

Traditional financial systems were designed around institutions, banking hours, correspondent relationships, and geographic boundaries.

Blockchain networks operate differently.

Transactions can be initiated globally and settled on-chain, potentially reducing friction between businesses operating in different jurisdictions.

For companies dealing with international customers and suppliers, this could create a meaningful competitive advantage.

The most interesting use case may therefore not be consumer crypto speculation.

It may be boring business infrastructure.

And boring infrastructure can become extremely valuable when it processes enormous amounts of economic activity.

Stablecoins Could Reshape Corporate Treasury

Treasury management is another area where stablecoin-native businesses could emerge.

Companies constantly manage cash balances, working capital, liquidity, and international payments.

Tokenized dollars could provide businesses with new ways to move and allocate capital while interacting with programmable financial infrastructure.

A future treasury system could automatically route funds according to predefined rules:

Revenue → Operating Wallet → Payroll → Supplier Payments → Reserve → Investment

Smart contracts could potentially automate portions of this process.

That changes the role of treasury from simply managing money to programming capital flows.

The Rise of Stablecoin APIs

Another major development could be the emergence of stablecoin infrastructure companies that operate behind the scenes.

Businesses may not want to understand wallets, private keys, gas fees, blockchains, or smart contracts.

They simply want an API.

The winning infrastructure providers could offer businesses simple tools for:

Deposit → Convert → Send → Receive → Reconcile → Report

Underneath the interface, blockchain networks handle settlement.

This could make stablecoins increasingly invisible to end users.

And ironically, that may be one of the strongest indicators of adoption.

The technology doesn’t need to be visible to become important.

Regulation Will Shape the Market

Stablecoin adoption will not happen in a regulatory vacuum.

Businesses need clarity around reserves, redemption, taxation, accounting, custody, consumer protection, and compliance.

This means the next generation of stablecoin companies will likely need to combine crypto-native technology with traditional financial discipline.

Trust will become just as important as transaction speed.

Businesses will ask:

• Who backs the stablecoin?
• How can it be redeemed?
• Where are reserves held?
• What happens during market stress?
• Which jurisdictions are supported?
• How are transactions monitored?
• Who controls the infrastructure?

The winners may not necessarily be the projects with the most sophisticated technology.

They may be the companies that can make blockchain-based money feel as reliable as traditional financial infrastructure.

Stablecoin-Native Doesn’t Mean Crypto-Only

Perhaps the most important distinction is this:

A stablecoin-native company doesn’t necessarily need to sell crypto products.

It could be a logistics company, payroll provider, SaaS platform, marketplace, remittance business, fintech, or global commerce platform.

The common factor is that stablecoins become part of the company’s underlying financial architecture.

That makes the concept much bigger than DeFi.

It connects DeFi, fintech, payments, commerce, and global finance.

What Comes Next?

The first wave of stablecoin adoption focused heavily on trading and crypto liquidity.

The next wave could focus on economic activity outside crypto markets.

Businesses could begin using stablecoins because they offer practical advantages—not because they want exposure to digital assets.

That distinction matters.

When technology becomes useful enough that people stop caring about the technology itself, adoption can accelerate dramatically.

Stablecoins may be heading toward that point.

The future may not be a world where every company proudly advertises that it is “crypto-native.”

Instead, we could see something more subtle:

Businesses simply operating on stablecoin rails because they are cheaper, faster, programmable, and global.

The rise of stablecoin-native businesses, therefore, represents more than just another crypto trend.

It could mark the beginning of a new financial architecture where money becomes software—and businesses learn to build directly on top of it.

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Binance cofounder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said Trust Wallet could make its existing Ignore coins feature easier to access after unsolicited meme tokens complicated management of his public wallet.

Zhao acknowledged on Aug. 17 that he had misjudged how useful the control could be. He said members of the Trust Wallet team told him that users can already ignore unwanted tokens, although reaching the option requires five steps.

No formal Trust Wallet announcement followed his post. The company has not confirmed a product update, specified which application versions may change or published a release date.

CZ reverses his view on hiding unwanted coins

Zhao initially doubted that most wallet users needed a control for hiding random tokens. He reconsidered after people explained that unsolicited assets regularly appear in public cryptocurrency addresses.

“I misjudged that. A few people mentioned it is a useful feature,” Zhao wrote.

He said the Trust Wallet team had seen the discussion and informed him about the existing Ignore coins option. Zhao then offered a personal expectation rather than a confirmed development plan.

“I assume they will make some updates to this feature soon,” Zhao said. Trust Wallet has not publicly confirmed that assumption.

Making the control easier to find could help users organize wallets filled with spam, dust or unsupported assets. It would not remove the tokens from the blockchain or prevent other people from sending more assets to the same address.

Trust Wallet’s glossary advises users not to move or spend unknown dust. It also recommends using tools that hide or ignore unrecognized small balances.

Trust Wallet cannot remove tokens from a blockchain

Public blockchain addresses can receive compatible tokens without approval from the address owner. A sender only needs the destination address and enough funds to pay the network fee.

Wallet software acts as an interface for reading and displaying blockchain records. It can hide unwanted balances from its portfolio screen, but it cannot reverse a valid transfer or erase the token from the underlying network.

Ignoring a token is also different from burning it. A burn requires sending an asset to an address designed to place it outside normal circulation. Hiding an asset changes only how the wallet application displays it.

The same distinction applies to privacy. Concealing an unwanted balance in Trust Wallet does not make the transfer private. Blockchain explorers can still display the sending address, receiving address, token contract and transaction amount.

Trust Wallet has documented the risks of fraudulent airdrops and copycat tokens in its security guidance. The company warns users against opening links promoted by unknown tokens or approving suspicious transactions.

Meme coin spam pushed CZ to retire his wallet

Zhao’s comments followed his decision to stop using a closely watched public wallet. Community members had repeatedly sent meme coins and other BNB Chain tokens to the address, sometimes hoping that visibility in his wallet would attract attention.

As crypto.news previously reported, Zhao moved roughly $965,000 to Giggle Academy before retiring the address. Onchain trackers reported transfers of approximately 1,440 BNB and 182,620 币安人生 tokens to the education project.

Zhao said it was almost impossible to clean out the wallet because anyone could continue sending new tokens. He described the retired address as effectively serving as a burn address, although it is not a protocol defined burn address.

The private key holder could technically use the address again unless access has been destroyed or permanently surrendered. Zhao has said he will no longer use it, but blockchain records cannot verify a personal promise about future activity.

The episode also shows how public wallets linked to prominent people can become promotional tools. A token appearing in a known address does not prove that the address owner purchased, approved or endorsed it.

Zhao previously warned users not to send tokens to him and suggested that projects burn their tokens directly instead. Community members nevertheless continued monitoring the address and speculating about whether he might test selected meme coins.

Hiding tokens does not remove security risks

Unsolicited tokens are not automatically malicious. Some can result from legitimate airdrops, marketing campaigns or ordinary transfers. Others may contain links or names intended to direct users toward fraudulent websites.

The main risk often begins when a user interacts with an unknown contract, visits a website promoted through a token or grants spending approval to a decentralized application. Simply receiving a token does not give its sender control of the wallet.

Trust Wallet separately allows users to review and revoke token approvals. Its official instructions explain that approvals authorize applications to access tokens, while the Ignore coins control concerns portfolio display.

Users should also distinguish unsolicited tokens from address poisoning. In related coverage, a crypto user lost 100,000 USDT after copying a lookalike wallet address that an attacker had planted in the transaction history. Hiding a token would not prevent that form of attack.

What happens next for the Ignore coins feature

Trust Wallet may move the existing control closer to its main portfolio screen or reduce the number of steps required to use it. Zhao’s comment suggests the team is aware of the feedback, but it does not confirm the design, timing or availability of any change.

A formal application update, release note or statement from Trust Wallet would provide confirmation. Until then, reports that the company has announced a new privacy measure would be inaccurate.

The confirmed development is narrower. Zhao reversed his earlier opinion, identified an existing feature that he considers difficult to reach and said he assumed Trust Wallet would update it.

Users can already hide unwanted assets through the wallet interface. Those assets remain visible onchain, and avoiding interaction with unknown tokens remains the safer approach.

Binance gave Russian authorities customer records later used to charge a Russian IT specialist with financing terrorism over donations to Ukrainian groups, according to a report by Reuters on Monday.

The exchange identified Yuri Belenkiy as the source of transfers worth more than $700, Reuters reported, citing law enforcement documents. Binance also allegedly provided his date of birth, address, phone number and passport number, alongside copies of his Russian passport and Bulgarian residency permit.

Russian authorities detained Belenkiy in September 2025 and he remains in jail awaiting trial.

Russia’s Investigative Committee alleged that Belenkiy made the payments between January 2023 and March 2024 after an appeal by exiled Kremlin critic Arkady Babchenko. The funds were intended for the Ukrainian military and a group associated with the Azov Brigade, which Moscow classifies as a terrorist organization.

Investigators reportedly received two responses from case@binanceholdings.ru after requesting Belenkiy’s transaction history. Binance’s website had directed Russian and Belarusian law enforcement agencies to that address.

Binance’s current law-enforcement guidelines say the exchange requires a valid court order, police order or warrant before providing user information in a criminal investigation.

The Federal Reserve’s struggle to manage a soft landing, where inflation falls without triggering a recession or a sharp rise in unemployment, will influence markets this week, with Wednesday’s FOMC minutes offering a closer look at whether the central bank is considering additional interest-rate increases.

Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said he sees just a 25% chance of a Fed hike in September. Rather, he expects the first move in December, even as he forecasts inflation rising again in early 2027.

Geopolitical developments will also need to be monitored, given their strong influence on volatility expectations and the price of oil.

Higher interest rates make risky assets like cryptocurrencies less attractive.

Within crypto, European Union operators face a Sunday deadline to stop transactions with 14 named crypto platforms, marking the week’s clearest regulatory milestone.

What to Watch

(All times ET)

• Crypto
  • Aug. 18: Coinbase and Circle’s USDC collaboration agreement, which governs their revenue-sharing economics, enters its first three-year renewal term.
  • Aug. 23: The EU’s ban on transactions with 14 named crypto-asset service platforms becomes applicable.
• Macro
  • Aug. 17, 8:30 a.m.: Canada Consumer Price Index YoY for July est. 2.6% (Prev. 2.8%)
  • Aug. 18, 9:15 a.m.: U.S. Industrial Production MoM for July est. 0.3% (Prev. 0.1%)
  • Aug. 19, 2 a.m.: U.K. Headline CPI YoY for July est. 3.0% (Prev. 2.6%); Core YoY (Prev. 2.6%)
  • Aug. 19, 5 a.m.: Euro area headline inflation YoY (final) for July est. 2.9% (Prev. 2.8%); Core YoY est. 2.5% (Prev. 2.4%)
  • Aug. 19, 2 p.m.: U.S. FOMC Minutes from the July 28–29 meeting
  • Aug. 20, 8:30 a.m.: U.S. Initial Jobless Claims for the week ended Aug. 15 est. 201K (Prev. 209K)
  • Aug. 20, 7:30 p.m.: Japan Headline CPI YoY for July (Prev. 1.7%); Core CPI YoY est. 1.8% (Prev. 1.6%)
  • Aug. 21, 2 a.m.: U.K. Retail Sales MoM for July (Prev. 1.0%)
  • Aug. 21, 4 a.m.: Euro Area S&P Global Composite PMI Flash for August est. 51.6 (Prev. 52.0)
  • Aug. 21, 9:45 a.m.: U.S. S&P Global Composite PMI Flash for August est. 53.2 (Prev. 54.5)
• Earnings
  • Aug. 17: BitFuFu (FUFU), pre-market, $0.01
  • Aug. 18: Canaan (CAN), pre-market, -$0.14
  • Aug. 18: BTCS Inc (BTCS), post-market

Token Events

• Governance Votes & Calls
  • Compound is voting to cut rates on deprecated markets to zero (Prop 595) and apply L2 security upgrades (Prop 596). Voting ends Aug. 16.
  • Frax Finance is voting on FIP-450 and FIP-451 to add Gearbox and Royco yield strategies to sfrxUSD through Aug. 17.
  • ShapeShift DAO is voting to move its rFOX staking program from Arbitrum to Ethereum Mainnet on Oct. 1, temporarily doubling revenue-share rewards to 50% for three months to incentivize migration. Voting ends Aug. 18.
  • Rocket Pool is voting to replace Snapshot with RocketDash as its official offchain signaling platform to reduce costs. Voting ends Aug. 19.
  • GnosisDAO is voting to transition Gnosis Chain from a standalone layer 1 into an Ethereum-settled rollup with synchronous mainnet composability, with voting ending on Aug. 19.
  • Decentraland DAO is voting on establishing a clear governance framework and appeal process for platform-wide bans. Voting ends Aug. 19.
  • THORSwap is voting on TIP-19 to migrate THOR tokens 1:1 to METRO on Ethereum mainnet. Voting ends Aug. 22.
• Unlocks
  • Aug. 17: Aster ASTER$0.5989 to unlock 1.8% of its circulating supply worth $28.3 million.
  • Aug. 18: Official Trump (TRUMP) to unlock 4.1% of its circulating supply worth $40 million.
  • Aug. 20: LayerZero ZRO$0.7982 to unlock 4.5% of its circulating supply worth $24.8 million.
  • Aug. 20: Kaito KAITO$0.3395 to unlock 6.2% of its circulating supply worth $11.7 million.
  • Aug. 21: Avalanche (AVAX) to unlock 0.7% of its circulating supply worth $23.1 million.
  • Aug. 21: Morpho MORPHO$2.0735 to unlock 3.9% of its circulating supply worth $22.7 million.
  • Aug. 21: Akedo Games (AKE) to unlock 4.9% of its circulating supply worth $14.1 million.
• Token Launches

Binance provided Russian investigators with identity documents and cryptocurrency transaction records later used in a terrorism financing case against Russian IT specialist Yuri Belenkiy, according to an Aug. 17 Reuters investigation.

The records reportedly included Belenkiy’s address, telephone number, date of birth, passport and Bulgarian residency permit. Russian authorities incorporated details of his Binance transactions into evidence supporting the criminal charge.

Belenkiy, 49, is accused of transferring more than $700 in cryptocurrency to organizations connected with Ukraine’s military. He remains detained in Russia while awaiting trial. Neither his lawyer nor Russian authorities responded to Reuters’ questions about Binance’s reported role.

Binance records identified Belenkiy and his transfers

Documents reviewed by Reuters showed that Russia’s Investigative Committee sent Binance a request for Belenkiy’s transaction history. The exchange reportedly responded with a data file confirming that he initiated transfers to a cryptocurrency wallet promoted by exiled Kremlin critic Arkady Babchenko.

Babchenko had published wallet addresses while raising money for medical equipment for Ukrainian soldiers. Russian investigators allege that Belenkiy made payments between January 2023 and March 2024 following those appeals.

The Investigative Committee also accused him of sending funds to a group associated with the Azov Brigade, which operates within Ukraine’s National Guard. Russia designates Azov as a terrorist organization. Other jurisdictions do not necessarily share Moscow’s classification.

Reuters said it reviewed an interim case outline sent to the Russian prosecutor general’s office. The document cited the Binance transaction records among the grounds for bringing terrorism financing charges.

The First Department, a legal support organization assisting defendants in politically sensitive Russian cases, obtained the documents from one of Belenkiy’s relatives. Reuters said it could not independently confirm how the organization received them.

Binance says it followed lawful information requests

Binance declined to discuss the confidential request or Belenkiy’s individual case. The exchange said it routinely cooperates with law enforcement bodies under applicable rules.

“Like other global financial institutions, we cooperate with lawful information requests from law enforcement globally, subject to applicable legal, privacy and regulatory requirements,” Binance said.

The company added that it does not create national laws, determine criminal charges or control how governments use information in court proceedings. Binance said those decisions rest with the relevant authorities.

An official Binance page instructs Russian and Belarusian law enforcement agencies to send requests to [email protected]. Reuters reported that Russian investigators received two replies from that address.

The page says Binance provides information and support as required by law. It does not explain which Binance entity handles Russian requests, which national law governs each disclosure or how the exchange evaluates requests involving possible political prosecutions.

Russia exit did not end law enforcement contact

Binance announced in September 2023 that it would fully exit Russia through its sale to CommEX. The company said operating there was incompatible with its compliance strategy.

Its official announcement said Binance would have no continuing revenue share or repurchase option. The customer migration and closure of Russian services were expected to take up to one year.

Lawyer Mike Bystrov told Reuters that Binance had no obligation to provide the records because it had left Russia. Binance disputed his interpretation but did not say which law required or permitted the disclosure.

Continued communication with investigators does not by itself show that Binance resumed commercial operations in Russia. Companies can retain historical customer records and respond to information requests after leaving a market. The legal basis and limits of that cooperation remain central questions in Belenkiy’s case.

CommEX later stopped operating after acquiring Binance’s local business. As previously reported, the proposed transition became uncertain when Binance’s Russian successor announced its closure.

GDPR protection remains an unresolved question

Belenkiy holds a Russian passport and a Bulgarian residency permit. Bystrov said European Union privacy protections could apply if Belenkiy registered his Binance account as an EU resident.

Under that interpretation, transferring personal information to Russia could require strict safeguards because the European Union does not recognize Russia as providing adequate data protection. The legal assessment would depend on Belenkiy’s account registration, the Binance entity controlling his data and the authority used for the transfer.

Reuters could not establish whether he registered as a Bulgarian resident. His lawyer did not answer that question, and Binance did not identify the entity that processed the request.

The European Data Protection Board declined to comment on the individual case. It said enforcement responsibility rests with national data protection authorities. Bulgaria’s Commission for Personal Data Protection did not respond to Reuters’ questions about whether any rules had been breached.

Bystrov said Binance “may” have had an obligation not to disclose the information under EU law, but no regulator or court has reached that conclusion.

The available documents concern only Belenkiy. Reuters could not determine whether Binance identified other people who donated through the same wallets or whether Russian authorities opened related cases using exchange data.

What happens next in the Binance data case

Belenkiy remains in detention pending trial. Russian authorities have not announced a trial date, while his lawyer has not publicly addressed the accuracy of the transaction evidence or Binance’s disclosure.

The criminal court may examine the transfers and other evidence when proceedings begin. Any GDPR inquiry would be separate and would likely require a European regulator to establish where Belenkiy’s account was registered and which Binance entity controlled his records.

The disclosure also adds to wider scrutiny of Binance’s compliance operations. In related coverage, Binance CEO Richard Teng rejected separate claims about weaknesses in sanctions controls and said the exchange works with law enforcement agencies worldwide.

Bitcoin near $63,500 looks like more summer torpor, capped below $64,000 and holding above the low-$60,000s, but the flow picture underneath has reversed, said Yusuf Fakhro, partner at ARP Digital, in a note to CoinDesk.

US spot ETFs took in more than 14,000 BTC over five days into August 7, he said, the strongest stretch since May, and Q3 has drawn roughly 11,000 BTC of net inflows against 110,000 BTC of outflows in the back half of Q2. The institutional selling that defined the second quarter has flipped to buying.

Spot volumes have fallen to two-and-a-half-year lows, perpetual volumes to three-year lows, and volatility sits near multi-year troughs, Fakhro said.

Fresh demand arriving into the thinnest tape in years, when nobody is watching, is how durable bottoms tend to form. He reads bitcoin’s six months stuck between $60,000 and $80,000, holding near a 50% drawdown rather than grinding lower the way the 2014, 2018 and 2022 bear markets did, as apathy rather than deterioration, with on-chain data starting to show bottoming characteristics as sentiment shifts from panic to caution.

The risk sits on both sides. Bitcoin is as stuck below $64,000 as it is above $62,000, a box rather than a launchpad, and leverage sharpens it. Perpetual open interest has held above 300,000 BTC through the summer, elevated against its average while volumes collapsed, which leaves the market exposed to a sharp liquidation move in either direction.

Gold continues to trade close to multi-month highs following its recent advance, which was supported by the latest US inflation data. July’s CPI broadly matched market expectations, reducing the likelihood of a Federal Reserve rate hike in September. Lower expectations for further monetary tightening remain supportive for gold, as elevated interest rates increase the opportunity cost of holding the non-yielding asset. According to CNBC, some investors have begun taking profits after the rally. Over the coming weeks, expectations surrounding the Fed’s interest-rate path are likely to remain one of the main drivers of the precious metal.

Technical Analysis of Gold

The four-hour XAU/USD chart shows a sustained uptrend that lifted the price towards the red resistance level at $4,450. An ascending trendline developed during the rally, but on 13 August the price broke below it on increased volume. The subsequent decline established a green support area around $4,312.

Following a rebound, gold returned to the dense area of the current market profile and is now trading between the Point of Control (POC) at $4,397 and the lower boundary of the profile at $4,346. If selling pressure builds, the $4,312 support zone could become increasingly significant.

A continuation of the upward move would bring the price into a relatively strong cluster of technical levels. The first obstacles are the POC at $4,397 and the upper boundary of the profile at $4,415. Beyond these levels, attention would shift towards the trend high around $4,450.

The RSI + MAs indicator currently shows readings of 52, 53 and 58. The oscillator and fast moving average have moved back into the neutral zone, while the slower moving average is following the same direction.

Key Takeaways

The main driver for gold remains the market’s expectations for the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate path. A further decline in expectations for rate hikes could continue to support buyers, while more hawkish signals from the central bank could increase selling pressure as the market undergoes a post-rally correction.

In the short term, gold is also likely to remain sensitive to movements in the US dollar and Treasury yields, both of which can significantly influence demand for the precious metal.

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