European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde argued against the need for privately-issued euro-pegged stablecoins, even in the face of a market which is 98% dominated by dollar-pegged tokens.

Despite the rapid global adoption of USD stablecoins, Largarde argued Europe should focus on building tokenized settlement infrastructure anchored in central bank money rather than simply replicating the U.S. stablecoin model in a speech Bank of Spain’s LatAm Economic Forum in Madrid on Friday

“The case for promoting euro-denominated stablecoins is far weaker than it appears,” Lagarde said, arguing that the technological case for stablecoins can be replicated by central bank infrastructure, while their monetary function introduces unacceptable risks to financial stability.

Those comments come as Qivalis, a consortium of 12 of Europe’s largest banks, including ING, BBVA, BNP Paribas, Danske Bank, and UniCredit, announced plans to launch a privately-issued digital euro, not a CBDC, later this year under the same premise that Europe faces dollarization risks.

“If we don’t have a euro onchain with depth of liquidity, then the only alternative is the U.S. dollar,” Qivalis CEO Jan-Oliver Sell told CoinDesk. “That’s a real risk to Europe’s financial and digital sovereignty.”

Lagarde reiterated warnings that stablecoins could create financial stability risks during periods of market stress. She referenced the March 2023 collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, when Circle disclosed that $3.3 billion of its USDC reserves were at the bank, causing a brief de-peg of its stablecoin.

“At scale, such dynamics can transmit stress to the underlying asset markets. The promise of par redemption depends on the very market confidence that can vanish when financial stability deteriorates – and a mass redemption can accelerate that deterioration,” she said on Friday.

“As stablecoin use grows, so too does the potential for feedback loops between redemptions and asset markets,] particularly where issuers are non-banks.”

The growing global dominance of U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins issued by Tether and Circle represents risks to Europe’s financial system, Lagarde said on Friday.

Lagarde noted circulation in six years has increased from $10 billion to $310 billion. However, she expressed concern that nearly 90% of the market is controlled by two issuers – Tether USDT$0.9997 and Circle USDC).

She said that in Europe there’s increasing debate over the bloc’s urgent need to remain relevant.

“Europe must respond by promoting euro-denominated stablecoins of its own,” she said. “Otherwise, it faces a future of digital dollarisation and a loss of monetary sovereignty.”Lagarde is calling on the EU countries to support the development of a CBDCs. “We must build the public infrastructure that will enable alternative instruments, such as stablecoins and other forms of tokenised money, to operate within a framework anchored by central bank money,” she said.

Late last year, Lagarde announced the ECB’s plans for a “digital euro by 2029, assuming the European co-legislators adopt the necessary regulation by 2026,” adding that the preparatory steps, including pilot exercises and initial transactions, could begin as early as mid-2027.

TLDR:

• Revolut confirmed a third-party disruption caused Bitcoin to display at $0.02 inside the app on Friday.
  
• No user asset losses were reported, as the glitch only affected price displays and push notifications sent out.
  
• Bitcoin continued trading normally on major exchanges while the erroneous figures circulated across Revolut’s platform.
  
• Past crypto pricing glitches have triggered liquidation cascades, wiping out nearly two million accounts in minutes.

Revolut users were caught off guard on Friday after the fintech app displayed Bitcoin prices crashing to as low as $0.02.

The erroneous figures appeared in push notifications and price displays across the platform. Revolut confirmed the issue stemmed from a third-party service disruption.

No user asset losses have been reported so far. Cryptocurrency markets remained stable throughout, with Bitcoin trading normally on all major exchanges.

App Displays False Bitcoin Crash, Users React Online

The alerts arrived without warning in the early hours of Friday morning. Many users initially feared a real market collapse had occurred overnight. Screenshots spread quickly across X, showing notifications warning of a “52-week low” for Bitcoin.

Some users reported seeing apparent sell orders executed at two cents. Others questioned whether automated trades had triggered incorrectly during the malfunction. The issue appeared to affect price alerts, displays, and trading information tied to Bitcoin.

Revolut Support responded publicly on X, acknowledging the problem directly. “We are currently experiencing technical issues affecting some crypto functionalities,” the company stated.

The team confirmed that investigations were actively underway, and users were reassured that their assets remained unaffected.

Reactions on social media ranged from alarm to dark humor. One user wrote, “Woke up this morning and saw this and went back to bed. Thanks Revolut for nearly sending me to an early grave.”

Another posted, “Wtf is this manifesting? I want to see $150000 instead of $0.02.” A third added, “As a big fan and user of Revolut, I’m glad I didn’t see the notice — otherwise I’d have shut my laptop on the spot.” The posts reflected genuine anxiety among retail investors relying on mobile alerts for market updates.

Crypto Price Glitches Carry a History of Market Disruption

This is not the first time a pricing error has rattled crypto traders. Technical glitches, even brief ones, can trigger outsized fear among retail investors. The Revolut incident draws attention to how heavily traders depend on fintech apps for real-time data.

Speaking on CNBC’s Power Lunch following a previous crash, Fundstrat’s Tom Lee linked a major market drop to a pricing-feed failure.

A stablecoin briefly fell to $0.65 on one exchange due to thin liquidity. “On a specific exchange, a stablecoin’s price varied from other exchanges,” Lee explained. “It dropped to $0.65. But that only happened within this exchange because of liquidity.”

That distorted price then triggered a chain reaction across derivatives markets. “It wiped out, as that spread across other exchanges, because liquidations cascade,” Lee said.

Nearly two million crypto accounts were affected, despite being profitable just minutes before the glitch occurred.

South Korean exchanges faced a similar episode during the country’s political turmoil in late 2024. A martial-law shock triggered heavy trading activity, causing local order books to detach from global prices temporarily.

Those sudden downward wicks served as another reminder of how fragile pricing infrastructure can be during periods of instability.

SoftBank has cut a planned OpenAI‑backed margin loan from around $10 billion to roughly $6 billion after banks and private credit funds pushed back on the deal’s structure and the difficulty of valuing OpenAI, an unlisted AI unicorn.

SoftBank Group is scaling back an ambitious financing plan that would have raised around $10 billion using its OpenAI shares as collateral, after lenders balked at both the structure of the margin loan and the private valuation underpinning the deal.

According to Bloomberg, cited by Reuters and other outlets, SoftBank and its arranging banks have floated a reduced target “as low as $6 billion” in recent discussions with prospective lenders, implying a 40% cut from the original size. U.S. News reported that the initial pitch “had investors concerned about the difficulty of reaching a valuation for an unlisted company like ChatGPT maker OpenAI.”

Lenders question private OpenAI valuation and structure

Bloomberg’s April scoop on the deal said SoftBank was seeking “a $10 billion loan secured by its shares in US artificial intelligence giant OpenAI,” structured as a two‑year margin loan with an option to extend by another year. Bloomberg said the facility would let the Japanese conglomerate “take on more debt for its push into AI” without selling down its OpenAI stake.

In practice, the mechanics are straightforward but risky: SoftBank borrows against its OpenAI equity, and if the value of that collateral falls, lenders can demand more margin or seize shares. The sticking point, lenders now say, is how to price that collateral. As the Economic Times summarized from Bloomberg’s reporting, “some creditors expressed concerns over how to value OpenAI, a privately held company,” which has missed some internal sales and user milestones in recent quarters. A separate breakdown on Chinese platform Futu noted that “the crux of the issue lies in lenders’ inability to determine a reasonable valuation” for OpenAI, calling the loan talks “a major setback” for SoftBank’s AI leverage strategy.

Those worries are layered on top of SoftBank’s already sizable AI financing stack. In March, Bloomberg reported that SoftBank had secured a $40 billion bridge loan to fund its OpenAI investment and general corporate needs, a deal backed by a syndicate of global banks and now being syndicated out to more lenders. Bloomberg said institutions such as HSBC, BNP Paribas and Intesa Sanpaolo were joining as sub‑underwriters, each asked to commit around $5 billion. Reuters, summarizing the same reporting, added that SoftBank “is pursuing a loan of as much as $40 billion” to support its OpenAI bet. Yahoo Finance echoed that figure, underscoring just how much leverage is already tied to the AI trade.

What the scaled‑back loan means for SoftBank’s AI push

The margin loan was meant to be another pillar in that structure: by borrowing against OpenAI shares rather than selling them, SoftBank can raise cash to expand its AI investments — potentially into infrastructure projects like the “Stargate” data‑center initiative — while preserving upside if OpenAI’s valuation continues to rise. TechFundingNews noted that the $10 billion margin loan was “just one part of SoftBank’s larger AI financing plan,” which reportedly includes commitments of more than $60 billion to OpenAI and related ventures through Vision Fund 2, the $40 billion bridge loan and other facilities.

Cutting the margin‑loan target to around $6 billion does not end that strategy, but it signals that creditor appetite for concentrated, private‑equity‑collateral risk is not unlimited, even in a market obsessed with AI. As Bloomberg put it in an earlier piece on the $40 billion bridge, the OpenAI exposure is already “one of the biggest tests yet of creditor sentiment toward the Japanese conglomerate’s debt-fueled push further into artificial intelligence.”

The latest downsizing suggests that, for now, banks and funds are willing to back SoftBank’s AI ambitions — but only up to the point where they can still convince their own risk committees that the collateral they are lending against can be valued with something more than vibes and secondary‑market whispers.

Coinbase’s (COIN) weak first-quarter earnings report sparked another divide on Wall Street over whether the crypto platform is building a more durable business or remains tied to crypto’s boom-and-bust cycles.

Several analysts lowered forecasts after the company missed expectations on revenue and adjusted EBITDA as trading activity slowed across the crypto market. Still, a number of firms argued Coinbase’s expanding stablecoin and derivatives businesses — along with the possible passage of crypto legislation in Washington — could improve the company’s outlook later this year.

JPMorgan said the quarter reflected “a challenging environment” but added that Coinbase had “positioned the company well to operate in an increasingly digital world.”

The bank said pending U.S. crypto legislation “does set up for a better outlook into 2H26 and into 2027” and maintained an overweight rating on the stock.

The legislation in focus is the CLARITY Act, a proposed market structure bill that would establish rules for how crypto assets are regulated in the U.S. The bill aims to define which digital assets fall under the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and which would be overseen by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Coinbase and other crypto firms have argued clearer rules could encourage banks, asset managers and large companies to expand crypto activity.

Coinbase executives told analysts they expect a Senate Banking Committee markup this month, followed by a broader vote later in the summer.

Clear Street also pointed to regulation as a major catalyst.

“We see multiple catalysts ahead and remain constructive on the shares going into 2H26,” the firm wrote, even as it lowered its price target to $107 from $140 following weaker trading volume.

The firm highlighted growth in newer products including prediction markets, which generated more than $100 million in annualized revenue by March, and retail derivatives, which surpassed a $200 million annualized pace.

Oppenheimer said Coinbase’s push beyond spot crypto trading is beginning to show traction.

“Prediction Markets has emerged as one of the fastest growing new products,” the firm wrote, adding that the company’s “Everything Exchange strategy” could support long-term growth. The strategy includes stablecoins, derivatives, payments and tokenized assets alongside traditional crypto trading.

William Blair argued the first quarter may represent the low point of the current cycle.

“If Bitcoin BTC$79,876.65 has bottomed, as we suspect it has, April could be the trough spot volume month of the cycle,” the firm wrote.

The firm also pointed to growth in USDC stablecoin activity and Coinbase’s Base blockchain network as signs the company is becoming more embedded in crypto infrastructure beyond trading fees.

Not all analysts were convinced.

Barclays maintained an Underweight rating and warned that “profitability [is] under pressure” as trading activity continues to weaken. The bank said second-quarter transaction revenue trends remain well below Wall Street expectations.

Compass Point also kept a Sell rating, arguing Coinbase “remains entirely beholden to crypto cycles five years after going public.”

The firm said weaker monthly user activity raised questions about whether newer products are attracting new customers or simply replacing older trading businesses.

Shares of Coinbase are down 3.6% in pre-market trading.

XRP keeps grinding toward the top of its recent range, and the move is starting to matter more because liquidity has thinned out while price keeps compressing underneath resistance. That combination tends to make breakouts sharper once the market finally picks a direction.

News Background

• Analysts continue pointing to longer-term bull flag and falling wedge patterns that resemble setups seen before previous XRP rallies.

• XRP ETF inflows and thinning Binance liquidity have added to speculation that the market is entering a higher-volatility phase after weeks of sideways trading.

Price Action Summary

• XRP traded in a tight 1.4% range between $1.3787 and $1.3948 over the 24-hour session.
• A late-session push lifted price from $1.3879 to $1.3930 on a 1.45M volume spike, breaking above the immediate consolidation ceiling.
• Support repeatedly held between $1.3825-$1.3870, while sellers continued defending the $1.3930-$1.3950 zone.

Technical Analysis

• The market has spent weeks compressing between support near $1.38 and resistance just below $1.40, with volatility continuing to tighten.
• Volume expanding into the latest move higher matters because thin liquidity conditions tend to exaggerate price reactions once resistance finally gives way.
• XRP is still stuck below larger breakout levels near $1.47 and $1.50, but repeated tests of resistance usually weaken seller control over time.
• Analysts tracking bull flag and wedge formations continue targeting the $1.60-$1.73 range if the broader structure confirms.

What traders should watch

• $1.3930-$1.3950 is the immediate resistance zone. A sustained move above it shifts focus toward $1.42 and $1.47.
• $1.3825 remains the key support floor holding the current consolidation structure together.
• Liquidity conditions remain unusually thin, increasing the odds of a fast move once the range finally breaks.

TLDR:

• Ondo and Ripple completed a near real-time tokenized Treasury redemption across borders.
• XRP Ledger processed the blockchain asset transfer in under five seconds during pilot.
• Mastercard MTN connected blockchain redemption directly with banking settlement rails.
• The pilot demonstrated 24/7 institutional settlement beyond standard banking hours.

Ondo Finance has completed the first near real-time cross-border redemption of a tokenized U.S. Treasury fund. The transaction was carried out in collaboration with Kinexys by J.P. Morgan, Mastercard, and Ripple.

Together, the four firms settled a cross-border transaction using both a public blockchain and traditional interbank rails.

The process cleared outside standard banking windows, connecting blockchain execution directly to fiat settlement. This marks a practical framework for 24/7 global settlement of tokenized financial assets.

How the Transaction Was Structured

Ripple redeemed a portion of its Ondo OUSG holdings on the XRP Ledger as part of the pilot. Ondo processed the redemption and issued a fiat instruction via the Mastercard Multi-Token Network. The MTN then routed that instruction to Kinexys by J.P. Morgan for settlement execution.

Kinexys debited Ondo’s Blockchain Deposit Account and settled U.S. dollar proceeds to Ripple’s Singapore bank account.

The transfer moved through J.P. Morgan’s correspondent banking network, completing a full cross-border, cross-bank flow. No separate manual instructions were needed at any point in the process.

The XRP Ledger processed the asset leg in under five seconds. Markus Infanger of RippleX stated that this pilot showed institutions can execute cross-border transactions as a single integrated flow.

That speed enabled settlement well outside traditional banking cut-off windows. That distinction gave the pilot a clear operational advantage over conventional settlement systems.

One leg cleared on a public blockchain while the other settled on banking infrastructure. The two systems coordinated directly rather than requiring parallel, independent instructions. Ian De Bode of Ondo Finance said this lays the groundwork for 24/7 global markets that never close.

What This Means for Tokenized Asset Infrastructure

Tokenized real-world assets have grown across the financial sector, but redemption infrastructure has lagged behind.

Traditional wire systems, manual processes, and limited operating hours have restricted how institutions redeem and settle these assets.

Together, these constraints have limited the scalability of tokenized asset redemption for institutional players. This pilot connects blockchain-based redemption to automated fiat settlement, removing those long-standing barriers.

The Mastercard MTN served as the interoperability layer between the blockchain and banking environments. Raj Dhamodharan of Mastercard said the MTN makes near real-time, cross-border settlement available through existing bank accounts. That connectivity allows institutions to access tokenized assets without replacing existing banking infrastructure.

Zack Chestnut of Kinexys by J.P. Morgan said broad adoption requires collaboration across geographies, banking systems, and public blockchains.

This pilot proves that multi-party coordination at that level is achievable today. The transaction was not theoretical — it was executed between real global financial institutions.

The framework supports redemptions from any public blockchain where OUSG is issued, starting with XRPL. Ondo Finance has positioned this as a scalable model for continuous, round-the-clock tokenized asset markets.

The completed pilot shows that 24/7 cross-border settlement across global banks is now operationally within reach.