Canada’s six largest banks have formed a joint project to test transfers of tokenized Canadian-dollar deposits between regulated financial institutions.

TD Bank has announced that Bank of Montreal, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, National Bank of Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank and Toronto-Dominion Bank Group will participate in the initiative. Other banks may join the project as it develops.

The lenders plan to begin with transfers of tokenized deposits among themselves, creating a common process for moving digital representations of Canadian-dollar bank balances. According to their joint statement, the first phase will focus on efficient circulation between Canadian financial institutions before any links are built to other digital asset programs.

Unlike a retail stablecoin or cryptocurrency, each tokenized deposit represents money already held at a participating commercial bank. Its value remains recorded as a liability of that bank, while digital ledger technology provides the infrastructure for transferring or programming the deposit.

Tokenized deposits could support round-the-clock bank payments

By representing conventional deposits digitally, the project could allow participating banks to process certain transfers outside the operating windows used by traditional payment systems. Programmable instructions could also release funds when agreed conditions are met, subject to each bank’s compliance and risk controls.

A shared network would address one of the limits of products operated by a single institution. When separate banks issue tokens only for their own clients, the funds may be unable to move directly to another bank’s platform without being converted or settled through existing systems.

Canada’s Big Six are instead exploring transfers between participating institutions from the project’s first phase. Their longer-term plan includes connecting the Canadian system with other digital asset programs, although the banks have not provided a timetable for testing, commercial deployment or outside access.

The initiative follows a regulatory clarification issued earlier in September. As crypto.news previously reported, Canada’s Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions said tokenized deposits are not legally different from conventional deposits merely because banks use blockchain or another digital system to represent them.

OSFI uses a technology-neutral approach, meaning it assesses the financial product rather than the technology used to deliver it. Banks must continue meeting the legal, operational, cybersecurity, and third-party risk requirements that apply to their existing deposit businesses.

The regulator also expects federally regulated institutions to contact their lead OSFI supervisors before introducing novel financial products or services. Its guidance points banks to the B-13 technology and cyber-risk guideline and the B-10 framework for managing outside service providers.

Canada’s tokenized deposit system differs from stablecoins

Tokenized deposits and stablecoins can both provide digital payments and programmable transfers, but their financial structures differ. A tokenized deposit remains a claim against the bank that issued it, just as money held in a conventional account remains a liability on the bank’s balance sheet.

Stablecoins are generally issued as separate tokens backed by cash, government securities or other reserve assets. Their legal status, redemption rights and regulatory treatment depend on the issuer and the rules covering the product.

Canada is developing a separate framework for fiat-backed stablecoins. The country’s 2025 federal budget included measures for a regulatory system administered in part by the Bank of Canada, with C$10 million allocated over two years beginning in 2026.

The planned rules would amend the Retail Payment Activities Act to cover payment providers handling stablecoin transactions. Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem previously said stablecoins should maintain a one-to-one link with central bank currency, hold liquid government assets and give users clear information about redemption terms, costs and timing.

Canadian-dollar stablecoins are already entering regulated financial channels. In May, Anchorage Digital added institutional custody for CADD, a Canadian-dollar token issued by Tetra Digital Group and backed one-to-one by Canadian dollars held at a licensed trust company.

The Big Six project follows a different route because the participating banks would tokenize deposits they already hold instead of creating a separate reserve-backed asset. Each institution would retain responsibility for the deposit and the controls surrounding its transfer.

US banks are building a similar interbank network

Across the border, major American lenders are working on an interbank system with many of the same planned functions. In July, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo were reported to be developing a shared deposit network through The Clearing House.

The U.S. project is targeting the first half of 2027 and plans to offer multinational companies programmable treasury services, real-time liquidity management and cross-border transfers. More than a dozen other financial institutions, including TD Bank, BNY, HSBC, PNC, Truist and U.S. Bank, have supported the initiative.

JPMorgan and Citigroup already operate their own digital payment systems, but a shared network would allow tokenized deposits to move between participating banks. According to the earlier report, JPMorgan’s Kinexys platform processes more than $7 billion in average daily volume and has handled over $40 trillion since its launch.

Wells Fargo has also announced a separate product for corporate and commercial clients. Its planned tokenized deposit service will initially cover selected U.S. dollar-to-British-pound transactions before adding clients, countries and currencies during 2027.

For U.S. companies operating in Canada, compatible bank-led systems could eventually provide another route for moving funds between Canadian and American financial institutions. Neither project has announced a direct connection, and the Canadian banks have not identified which outside networks they may support.

Canadian banks build on Project Samara test

Canada’s latest bank-led project also follows the completion of Project Samara in March. The Bank of Canada, Export Development Canada, RBC Capital Markets, RBC Investor Services and TD Bank tested the issuance, trading and settlement of a C$100 million tokenized bond using distributed ledger technology.

Export Development Canada issued the bond with a maturity of less than three months to a closed group of investors. The Project Samara experiment used wholesale central bank deposits for payments and managed the security on a platform built with Hyperledger Fabric.

The system supported cash and bond issuance, bidding, coupon payments, redemption, secondary trading and settlement on connected cash and securities ledgers. According to the Bank of Canada, the test allowed transactions to settle directly on the platform.

Project Samara found improvements in operational efficiency, data integrity and transaction workflows, while the central bank also identified liquidity costs, governance demands and integration problems. The experiment reduced counterparty and settlement risk but introduced technology, audit and fallback risks, according to the Bank of Canada.

To create value for employees and customers, companies implementing AI must be able to access and interpret the scads of internal data needed to fuel it—but much of that data is sequestered in systems and formats that are unreachable to the teams that need it most. Databricks is in the business of unlocking that information, which makes chief information officer Naveen Zutshi something of a locksmith. “We have around 11,000 employees,” he says. “My focus has been: How do I enable all of them to be builders?” 

The answer, he believes, is Genie, an AI agent that employees can use to query company data quickly and easily, then act on it by conducting research, automating tasks, or even building applications. “Genie is essentially an AI co-worker,” says Zutshi, whose work on Genie’s underlying data governance has enriched not only Databricks—“customer zero” for the company’s products, he adds—but also customers like Novo Nordisk, Virgin Atlantic, and Unilever, all of which are using Genie to enable what he calls the “democratization of data and AI.”

21Shares has expanded its European ETP lineup with two physically backed products—one linked to Zcash (ZEC) and another tied to Ether.fi’s ETHFI token. The Zcash launch marks the first exchange-traded product in Europe specifically offering exposure to the privacy-focused coin through regulated market infrastructure.

On Tuesday, the firm listed its physically backed Zcash ETP on Euronext Paris and Amsterdam, enabling investors to obtain ZEC exposure via traditional brokerage accounts without directly holding the cryptocurrency. In parallel, 21Shares introduced a physically backed ETP tracking ETHFI, the governance and utility token of Ether.fi, also trading on Euronext Paris and Amsterdam.

Key takeaways

• 21Shares launched Europe’s first Zcash-linked physically backed ETP on Euronext Paris and Amsterdam.
• A second new product tracks Ether.fi’s ETHFI token, also in physically backed form on the same venues.
• Both ETPs charge a 2.5% annual management fee—significantly higher than many comparable European crypto products focused on bitcoin and ether.
• The expansion follows the U.S. debut of a Grayscale Zcash ETF trading on NYSE Arca under ticker ZCSH, underlining growing institutional reach for ZEC.

Regulated access for Zcash in Europe

ETPs have become a common route for institutional and retail investors to access crypto exposure within traditional market frameworks. By listing a physically backed Zcash ETP, 21Shares is effectively bringing ZEC into that ecosystem on two major Euronext markets: Paris and Amsterdam.

The listing structure is straightforward: rather than using derivatives or synthetic exposure, a physically backed ETP is designed to hold the underlying asset. For investors, that can simplify operational considerations—especially for those who prefer not to self-custody or manage direct exchange and wallet logistics—while still accessing ZEC exposure through a broker.

However, the economics matter. The 2.5% annual management fee is well above the level charged by many bitcoin and ether ETPs in Europe, which could influence investor demand—particularly for those assessing total cost over time rather than only near-term price momentum.

ETHFI ETP broadens the theme beyond privacy coins

Alongside the Zcash product, 21Shares launched an ETP tracking ETHFI, the token associated with Ether.fi, a decentralized finance protocol offering staking and other crypto-based financial services. Like the Zcash offering, the ETHFI ETP is physically backed and trades on Euronext Paris and Amsterdam.

This second listing signals that 21Shares is not only focused on privacy-coin exposure. Instead, it is also adding a product tied to the broader DeFi ecosystem—where token value is often linked to participation in protocol services such as staking, governance, and network activity. For investors, that creates a choice between two different “entry points” into crypto themes: privacy-focused infrastructure on the one hand, and DeFi utility on the other.

As with the Zcash ETP, the 2.5% annual fee also sets a notable baseline. Traders and long-term holders will likely weigh that ongoing cost against expected volatility and the pace at which token fundamentals can change in DeFi markets.

Zcash’s surge renews Bitcoin comparisons

21Shares’ decision to launch the Zcash ETP arrives amid a renewed spotlight on the coin after a strong market run. According to CoinMarketCap data cited in the original reporting, Zcash recently pushed above $1,500 and has gained nearly 1,100% over the past year.

That performance has pulled Zcash back into debates about whether it can operate as more than a niche privacy asset. In particular, renewed attention has returned to the idea of Zcash acting as a potential alternative to bitcoin—an argument that has appeared in past discussions around network effects and long-term survivability.

Grayscale head of research Zach Pandl has previously argued that Zcash could benefit from “second-mover advantages” that might help it overcome bitcoin’s entrenched network effects, according to earlier commentary covered by Cointelegraph. The broader question for investors is whether Zcash can convert price momentum into durable demand from institutional channels—especially as more regulated products become available.

At the same time, the existence of institutional ETP and ETF wrappers does not automatically solve underlying adoption challenges. For privacy-focused networks, sustainability often depends not only on price cycles but also on ecosystem growth, developer activity, liquidity depth, and regulatory treatment across jurisdictions.

Institutional momentum: U.S. ETF and ongoing mining activity

Europe’s new Zcash ETP follows a related development in the U.S. Earlier coverage highlighted the launch of a Grayscale Zcash ETF that trades on NYSE Arca under the ticker ZCSH, described in the original reporting as arriving after U.S. regulatory approval.

Taken together, a U.S. exchange-traded product plus the arrival of a European ETP suggests Zcash is increasingly on the radar of asset managers that focus on regulated access. That shift matters because it can widen the investor base—particularly among participants who may face internal constraints on direct cryptocurrency ownership.

There are also signals of scale within the network’s proof-of-work ecosystem. Fortitude Digital Mining told Cointelegraph that it mined about 28% of all ZEC produced in the first half of 2026, framing its focus on Zcash around its proof-of-work model, capped supply, and privacy features. While such statements do not directly determine price, they can be relevant to how investors think about network participation and the operational depth behind the asset.

For now, investors should treat the product rollout as a step forward in access rather than a guarantee of sustained outperformance. The key variable will be whether higher-cost ETP structures—especially with a 2.5% fee—can attract steady flows as the market digests Zcash’s recent rally.

Looking ahead, readers should watch how trading volumes and inflow dynamics develop for both of the new Euronext listings, and whether Zcash’s institutional exposure continues to broaden after the U.S. ETF addition—alongside any further clarity on long-term catalysts for ZEC that go beyond price momentum.

Meanwhile, GENIUS

However, last year’s crypto legislative success in converting the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act into law is still an ongoing focus of the Treasury and banking regulators assigned to implement it.

Pettit, who had a hand in creating the GENIUS Act as a Senate staffer, said the banking agencies and Treasury are writing GENIUS rules and facing near-term deadlines in the law.

“We’re very cognizant of the different deadlines in front of us,” Pettit said. “I think we’re well on track to make all those deadlines.”

Witt noted that companies are advertising their “GENIUS-compliant stablecoins,” though that status doesn’t yet exist in the absence of final rules.

“But people skating to where the puck is going and trying to set up their policies, their procedures and their structures in order to be GENIUS-compliant is very healthy,” the White House adviser said. Witt said a two-headed stablecoin system will result when GENIUS is in place, between the tokens that comply and those that don’t, and the market will have to decide its preference.

“I would think it’s probably going to reward those that are operating in conformity with the regulatory jurisdiction,” Witt said, adding that the market will expand as asset tokenization catches fire with the arrival of U.S. oversight — as begun last week at the SEC.

Bitcoin has climbed above $86,000 and briefly touched $87,000 as analysts linked the breakout to falling oil prices, lower Treasury yields, a short squeeze and returning U.S. spot ETF demand.

Bitcoin’s $82K breakout forced short sellers to cover

HashKey Group Senior Researcher Tim Sun told crypto.news that short-term ETF flows tend to move with Bitcoin’s price rather than predict its next direction. In his view, the latest inflows show that institutional investors have increased their buying after the rally was already underway.

“Short-term ETF capital flows are primarily coincident indicators rather than leading indicators,” Sun said. “Therefore, massive capital inflows simply reflect an ongoing upward trend, signaling that institutional funds are accelerating their market entry.”

Bitcoin traded above $86,000 on Monday and briefly reached $87,000, according to Gadi Chait, investment manager at Xapo Bank. The move took the asset to a level last seen in late January, though it remained about 31% below the record high of $126,200 reached in October.

The advance followed a sharp recovery from last week’s low near $75,560. Bitcoin first regained $78,000 and $80,000 before clearing the $82,000 resistance area, which had blocked several earlier attempts to move higher.

Breaking that level triggered forced buying among traders who had bet on a decline, Sun said. Short sellers must purchase Bitcoin to close leveraged positions when the price moves against them, adding demand during a fast rally.

Sun said the resulting squeeze increased Bitcoin’s “price elasticity,” allowing each new round of buying to produce a larger move. ETF demand then entered after the breakout, providing what he described as confirmation that an upward trend had formed.

Earlier market coverage found that Bitcoin had already moved past $85,000 as renewed U.S. buying and short covering brought $87,000 and $90,000 into focus. Nansen Senior Research Analyst Nicolai Sondergaard said at the time that the advance appeared to combine renewed ETF demand with a large short squeeze, while some of Hyperliquid’s biggest Bitcoin traders remained net short.

ETF inflows arrived after Bitcoin gained momentum

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $433 million in net inflows on Friday, reversing much of the pressure created by withdrawals earlier in the week. The funds ended the five-session period with a modest net inflow of about $6.1 million.

Fidelity’s FBTC led Friday’s recovery with roughly $310.7 million, while BlackRock’s IBIT took in about $108.4 million. The late-week buying allowed Bitcoin products to finish in positive territory even as U.S. spot crypto exchange-traded products collectively lost about $70.7 million because of withdrawals from Ether funds.

As ETF flow data showed, Ether funds posted approximately $140.6 million in weekly net outflows, while Solana products attracted $60.7 million. Hyperliquid products added another $3.1 million across the week.

Sun said the sequence matters because Bitcoin first responded to improving economic conditions, then cleared resistance and forced bearish positions out of the market. ETF inflows increased only after those price moves had taken place.

Under his interpretation, institutional funds did not create the first leg of the rally. Their return showed that regulated investment products were joining a move that had already gained support from macro conditions and derivatives activity.

Chait also pointed to the change in weekly price structure. Bitcoin closed above its 50-week moving average for the first time in 45 weeks, he said, adding a longer-term technical signal to the breakout through $82,000.

“The tape has read relatively well: spot ETF flows turned positive late last week after heavy mid-week outflows, and Bitcoin closed the week above its 50-week moving average for the first time in 45 weeks,” Chait said.

Lower oil and Treasury yields supported Bitcoin

Easing tensions involving Iran helped crude oil prices fall, according to Sun, while long-term U.S. Treasury yields declined soon afterward. He said the combination reduced concerns that energy costs would keep inflation elevated and force the Federal Reserve to tighten policy more aggressively.

Positive expectations for U.S.-China trade negotiations also reduced the market’s assessment of trade-war risk, Sun added. With investors less concerned about oil-driven inflation and tariffs, demand returned to risk assets and helped Bitcoin challenge its former resistance levels.

The rally came days after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 25 basis points, lifting the federal funds target range to 3.75%–4%. All 12 voting members backed the decision, while 16 of 18 officials projected at least one more increase during 2026.

Bitcoin traded near $76,000 around the Fed decision before recovering later in the week. Sun said the negative effect of the rate increase had already passed through the market, allowing traders to focus on lower oil prices, falling yields and the chances of progress in trade talks.

Chait said the rebound was encouraging because it followed two policy setbacks for risk assets. The Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act on Sep. 15, and the Fed delivered its quarter-point increase one day later.

The Senate motion received 50 votes in favor and 49 against, leaving it 10 votes short of the 60 required to begin debate. The failed procedural vote stalled a bill designed to divide oversight of digital assets between the SEC and CFTC.

U.S. regulators moved ahead after the Senate vote

Two days after the CLARITY vote, the SEC issued a five-year Innovation Exemption for eligible tokenized securities activity. The order allows qualifying venues to trade tokenized U.S. stocks through permissioned automated market makers and liquidity pools, subject to conditions covering shareholder rights, trading limits and market halts.

The CFTC separately sent a proposed crypto market framework to the White House for review. Chait interpreted the two actions as evidence that U.S. regulators intended to continue developing digital-asset rules without waiting for Congress.

A CFTC framework report said the proposal reached the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs after the SEC released its long-awaited exemption on Sep. 17. The review forms part of the federal rulemaking process and does not itself make the CFTC proposal effective.

For American investors, the combination of returning spot ETF demand and agency action provided two separate channels of market support. ETFs offer regulated Bitcoin exposure through U.S.-listed products, while the SEC and CFTC measures concern the rules under which digital-asset and tokenized-security markets may operate.

Chait still identified oil and monetary policy as risks to the advance. Renewed conflict in the Middle East could push crude prices higher again, he said, while another Fed increase could raise Treasury yields and reduce demand for non-yielding assets such as Bitcoin.

Market attention has also turned to the scheduled Sep. 24 meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Chait described the meeting as the next test of whether Bitcoin’s rally can hold as traders assess the direction of U.S.-China trade relations.

Pi Network has cleared a KYC barrier for more than 417,000 users and prepared a wallet fix for another 497,000 accounts that could not claim migrated PI balances.

Pi Network has reopened KYC for 417,000 users

Pi Core Team said in an update that it refined the checks applied to accounts previously flagged as possible duplicates, allowing more than 417,000 Pioneers identified as separate users to continue the Know Your Customer process.

Removing the duplicate-account flag does not mean each affected user has passed KYC. Applicants must still complete any remaining identity checks and satisfy the other conditions listed in the Mainnet Checklist before Pi can move their transferable balances to the live network.

The update addresses one part of a long-running migration problem. A Sep. 9 report on Pi’s Mainnet migration gap found that about 16.6 million of the network’s claimed 60 million engaged Pioneers had completed migration. That represented a conversion rate of 27.6% at the time, with KYC approval, wallet setup, and user confirmation among the required steps.

Using those figures as context, the 417,000 newly eligible applicants represent roughly 2.5% of the previously reported migrated-user count. Their access to Mainnet will still depend on whether they complete all outstanding checks and migration steps.

Pi also reviewed applications from people who completed identity verification through Yoti, a third-party identity service used during an earlier stage of the network’s KYC program. Some of the old applications lacked the liveness information now required by Pi, leaving users unable to progress.

Following the review, affected Yoti applicants can submit a new application through Pi’s native KYC system. Users should check the KYC app for a resubmission option rather than assuming an earlier Yoti approval automatically meets the current requirements.

Indonesian applicants rejected after uploading a KIA, or child identity card, have received a similar route forward. Pi said they can resubmit their details with another accepted identification document.

A gas-fee fix will cover 497,000 Fast-Track wallets

Separate from the KYC cases, approximately 497,000 users received Mainnet wallets through Pi’s Fast-Track migration process but could not claim their migrated tokens.

Pi attributed the failures to a lack of PI in the newly allocated wallets. Although the users had balances waiting to be claimed, their wallets did not contain enough available PI to cover the network gas fee needed to complete the transaction.

The Core Team plans to deploy a technical fix within one week of the announcement. According to the project, the change will restore access for the affected accounts and prevent the same gas-fee problem from blocking future Fast-Track migrations.

Users whose claims previously failed for insufficient gas can also try the claim process again. Pi advised Pioneers to open the wallet or migration interface and check whether their balance is now available rather than creating another wallet or repeating unrelated KYC steps.

KYC approval and balance migration serve different functions within Pi’s system. Identity verification confirms that an account belongs to an eligible person, while migration transfers the user’s approved balance from the mobile application’s internal records to a Mainnet wallet. A user can therefore pass KYC but still face a separate wallet, checklist, or transaction problem.

Earlier reporting on Pi’s first Open Mainnet year identified migration delays as one of the network’s unresolved operating issues after the firewall opened in February 2025. The report also noted that PI reached a post-listing peak of $2.99 before falling toward $0.15 by May 2026.

For users in the United States, the latest update changes access only for accounts affected by Pi’s internal KYC and wallet processes. The announcement did not describe a separate procedure for U.S. Pioneers or announce a change to PI’s availability through American trading platforms.

Pi Network has expanded its identity-check tools

Alongside the account reviews, Pi has added support for liveness checks on older mobile devices. Liveness tests generally require an applicant to use a device camera to show that a real person is completing the verification, rather than relying only on an uploaded image.

Supporting older hardware could help users whose phones could not run the earlier version of the check. The Core Team asked applicants to complete a liveness test whenever the KYC app displays the request, as leaving the step unfinished can keep an application pending.

Pi has also started a pilot program for palm-print authentication. The project has not yet provided full public details on the pilot’s size, eligible regions, or whether palm verification could eventually replace any existing KYC step.

The network has already used a large validator pool to process identity applications. The Sep. 9 report said 1,094,680 human validators had completed more than 526 million verification tasks, although the total number of tasks does not represent the same number of approved users.

As crypto.news previously reported, Pi said in May that more than 18.1 million users had passed its native KYC checks and over 16.7 million Pioneers had migrated to Mainnet. The new duplicate-account review does not add 417,000 completed migrations to either total because each person must finish the remaining verification and checklist requirements first.

Protocol V27 testing has reached Testnet 2

While Pi works through the account issues, the network has advanced Protocol V27 testing from Testnet 1 to Testnet 2.

A September Protocol 27 report said deployment on Testnet 1 began on Aug. 21 after Pi completed Protocol 26. The earlier update linked Protocol V27 to smart-contract authentication, RPC infrastructure, and automated market maker liquidity pools.

Protocol 26 had required approximately 421,000 node operators to update their software by Aug. 11 or lose Mainnet connectivity. Pi described V27 as the final planned upgrade in its current development sequence, though later software patches and maintenance updates could still follow.

The earlier roadmap targeted Sep. 15 for a Mainnet deployment after testing across two test networks. Pi’s latest information instead shows V27 running on Testnet 2, indicating that the testing stage has continued beyond that previously reported target.

During the specified Testnet 2 period, Pi said the network processed about 250 transactions per block without a reported failure.

Canada’s six largest banks are jointly exploring a system for tokenized Canadian dollar deposits that would allow digital representations of bank deposits to move between financial institutions.

The initiative involves Bank of Montreal, CIBC, National Bank of Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank and TD Bank Group, according to a joint announcement from the banks on Tuesday. The first phase will focus on moving tokenized deposits between Canadian financial institutions before potentially connecting with other digital asset systems.

The project comes less than two weeks after Canada’s banking regulator provided additional clarity on the legal permissibility of tokenized deposits for financial institutions.

On Sept. 10, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) said tokenized deposits are “not legally distinct from traditional deposits,” adding that the underlying technology of a financial product does not determine its legal nature.

OSFI clarifies tokenized deposit rules. Source: Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI)

Tokenized deposits represent money held at a regulated bank and remain a liability of that bank, unlike fiat-backed stablecoins, which are separate digital assets backed by reserves held by their issuer.

The banks said the system is intended to support faster and programmable payments, while longer-term plans include opening the initiative to other deposit-taking institutions. Cointelegraph contacted CIBC for additional details but did not receive an immediate response.

Related: Coinbase launches regulated crypto derivatives in Canada

Canada builds out stablecoin framework

The tokenized deposit initiative comes as Canada builds out a broader regulatory framework for digital money.

In March, Canada enacted its Stablecoin Act as part of Bill C-15, establishing a federal framework for fiat-backed stablecoins. Under the regime, non-financial institution issuers will be required to register with the Bank of Canada, maintain reserves of at least 1:1 in high-quality liquid assets and offer holders redemption at par. The framework is expected to take effect in 2027.

However, the framework only covers fiat-backed stablecoins issued by non-financial institutions. Banks and credit unions that are already subject to prudential regulation fall outside its scope. Issuers covered by the framework will also be prohibited from representing their stablecoins as deposits or as insured under a public deposit insurance system.

Magazine: Big Questions: Does Satoshi actually own 1.1 million Bitcoin?

Coinbase has added fixed-rate USDC loans backed by cbBTC after its variable-rate borrowing service reached more than $1.4 billion in outstanding loans and nearly $3 billion in collateral.

Coinbase fixed-rate loans set costs in advance

Coinbase said the new borrowing option operates through Morpho Midnight, a fixed-rate and fixed-term lending protocol on Base. Customers pledge cbBTC as collateral and receive USDC without selling their bitcoin exposure.