Banks Quietly Move Onto Stablecoin Rails as XRP ETFs Near $1B and CFTC Clears U.S. Spot Crypto

Markets are green, but the more consequential move sits under the surface: stablecoin infrastructure is getting institutional plumbing.

Coinbase’s CEO said at DealBook that leading banks are piloting with the exchange across stablecoins, custody, and trading. That’s not a headline grabber—it’s a distribution unlock. Banks don’t need to own crypto narratives to capture client flows; they need compliant rails, predictable counterparty risk, and products that fit existing risk committees. Coinbase gives them a ready-made stack without re-architecting core systems. The psychology is simple: eliminate career risk and the willingness to experiment rises.

BlackRock’s 2026 outlook reinforces that tilt. The firm keeps an overweight in U.S. equities and names AI and accelerating stablecoin usage as forces reshaping markets. When the world’s largest asset manager frames stablecoins as macro drivers, CIOs listen—not because of hype, but because it reframes stablecoins from “speculative tokens” to working capital infrastructure. That framing pairs neatly with Sony-affiliate Startale’s launch of USDSC, positioned as the default settlement asset on the Soneium L2. A chain hardwiring a single stablecoin as standard settlement shrinks UX friction, clarifies liquidity hubs, and invites clearer compliance footprints for enterprise partners.

Regulatory posture is catching up. With the CFTC approving U.S. spot crypto trading, surveillance and market integrity standards start to look more familiar to traditional venues. That lowers the legal ambiguity that often froze bank pilots. Add reports that sovereign wealth funds are allocating to Bitcoin, and the message to risk committees becomes harder to ignore: this isn’t a fringe instrument set anymore; it’s an asset class with increasingly conventional pipes.

Price action supports the backdrop but isn’t the headline. Bitcoin added 1% to $93,000, while Ether outpaced majors, up 4% to $3,190 after the Fusaka event. BNB and SOL gained 1% apiece to $909 and $143. ZEC (+10%), TAO (+8%), and DASH (+6%) outperformed. Notably, large ETH holders resumed sizeable spot buys after Monday’s liquidations—a sign that professional capital is using forced deleveraging as entry rather than exit.

Flows and product breadth continue to widen. XRP exchange-traded funds are nearing $1 billion in assets, which says less about meme enthusiasm and more about demand for regulated wrappers around non-Bitcoin assets. Polymarket’s U.S. app rollout pushes prediction markets closer to mainstream, and Binance’s “Binance Junior” experiments with supervised, parent-controlled crypto savings for minors—a controversial but inevitable step in lifetime customer acquisition strategies.

The through-line: stablecoins moving from consumer curiosity to institutional settlement tool. Banks piloting via Coinbase bring distribution and compliance discipline; BlackRock’s framing nudges asset allocators; Soneium’s USDSC default tightens the technical loop. If you care about cycle durability, this is where it’s built—in the boring connective tissue that invites conservative capital without demanding cultural conversion. The prices will do what they do day to day; the pipes are what last.