White House Yield Deadline Looms as Stripe Quadruples Stablecoin Volume
While policymakers hash out disagreements over yield and rewards, stablecoin integration in traditional finance keeps growing
Welcome to the Wednesday edition of the Crypto In America newsletter!
What you’ll read: Stripe sees stablecoin economy booming; White House’s deadline on yield talks nears. Plus, Hester Peirce returns to the podcast a year later, and this week’s top stories.
All’s quiet on the Western front when it comes to stablecoin yield and rewards negotiations between the crypto industry and banks. Behind the scenes, sources on both sides tell Crypto In America that no ‘eureka’ moment has emerged since draft language was shared following last week’s “constructive” meeting, the third time reps from both parties have come together to find common ground. It’s unclear whether a deal will materialize by the White House’s March 1 deadline or if a compromise will prompt an announcement.
With the stablecoin issue winding down, focus will start shifting back to lingering concerns over DeFi and ethics, two points likely to be discussed at a Senate Democratic member meeting on market structure this afternoon.
No Yield? No Problem: Stripe Still Bullish on Stablecoins
We may be in the midst of a crypto winter, but Stripe is calling it a stablecoin summer. In its annual shareholder letter, the payments processor highlighted that stablecoin payments volume doubled to $400 billion in 2025, while Bridge, Stripe’s stablecoin platform — which just received conditional OCC trust-charter approval — saw volume quadruple.
While the global crypto market’s value has almost halved over the past four months, the stablecoin market is booming, now exceeding $314 billion.
Stripe noted that interoperability with traditional finance is accelerating: Bridge partnered with Visa to issue credit and debit cards that let businesses and consumers use stablecoins for making conventional payments — the platform automatically converts them into local currency. Meanwhile, the popular crypto wallet Phantom is integrating Bridge to roll out the cards to its 20 million users, signaling broader adoption of stablecoin-backed payment tools following the signing of the GENIUS Act.
On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that Stripe, now valued at $159 billion, is mulling a potential full or partial acquisition of payments giant PayPal, which has its own stablecoin, PYUSD, and a growing suite of stablecoin payment and wallet services.
Stripe declined to comment on the acquisition rumors.
Hester Peirce Returns to Crypto In America with 2026 Outlook
This week on Crypto In America, we’re diving into our interview with SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce from ETHDenver — a full-circle moment, since she was our very first guest on Crypto In America when we launched nearly a year ago.
Peirce reflected on the SEC’s biggest changes last year and shared her outlook for crypto regulation in 2026. She emphasized that durable rules, tokenization experiments, and the impending innovation exemption will shape the year ahead, while keeping regulatory barriers low for new entrants.
The Commissioner also stressed accountability for AI and agentic technologies, the importance of financial privacy as a default, and a level playing field for both crypto-native companies and traditional financial players.
Watch the full episode on all platforms here.
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Midweek Recap
ICYMI: Here are some of the biggest stories making headlines this week.
The SEC appointed Taylor Lindman, former deputy counsel at Chainlink Labs, as chief counsel of its Crypto Task Force, replacing Michael Selig, who left to lead the CFTC.
MoonPay launched MoonPay Agents, a non-custodial infrastructure layer that enables AI agents to create wallets, fund them, and transact using digital assets without requiring ongoing human input.
Crypto.com secured conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national trust bank charter, joining Ripple, Circle, Paxos, Bridge, and Fidelity.
WisdomTree secured a key regulatory green light from the SEC, enabling 24/7 trading and instant settlement for its Treasury Money Market Digital Fund (WTGXX).
Payments processor Stripe has expressed interest in acquiring some or all of PayPal, according to Bloomberg.
The White House told Fortune that President Trump has no intention of pardoning FTX’s founder and former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, despite the latter’s recent efforts to court the President and the Republican Party on social media.
Meta is planning to re-enter the stablecoin space in the second half of the year with third-party payment integration and a new wallet, according to CoinDesk.
Coinbase launched 24/5 commission-free stock trading, letting U.S. users buy fractional shares starting at $1 alongside crypto in a combined portfolio.
Terraform Labs’ liquidation administrator is suing Jane Street, alleging the Wall Street firm helped accelerate Terra-Luna’s 2022 collapse through insider trading.
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