Viral U playing cards drive stealth stablecoin adoption in China
Stablecoins are discovering an oblique path into China through fee playing cards going viral on social media.
Regionally known as “U playing cards,” abroad Visa or Credit cards linked to stablecoin balances equivalent to USDT, have surged in reputation on Chinese language social platform Xiaohongshu, AKA Little Pink E-book. Posts clarify the right way to receive the playing cards with ease and use them for on a regular basis abroad funds, equivalent to subscriptions to providers.
Such playing cards permit customers to spend dollar-denominated stablecoins whereas retailers obtain fiat foreign money, which means Chinese language companies by no means straight contact crypto. Conversion is dealt with by abroad banks or licensed fee establishments, putting the transaction exterior China’s home monetary rails.
The development just lately drew consideration from Caixin, one in all China’s most influential finance retailers, which examined the rise of U playing cards and the authorized questions surrounding their use.
Based on the report, many customers initially method U playing cards as a workaround for cross-border funds fairly than as a crypto product. Social media tutorials usually deal with opening a overseas financial institution card and linking it to Apple Pay or Visa networks, with little emphasis on digital belongings themselves.
Direct cryptocurrency funds are banned in China, alongside key crypto actions equivalent to buying and selling and mining.
Liu Honglin, founding father of Shanghai Mankun Legislation Agency, mentioned on X that customers making client funds face comparatively restricted publicity to crypto, as asset conversion happens offshore and settlement stays inside typical card networks.
In July, US President Donald Trump signed the Guiding and Establishing Nationwide Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act into regulation, accelerating international curiosity in regulated stablecoin issuance. Hong Kong adopted with its personal stablecoin rule, which has been enforced since August.
Pundits argued that the rising momentum behind stablecoins might stress China to revisit its crypto ban. Nevertheless, PBOC Governor Pan Gongsheng dismissed such hypothesis in October, saying there could be no change to current coverage.
Digital yuan shifts from cash-like design to digital deposits
China’s central financial institution digital foreign money (CBDC), or the digital yuan, might be recast as digital deposits by means of a brand new framework set to take impact from New 12 months’s Day, abandoning its digital money mannequin.
The shift was laid out by Lu Lei, vice governor of the Individuals’s Financial institution of China (PBOC), who authored an article printed on Dec. 29 in Monetary Information, a central bank-affiliated newspaper.
Lu argued that digital money posed structural dangers to the banking system as money circulates exterior the deposit system. Increasing digital money might speed up monetary disintermediation.
Earlier experiments handled the digital yuan as a cash-like instrument held in consumer wallets. Below the brand new method, digital yuan balances held at business banks might be handled as financial institution liabilities. Banks might be permitted to pay curiosity on digital yuan pockets balances.
The digital yuan is without doubt one of the most superior CBDCs amongst main economies. By the top of November, it had processed about 16.7 trillion yuan ($2.37 trillion) in transactions throughout nearly 250 million private and company wallets, in line with the PBOC’s figures.
Lu framed the digital yuan’s shift as a response to rising currencies exterior the standard monetary system, together with cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. He rejected the concept that blockchain-only programs characterize true digital foreign money.
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How South Korea’s monetary giants are maneuvering into crypto exchanges
South Korea’s largest monetary teams are transferring nearer to the nation’s licensed cryptocurrency exchanges forward of business rules anticipated subsequent 12 months.
Mirae Asset Group has reportedly moved to amass a controlling stake in Korbit — the nation’s fourth-largest change by buying and selling quantity — by means of its non-financial affiliate Mirae Asset Consulting.
South Korea enforces a strict separation between finance and business by limiting regulated monetary establishments from proudly owning non-financial companies. Even licensed crypto exchanges are nonetheless categorized as non-financial entities. If Mirae Asset pursued the acquisition by means of its securities or asset-management arms, regulators would probably have blocked the deal or subjected it to a prolonged approval course of.
Different monetary teams have opted for looser preparations. On Friday, Korea Funding & Securities, additionally among the many nation’s prime corporations by belongings, signed a cooperation settlement with Bithumb — the nation’s second-largest change — to develop asset administration providers for high-net-worth shoppers.
Even Upbit, South Korea’s dominant change and a frequent goal of monopoly criticism from lawmakers, is attracting conventional backing. Naver Monetary, the fintech arm of web large Naver, plans to amass Upbit operator Dunamu in a stock-swap deal valued at round $10.3 billion.
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The push into crypto from established monetary establishments comes regardless of the nation’s lack of a complete regulatory framework. South Korea is making ready to unveil one no later than January 2026.
Former Coinbase customer support agent tied to information breach arrested
A former Coinbase customer support agent linked to a serious information breach earlier this 12 months has been arrested in India, in line with the change’s CEO.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong mentioned further arrests are anticipated.
The US-based change got here beneath heavy scrutiny earlier this 12 months after it emerged that illicit actors had bribed abroad customer support contractors starting in December 2024, having access to the private data of round 70,000 customers.
Coinbase disclosed in Could 2025 that the attackers obtained delicate id information, together with government-issued photograph IDs and residential addresses. The corporate confronted backlash after updating its consumer settlement earlier than publicly acknowledging the breach.
Critics accused Coinbase of introducing an arbitration clause that might restrict class-action lawsuits, though the change mentioned the clause had lengthy been included in its phrases.
Authorized specialists instructed Journal that such arbitration clauses are normal within the US, the place consumer agreements are typically enforceable. Nevertheless, they famous that the identical provisions could carry much less authorized weight in different jurisdictions.
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Yohan Yun
Yohan Yun is a multimedia journalist protecting blockchain since 2017. He has contributed to crypto media outlet Forkast as an editor and has coated Asian tech tales as an assistant reporter for Bloomberg BNA and Forbes. He spends his free time cooking, and experimenting with new recipes.