Zeros

Trickle-Up Economics: How Stablecoins Perfected the Oldest Trick in Banking Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked demo last month showcased a partnership: USDC , live on stage, was integrated into Samsung Wallet . Circle hasn't confirmed it. Samsung hasn't named an issuer . But the image did its job — it got people talking about who actually profits when a stablecoin ends up in your pocket. The answer is more interesting than the demo. Circle, the company behind USDC, generated $653 million in revenue last quarter. Ninety-four percent of that came from one place : interest on the Treasury bills and cash backing every dollar of USDC in circulation. Not staking , not trading fees, not some exotic cryptic mechanism — plain old Treasury bill interest , the same thing available to anyone with a brokerage account. Circle just does it at a scale most of us can't. Here's the part worth considering : That interest exists because someone put real dollars into USDC. The ...

The debate surrounding Tether's USDT in the United States has become one of the most fascinating stories in digital currency this year. With the passage of the GENIUS Act , American regulators are drawing a line in the sand : if a stablecoin issuer wants broad access to U.S. financial markets, it must comply with a new set of rules governing reserves, transparency, and oversight . On paper, that sounds straightforward. In practice, it has sparked an argument that feels far larger than one company. For many digital currency enthusiasts, the situation seems strangely familiar . Imagine if Coke and Pepsi competed for decades, only for someone to announce that Pepsi would be sidelined because it hadn't filled out the right paperwork— even though critics spend plenty of time complaining about Coke, too . Whether you prefer one brand or the other almost becomes beside the point. The question shifts to whether consumers should decide the winner, or whether regulators ...