Stablecoins and Crypto Payments Digest

July’s data reveals a widening divide between USDT and USDC as card top-ups crossed $1 billion and payments ranked second in crypto funding.

In 2026, stablecoins became one of the fastest-growing segments, peaking at nearly $320B of total capitalization and now settling down closer to $308B. Their role extends well beyond market size: stablecoins are widely used across crypto for trading, settlement, payments, remittances, and other financial activity.

In this stablecoin digest, the CryptoRank Research team analyzed the key metrics of stablecoins and the crypto payments sector. We broke down everything from market dynamics and on-chain activity to crypto payments and venture funding.

Stablecoin News: July 2026 Highlights

July's main developments centered on institutional infrastructure for regulated stablecoins. 

• Open USD. On June 30, Open Standard announced Open USD (OUSD), a consortium stablecoin backed by more than 140 companies, including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, BlackRock, and Coinbase. The model distributes most reserve income to partner companies and places governance with an independent partner board rather than a single issuer.

• Circle National Trust. On July 10, Circle received final OCC approval to establish First National Digital Currency Bank, N.A., doing business as Circle National Trust. The institution will initially provide federally regulated digital asset custody for Circle and its affiliates; USDC reserve management is a planned future capability.

• Visa Stablecoin Platform. On July 16, Visa announced the Visa Stablecoin Platform (VSP), a managed environment for institutions to mint, store, transfer, and redeem stablecoins, beginning with Open USD.

• Ripple Mint. On July 23, Ripple launched Ripple Mint, a web and API interface for institutions to mint, redeem, bridge, and monitor RLUSD. Ripple also expanded RLUSD to Base, Optimism, Ink, Unichain, and the XRPL EVM Sidechain.

• Mastercard × BVNK. On August 3, just after July ended, Mastercard completed its acquisition of BVNK for up to $1.8B. BVNK provides infrastructure connecting fiat and stablecoin payments across more than 130 countries. Mastercard said it will use the technology for cross-border remittances, business payments, payouts, settlement, and treasury operations.