Payments giant Mastercard is taking a ‘360-degree’ approach to the adoption of stablecoins, teaming up with OKX and Nuvei to power the initiative. Mastercard announced in a press release on April 28 that its partnership with OKX and Nuvei will…

Mastercard announces ‘360-degree’ approach to stablecoin adoption

Despite growing competition from emerging issuers, the stablecoin market 
remains largely dominated by a few key players. According to data from Web3 
research firm Nansen, Tether&#8217;s USDt continues to lead among US dollar-pegged 
stablecoins, even as competition intensifies.
As of April 25, Tether (USDT) has a roughly 66% market share among 
stablecoins, compared to around 28% for USDC (USDC), Nansen said in the April 
25 report. Ethena&#8217;s USDe stablecoin ranks a distant third, touting a market 
share of just over 2%.
Nansen expects Tether&#8217;s lead to endure even as rivals such as USDC clock 
faster growth rates.
&#8220;With nearly 3x as many users as Uniswap and 50+% more transactions than the 
next app, Tether is by and far the largest use case of onchain activity,&#8221; 
Nansen said.
&#8220;Despite the potential dispersion in stables, we inevitably believe this is a 
&#8216;winner-takes-most&#8217; market dynamic,&#8221; the Web3 researcher added.
_Tether has 66% of stablecoin market share. Source: Nansen_
Tether is also the most profitable stablecoin issuer, clocking nearly $14 
billion in 2024 profits. The company earns revenue by accepting US dollars to 
mint USDT and subsequently investing those dollars into highly liquid, yield- 
bearing instruments such as US Treasury bills.
&#8220;Given the growth of USDT and USDC, the users are clearly expressing that they 
do not necessarily care about the yield as they are forgoing it to Tether and 
Circle -they simply want access to the most liquid and &#8216;stable&#8217;/ least-likely- 
to-depeg stablecoin out there,&#8221; Nansen said.
_USDC has seen faster growth than USDT since November. Source: Nansen_
## Competitive landscape
Adoption of USDC has accelerated since November, when US President Donald 
Trump&#8217;s election victory ushered in a more favorable US regulatory environment 
for crypto, Nansen said.
Circle&#8217;s US-regulated stablecoin has been &#8220;particularly attractive to 
institutions requiring regulatory clarity,&#8221; the report said.
But USDC now faces &#8220;intensifying competition as major traditional financial 
institutions (i.e., Fidelity, PayPal, and banks) enter the market,&#8221; Nansen 
said, adding that stablecoins, including PayPal&#8217;s PYUSD and Ripple USD, are 
&#8220;rapidly gaining traction.&#8221;
On April 25, payment processor Stripe tipped plans to create a new stablecoin 
product of its own after buying stablecoin platform Bridge last year.
Despite its smaller market share, Ethena&#8217;s yield-bearing USDe stablecoin 
remains &#8220;competitive on most fronts moving forward,&#8221; partly because of 
integrations across centralized exchanges (CEXs) and decentralized finance 
(DeFi) protocols, the report said.
Since launching in 2024, Ethena&#8217;s stablecoin has generated an average 
annualized yield of approximately 19%, according to Ethena&#8217;s website.
_**Magazine: **__**Bitcoin payments are being undermined by centralized 
stablecoins**_

Tether still dominates stablecoins despite competition — Nansen

Tether Holdings has released its first-quarter 2025 attestation for Tether 
Gold (XAUT), confirming that more than 7.7 tons of physical gold fully back 
the tokens in circulation. Tether Releases Independent Verification of XAUT 
Reserves Tether’s attestation report, completed by BDO Italia S.p.A., 
independently verified that 246,524.33 fine troy ounces of gold were held in 
custody […]

Over 7.7 Tons of Gold Now Support Tether’s XAUT Tokens

Lawmakers in the Arizona House of Representatives have voted to pass two bills 
that could allow the state to adopt a reserve using Bitcoin (BTC) or other 
cryptocurrencies.
In a third reading on April 28 of the Senate Bill 1025 (SB1025), a proposal to 
amend Arizona&#8217;s statutes to allow for a strategic BTC reserve, 31 members of 
the Arizona House voted in favor of the bill, with 25 opposed. A similar bill, 
SB1373, to establish a state-level digital assets reserve, passed with 37 
lawmakers in favor and 19 voting nay.
&#8220;This bill basically takes the approach that probably 15 other states are 
considering the same legislation nationwide that allows the treasurer to 
invest up to 10% into, probably mainly Bitcoin but other things as well,&#8221; said 
State Representative Jeff Weninger on SB1025. &#8220;I think this probably would 
start as a &#8216;may&#8217; for the foreseeable future, but as things continue to pivot 
towards Bitcoin and these things, would have that already in place in the 
future.&#8221;
_Voting for SB1025 in the Arizona House of Representatives on April 28. 
Source:__Arizona State Legislature_
This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it 
becomes available.

Arizona legislature moves forward with Bitcoin reserve bills

Tron founder Justin Sun has set the crypto community abuzz with a very 
ambitious forecast that JUST (JST) token will grow a hundred-fold. Related 
Reading: XRP Nearing Explosive Breakout—$10 Target In Sight, Expert Says 
Justin Sun Asserts &#8216;Complete Fundamental Reversal&#8217; For JST Based on Sun&#8217;s 
latest post on X, the JUST decentralized finance platform based on TRON has 
made dramatic changes. &#8220;JST has experienced a total fundamental flip,&#8221; Sun 
wrote. &#8220;I think it will be the next 100x token,&#8221; he said. His statement 
sparked an instant 30% price rise as investors flocked to purchase the token. 
The crypto entrepreneur pointed to JustLend&#8217;s growth from launch as a central 
reason for his positive perspective. JustLend has become a leading lending 
platform in DeFi and was involved in the creation of the USDD stablecoin. Sun 
compared JST to veteran DeFi tokens AAVE and MKR, positing that JST might 
replicate similar growth trends. He anticipates the platform to make huge 
profits in future years. &#8220;I&#8217;m sure that JST&#8217;s chart will be no less stunning 
than TRX&#8217;s – if you catch my drift,&#8221; he added. JST (JUST) has undergone a 
complete fundamental reversal. I believe it will become the next 100x token. 
First of all, JustLend, which was incubated by JST, has already grown into one 
of the largest lending platforms, generating tens of millions of dollars in 
net profit.… — H.E. Justin Sun 🍌 (@justinsuntron) April 27, 2025 Token Price 
Surges Following Announcement The market responded quickly to Sun&#8217;s comments. 
JUST price jumped within 24 hours of his prediction, reaching $0.04310 per 
token. This price movement coincides with broader positive trends in 
cryptocurrency markets, with Bitcoin and other alternative coins showing 
strength in recent trading. Sun has been active with other price predictions 
as well. He recently set a $5,000 target for Ethereum and forecasted that Tron 
(TRX) would reach new all-time highs. JST market cap currently at $391 
million. Chart: TradingView.com Revenue Plans Look To 2026 For Substantial 
Growth Although Justin Sun did not give a precise time when the 100X increase 
is likely to occur, his remarks indicated 2026 as a primary period. Based on 
his remarks, more than $100 million is anticipated to be earned in profit by 
2026 through the DeFi ecosystem. One key component of Sun&#8217;s strategy is to use 
this future revenue to buy and burn JST tokens. This deflationary mechanism 
would decrease the token supply, maybe causing prices to rise if demand stays 
constant or rises. Related Reading: XRP Headed For $1,000 – CryptoGuard Exec 
Drops Bold Prediction Trump Connection Mentioned Amid Bold Predictions Reports 
suggest Sun can attend a dinner party hosted by US President Donald Trump for 
large holders of TRUMP tokens. According to information at hand, Sun has 
amassed over 14 million TRUMP tokens, which qualifies him as a large holder. 
If Sun&#8217;s bold forecast comes true, JST would be trading at about $4 per token, 
a huge jump from current prices. Such huge price jumps are not common in 
cryptocurrency markets even though they are often forecasted. The 100X 
projection is one of the more aggressive predictions in recent cryptocurrency 
headlines, even for an industry with volatility and hype propensity. Traders 
are at least reacting positively in the near term, though long-term execution 
will hinge on whether JustLend and the greater JUST ecosystem can provide the 
growth Sun projects. Featured image from IQ.wiki, chart from TradingView

Justin Sun Bets Big On JUST Token – Here’s Why He Sees 100x Potential

Bitcoin is ranging comfortably over $90k, and the crypto market sentiment has 
turned bullish. Like many altcoins, Worldcoin is also seeing bullish momentum, 
but how long will it last? Let’s find that out in detail in this Worldcoin 
price prediction.…