Stablecoins are no longer just a trading tool — they're becoming the payment layer for AI, the backend for neobanks, and the settlement rail for institutional finance. Meanwhile, corporate bitcoin treasuries are maturing fast, and the Nordics are making moves.

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The plumbing for AI-native payments is being built right now — and stablecoins are at the centre of it.

AWS launched AgentCore Payments, letting AI agents pay autonomously for APIs, data and online services using USDC via Coinbase's x402 protocol on Base and Solana. The system settles in around 200 milliseconds and has already processed 169 million machine-native payments across 590,000 buyers.

Why it matters: When the three largest cloud and payments players align on a single stablecoin payment standard for AI agents, it stops being an experiment and starts being infrastructure.

Source: Amazon teams with Coinbase and Stripe to let AI agents pay with stablecoins — Decrypt

Anchorage Digital, the US's first federally chartered crypto bank, has partnered with stablecoin infrastructure provider M0 to offer a combined issuance stack for companies launching regulated stablecoins. M0 handles design and interoperability; Anchorage provides issuance, custody and reserve management.

Why it matters: As the GENIUS Act reshapes the US stablecoin market, a ready-made regulated issuance stack lowers the barrier for banks, fintechs and tech companies to launch their own digital dollars — and Anchorage says it already has up to 20 institutional issuers in the pipeline.

Source: Anchorage Digital and M0 team up to power next wave of regulated stablecoins — CoinDesk

London-based OpenTrade closed a $17M round led by Mercury Fund and Notion Capital, with a16z Crypto among participants, bringing total funding to over $30M. The platform — which lets fintechs and neobanks offer RWA-backed stablecoin yield — has surpassed $200M in TVL and is targeting $1B in transaction volume by end of 2026.

Why it matters: As stablecoin supply tops $310 billion, yield infrastructure is becoming the backend layer that fintechs compete on — and London-based players like OpenTrade are well positioned to serve European platforms under MiCA.

Source: OpenTrade raises $17 million to expand stablecoin yield infrastructure — CoinDesk

A new category of fintech-crypto hybrids is offering ordinary bank accounts where money moves as digital dollars or euros on a blockchain. Players like RedotPay (5 million customers, $10B annual volume) and Europe's Deblock and Brighty are already live — while no Nordic pure-play has emerged yet.

Why it matters: The Baltics have the MiCA licences and the infrastructure. The Nordics have the fintech culture. The gap between them and a consumer-facing stablecoin neobank is narrowing.

Source: Stablecoin neobanks are building a new kind of consumer bank — Kaupr

USDT0, Tether's cross-chain stablecoin built on LayerZero, has passed $86.7 billion in transaction volume since January 2025 and is now the third-largest holder of USDT. Yet 99.2% of holders carry less than $1,000 — while transfers above $1 million account for just 1.8% of transactions but 68.8% of total volume.

Why it matters: The user profile challenges the dominant institutional narrative around stablecoins — actual adoption is broader and smaller than the industry framing suggests, with retail and institutional usage coexisting in the same system.

Source: New Tether stablecoin is mostly held by small users — Kaupr

New CEO Enrique Lores has reorganised PayPal into three standalone units: Checkout Solutions & PayPal, Consumer Financial Services & Venmo, and Payment Services & Crypto. A new AI transformation group will be led by a former Walmart tech executive. Two senior executives departed in connection with the restructuring.

Why it matters: PayPal is repositioning itself as a technology company — and carving out Venmo makes it easier to track, scale, or sell the platform as competition from Apple, Google and Stripe intensifies.

Source: PayPal's new CEO makes Venmo a standalone business unit as potential buyers circle — CNBC

Non-custodial swap provider Boltz launched USDC swaps across all major Bitcoin layers including Lightning, using Circle's Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol. No account, no KYC, no custody at any point — users send bitcoin and receive Circle-issued USDC accepted by Stripe, Visa, Coinbase and more.

Why it matters: For the first time, bitcoin holders can reach regulated dollar rails without giving up custody or identity — a genuinely new bridge between open money and the institutional stablecoin stack.

Source: Boltz launches non-custodial USDC swaps, bridging Bitcoin directly to Circle's regulated dollar — Bitcoin Magazine

JPMorgan analysts estimate Strategy could purchase around $30 billion worth of bitcoin in 2026 at its current pace — well above the $22 billion it bought in each of the two prior years. The firm has added 145,834 BTC worth roughly $11 billion year-to-date, much of it bought opportunistically below its $75,000 average cost.

Why it matters: Corporate bitcoin accumulation at this scale is becoming a structural market force — and the $30 billion figure signals treasury strategies are here to stay.

Source: JPMorgan says Strategy's bitcoin buying could reach $30 billion this year at current pace — The Block

Bitmine chairman Tom Lee said at Consensus Miami that the firm may slow its ether purchases as it closes in on its target of holding 5% of circulating ETH supply. The company already holds 5.18 million ETH worth around $11.9 billion — at its current pace of 100,000 ETH per week, it would hit 5% in six weeks. Lee said the firm would then shift focus to staking and share buybacks.

Why it matters: Bitmine has been one of the few large treasury firms actively buying through the downturn. A slowdown removes a significant demand driver for ETH at a fragile moment for the asset.

Source: Bitmine to slow down ether purchases as it nears accumulation goal, Tom Lee says — CoinDesk

Michael Saylor said on Strategy's Q1 earnings call that the firm will "probably sell some bitcoin to pay a dividend" — the first public reversal of its founding pledge never to liquidate BTC. Strategy holds 818,334 BTC at an average cost of $75,537, with roughly $1.5 billion in annual dividend obligations across its STRK and STRC preferred stock instruments.

Why it matters: The "never sell" commitment was central to Strategy's identity and its influence on corporate bitcoin adoption. Walking it back — even as a signalling exercise — shifts the narrative around bitcoin as a pure treasury reserve.

Source: Strategy likely to sell bitcoin to cover STRC dividends, Michael Saylor says — The Block

NBX approved as crypto custodian on Swiss SIX Exchange

Norwegian Block Exchange has been approved by SIX Exchange Regulation as a custodian for crypto assets underlying exchange-traded products on Switzerland's SIX Swiss Exchange. The approval builds on NBX's e-money licence from Finanstilsynet — and places the Oslo-based exchange among a small group of institutions that qualify under SIX's post-2024 supervisory requirements.

Why it matters: SIX is Europe's leading marketplace for crypto-backed ETPs, with over 250 listed products. NBX becoming an approved custodian there is a meaningful step for a Nordic crypto firm embedding itself in institutional European infrastructure.

Source: NBX approved as crypto custodian on Swiss SIX exchange — Kaupr

Pit, founded by the cofounders of European scooter giant Voi including CEO Fredrik Hjelm, has raised a $16M seed round led by a16z. The company offers enterprise AI automation for back-office processes in telecom, healthcare and logistics — positioning itself as an "AI product team as a service." Sovereign tech is a key selling point: EU models on EU compute is top of mind for almost every CIO the team meets.

Why it matters: Stockholm is consolidating as one of Europe's top AI hubs, and Pit's a16z backing — built on the Voi founders' existing relationship with the firm — shows Nordic founder networks are now opening doors to top-tier US venture capital.

Source: Voi founders' new AI startup Pit has become the latest rising star out of Stockholm — TechCrunch

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Best regards
Morten Myrstad
Founder & Editor