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Ether.fi jumps 11% as $100M RWA vault bet targets $0.50
Edgen Crypto·Jul 16 2026, 21:35Share to
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[1] Ether.fi jumps 11% – Can its $100M RWA bet drive ETHFI to $0.50? (https://ambcrypto.com/ether-fi-jumps-11-can-i ...)[2] Ether outruns bitcoin as ETF money returns, almost all of from BlackRock's fund (https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/07/16/e ...)[3] Crypto Market Overview: Bitcoin eyes 50-day EMA breakout – Ondo, Ether.fi beat the market - Mitrade (https://www.mitrade.com/au/insights/news/live ...)[4] Zcash Surges 9% Amid Macro Rally and Ironwood Upgrade - CoinMarketCap (https://coinmarketcap.com/top-stories/6a5785e ...)
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Jul 16 2026, 22:01
Robinhood Chain picks USDG as native stablecoin in yield-sharing bet
**Robinhood's new blockchain is betting that stablecoin economics can work differently — and it's putting USDG at the center of that bet.** Robinhood Chain selected USDG, the stablecoin issued by Paxos, as its native stablecoin on July 16, a strategic partnership that challenges the dominant economic models of Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC. Unlike those incumbents, which retain the interest earned on their reserve holdings, USDG's framework distributes a portion of that yield back to users and ecosystem participants — a structure Robinhood is betting will attract liquidity and differentiate its layer-2 network. "Decentralized finance unlocks possibilities beyond what traditional finance can offer, but historically, it has required technical expertise to navigate," Johann Kerbrat, SVP and general manager of crypto and international at Robinhood, said in a statement. "We're bringing the best of traditional finance and DeFi together, and in doing so, expanding financial ownership to every corner of the globe." The USDG integration positions the stablecoin as the primary quote and collateral asset across Robinhood Chain's DeFi ecosystem. USDG already serves as the collateral base for Lighter, the zero-knowledge rollup-based perpetuals exchange that launched as Robinhood Chain's default perps platform on July 1. Lighter committed $11 million in its native LIT token as trading incentives for Robinhood users, and trades executed through Robinhood Wallet earn a 2x points bonus. Users can also earn approximately 7% APY through Robinhood Earn, powered by Morpho's lending protocol. The choice of USDG represents a structural bet on stablecoin economics at a moment when the market is dominated by two players. USDT and USDC together command more than 90 percent of the $180 billion stablecoin market, according to DefiLlama data. Both issuers earn interest on the Treasury bills and other reserves backing their tokens — revenue that in 2025 generated billions in profit — without passing those returns to token holders. USDG's model, by contrast, shares reserve yield with the ecosystem, a structure that could pressure incumbents if it gains traction. **Why stablecoin economics matter for Robinhood Chain** Robinhood Chain, built on Arbitrum's Dedicated Blockchains framework, launched mainnet on July 1 and recorded more than 17 million transactions in its first week, with nearly 350,000 addresses and more than $1 billion in decentralized exchange volume. DefiLlama tracked the network's core protocol TVL at roughly $94 million, with stablecoin balances climbing past $260 million. The network uses ETH as its native gas token and supports the Ethereum Virtual Machine, allowing developers to deploy existing Solidity-based applications. For Robinhood, which has nearly 28 million users on its trading platform, the blockchain represents a strategic pivot from brokerage to infrastructure. The company already offers tokenized stock and ETF exposure through Robinhood Stock Tokens, though those products are not available to U.S. users. Adding a native stablecoin with yield-sharing economics creates a unified collateral layer for DeFi applications — lending, perpetuals trading, and tokenized asset markets — all accessible through the Robinhood Wallet. The competitive implications extend beyond stablecoin market share. If USDG's model attracts meaningful liquidity to Robinhood Chain, it could pull volume away from Ethereum mainnet and other L2s where USDC and USDT dominate. Paxos, which also issues the Binance-linked BUSD (now winding down) and PayPal's PYUSD, gains a distribution channel through Robinhood's retail base that few stablecoin issuers can match. **What comes next** The partnership's success hinges on whether yield-sharing economics can drive user adoption beyond the initial incentive-driven spike. Robinhood Chain's first-week activity was partly fueled by the meme coin Cash Cat, which saw a surge in value as traders piled into the new network. Sustained DeFi activity — lending volumes, perps open interest, and stablecoin supply growth — will determine whether USDG becomes a meaningful competitor or remains a niche player on a single chain. For USDG holders, the yield-sharing model means the stablecoin's effective return will fluctuate with the interest rate environment. In a high-rate scenario, the distributed yield becomes a meaningful differentiator. In a low-rate environment, the gap narrows. The peg stability of USDG, which Paxos backs with U.S. Treasuries and cash reserves, will face its first real test as trading volumes scale. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
Jul 16 2026, 21:59
CME Group launches 8 crypto index futures tied to Nasdaq gauge
CME Group launched futures tied to the Nasdaq CME Crypto Index for eight digital assets, including Bitcoin and Ether, the exchange said Thursday. "The new contracts give institutional investors regulated exposure to a diversified basket of cryptocurrencies through a single product," Tim McCourt, global head of equity and FX products at CME Group, said in a statement. The index-based futures are cash-settled and listed on CME's regulated exchange. The underlying Nasdaq CME Crypto Index weights assets by market capitalization with periodic rebalancing, according to the company. CME and Nasdaq first announced plans for the index in 2025. The launch expands CME's crypto derivatives suite beyond its single-asset Bitcoin and Ether futures, which began trading in 2017 and 2021, respectively. Index-based futures could accelerate institutional participation by offering diversified crypto exposure through a single regulated contract, reducing the need for multi-asset hedging across separate products. CME's existing Bitcoin futures averaged more than 15,000 contracts in daily volume during the first half of 2026, according to exchange data. The new contracts cover eight cryptocurrencies, though CME did not disclose the full list beyond Bitcoin and Ether. The product competes with crypto index offerings from traditional exchanges and crypto-native platforms seeking to attract institutional flow. The launch comes as Ether traded at $1,872 on Thursday, down 41% from a year ago, according to CoinGecko data. Bitcoin has also declined, with the broader crypto market facing headwinds from elevated interest rates and reduced risk appetite. Regulated index products may help draw institutional capital back into the market by providing a familiar, exchange-traded structure for diversified crypto exposure. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
Jul 16 2026, 21:38
Coinbase CPO says USDC and bank deposits rose 5% in tandem, not competing
USDC supply and US bank deposits both grew roughly 5% over a six-month period, according to data cited by Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad, challenging the banking industry's claim that stablecoins erode the traditional deposit base. "Both went up. Neither ate the other's lunch," Shirzad said in a blog post, citing a six-month window in which USDC's circulating supply rose alongside total demand deposits in the US banking system. USDC's circulating supply has reached approximately $75 billion, making it the second-largest stablecoin by market cap, according to DefiLlama. A July 2025 study from Charles River Associates, commissioned by Coinbase, found no statistically significant negative effects on community bank deposits from USDC adoption. Shirzad followed up in September 2025 with a post directly rejecting what he called the "deposit erosion myth" pushed by banking industry lobbyists. The debate carries real economic weight. Citi estimates the global stablecoin market could generate more than $58 billion in annual revenue by 2030, while total stablecoin supply has already surpassed $270 billion, per DefiLlama. With the US GENIUS Act and Europe's MiCA framework creating regulatory pathways for mainstream issuance, the question is shifting from whether stablecoins compete with banks to how the two systems coexist. Banks have spent the better part of two years warning that stablecoins would siphon money out of the traditional financial system. The data tells a different story. Over the same six-month period Shirzad examined, both USDC supply and demand deposits rose in parallel — roughly 4.6-5% and 4.5-5%, respectively. Community banks, the institutions most often cited as vulnerable to stablecoin competition, showed no measurable harm, according to the Charles River Associates study. Coinbase has obvious incentives in this debate. The company earns a 100% revenue share on USDC held on its platform and 50% from other sources. USDC powers approximately 90% of Coinbase's spot trading in USD and USDC pairs. The company has also been building out direct deposit functionality, letting users receive paychecks in USDC, and has offered yields of up to 5% on the stablecoin. **Visa's entry reshapes the stablecoin market** The infrastructure race is intensifying. Visa launched the Visa Stablecoin Platform in beta, a toolkit that lets financial institutions issue, transfer, and manage stablecoins directly within its global payments ecosystem. The platform initially supports Open USD, a decentralized dollar-pegged stablecoin developed by the Open Standard consortium, which includes Visa, Mastercard, Coinbase, BlackRock, and Alphabet. Open USD charges no mint or redeem fees — a direct challenge to the fee structures that have made stablecoin issuance profitable for incumbents like Circle. Visa's stablecoin settlement pilot had already reached a $7 billion annualized run rate across nine blockchain networks by April 2026. Circle's shares reportedly dropped roughly 5% following Visa's announcement, reflecting the competitive pressure. For Coinbase shareholders, the USDC economics are significant. Every billion dollars of USDC growth flows directly to the income statement through the company's revenue-sharing agreements. At $75 billion in circulation, the economics are already substantial. Tether's USDT still dominates the global stablecoin market, but USDC has been gaining ground in regulated markets, particularly in the US and Europe. The broader implication is that stablecoins are evolving from trading intermediaries into financial operating systems. Stablecoins have processed more than $51 trillion in transaction volume over the past 12 months, according to Visa Onchain Analytics. As regulatory frameworks in the US and Europe enable more issuers to enter the market, the competitive advantage will shift from issuance to the financial utility built around each stablecoin ecosystem. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.