Skip to content
Forte Tech Solutions
Log in
Log in

Weekly brief · No. 1

Visa wires up Asia, Revolut takes stablecoins retail in Europe, and Jackson Hole pushes back

Card networks commit to Asia, issuance broadens in Europe and the US, and the official sector pushes back.

31 August 2026Covering 24–31 August 20264 min readForte Tech Solutions

The week in brief

  1. 01

    Card networks commit

    Visa joined Singapore’s MAS-led BLOOM consortium for regulated stablecoin settlement and signed Korea’s Shinhan Financial and Upbit operator Dunamu.

  2. 02

    Issuance broadens

    Revolut launched EURR, a MiCA-regulated euro stablecoin issued by Bridge, while 39 US state banking associations backed the bank-owned BankChain Alliance.

  3. 03

    Official-sector pushback

    At Jackson Hole, the BIS General Manager said stablecoins “do not yet uphold the foundational properties of money” and backed tokenised deposits.

  4. 04

    Australia and region

    Northern Trust signed a tokenisation MoU with Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation; SBI took a US$270m stake in Indonesia’s Ajaib; ASIC’s no-action position expires on 30 September.

Global stablecoin industry

4 items

Singapore / Global25 Aug

Visa joins Singapore’s MAS-led BLOOM consortium for stablecoin settlement

Piloting 24/7 cross-border settlement with payout platform Nium using regulated fiat-backed stablecoins.

Why it matters

A card network testing stablecoin settlement inside a central-bank-convened programme moves the model toward supervised market infrastructure.

Source: Ledger Insights

EU26 Aug

Revolut launches EURR, a euro stablecoin, with Stripe-owned Bridge

Issued under Bridge’s Luxembourg MiCA e-money licence, with a phased retail launch in Denmark, Poland and Portugal on Ethereum, Polygon and Solana.

Why it matters

Non-USD stablecoin issuance is becoming a product feature rather than a project.

Source: Ledger Insights

US27–28 Aug

US banks close ranks: 39 state banking associations back the BankChain Alliance

A bank-owned network for tokenised deposits, stablecoins and programmable payments targeted for 2027. JPMorgan reportedly weighs its own stablecoin.

Why it matters

Issuance and settlement capacity may consolidate around bank-owned rails.

Source: PYMNTS

Global30 Aug

Nium adds USDC funding for client payouts

Clients can pre-fund payout wallets with USDC, converting to fiat for delivery across Nium’s network.

Why it matters

Stablecoin pre-funding is steadily displacing nostro balances in payout networks.

Source: PYMNTS

Funding, M&A and market entrants

3 items

Japan / Indonesia28 Aug

SBI invests US$270m in Indonesia’s Ajaib for a 20% stake

Part of SBI Holdings’ Asia digital-asset push, with reports pointing to distribution of its yen-stablecoin plans into Southeast Asia.

Why it matters

Japanese institutional capital is buying corridor distribution into Southeast Asia.

Source: The Block

Korea27 Aug

Mirae Asset embarks on a reported US$109bn digital-asset build-out

Korea’s largest brokerage group scales tokenised-asset and digital-asset businesses ahead of the won-stablecoin rulebook.

Why it matters

Korea’s securities incumbents are committing balance sheet before legislation passes.

Source: PYMNTS

US27 Aug

Zero Hash refiles a narrowed OCC national trust-charter application

After its July application was returned; the provider serves Morgan Stanley, Stripe and BlackRock under state licences today.

Why it matters

Settlement providers want federal footing in place before GENIUS licensing opens in January 2027.

Source: TickerTape

Global regulation

4 items

Global28 Aug

BIS pushes back at Jackson Hole

BIS General Manager Pablo Hernández de Cos cited par redeemability, elasticity, interoperability and financial integrity as gaps, backing tokenised deposits instead.

Why it matters

Expect policy to keep favouring bank-issued tokenised money in wholesale contexts.

Source: PYMNTS

UK26 Aug

UK to hand the Bank of England a payments-innovation objective

Treasury plans an explicit secondary objective covering digital money and stablecoins, with annual reporting to Parliament.

Why it matters

A signal the final UK regime may land more commercially than the draft suggested.

Source: Ledger Insights

US26 Aug

SEC readies a crypto-custody rulemaking for registered investment advisers

An updated custody rule to clarify how RIAs may hold clients’ digital assets.

Why it matters

Custody has been the binding constraint on US institutional participation.

Source: Ledger Insights

US24–26 Aug

GENIUS comment season opens

Industry groups urge regulators to keep KYC obligations off self-hosted wallet transfers, while America’s Credit Unions asks FinCEN to clarify issuers’ customer-identification duties. Comments due 19 Oct.

Why it matters

Who must identify whom is now the live drafting battle.

Source: PYMNTS

Australia

1 item

Australia27 Aug

Northern Trust signs a tokenisation MoU with Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation

Covering tokenisation, digital assets and digital-cash solutions, building on the RBA’s Project Acacia work on regulated settlement assets.

Why it matters

Superannuation is the region’s largest untapped institutional pool; this moves AUD digital settlement toward custody-grade infrastructure.

Source: Ledger Insights

Corridors and counterparty jurisdictions

4 items

Korea26–28 Aug

Visa signs two Korean stablecoin deals in one week

Shinhan Financial will pilot the Visa Stablecoin Platform; a partnership with Upbit operator Dunamu follows.

Why it matters

Corridor infrastructure is being allocated before the rulebook lands.

Source: Ledger Insights

Singapore / HK28 Aug

UOB joins Swift’s live tokenised-deposit rail

UOB and HSBC completed live Hong Kong dollar cross-border transfers on Swift’s ledger; SGD and USD legs are planned for September.

Why it matters

The bank-rail alternative to stablecoin settlement is scaling across Asia within weeks.

Source: Ledger Insights

Malaysia27 Aug

CIMB settles a US$342m tokenised sukuk with tokenised deposits

The first Malaysian pairing of tokenised securities with tokenised money, placed with 12 institutional investors.

Why it matters

Delivery-versus-payment with tokenised cash is the pattern institutional markets are converging on.

Source: Ledger Insights

Japan26 Aug

Japan convenes a blockchain securities-settlement study group

The FSA, Ministry of Finance and Bank of Japan will plan blockchain settlement of stocks and JGBs by tokenising BoJ reserves.

Why it matters

The long-horizon anchor for every tokenised-asset and stablecoin corridor into yen.

Source: Ledger Insights

Coming up

  • 3–4 SepIntersekt 2026, Melbourne
  • ~15 SepUS Senate CLARITY Act floor vote expected
  • 15–16 SepFOMC meeting and projections
  • 16 SepCircle’s Arc mainnet launch
  • 22 SepBank of England systemic stablecoin consultation closes
  • 28 Sep–1 OctSibos 2026
  • 30 SepASIC no-action expires; FCA gateway opens; MiCA review closes
  • 7–8 OctTOKEN2049 Singapore
  • 19–20 OctGENIUS NPRM and SEC comments due

Watchlist

  • Q4 2026Visa’s stablecoin settlement-partner selection
  • WeeksJPMorgan’s own-stablecoin decision
  • SepUOB’s SGD and USD legs on Swift’s ledger
  • NovOCC final GENIUS rules
  • MonthsAI-agent stablecoin payments moving toward production

You might also be interested in

  • Circle signs a front-of-shirt sponsorship with Chelsea FC featuring USDC (28 Aug).
  • OSL’s StableHub passes US$200m in USDC deposits four months after launch (24 Aug).
  • Dallas Fed economists warn rapid tokenised-deposit adoption could cut US bank lending capacity by up to US$700bn (26 Aug).
  • Finloop is authorised as a distributor of Anchorpoint’s HKDAP, Hong Kong’s first regulated HKD stablecoin (25 Aug).
  • Global stablecoin supply reaches roughly US$300bn, up 14% year on year (24 Aug).
Forte Tech Solutions
Log in