Paxos Joins Circle and Ripple in Race for US Banking License—Stablecoin Wars Heat Up

Crypto's quiet giants are going full Wall Street. Paxos—the $14B stablecoin powerhouse—just filed for a US banking charter, following rivals Circle and Ripple into regulated territory.

Why it matters: When stablecoin issuers start playing banker, the game changes. Lower counterparty risk? Maybe. Regulatory handcuffs? Definitely.

The backstory: This isn't Paxos' first rodeo. They've been quietly building bridges between crypto and TradFi since 2012—back when 'blockchain' still sounded like a prison accessory.

Between the lines: Banking licenses mean FDIC insurance, Fed master accounts, and the ability to tell VCs 'we're basically JPMorgan now.' Never mind that 90% of banking regs were written for fax machines.

Bottom line: The stablecoin space is consolidating faster than a DeFi protocol after an exploit. Whether this ends in mass adoption or regulatory capture? That's the trillion-dollar question.