A major partnership between Stables and Mansa is targeting Asia's vast stablecoin infrastructure deficit, where only 1% of banks support the technology despite the region handling 60% of global stablecoin volume. The collaboration establishes a critical liquidity channel, with Mansa injecting short-term capital to stabilize currency conversion pathways that have already moved $394 million across 40 currencies since August 2024, directly addressing the disconnect for 150 local currencies from digital dollar networks like USDT.

Federal Reserve opens FedNow to cross-border expansion

The partnership comes as major developments are being made in the stablecoin infrastructure and regulations shaping how digital dollars move across borders.

The US Federal Reserve opened a 60-day public comment period on rule changes that would allow FedNow to handle its own international transfers. The instant payment network launched in 2023 for domestic use only.

There are several hurdles. Having intermediaries doesn’t automatically solve problems with currency exchange, conflicting rules between countries, or low FedNow adoption among US banks. Adding another party to each transaction could make things more complicated rather than faster. The choice of which companies fill the intermediary role matters, especially as card networks like Visa and Mastercard build out their own cross-border systems.

Stablecoin supply reached $315 billion in the first quarter of 2026, according to CEX.io. But the $8 billion quarterly increase marked the weakest growth since the fourth quarter of 2023. That’s down sharply from the third quarter of 2025, when supply jumped $45.7 billion.

DeFiLlama data confirmed this, showing supply rose $8.05 billion between January 1 and March 31, 2026, reaching $316.8 billion by April 3. Supply grew just 2.6% while the broader crypto market fell 21%. That pushed stablecoin dominance from 9% to 13% of total crypto value.

Trading volume was different. Stablecoins accounted for $8.3 trillion in first-quarter trading, 75% of all crypto transactions.

The stablecoin landscape has grown more complex since the GENIUS Act provided regulatory clarity last year, as reported by Cryptopolitan previously.

Economic study finds limited impact of stablecoin yield ban

A Council of Economic Advisers model found that eliminating stablecoin yield would increase bank lending by just $2.1 billion, or 0.02%, while costing $800 million in lost consumer welfare. Large banks would provide 76% of any additional lending.

Community banks would add $500 million, raising their lending by 0.026%.

Even under extreme assumptions, additional lending would reach only $531 billion, a 4.4% increase, with community bank lending up $129 billion or 6.7%.

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