Fed Holds Rates at 3.75% as Bitcoin Steadies Near $64K, XRPL Stablecoins Near $1B

Crypto News

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao argued that governments should move equity markets onto blockchain rails and issue their own national stablecoins, framing tokenization as the next phase of traditional finance. He said every country should permit stock tokenization so investors worldwide could buy fractional shares around the clock with faster settlement. The comments followed meetings with Asian regulators. Tokenized real-world assets on public chains have climbed to roughly $32 billion by mid-2026, up from about $6 billion a year earlier, according to on-chain data, while Boston Consulting Group projects the tokenization market could reach $16 trillion by 2030. No nation has yet migrated an entire exchange on-chain.

The stablecoin economy on the XRP Ledger pushed toward a milestone, with total stablecoin market value reaching roughly $907 million, up from about $277 million on January 1, 2026. On-chain data shows the network added more than $630 million in dollar-pegged supply over the period, edging closer to the $1 billion threshold. Ripple's RLUSD drove most of that expansion, rising to about $763 million and representing 84.1% of the ledger's stablecoin value. Brazil-based Braza's USDB grew from roughly $34 million to $115 million, becoming the second-largest issuer, while USDC slipped from $9.3 million to $5.6 million.

Decentralized perpetuals platform Aster overhauled the tokenomics of its altcoin, ASTER, directing 99% of daily trading fees into automatic buybacks effective June 17. Repurchased tokens will be distributed to veASTER stakers under a loyalty program weighted by lock duration, channeling platform revenue toward long-term holders of the exchange token. Each buyback is matched by an equal burn drawn initially from the team allocation, executed biweekly until total supply falls from 8 billion to 3 billion. Aster also introduced a 50,000 USDT fee for every permissionless spot listing, with those proceeds likewise funneled into buybacks and staker rewards.

Trace Finance, an infrastructure firm linking US and Brazilian banking networks to stablecoin settlement, raised $32 million in a Series A round led by CoinFund. Coinbase Ventures, Haun Ventures, Jump Capital and Chainlink Labs also participated. The raise coincided with Brazil reclassifying cross-border crypto transfers as foreign-exchange transactions, steering institutional volume toward licensed, bank-grade intermediaries. The New York-based company said it has processed more than $10 billion in cross-border volume and serves as a settlement partner for global payment firms including dLocal. Chief executive Bernardo Brites said the capital will fund expansion beyond the US-Brazil corridor into the wider region, the US and Asia-Pacific.

Allegations surfaced that European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde directly influenced the rejection of Binance's MiCA license application in the European Union. Reports indicate Binance's filing in Greece had initially cleared the capital-markets regulator HCMC as MiCA-compliant before the process was blocked at a political level. Lagarde is said to have signaled to Greek officials that Binance was unwelcome in Europe, a message later relayed through the finance ministry. The alleged motivation links to the stablecoin market and the digital euro project, with Binance viewed as a key liquidity channel. France and regulator AMF reportedly remain the exchange's last avenue, though no formal application has been filed.

The Federal Reserve held its policy rate at 3.50% to 3.75%, marking a fourth consecutive pause as officials weighed inflation against geopolitical risk. In his press conference, Chair Kevin Warsh said economic activity is expanding at a solid pace but inflation remains well above the 2% target, reiterating the committee's commitment to price stability. Updated projections lifted the median year-end rate to 3.8% from 3.4% in March, and no dot plot was published. Warsh confirmed the Fed has ended forward guidance. Markets now price an 18% chance of a July hike, and Bitcoin slipped near $64,000 following the decision.

Taken together, these developments sketch a market caught between structural maturation and acute caution. Tokenized assets, surging ledger stablecoins, fee-burn redesigns and a $32 million infrastructure raise all point to capital consolidating around real utility, even as the Fed's hawkish hold and regulatory friction in Europe weigh on risk appetite. COINOTAG's aggregate data underscores the tension: the Fear & Greed Index sits at 15, deep in Extreme Fear, while Bitcoin dominance holds near 69.8% and total crypto market capitalization stands around $1.84 trillion. With dollar-pegged settlement and tokenization scaling, the cycle increasingly rewards projects tied to genuine financial activity over narrative-driven speculation.