[News Brief] Jul 1, morning | Major Financial Firms Including Visa and Mastercard Plan to Launch Joint Stablecoin OUSD

Major financial firms including Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock, Coinbase, and American Express are planning to launch a joint cryptocurrency stablecoin called OUSD, according to Watcher.Guru.

Source: @WatcherGuru. The news comes amid a broader trend of global payments and asset management companies expanding their participation in the stablecoin market.

Coinbase's John D’Agostino said in a CNBC interview that more than 40 countries have committed to buying some form of Bitcoin for inclusion in national treasury balance sheets.

Source: Bitcoin Magazine. D’Agostino said, “From where I sit, with visibility into internal flows, all I see is steady growth.” His remarks come as discussions continue around expanding Bitcoin holdings at the sovereign and institutional levels.

Citi has lowered its 12-month Bitcoin price target from $112,000 to $82,000.

According to Odaily, Citi cited the shift of crypto ETF fund flows into net outflows as the reason for the downgrade. ETF inflows are widely regarded as a key indicator affecting Bitcoin supply-demand dynamics and investor sentiment.

U.S. investment bank Jefferies warned that legislative uncertainty surrounding the U.S. CLARITY Act could increase volatility in the crypto market over the coming weeks.

Odaily, citing CoinDesk, reported that Jefferies said in a report that although the CLARITY Act passed the Senate Banking Committee with bipartisan support in a 15–9 vote, significant hurdles remain in the subsequent legislative process.

The CLARITY Act is a bill designed to clarify the regulatory boundary between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) over digital assets, and is considered a key piece of legislation for the U.S. crypto market structure.

Jefferies said that if the bill passes, it could support broader institutional participation and benefit tokenized assets, custody, staking, lending, and crypto ETF-related businesses. It could also have a favorable impact on the Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) markets.

On the other hand, if legislation is delayed, the firm warned that regulatory uncertainty could persist and dampen institutional investment in on-chain infrastructure and crypto-related IPOs.

According to Polymarket, the probability of the bill passing by the end of 2026 stands at 48%, down from 70% in mid-May. Jefferies attributed the decline to controversy over ethics provisions, anti-money laundering reviews, and pressure on the Senate calendar.

Markets believe policy uncertainty will continue to affect the share prices of crypto-related public companies such as Circle, Coinbase, and Bullish.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seeking public comment on ‘new-style ETFs,’ including crypto-related funds and blockchain-based investment products.

According to Odaily, the SEC said in related documents that it is reviewing market interest in new financial derivative products such as crypto-linked funds, blockchain technology-based investment opportunities, and event contracts.

The request for comment is being interpreted as part of the SEC’s effort to establish regulatory standards balancing innovation and risk management amid growing demand for crypto ETFs and on-chain asset exposure products.

According to Watcher.Guru, Taiwan has passed legislation establishing a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies.

The bill is intended to create supervisory standards for the local digital asset market, with a focus on bringing crypto businesses into the regulated sector and improving regulatory clarity.

According to @whale_alert, 99,999,995 USDC, worth about $100.41 million, was transferred from Bullish to Coinbase Institutional.

The transaction was identified as a large-scale stablecoin transfer on the Ethereum network. However, the specific purpose of the funds has not been confirmed.

Longtime Bitcoin Core contributor John Atack advised avoiding Bitcoin transfers during the second week of August.

He said caution is needed until the risk of potential chain reorganization disappears during the August network change process.

According to PANews, Bitcoin News reported that John Atack, a longtime Bitcoin Core contributor and BIP maintainer, made the remarks ahead of the August network changes.

Atack said he plans to run both Core and Knots version 110 simultaneously to monitor the situation, and to isolate his Bitcoin holdings separately.

The remarks come amid growing debate within the Bitcoin community over technical changes. Atack said that dealing with complex issues requires the courage to make independent judgments and set one’s own priorities.

Nasdaq has selected Pyth as the exclusive distribution channel for its proprietary market data, PANews reported citing Cointelegraph.

As a result, Nasdaq TotalView’s deep order book data will be delivered to blockchain applications and software platforms through Pyth’s on-chain financial data network.

TotalView includes buy and sell orders by price level as well as order imbalance data for opening and closing auctions, and is a market data service widely used by professional traders.

Pyth plans to provide real-time market data to blockchain applications, digital asset exchanges, prediction markets, and trading systems through a single integration.

MetaMask has launched ‘Money Accounts,’ a self-custodial account feature built on the Monad blockchain, according to PANews citing Decrypt.

Money Accounts combines stablecoin yield, payments, and trading functions into a single balance. It uses the Monad-based mUSD stablecoin, and users can deploy deposited funds through Veda infrastructure into DeFi lending protocols such as Morpho to earn a variable annual yield of up to about 4%.

Integration with Aave is also planned. Users can spend their balances directly with the MetaMask Card and fund accounts using either crypto or fiat currency.

The feature is available to mobile users worldwide except in the UK and certain restricted regions. According to the report, mUSD’s 1:1 reserve structure backed by dollars and short-term U.S. Treasuries operates separately from the yield-generation structure of Money Accounts.