Welcome to another edition of the Money Code newsletter (fka The Weekly Stable), the essential source of stablecoin news coverage for global fintech professionals, brought to you by This Week in Fintech and Stablecon.
This week we cover:
Cloudflare announces stablecoin wallets for AI agents
Lithic and Lightspark bring USDC into Visa card settlement
Western Union and Rain launch USDPT Stablecard in 37 markets
Product launches, partnerships and funding news from JPYC, Digital Prime, BVNK, ZIGChain, ZILO, Yellow Card, BlackRock, BNY, Circle, Wells Fargo and more.
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🏆 Top Stories
Cloudflare Announces Stablecoin Wallets for AI Agents
Cloudflare is introducing Wallets, a stablecoin payment and identity system that lets software agents buy APIs, MCP tools, data, and content. Humans will fund Account Wallets and define policies, while agents use API-controlled Virtual Wallets within allowances, merchant allowlists, and transaction limits. Paired with Monetization Gateway, Cloudflare can manage both sides of an x402 transaction, although only handle reservations are available today.
Why it matters:
Cloudflare is embedding stablecoin payments into the infrastructure that governs agent access and actions. Its control model treats money as another capability that humans can delegate within explicit limits.
Stablecoins become an API primitive: With x402, a paid resource can return a price, receive payment, and answer the request without account creation or an API key. This suits agents comparing many services where each trial costs cents.
Budgets increase usable autonomy: A Virtual Wallet can receive a $10 research allowance instead of access to the full Account Wallet. A smaller blast radius lets humans delegate spending without reviewing each transaction.
Identity changes merchant economics: Wallet handles (like social media tags) let an agent reveal its connection to a human or organization. Merchants can then grant trial credits, support, or better access without giving the same benefits to unlimited anonymous agents.
Lithic and Lightspark Bring USDC Into Visa Card Settlement
Lithic and Lightspark are partnering to power Lightspark’s Visa card program, issued by Lead Bank and settled in USDC. Lightspark keeps account balances in stablecoins and converts them to local currency when a user spends, while Lithic provides the authorization, device authentication, and fraud controls behind each transaction.
Why it matters:
Stablecoins are entering the settlement plumbing of card networks. Visa’s stablecoin settlement program has reached a $7 billion annualized run rate, up more than 50% quarter over quarter, and the Lithic-Lightspark stack shows how those rails can connect a stablecoin balance to everyday card spending.
Stablecoins now cover the balance and settlement layers: Lightspark keeps user balances in stablecoins until spend, while Lead Bank settles Visa obligations in USDC. The user and merchant retain the familiar card experience while the stablecoin rail runs underneath it.
Cards complete the global account: Without a card, a global dollar account still depends on withdrawals and transfers. Visa acceptance makes the balance spendable at ordinary merchants, keeps more activity inside the product, and creates interchange and FX revenue opportunities.
Embedded finance gets a broader footprint: Stablecoins and global ramps can give platforms a common account layer across markets, but regulated issuers, compliance, and program rules still determine where the card can launch and who can use it.
Western Union and Rain Launch USDPT Stablecard in 37 Markets
Western Union and Rain launched Stablecard, a digital wallet and USDPT-backed Visa secured credit card that lets customers receive Western Union transfers into USDPT, hold or transfer the balance, and spend anywhere Visa is accepted. Rain provides the wallet and card infrastructure, with the product going live in 37 markets and 60+ targeted by year-end.
Why it matters:
Western Union just showed where a branded stablecoin can win: inside a controlled money loop. USDPT does not need the deep exchange and DeFi liquidity of USDC or USDT for the core product to work because Western Union connects the incoming remittance flow to the main exits: cash-out through its agent network or spending through Visa.
Remittances become an account relationship: Stablecard extends Western Union’s relationship with recipients beyond the transfer into holding dollars and everyday spending. Remitly’s Global Card and MoneyGram’s MGUSD point in the same direction: remittance companies want to retain the recipient after delivery.
Distribution can precede open liquidity: Western Union already supplies USDPT with an incoming flow, a dollar balance, physical cash-out, and global card acceptance. That controlled loop creates utility before deep exchange or DeFi liquidity arrives.
Infrastructure makes the scale practical: Rain packages the wallet, compliance, card, and stablecoin settlement layers needed to launch the product. That lets Western Union reach dozens of markets without assembling each component itself.
Read on for a round up of this week's news:
📊 Market Trends
💸 Fundraises and M&A
Japanese stablecoin issuer JPYC raises $38 million in extended Series B (read more)
Marex invests in Digital Prime to expand institutional crypto lending (read more)
Mastercard completes acquisition of BVNK to expand stablecoin payments infrastructure (read more)
Nomura’s Laser Digital invests in ZIGChain to expand onchain private credit in the UAE (read more)
Ripple invests in ZILO and Licuido to expand tokenized capital-markets infrastructure (read more)
Yellow Card secures $40 million in strategic funding for global expansion (read more)
🚀 Product Announcements & Partnerships
BlackRock expands tokenized money-market funds across the U.S. and Europe, covering $311 billion in European assets (read more)
BNY adds crypto staking to its digital-asset custody platform (read more)
Circle names Arc’s founding validators and integrations ahead of its mainnet launch (read more)
Cloudflare launches Wallets for stablecoin storage and agent payments (read more)
Deutsche Telekom joins Sphere as a validator for SphereNet’s compliance-native payments network (read more)
Dinari partners with Circle to offer tokenized stocks to U.S. investors (read more)
Lithic and Lightspark partner on global card programs using stablecoin settlement (read more)
Visa expands Visa Direct stablecoin capabilities with zerohash (read more)
Wells Fargo to roll out tokenized deposits for corporate clients (read more)
Western Union partners with Rain to launch Stablecard remittances through Visa on Solana (read more)
⚖️ Regulatory Developments
Circle receives trust charter from the New York Department of Financial Services (read more)
ECB targets September 21 launch for Project Pontes (read more)
Russia legalizes regulated retail crypto trading (read more)
South African lawmakers propose rules for cross-border crypto transactions (read more)
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