USDC news

Ripple introduced an XRPL AI Starter Kit to enable AI agents to make payments using XRP and its RLUSD stablecoin, aiming to compete in the growing x402 machine-to-machine payments market. The market is currently dominated by USDC, with over 120 million transactions across 14 blockchains, primarily on Base and Solana. Ripple highlights XRPL's fast settlement, low fees, and built-in decentralized exchange as advantages, but x402 introduces web-blockchain synchronization risks. No real-world adoption metrics for agent payments on XRPL have been disclosed.

Singapore-based crypto travel platform Travala has launched a protocol enabling AI agents to search, reserve, and pay for hotels using USDC on layer-2 blockchain Base. The Travala Travel MCP is live through Claude Desktop and allows external developers to integrate it into their own travel agents. Payments use Coinbase's x402 protocol on Base, enabling gasless USDC transactions, near-instant settlement, and transaction costs of about $0.01 per booking. Final payment authorization still requires manual approval from the traveler, meaning the system is not fully autonomous but more advanced than a chatbot that only recommends itineraries. The launch follows a wave of crypto payment infrastructure aimed at AI agents, with cumulative agentic transfer volumes on Base surpassing 100 million transactions. Travala CEO Juan Otero called the launch 'the death of the checkout button' and 'the start of a truly autonomous travel economy.' The protocol covers more than 2.2 million hotels, including listings from Marriott, Hilton, and IHG, and plans to expand to flights. Travala was founded in 2017 and competes with other crypto-friendly travel platforms, but its latest protocol shifts the focus toward AI-agent booking infrastructure.

Coinbase will start allowing qualified borrowers to use Bitcoin or USDC as collateral for Fannie Mae-backed mortgage down payments by summer 2026, in partnership with Better Home & Finance. The initiative follows the FHFA's June 2025 directive for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to consider crypto assets in mortgage risk assessments. The move has drawn political scrutiny, with some US senators warning of risks to housing market stability. Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers like Cynthia Lummis have proposed codifying the FHFA order into law through the 21st Century Mortgage Act.

Travala, a Singapore-based crypto-native travel booking service, launched an agentic AI travel protocol called Travala Travel MCP. The protocol enables autonomous AI agents to search, reserve, and settle hotel payments without human intervention until final authorization. It operates on Base Layer 2, using the x402 standard for instant, gasless USDC payments with near-instant settlement and costs around $0.01 per booking. The technology powers an AI travel concierge that can plan and execute trips within a single chat thread in Claude. It uses ERC-7715 session keys to isolate payment authorization to the user's wallet. Future updates will expand to flights, and the AVA token remains the native loyalty asset. Travala offers a 10% cbBTC rebate to developers integrating AI agents.

Mastercard is expanding its stablecoin settlement capabilities for credit card transactions, allowing issuers and acquirers to settle using regulated stablecoins such as Circle's USDC, Ripple's RLUSD, and SoFi's SoFiUSD. The move introduces intraday, holiday, and weekend settlement options, aiming to support a 24/7 digital economy. Settlement will be enabled on blockchains including Ethereum, Solana, Tempo, XRP Ledger, and Base. Initial support in the U.S. and Latin America will involve firms like ARQ, CBW Bank, Cross River, Lead Bank, and Nuvei, with further expansion expected later this year.

Mastercard announced plans to expand settlement capabilities to include regulated stablecoins, allowing issuers and acquirers to settle card transactions using tokens like USDC, PYUSD, RLUSD, and others on supported blockchains including Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon. The move follows Mastercard obtaining a New York BitLicense in May and aims to provide more flexibility in settlement liquidity and timing. The expansion is part of a broader trend of payment and remittance firms adopting stablecoins. Visa's pilot reached a $7 billion annualized run rate, while MoneyGram and Western Union have launched their own stablecoins on Stellar and Solana, respectively. The stablecoin market currently stands at about $320 billion.

Mastercard announced plans to expand its settlement capabilities to support intraday, weekend, and holiday card settlement using regulated stablecoins including USDC, PYUSD, RLUSD, and others, across multiple blockchain networks such as Ethereum, Solana, and XRP Ledger. The rollout is expected to initially involve institutions like ARQ, CBW Bank, Cross River, Lead Bank, and Nuvei in the US and Latin America, with further expansion planned through 2026. This move follows Mastercard's recent acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK for up to $1.8 billion, securing a BitLicense from New York, and granting a principal membership to stablecoin card issuer Rain. The company aims to maintain consistency, scalability, and interoperability across its ecosystem while preserving security and dispute protections. Other payment firms, including Visa and MoneyGram, are also increasing exposure to stablecoin settlement systems. The total supply of dollar-pegged tokens is nearing $300 billion, with Tether's USDT at $188 billion and Circle's USDC at $76 billion.

Privacy-focused blockchain protocol Zama said it will accelerate compliance measures after a US court lifted a temporary freeze on about $12.5 million in USDC held in its cUSDC smart contract. The freeze, obtained in connection with a dispute involving Overnight Finance, was deemed unwarranted by the court, according to Zama co-founder Rand Hindi. The incident highlights tensions between privacy-focused blockchain infrastructure and centralized stablecoins that can freeze assets under court order. Zama argued that any protocol holding freezable assets could face similar risks. In response, Zama will introduce automatic enforcement of compliance actions taken by asset issuers, establish a compliance council, and integrate additional monitoring tools. Despite the incident, Zama plans to launch its cUSDC product later this month.

Gravity Bridge, a cross-chain protocol linking Ethereum and Cosmos, was drained of approximately $5.4 million early Saturday in what security researchers suspect was a compromise of signing keys rather than a smart contract bug. The attacker executed unauthorized withdrawals, stealing around $4.3 million in USDC, 274 wrapped ether (~$553,000), $434,000 in tether, and 14.16 PAXG tokens ($64,000). The team halted the bridge and advised validators to stop operations while investigating. The stolen funds were partially laundered through ChangeNow and Binance, with the theft wallet still holding about 2,100 ETH (~$4.23 million). The attack vector appears to involve compromised validator signatures, fitting a broader trend of key-related breaches in 2026 bridges, such as those seen in Kelp DAO and Resolv. Although modest compared to major bridge hacks, the incident adds to a surge in crypto hacks, with bridges remaining a prime target.

Circle froze approximately $12.6 million in USDC after blacklisting the Ethereum contract behind Zama's confidential USDC token, cUSDC, at the request of a U.S. court. The freeze occurred early Saturday morning, locking 12,606,386 USDC. Zama CEO Rand Hindi stated the company was given no warning and described the incident as collateral damage from a legal dispute involving Overnight Finance. The freeze stems from a class action lawsuit filed May 28 against Maxim Ermilov, founder of Overnight Finance. The plaintiffs allege Ermilov diverted over $15 million from a shared treasury, moving about $12.5 million in USDC to Zama's confidential contract. Ermilov disputes the claims, arguing OVN token holders had no right to force a treasury distribution and that the funds were moved to protect privacy. The court issued a temporary restraining order directing Circle to freeze the assets, with a hearing set for June 1. The blacklist affected the entire cUSDC contract, potentially impacting other users. Zama said it will pause cUSDC, cUSDT, and cWETH contracts while investigating and working to restore access for innocent parties. The case raises concerns about centralized freeze powers affecting public smart contracts.