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Japan and the UAE are accelerating the adoption of regulated stablecoins, signaling deeper integration of blockchain with traditional finance and cross-border payments.
XRP whale exits and heavy Bitcoin ETF outflows point to short-term risk aversion, even as long-term institutional interest remains intact.
Solana’s ability to withstand one of the largest DDoS attacks on record highlights its technical strength, though decentralization concerns persist.
The crypto market saw major developments today, shaped by regulatory developments, institutional adoption, shifting on-chain behavior, and infrastructure stress tests. From Japan’s move toward a regulated yen stablecoin to heavy Bitcoin ETF outflows and notable whale activity in XRP.
Japan’s financial giant SBI Holdings has partnered with Startale Group to develop a fully regulated, Japanese yen-denominated stablecoin for global settlement and institutional use.
The project, established through a Memorandum of Understanding, is expected to begin in the first quarter of fiscal year 2026.
Under Japan’s Type 3 Electronic Payment Instrument regulations, the stablecoin will not be subject to the ¥1 million per day limit on both deposits and withdrawals within the country.
The digital asset will be suitable for international payments, on-chain settlement, and corporate treasury management; thus, it will be a regulated option for dollar-pegged stablecoins.
Mastercard is accelerating its Middle East stablecoin project by teaming up with the ADI Foundation, which is based in Abu Dhabi.
The cooperation aims to enable payments in stablecoins, both locally and internationally, thereby strengthening the UAE’s aspiration to become a global blockchain center.
Fintech firms NEO PAY and INFINIOS have contributed to the initiative, thereby expanding stablecoin settlement infrastructure throughout the region.
The action follows the company's overall international expansion in stablecoin rails that included the recent addition of USDC and EURC settlement to EMEA markets.
On-chain data from Santiment shared by Ali Martinez shows a significant shift in XRP’s ownership structure. Wallets holding 1 million to 100 million XRP have sold approximately 1.18 billion tokens over the past four weeks, reducing their combined holdings from nearly 4.8 billion XRP to around 3.62 billion.
This distribution corresponded with the resistance area of $2.10-$2.20 not being reclaimed by XRP. The price moved down to the $1.88-$1.90 range.
The withdrawal of large investors has removed one of the crucial liquidity cushions, making XRP more prone to further downward movements unless new buyers are found.
Also Read: Why XRP Declined Despite Strong ETF Inflows? Key Reason Explained
Solana showed impressive network strength and stability after withstanding what researchers called the fourth-largest DDoS attack, with a peak of almost 6 Tbps.
Even though the scale was below the incidents of Google Cloud and Cloudflare, Solana's network was still almost entirely unaffected.
Transaction confirmation times were about 450 milliseconds, and block production wasn’t disturbed at all. While SOL’s price went down amid broader market weakness, the situation proved Solana’s technical strength again.
However, concerns remain, as validator involvement has dramatically decreased over the last two years, casting doubt on long-term decentralization.
Bitcoin spot ETFs recorded $357.69 million in net outflows yesterday. None of the twelve approved ETFs saw net inflows.
Fidelity’s FBTC led the withdrawals with over $230 million exiting the fund, followed by Bitwise’s BITB.
Even with short-term outflows, the total net inflows of the Bitcoin spot ETFs are still over $57 billion, and the total assets under management are around $112 billion, highlighting the difference between short-term investors' fear and their long-term institutional interest.
The total historical cumulative net inflow is $57.55 billion.
Also Read: Why Bitcoin’s Available Supply is Much Lower Than You Think
Following the announcement that Circle had acquired the core developer team and intellectual property of Interop Labs, the team behind Axelar Network, the AXL token dropped by 13%.
The transaction does not include the Axelar Network or the AXL token; thus, token holders will not receive any direct benefit.
Market participants reacted swiftly, selling AXL when it became evident that the merger did not include revenue sharing, buy pressure, or voting rights.
This shift highlights an emerging practice in which firms progressively acquire personnel and tech rather than coins, challenging the idea that a protocol's success will always lead to an increase in token price.
