USBC launches for friends and family | #346

Our newsletter covers news, industry perspectives, and updates from the USBC ecosystem. Check out our last report here.

This week:

1. Greg Kidd chats with CTO Mitja Simcic about the USBC friends and family launch

2. Hard Yaka brings tokenized deposits to the EU

3. Stuff happens

The USBC team reached a major milestone earlier this month with the launch of friends and family testing of its tokenized deposit platform.

The goal of this launch is to stress test the system’s core functionality and technical infrastructure—the ability to send, spend, convert, load, and unload money on/from the platform, while also being able to recover your account.

In case you missed it, here’s USBC co-founder and CEO Greg Kidd talking about the minimum viable product (MVP) launch of USBC:

This initial friends and family launch also included some key new features:

• A new internal Solana-based blockchain

• Identities tied to unique personhood

• Identity switching and delegated authority

• Push and pull payments

• A new vouching system

Greg sat down with CTO Mitja Simcic to discuss this major milestone while digging into some of these exciting new developments:

The Hard Yaka team was in Croatia earlier this month for Money Motion 2026, the premier fintech event for central and eastern Europe. Ron Oliveira, who leads our ecosystem’s global banking strategy, spoke on two separate panels.

Our vision for tokenized deposits received a warm welcome in the EU given the promise of euro-denominated bank money that not only operates at the speed of the internet but is also backed by regional financial institutions.

• Visa takes on Canton Super Validator role, marking major step in engaging with blockchain governance

• Tether Signs Big Four Firm to Complete First Full Audit, Setting a New Quality Standard for the Digital Asset Economy

• Huntington Bancshares, First Horizon, M&T Bank, KeyCorp among lenders moving on tokenized deposits

• Senate Banking Republicans pressed @patrickjwitt to release a recent White House Council of Economic Advisers study examining stablecoin yield and its potential impact on deposit flight and bank lending.

• SEC.gov | Regulation Crypto Assets: A Token Safe Harbor

• Via Mitja Simcic—”Big win for tokenized deposits vs stablecoins”

• Arizona Charges Kalshi With Operating Illegal Gambling Business

• Via Anej Mehadzic—Revolut is about to launch Revolut ID - your identity control centre accessible through the Revolut app.

• Thunes Brings Stablecoin Payouts to 11,500 Banks via Swift Connectivity, Bridging Traditional Finance and Digital Assets

• PayPal Brings PayPal USD to Users Across 70 Markets