Bitget's Gracy Chen reveals Consensus 2026 focus on RWAs, stablecoin payments, and tokenized equities, signaling major crypto industry pivot away from NFTs and GameFi.

StraitsX reports 83x growth in cards issued and 40x in GTV since Genius Act, fueling stablecoin-backed payments surge with Visa insights.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino proposes WDK and QVAC integration for Oobit's Agent Cards, enabling stablecoin payments for 1B+ AI agents by 2027.

Crypto card spending volume jumps +500% since September 2024 to $600M monthly, driving stablecoin-linked payment cards as blockchain's fastest growth sector.

According to @Celo, the partnership between Celo and Opera has been extended to scale MiniPay, aiming to support Celo's Vision 2030 of building a billion-dollar onchain economy. MiniPay has already achieved significant milestones with 11 million wallets and over 300 million transactions. The collaboration focuses on expanding stablecoin payments to a global audience, targeting one billion users by 2030.

According to @trondao, KoloHub has integrated the TRON network to support fast, low-cost TRC-20 USDT payments on Kolo crypto cards, allowing funds to move directly from TRON to the cards with near real-time settlement after on-chain confirmation. According to @trondao, the wallet and card platform is designed to bridge digital assets and everyday commerce, making TRC-20 USDT stablecoin spending more seamless for card-based transactions.

According to TRON DAO, a new X post highlights a real-user case where USDT on the TRON network is used to pay a developer abroad, emphasizing fast, low-cost, and borderless settlement, source: TRON DAO on X https://twitter.com/trondao/status/2013338062781133102. The featured content cites Coinsenda and asks how users discovered that USDT on TRON is the most efficient way to make payments today, underscoring cross-border payroll and remittance scenarios, source: Coinsenda on X https://x.com/coin_senda/status/1962940527667556716 and TRON DAO on X https://twitter.com/trondao/status/2013338062781133102. For traders, this post signals ongoing marketing focus on USDT-based payments on TRON, a narrative relevant to monitoring stablecoin transfer activity and network fee competitiveness when assessing TRX and USDT market attention, source: TRON DAO on X https://twitter.com/trondao/status/2013338062781133102. The post does not disclose pricing, volume, or on-chain metric updates, so any trading decisions should be anchored to independent market data and verified analytics, source: TRON DAO on X https://twitter.com/trondao/status/2013338062781133102.

According to @pedrouid, WalletConnect CEO Jess Houlgrave told Schwab Network that stablecoins are already mainstream and that WalletConnect’s partnership with Ingenico will enable merchants to accept stablecoin payments directly at physical checkout via Ingenico terminals (source: Pedro Gomes on X referencing a Schwab Network interview video, Jan 13, 2026). The segment, hosted by Schwab Network’s Nicole Petallides, focuses on WalletConnect’s merchant payments integration and stablecoin usability in retail environments, highlighting mainstream financial media coverage of stablecoins (source: Schwab Network post on X cited by Pedro Gomes, Jan 13, 2026).

According to @pedrouid, Ingenico and WalletConnect announced that WalletConnect Pay enables stablecoin payments on Ingenico point-of-sale terminals across retail, hospitality, and transport globally. Sources: https://twitter.com/pedrouid/status/2011092172112896401 https://x.com/WalletConnect/status/2011081386632118634 WalletConnect framed the rollout as bringing crypto payments to the high street with the message "Any Wallet. Any Asset. Anywhere." Sources: https://x.com/WalletConnect/status/2011081386632118634 For traders, this positions stablecoin checkout at brick-and-mortar POS as an active real-world payments rail to monitor for adoption updates from the payment providers. Sources: https://twitter.com/pedrouid/status/2011092172112896401 https://x.com/WalletConnect/status/2011081386632118634 The announcement did not specify which stablecoins or networks are supported, nor regional rollout details. Sources: https://twitter.com/pedrouid/status/2011092172112896401 https://x.com/WalletConnect/status/2011081386632118634

According to the source, Bakkt agreed to acquire Distributed Technologies Research in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately 168 million dollars to expand its stablecoin payment infrastructure (source: X post dated Jan 13, 2026). The source does not include closing timeline, regulatory approvals, or integration details, limiting immediate visibility into execution and potential market milestones for BKKT and the stablecoin payments theme (source: X post dated Jan 13, 2026).

According to Cas Abbé, Binance’s State of the Blockchain 2025 reports $1.2B paid out via Binance Earn, source: Cas Abbé on X, Jan 9, 2026. According to Cas Abbé, the report notes that 20M+ merchants now accept Binance Pay, source: Cas Abbé on X, Jan 9, 2026. According to Cas Abbé, 98% of Binance Pay transactions are settled in stablecoins, source: Cas Abbé on X, Jan 9, 2026. According to Cas Abbé, these metrics indicate deep liquidity, real payment usage, and growing institutional participation within Binance’s ecosystem, source: Cas Abbé on X, Jan 9, 2026.

According to CoinMarketCap, BTC declined 0.23% while ETH gained 1.83%, with the total crypto market cap at $3.01 trillion. According to CoinMarketCap, holiday-thin liquidity kept liquidations muted, while altcoin funding rates started to pick up. According to CoinMarketCap, Lighter launched the LIT token with an airdrop highlighted in the market update. According to CoinMarketCap, Uniswap executed a buyback and burn. According to CoinMarketCap, Trip.com rolled out stablecoin payments.

According to @trondao, RealOpen is enabling real-world settlement using USDT on the TRON network for property transactions, emphasizing crypto-speed payments (source: TRON DAO on X, Dec 24, 2025). The post was retweeted by @justinsuntron, underscoring TRON’s promotion of USDT-based settlement rails with RealOpen for practical, on-chain payments that traders tracking stablecoin adoption on TRON should note (source: TRON DAO on X, Dec 24, 2025).

According to @Celo, the network processed over 346 million stablecoin transactions in 2025, a 52% increase versus 2024 that signals materially higher on-chain payment activity on Celo (source: Celo on X, Dec 23, 2025). @Celo also stated the ecosystem will continue making stablecoin payments feel native everywhere as this growth scales in 2026 (source: Celo on X, Dec 23, 2025). For traders, the confirmed 2025 surge in stablecoin settlement offers a clear on-chain usage trend to track in 2026; monitor Celo transaction counts, stablecoin transfer volumes, and liquidity across CELO spot and perpetual markets for order flow shifts as growth continues (source: Celo on X, Dec 23, 2025).

According to CoinMarketCap, South Korean payments firm BC Card has completed a pilot that enabled foreign users to pay local merchants using stablecoins, as part of preparations to implement a stablecoin payment structure (source: CoinMarketCap on X, Dec 23, 2025). For traders, the confirmed pilot completion and stated path toward a stablecoin payment structure provide a concrete adoption milestone to track in Korea-focused crypto payment flows and merchant acceptance metrics (source: CoinMarketCap on X, Dec 23, 2025).

According to @Celo, the Celo Foundation and Opera extended their partnership at Binance Blockchain Week to accelerate MiniPay with global expansion, real-time merchant payments, and card support, source: @Celo. The initiative advances Celo’s Vision 2030 and expands global access to stablecoin payments through MiniPay, source: @Celo.

According to @Celo, the Celo Foundation and Opera have extended their partnership to scale MiniPay stablecoin payments toward 1 billion people by 2030, with the announcement made at Binance Blockchain Week (source: @Celo). According to @Celo, MiniPay has reached 11 million wallets and processed over 300 million transactions, with global expansion scheduled to begin in 2026 (source: @Celo). For traders, monitoring CELO market liquidity, active wallets, and stablecoin transfer volumes on Celo around MiniPay rollout milestones may help gauge network demand, based on the growth metrics and timeline disclosed (source: @Celo).

According to Lightspark, stablecoin payments at the register will be interoperable across Spark wallets and run on Bitcoin rails, indicating a point-of-sale use case for BTC-backed settlement infrastructure, source: Lightspark on X, Dec 10 2025. The post emphasizes open networks and wallet interoperability but discloses no launch timeline, supported stablecoin issuers, fee model, or regional availability, source: Lightspark on X, Dec 10 2025. No pricing impact, partnership roster, or compliance specifics are provided, framing the update as a capability statement rather than a detailed rollout, source: Lightspark on X, Dec 10 2025. For trading focus, the communication centers on POS stablecoin settlement using Bitcoin rails, a theme to monitor for BTC network demand and stablecoin payment activity, source: Lightspark on X, Dec 10 2025.

According to @jessepollak, a pilot enabling payments with USDC (USDC) on the Base network is underway on Shopify POS, signaling live testing of stablecoin payments at the point of sale; source: https://twitter.com/jessepollak/status/1998521257705586989. The post does not disclose merchant count, regions, fees, or rollout timeline, confirming only the pilot status and leaving scope and deployment details unspecified; source: https://twitter.com/jessepollak/status/1998521257705586989. Until additional data is released by the parties involved, no conclusions can be drawn about transaction volumes, settlement costs, or adoption impact from this announcement; source: https://twitter.com/jessepollak/status/1998521257705586989.

According to @1HowardWu, without transaction privacy, traditional financial use cases are impossible on public blockchains, because a single customer payment can identify a merchant’s on-chain accounts and reveal sensitive financial information, making stablecoin POS acceptance risky for businesses; source: @1HowardWu on X, Dec 9, 2025. According to @1HowardWu, this privacy gap blocks merchant-ready stablecoin rails at the point of sale, signaling adoption headwinds for crypto payments until privacy features are integrated, a factor traders should account for when evaluating the real-world payments narrative; source: @1HowardWu on X, Dec 9, 2025.