Stablecoin Share Doubles to 15%, Coinbase Adds Tokenized Stocks as BTC Holds $66K

Crypto News A wave of project shutdowns is sweeping the altcoin sector as a prolonged drought in altcoin demand squeezes layer-2 networks and decentralized finance protocols alike. Polygon zkEVM, once a flagship zero-knowledge rollup, will halt its sequencer on July 1, 2026, after failing to attract users. ZERO Network, Botanix, Swell and PGN are winding down on similar timelines, while lending protocol Radiant Capital is closing following a roughly $50 million supply-chain exploit in 2024. With Ethereum unable to reclaim its record high and reward-seeking airdrop hunters dominating token launches, the economics of running rollups have turned unsustainable for many teams. China is accelerating the international reach of its digital yuan after 26 financial institutions signed direct-connection agreements with the cross-border settlement network operated by the e-CNY Center International in Shanghai. The first cohort includes Standard Chartered China alongside Chinese bank branches across Thailand, Singapore, Laos and Qatar. The platform, known as CBETS, lets participants link directly to foreign central-bank payment systems and compresses cross-border settlement from several business days to a matter of hours. The center, operational since September 2025, consolidated three earlier platforms into CBETS this year, signaling Beijing’s intent to build state-backed rails that bypass traditional correspondent banking. Coinbase is pushing its everything-exchange vision forward with a slate of new products spanning tokenized equities, options and artificial-intelligence tooling. Tokenized stocks—each backed one-to-one by the underlying share and carrying dividend and ownership rights on-chain—are slated for a July launch outside the United States, enabling round-the-clock trading, lending and collateral use. Crypto and equity options will follow within months, alongside real-world-asset perpetual futures and themed equity indices. The exchange also introduced Coinbase Advisor, an SEC-registered in-app AI trading bot for premium members, plus an agent-trading platform. Rivals Binance and Kraken are racing toward similarly broad multi-asset offerings. In Japan, a 300-year-old toilet manufacturer has emerged as an unlikely DeFi pioneer, posting an annualized 14.6% net yield from a test deployment of corporate treasury funds. The company achieved the return through liquidity provision—supplying assets to a decentralized exchange’s pool via an automated market maker and collecting swap fees—using stable BTC- and USDC-linked pairs on an Ethereum-compatible chain. Management called the result below its 20%-plus target, blaming thin trading volume on the chosen network rather than strategy. Having validated the approach under strict listed-company governance, the firm plans roughly ¥300 million in additional capital, scaling toward an eventual ¥2.6 billion deployment. Stablecoins are commanding a far larger slice of the market even as their absolute growth stays modest. Their combined share has doubled from 7.6% to 15% since crypto’s September 2025 peak, recent market data indicates, as the broader market capitalization contracted roughly 50% from about $4.2 trillion to $2.1 trillion. Total stablecoin supply rose only 10.6%, from $286 billion to $316 billion, meaning the share gain stemmed mostly from a shrinking denominator. Tether’s USDT absorbed about 59% of new issuance, and USDT plus USDC still account for 83% of the segment. Yield-bearing tokens such as Paxos USDG surged 360%—unlike algorithmic stablecoins, these are reserve-backed and share interest with holders. The case against crypto remains grounded in hard loss data from the ongoing bear market. Bitcoin set a record near $126,000 in October 2025 before sliding to around $60,000 by February 2026, a drop exceeding 50% that erased over $100 billion in market value in a single day. Roughly $1.6 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated during that crash, amplifying the decline. Theft losses topped $3.41 billion in 2025, headlined by the record $1.4 billion Bybit breach, while consumer-complaint filings climbed sharply. Regulation is tightening in parallel: the U.S. GENIUS Act took effect in July 2025, and Japan is moving toward a flat 20% crypto tax. Taken together, these threads describe a market in retrenchment yet structurally maturing. COINOTAG’s aggregate data frames the mood: the Fear & Greed Index sits at 22, deep in Extreme Fear, Bitcoin dominance has climbed to 69.8% as capital flees altcoins, and total crypto market capitalization stands near $1.89 trillion. The pattern is consistent—weak protocols fold, stablecoins and dominant venues absorb the survivors, and institutional rails from Coinbase to Beijing’s CBETS expand regardless of price. With Bitcoin trading near $66,000, the cycle is rewarding scale, custody and yield over speculative token launches. The infrastructure being built now will likely define the next expansion.COINOTAG does not provide financial advisory services. This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice. Cryptocurrency investments involve high risk.