Block 1: Essential news
Stablecoins: Bank of England wants to cap holdings at £20,000
Faced with the rise of stablecoins in payments, the Bank of England wants to impose a holding limit: £20,000 for individuals and £10m for businesses. This aims to prevent a massive flight of bank deposits to these digital currencies, which are considered "systemic." This position is seen as backward-looking by industry players. For Coinbase and the Payments Association, this measure risks stifling innovation, weakening the pound sterling, and damaging the UK's competitiveness at a time when the US is accelerating. The Central Bank defends itself by referring to a "transitional" measure, but tension is mounting around this signal, which is seen as negative for crypto adoption in the UK.
Polymarket aims for $10bn and prepares its return to the United States
Banned in 2022, the Polymarket prediction betting platform has just been given the green light by the CFTC to operate again in the United States. Building on its success during the 2024 presidential election, the company is preparing a massive fundraising campaign, which could bring its valuation to $10bn. In August, Polymarket had 226,400 monthly active users, with record volumes. The most popular bets are on Fed rates, the New York election and tensions with Russia. Polymarket's return comes as prediction markets are gaining credibility... to the point of competing with traditional polling institutes.
Google x Coinbase: stablecoin payments integrated with artificial intelligence
Google has taken a new strategic step: its open-source artificial intelligence protocol now supports stablecoin payments, thanks to a partnership with Coinbase and the Ethereum Foundation. The goal? To enable AI agents to send and receive money autonomously, with crypto and traditional finance interoperability. Partners in the initiative include Salesforce, American Express, Etsy, and Circle, the issuer of USDC. At the heart of the project is the goal of transforming AI into agents capable of executing secure payments, negotiating loans, and purchasing goods without human intervention. This initiative comes at a time when the stablecoin market is booming, with $250bn in circulation, up from $205bn at the beginning of the year. It's another step toward the convergence of AI and digital currency.
ETFs: the SEC is inundated with requests... even for memecoins
This week, the SEC received an avalanche of new applications for crypto ETFs, far beyond the traditional bitcoin or ether. Bitwise is offering ETFs on Avalanche (AVAX) and even on stablecoins. Tuttle Capital is betting on BONK, Litecoin, and SUI, while Defiance is targeting arbitrage strategies. The number of applications is now approaching 100. While Solana, XRP, and LTC are likely to be approved, the presence of more obscure tokens, and even memecoins, raises the question: where will the SEC draw the line?
Block 2: Crypto Analysis of the Week
The explosion of stablecoins is not only disrupting global finance. It has triggered another frenzy, more discreet but just as strategic: recruitment. In a sector undergoing rapid institutionalization, salaries are skyrocketing, profiles are becoming scarce, and start-ups are fighting to attract the brains capable of building the monetary infrastructure that is gaining ground.
Since the summer of 2025, dubbed the "summer of stablecoins" by Goldman Sachs, the sector's job market has been transformed. The adoption of a historic law signed by Donald Trump in July, legitimizing dollar-pegged stablecoins, paved the way for their integration into the global financial system. As a result, headhunters are talking about a 20% jump in salaries in less than a year.
Salaries worthy of Wall Street
The position of stablecoin strategy manager at a major US bank? Between $250,000 and $400,000 in fixed salary. In the UK, between £150,000 and £220,000. Senior compliance roles can fetch up to $350,000. Not quite the extravagant salaries of hedge funds or AI, but already comparable to those of managing directors in investment banking.
Bloomberg
The outlook is staggering. According to Bloomberg Intelligence, stablecoins could account for $50 trillion in annual payment flows by 2030, or 17% of global consumer transactions, up from less than 1% today.
Bloomberg
With the stablecoin market growing from $25 billion in capitalization in 2021 to $250 billion in 2025, it's no wonder that giants—from Citigroup to PayPal—are throwing themselves into the fray, boosting demand for experts in compliance, business development, and tokenization.
Coinglass
Competition is exacerbated by powerful catalysts:
- The public support of Trump, whose family runs World Liberty Financial and its USD1 token.
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The resounding IPO of Circle, issuer of the USDC, in June.
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The entry into force of the European MiCA regulation.
- And Stripe's $1.1bn acquisition of Bridge, proof that the big fintechs are betting big on the future of stablecoins.
Faced with the shortage, some employers are innovating: bonuses paid directly in in-house tokens, "acquihiring" (buying out start-ups to absorb their teams), or packages where the variable portion can exceed twice the fixed salary. Circle has acknowledged that it made two recent acquisitions in part to secure talent.
In May, Anchorage Digital acquired Mountain Protocol, the issuer of USDT, and appointed its founders to strategic positions. This is a clear sign that behind every token, engineers and regulatory experts are becoming the most coveted assets.
Since their creation in 2014, stablecoins have primarily been a tool for traders. But with Tether's USDT ($169bn in circulation) and Circle's USDC ($73bn in circulation), they are now establishing themselves as a new layer of the global monetary infrastructure. Fortunes are accumulating: $11.5bn for Giancarlo Devasini (Tether), $4.9bn for Paolo Ardoino (Tether), and $2.4bn for Jeremy Allaire (Circle).
Cryptocurrency rankings(Click to enlarge)
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Block 3: Readings of the week
Bessent bets on stablecoins to stimulate demand for Treasury bills (FT)
Cryptocurrencies lose billions every year. Traditional finance is watching (CoinDesk)
