The new rails for payments.

Circle and Stripe launch their own blockchains.

This week, both Circle and Stripe announced they are launching their own blockchains, each aimed at improving digital payments. Circle is developing a new network called ‘ARC’, built to enable fast, low-cost USDC transactions. Stripe is building ‘Tempo’ together with Paradigm, aiming to streamline payments within its ecosystem.

The fact that these established players are building their own infrastructure shows that stablecoins are maturing into the default internet payment method. While banks remain slow and expensive, tech companies are building systems that allow money to move as easily as data.

Bitmine plans to raise $20 billion to buy Ethereum.

Bitmine, founded by Wall Street investor Tom Lee, plans to raise $20 billion to add Ethereum to its balance sheet. The company has long followed MicroStrategy’s example with Bitcoin, but this latest funding round puts Bitmine in the same institutional league.

The market responded immediately. ETH surged to its highest level in years. Bitmine’s move signals a new phase in institutional adoption: Ethereum is no longer just used, but also held strategically. It strengthens ETH’s position as a macro-level investment asset.

Aave surpasses USDC with $70 billion on-platform.

Aave, the leading decentralized lending platform, has surpassed $70 billion in total value on its platform this week. This puts it ahead of USDC and makes it the second-largest on-chain application after Tether. The growth was fueled by large deposits of ETH and liquid staking tokens.

According to founder Stani Kulechov, the growth isn’t driven by hype, but by sustained usage. Aave has become a go-to platform for professional users borrowing stablecoins against crypto collateral. It’s now a key piece of infrastructure in the decentralized credit market.