Circle said it will officially launch its stablecoin in Japan on March 26 after one of its local partners received regulatory approval to list the US dollar stablecoin three weeks ago.

USDC (USDC) will first be listed on the “SBI VC Trade” crypto exchange under a joint venture between its parent firm — Japanese financial conglomerate SBI Holdings — and Circle’s Japanese entity Circle Japan KK, Circle said in a March 24 statement.

The news comes three weeks after SBI VC Trade secured an industry-first regulatory approval on March 4 to list USDC under the Japan Financial Services Agency’s stablecoin regulatory framework.

Circle is also looking to list USDC on Binance Japan, bitbank, and bitFlyer in the near future.

Japan’s bitbank and bitFlyer are two of the country’s largest crypto exchanges — having processed more than $25 million each over the last day with over 1.85 million visits to their websites in the last month.

The regulatory approval comes after two years of back-and-forth negotiations with regulators, banking partners, and industry players, Circle’s Jeremy Allaire said in a March 24 X post.

“[This] unlocks tremendous opportunities not just in trading digital assets, but more broadly in payments, cross border finance and commerce, FX,” he added.

Source: Jeremy Allaire

SBI Holdings CEO and president Yoshitaka Kitao said the USDC launch would enhance financial accessibility and drive crypto innovation in Japan’s evolving digital economy.

“[This aligns] with our broader vision for the future of payments and blockchain-based finance in Japan.”

Related: Gold-backed stablecoins will outcompete USD stablecoins — Max Keiser

Meanwhile, USDC and Circle’s euro-backed EURC (EURC) stablecoin were recognized as the first stablecoins under the Dubai Financial Services Authority’s new regime on Feb. 24.

The recognition allows companies operating in the Dubai International Financial Centre — a free economic zone — to integrate the two stablecoins into a range of digital asset applications, including payments, treasury management and services.

USDC remains the second largest stablecoin by market cap at $59.7 billion, trailing only Tether’s USDT at $143.8 billion, CoinGecko data shows.

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The Donald Trump-backed crypto venture World Liberty Financial launched a US dollar-pegged stablecoin with a total supply of more than $3.5 million.

According to data from Etherscan and BscScan, the project launched the World Liberty Financial USD (USD1) token in early March. Former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao noted the project’s smart contract was deployed on the BNB Chain and Ethereum, while World Liberty said the stablecoin was “not currently tradeable.”

The USD1 stablecoin launch comes as US lawmakers consider passing the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins, or GENIUS, Act. The bill moved out of the Senate Banking Committee on March 13 and is expected to be taken up for a full floor vote soon.

Bo Hines, the executive director of the President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, said he expected the GENIUS bill on Trump’s desk by June.

Former Binance CEO acknowledging the USD1 launch. Source: Changpeng Zhao

Since the launch of the platform in September 2024, many aspects of World Liberty’s intentions have been shrouded in secrecy. The project’s website notes that the US President and some of his family members control 60% of the company’s equity interests. As of March 14, World Liberty has completed two public token sales, netting the company a combined $550 million. 

The launch of the stablecoin on the BNB Chain came amid reports that the Trump family held talks with Binance about acquiring a stake in the crypto exchange and separately granting a presidential pardon to Zhao. CZ has denied reports of a deal between Binance.US and Trump and a pardon.

Conflicts of interest in Trump’s crypto ventures? 

Before the project’s first public token sale in October 2024, World Liberty faced scrutiny from US policymakers, accusing Trump of conflicts of interest while running for office. 

Days after Trump won the US presidential election, Tron Founder Justin Sun announced he would invest $30 million in World Liberty, likely leading to his position as an adviser to the firm. After Trump took office on Jan. 20 and Commissioner Mark Uyeda began leading the US Securities and Exchange Commission as acting chair, the regulator asked a federal court to pause its case against Sun “to explore a potential resolution.” 

Sun and three of his companies faced allegations from the SEC of selling unregistered securities. Other executives at crypto companies who backed Trump and Republicans in the 2024 elections — some with financial contributions — including from Coinbase and Ripple, have since seen their SEC enforcement actions dropped under Uyeda. 

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World Liberty’s launch comes as the stablecoin market continues to grow. Online analytics platforms Artemis and Dune showed that the number of active stablecoin wallets increased by more than 50% from February 2024 to February 2025. The total market capitalization of stablecoins also surpassed $200 billion in January, with Tether (USDT) and USDC remaining two of the most popular ones on the market.

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Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), a financial zone with over $635 billion in assets under management, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Chainlink in a move to connect the world of traditional finance with blockchain data.

The agreement will allow ADGM to use Chainlink’s suite of tools, such as data feeds and interoperability technology, ADGM said in a March 24 announcement. The partnership also aims to encourage further discussion around blockchain, artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies in the region.

ADGM, which opened in 2015, is in the United Arab Emirates’ financial free zone. It operates under its own civil and commercial legal system, based on English Common Law. Designed to bolster Abu Dhabi’s status as a financial hub, ADGM plays a central role in attracting global firms and expanding the city’s financial services sector.

By the end of 2024, ADGM hosted 134 asset and fund managers overseeing 166 funds. The total number of financial institutions operating within its jurisdiction rose to 275, with 79 new firms, including prominent names such as BlackRock, PGIM, and Morgan Stanley.

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UAE sees rising crypto adoption

Multiple metrics show that cryptocurrency adoption in the UAE is rising, aided by government openness to the emerging technology. The country saw a 41% increase in crypto app downloads in 2024 from 2023, and it ranked third out of 28 countries in the Henley Crypto Adoption Index 2024.

Abu Dhabi in particular has been a hot spot for crypto firms. In December 2024, the ADGM Financial Services Regulatory Authority officially recognized Tether’s USDT (USDT) stablecoin as an accepted virtual asset, paving the way for the cryptocurrency’s integration into the local financial ecosystem.

On March 12, Binance announced that MGX, an Abu Dhabi-based investment firm, had invested $2 billion into the exchange, one of the largest funding deals in the industry’s history.

Dubai, another Emirate in the UAE, has also shown itself open to cryptocurrency businesses. In February, Dubai approved USDC (USDC) and EURC as the first two stablecoins under its regime.

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