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The stablecoin firm Circle says it’s officially launched a new testnet designed to serve as an economic operating system for the internet. Over 100 companies from finance, tech and payments sectors are participating in the layer-1 launch. Arc aims to offer predictable dollar-based fees, sub-second transaction finality and configurable privacy. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire says it will integrate directly with Circle’s platform to support lending, capital markets, foreign exchange and global payments. “With Arc’s public testnet, we’re seeing remarkable early momentum as leading companies, protocols, and projects begin to build and test. Combined, these companies reach billions of users, move, exchange, and custody hundreds of trillions in assets and payments, and support local economies across Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. This geographic diversity highlights a defining strength of Arc: its purpose-built to connect every l...

Stablecoin adoption has been gradually rising. In 2022, companies like PayPal and Mastercard settled $1.36 trillion and $6.57 trillion in volume. However, Stablecoins collectively fostered $6.87 trillion in transfers. Alongside, Bitcoin comfortably outpaced the volume settled by Visa. Bloomberg Intelligence’s Senior Market Structure Analyst Jamie Coutts pointed out, “Stablecoin adoption growth, which has outpaced Bitcoin and Ethereum in the past two years, is set to accelerate as network effects and big improvements in blockchain scaling lay the foundation for global adoption.” Source; Bloomberg Also Read: MicroStrategy’s Balance Sheet Comprises of ~75% Bitcoin Stablecoin Adoption ‘Under the Hood’ is Rising With the collapse of multiple banks in H1 2023, crypto rails ’ importance was acknowledged by payment providers. But even before that, in 2022, some of these rails moved more value than traditional fiat rails. The performance ...

Mastercard’s new solution revolves around providing “secure transactions between users, verified according to standards” set by the company. Global financial services giant Mastercard has launched a new Web3 solution aimed at enhancing user verification standards and “reducing the opportunities for bad actors” in the digital asset space. The Solution is dubbed the “ Mastercard Crypto Credential” and its launch was announced on April 29. In an accompanying explainer video shared to Twitter, the firm outlined that its “building a way for Web3 and Blockchain service providers to help secure transactions between users, verified according to standards set by Mastercard.” At #Consensus23, we announced how we are instilling trust in the Blockchain ecosystem through Mastercard Crypto Credential. With crypto wallet providers @Bit2Me_Global, @LiriumAG , @MercadoBitcoin and @UpholdInc and public Blockchain network organizations @AptosLabs,… pic.twitter.com/P33mtDVAas — Mastercard News (...

The program will help five emerging artists set up and manage their brands in the Web3 space, and is also aimed at educating people in the music scene on what avenues Web3 tech can offer them. Global payments giant Mastercard is ramping up its exposure blockchain tech yet again, after announcing a Polygon-based accelerator program to help musicians build their careers via Web3. The firm announced the "Mastercard Artist Accelerator" program via a Jan. 7 blog post, outlining that from this spring, it will connect five emerging musicians from across the globe with mentors that will  help them set up their brand in the Web3 music space. "The artists will gain exclusive access to special events, music releases and more. A first-of-its-kind curriculum will teach the artists how to build (and own) their brand through Web3 experiences like minting NFTs, representing themselves in virtual worlds and establishing an engaged community," the post reads. The program will cul...