Newsletter · May 7, 2026

Every Currency, Onchain

StablecoinsTokenisationRegulationInfrastructure

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The TLDR👇

Coinbase Cuts 14% of Staff, Restructures Around AI

Coinbase will lay off roughly 700 employees, about 14% of its workforce as of May 1. CEO Brian Armstrong announced the move in a memo posted to X, citing a softer crypto market and AI tooling that has changed what small teams can ship. The restructuring eliminates “pure managers” in favour of “player-coaches,” caps the org chart at five layers below Armstrong, and targets a 15:1 employee-to-manager ratio. “We are not just reducing headcount and cutting costs, we’re fundamentally changing how we operate: rebuilding Coinbase as an intelligence, with humans around the edge aligning it,” Armstrong wrote. Coinbase expects $50M to $60M in restructuring costs, to be completed in Q2. Source.

Tetra Launches CADD, Canada’s First Regulated CAD Stablecoin

Tetra Trust Company launched CADD, a Canadian-dollar stablecoin approved by Alberta Treasury Board and Finance. Tetra said it is the first CAD-pegged stablecoin issued by a regulated financial institution in Canada. Reserves are held in trust under Canadian law and dedicated to redemption. The token is live on Base, Ethereum and Tempo, with Solana support planned. A consortium including Shopify, Wealthsimple, National Bank of Canada, ATB Financial, Purpose Unlimited, Shakepay and majority stakeholder Urbana Corporation backed the project with $10M raised in September 2025. In December 2025, Tetra completed the first transfer of a Canadian stablecoin between two financial institutions when CADD moved between Wealthsimple and National Bank. “CADD is issued by a regulated financial institution, with reserves held in Canada and compliance built in from day one,” said Didier Lavallée, founder and CEO of Tetra Digital Group. Canada clears roughly $424 billion per business day on batch-based infrastructure from the 1980s. Source.

Coinbase Taps Centrifuge as Preferred Tokenization Infrastructure, Takes Equity Stake

Coinbase adds Centrifuge as a Preferred Tokenization Infrastructure platform and made a strategic investment in the firm. Centrifuge will serve as the default issuance layer for tokenized assets across Coinbase’s ecosystem, including Base. The first wave of institutional assets is expected to launch on Base in the coming weeks. Centrifuge powers onchain strategies for Apollo, Janus Henderson and S&P Dow Jones Indices and has $1.66 billion in total value locked. “High-quality assets are beginning to move onchain, but access and utility remain constrained,” said Shan Aggarwal, Chief Business Officer at Coinbase. CFG surged 15% on the news to a $170 million valuation. The deal is not exclusive: Coinbase also issued its CUSHY fund through Superstate and tokenized a Bitcoin Yield Fund share class via Apex Group. Tokenized real-world assets have reached roughly $27 billion onchain. Source.

AllUnity Launches the First MiCAR-Compliant Swiss Franc Stablecoin

AllUnity, a BaFin-licensed e-money institution, launched CHFAU, a Swiss franc stablecoin structured as an E-Money Token under MiCAR. The token is 1:1 backed by segregated reserves of CHF cash and high-quality liquid assets, redeemable at par at any time. The EU generates more than CHF 1 billion in daily trade with Switzerland, totalling roughly CHF 300 billion annually, and around 400,000 cross-border commuters earn CHF salaries and spend in euros across France, Germany and Italy. CHFAU settles 24/7 without correspondent banking intermediaries. AllUnity charges no minting or redemption fees. Verified institutions access CHFAU via its Mint Platform with straight-through processing in under five minutes. Source.

Qivalis Euro Stablecoin Consortium Set to Add at Least 19 European Banks

Qivalis, the Dutch-based consortium building a MiCAR-compliant euro stablecoin, is set to expand beyond its current 12 member banks to at least 19. The consortium currently includes Banca Sella, BBVA, BNP Paribas, CaixaBank, Danske Bank, DekaBank, DZ BANK, ING, KBC, Raiffeisen Bank International, SEB and UniCredit. Spanish lenders Sabadell and Bankinter are among those preparing to join, with Abanca, Kutxabank and Cecabank also expected. Fireblocks will provide the tokenization engine and treasury management infrastructure. The stablecoin is scheduled for launch in H2 2026, pending authorization from De Nederlandsche Bank. Reserves will be 100% backed in euros and high-quality liquid assets, with at least 40% held in bank deposits. The euro stablecoin market currently represents roughly $650 million of the $305 billion+ global stablecoin market. 99% remains dollar-denominated. Source.

BNY Expands Digital-Asset Custody in UAE, Sets Up Abu Dhabi Base

BNY, the world’s largest custodian bank with $59 trillion in assets, is building regulated digital-asset infrastructure in Abu Dhabi Global Market in partnership with Finstreet and ADI Foundation. Initial focus is custody services for Bitcoin and Ether, with plans to expand into stablecoins and tokenized assets as the platform develops. Source.

Meta Rolls Out Stablecoin Payouts on Polygon and Solana

Meta began offering USDC stablecoin payouts to select creators in Colombia and the Philippines, using the Polygon and Solana blockchain networks. Creators who opt in enter a third-party crypto wallet address into Facebook’s payout platform. Meta partnered with Stripe for crypto-specific tax reporting. Meta will not offer services to convert USDC into local currencies. “We strive to offer the most relevant payment methods, which is why we are exploring how stablecoins could become part of our suite of options,” a Meta spokesperson told Fortune. Polygon Labs CEO Marc Boiron said the payout program is expected to expand to more than 160 countries by the end of the year. The rollout comes four years after Meta abandoned its Libra/Diem stablecoin project following opposition from lawmakers. The total stablecoin market has increased more than a hundredfold since Meta first announced Libra. Source.

Google Cloud and Solana Foundation Launch Pay.sh for AI Agent Micropayments

The Solana Foundation and Google Cloud launched Pay.sh, a payment gateway that lets AI agents discover, access and pay for APIs using stablecoins on Solana. The system is built on x402, the open AI payments protocol incubated by Coinbase and now under the Linux Foundation, and is compatible with the Machine Payments Protocol developed by Tempo and Stripe. Agents link a Solana wallet, fund it with stablecoins or a credit card onramp, and pay per API request. No accounts, subscriptions or minimum spend required. Supported services include Google Cloud APIs (Gemini, BigQuery, Vertex AI, Cloud Run) plus 50+ community providers including Dune Analytics, Nansen, Helius, Alchemy and The Graph. Source.

📊 Insight of the Week

Top 4 chains for active Real World Assets:

  1. Ethereum
  2. Binance
  3. Solana
  4. Stellar

🎙️ Podcast of the Week

https://twitter.com/TheBlockCo/status/2052100046863426019

💼 5 Enterprise Job Opportunities in Crypto

  1. Member of Product - Anchorage (Portugal)
  2. Head of Digital Assets - DZ Bank (Germany)
  3. Technology Director Digital Assets - EuroClear (Poland)
  4. Digital Assets Product Manager-Director - Citi (NYC)
  5. Asset Management Program Associate (Digital Assets) - JPMorgan (NYC)

See you next week.

James Smith & David Walsh

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