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Weekly Blockchain Blog – July 20, 2026

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<a href="#occ">Stablecoin Issuers Announce OCC Charters, Network Launches, Remittance POC</a>

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<a href="#tokenization">Major Securities Clearing and Settlement Firm Completes Tokenization Pilot</a>

<a href="#stablecoin">Bank Groups Advocate for Revisions to Clarity Act Stablecoin Yield Provisions</a>

<a href="#treasury">US Dept. of Treasury and UK HM Treasury Publish Statement on Stablecoins</a>

<a href="#ofac">OFAC Sanctions Iran Central Bank Crypto Wallets</a>

<a href="#interpol">Interpol Operation Intercepts $293M, Targets Crypto Laundering Networks</a>

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Stablecoin Issuers Announce OCC Charters, Network Launches, Remittance POC

By <a href="https://www.bakerlaw.com/RobertAMusiala">Robert A. Musiala Jr.</a>

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The issuer of the USDC stablecoin, Circle Internet Group Inc., recently announced that it has received approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish First National Digital Currency Bank N.A., a national trust bank. According to a press release, the bank will operate under the name Circle National Trust and will offer fiduciary digital asset custody services for Circle and its affiliates.

In more stablecoin news, a major U.S. financial services firm that operates one of the world’s largest payment networks recently announced its new VSP stablecoin platform, “a new enterprise platform designed to help financial institutions, fintechs, and crypto natives access stablecoin capabilities through a single … managed environment.” According to a press release, “VSP gives FIs, fintechs and other payment providers a simple way to access, store, and redeem stablecoins, beginning with Open USD (OUSD), a new stablecoin recently <a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fjoinopenstandard.com%2Fblog%2Fintroducing-open-usd&amp;esheet=54571507&amp;newsitemid=20260716292689&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=introduced&amp;index=2&amp;md5=a660c01c80eaa6911a541536bd09561f">introduced</a> by Open Standard.” The press release notes that VSP will include “onchain wallet infrastructure through a newly introduced Wallet-as-a-Service offering and connectivity for minting and burning Open USD.”

And the issuer of the USDT stablecoin, Tether, recently announced “the successful completion of the first enterprise cross-border settlement Proof of Concept (POC) between” the U.S. and Mexico affiliates of a major automotive company. According to a press release, as part of the POC, the U.S. affiliate converted 20,000 U.S. dollars into USDT and then transferred the USDT to the Mexico affiliate, which converted the USDT back into U.S. dollars. The press release notes that “[t]he full process included international transfer and verification, highlighting how stablecoins can support cross-border settlement for global businesses.”

For more information, please refer to the following links:

<a href="https://www.circle.com/pressroom/circle-receives-final-occ-approval-to-establish-national-trust-bank">Circle Receives Final OCC Approval to Establish National Trust Bank</a>

<a href="https://investor.visa.com/news/news-details/2026/Visa-Introduces-Platform-for-Stablecoin-Minting-Movement-and-Management/">Visa Introduces Platform for Stablecoin Minting, Movement and Management</a>

<a href="https://tether.io/news/global-industrial-conglomerate-hyundai-completes-enterprise-treasury-pilot-on-tether-usdt-moving-corporate-funds-across-global-borders/">Global Industrial Conglomerate Hyundai Completes Enterprise Treasury Pilot on Tether USD₮, Moving Corporate Funds Across Global Borders</a>

Major Securities Clearing and Settlement Firm Completes Tokenization Pilot

By <a href="https://www.bakerlaw.com/RobertAMusiala">Robert A. Musiala Jr.</a>

A major U.S. financial market clearing, settlement and post-trade market infrastructure company recently announced that it has successfully converted securities held by the company into tokens that were then used in real production trades. According to a press release, “[m]ore than 30 firms representing a cross-section of traditional financial institutions (TradFi) and digital market participants took part in the initiative, underscoring broad industry engagement.” The press release further noted that the digital conversions occurred on the company’s private blockchain network, Besu, and the public Canton network.

According to the press release, the company’s tokenization service “enables the issuance of tokenized representations (also referred to as digital twins) of real-world assets that can be delivered to … [p]articipant wallets of choice.” The company-held securities “can be converted between traditional and tokenized forms, allowing … [p]articipants to access new liquidity pools and execute digital asset strategies with greater flexibility.”

For more information, please refer to the following link:

<a href="https://www.dtcc.com/news/2026/july/15/dtcc-turns-tokenization-into-reality">DTCC Turns Tokenization into Reality: U.S. Trades Successfully Processed Using DTC-Tokenized Assets</a>

Bank Groups Advocate for Revisions to Clarity Act Stablecoin Yield Provisions

By <a href="https://www.bakerlaw.com/RobertAMusiala">Robert A. Musiala Jr.</a><a href="https://www.bakerlaw.com/VeronicaReynolds"></a>

According to a recent press release, two major U.S. bank trade associations, along with “76 state associations representing thousands of community financial institutions across the country,” recently sent a letter to U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Minority Leader Charles Schumer “expressing genuine concerns with the Clarity Act and urging targeted changes to provide greater certainty that payment stablecoins cannot function as substitutes for bank deposits.” According to the letter, the associations “remain concerned that ambiguities within the bill could encourage stablecoin arrangements to effectively function as substitutes for deposits, despite Congress’s longstanding and clearly stated intent that payment stablecoins should serve as transaction tools rather than store-of-value products.” Among other things, the letter advocates for specific revisions to Section 404 of the draft Clarity Act legislation “that would clarify the prohibition on interest and yield and help ensure that the prohibition cannot be circumvented through alternative incentive structures.”

<a href="https://www.aba.com/about-us/press-room/press-releases/aba-icba-and-state-associations-stablecoin-yield-provisions-comment-letter">ABA, ICBA Join State Associations in Urging Senate to Strengthen Stablecoin Yield Provisions in Clarity Act</a>

<a href="https://www.aba.com/-/media/documents/letters-to-congress-and-regulators/jointltrclarity20260713.pdf?rev=372b2ea3e82d4813b78db92cb0e6023c">Joint State Association Letter to the Senate on the Clarity Act</a>

US Dept. of Treasury and UK HM Treasury Publish Statement on Stablecoins

The U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) recently announced two joint publications with the United Kingdom’s HM Treasury. The first is a set of recommendations of the Transatlantic Taskforce for Markets of the Future that “aim to deepen cross-border financial activity between the United States and the United Kingdom, reduce unnecessary frictions, and advance open, market-based standards that promote innovation and support growth.” According to a Treasury press release, the recommendations “identify opportunities to enhance cross-border capital raising, update supervisory cooperation, and provide clarity for tokenized financial activity.”

The second publication is a joint statement on stablecoins that “supports dynamic cross-border stablecoin activity and highlights the key role of the private sector in the provision of money and payments.” Among other things, the joint statement affirms and advocates for the following principles:

Stablecoins are an important vehicle for innovation in digital money.

Policies should facilitate the coexistence and circulation of different forms of digital money solutions.

Policies should advance a timely, clear and consistent legal, regulatory and supervisory pathway for digital financial innovation, including for stablecoins.

Stablecoins held out as money should be fully backed, on at least a one-to-one basis, by high-quality, liquid assets.

Reserve, liquidity and other prudential requirements for stablecoins should seek to mitigate risks and avoid unnecessary fragmentation.

Regulatory approaches should promote innovation and resilience without imposing burdensome constraints that undermine commercial viability, create barriers to entry or hinder competition.

Policies should support the integration of well-regulated stablecoins into activities including payments, settlement and tokenized financial markets.

High standards should be set for the custody, segregation and protection of stablecoin reserves.

Policies should support clarity, predictability and cross-border coordination in the event of any potential failure of a stablecoin issuer.

Formal mechanisms are needed to enable cross-border stablecoin activity as a feature of domestic regulatory and supervisory regimes.

<a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0560">U.S.-UK Transatlantic Taskforce for the Markets of the Future Publishes Recommendations to Promote Growth and Innovation in Capital Markets and Digital Assets</a>

<a href="https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/TTMFRecommendations.pdf">Recommendations of the Transatlantic Taskforce for Markets of the Future</a>

<a href="https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/Stablecoinjointstatement.pdf">U.S.-UK Joint Statement on Stablecoins </a>

OFAC Sanctions Iran Central Bank Crypto Wallets

By <a href="https://www.bakerlaw.com/professionals/amos-kim/">Amos Kim</a>

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) recently updated its designation of the Central Bank of Iran to include four additional cryptocurrency wallet addresses. According to a Chainalysis report, the newly designated wallets collectively received $165 million in stablecoins. The report notes that following the designation update, the stablecoin issuer Tether immediately froze USDT balances totaling $131 million. According to Chainalysis, the Central Bank of Iran has used cryptocurrency to sidestep sanctions, fund the regime and funnel assets to regional partners, including a U.S.-designated terror group. Tether has now reportedly frozen a total of nearly $475 million from USDT wallet addresses identified by OFAC as belonging to the Central Bank of Iran.

<a href="https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/ofac-sanctions-iran-central-bank-crypto-wallets-freezing-131m-in-stablecoins">OFAC Sanctions Iran Central Bank Crypto Wallets, Freezing $131M in Stablecoins</a>

<a href="https://ofac.treasury.gov/recent-actions/20260714">Iran-related Designations; Iran-related and Counter Terrorism Designation Update; Issuance of Iran-related General License</a>

Interpol Operation Intercepts $293M, Targets Crypto Laundering Networks

Interpol recently announced the results of Operation First Light 2026, a coordinated global enforcement action targeting social engineering scams and associated money laundering activities. According to the press release, the operation spanned 97 countries and territories, resulting in the arrest of more than 5,000 individuals, the interception of $293 million in illicit assets and the blocking of 31,014 bank accounts. Reporting on the operation highlights several money laundering schemes that utilized digital assets to obscure financial trails. For example, authorities in Thailand disrupted a scheme that funneled illicit funds from romance scams into various cryptocurrencies using cross-chain token swaps, with one suspect’s digital wallet processing more than $122.5 million in just 10 months. Additionally, the operation resulted in the deportation from Palau of 22 individuals who operated online scam centers utilizing cryptocurrency and illegal gambling platforms to target international victims.

<a href="https://www.interpol.int/News-and-Events/News/2026/Over-5-800-arrests-USD-293-million-intercepted-in-global-fraud-bust">Over 5,800 arrests, USD 293 million intercepted in global fraud bust</a>

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