Citi, Western Union Accelerate Stablecoins as Mining & Loans Rise
Citi and Western Union are moving to expand stablecoin adoption following the 2025 GENIUS Act. Citi has teamed up with Coinbase to enable faster on-chain stablecoin payments for institutional clients, targeting programmable fiat-to-crypto transactions and a projected $4 trillion stablecoin market by 2030. Western Union, in partnership with Anchorage Digital Bank, is building USDPT, a Solana-based US Dollar Payment Token, set to launch in mid-2026 for low-cost cross-border remittances and exchange liquidity. Meanwhile, Bitcoin mining competition has ramped up since the 2024 halving. Mid-tier operators such as Cipher Mining, Bitdeer and HIVE Digital are significantly boosting hashrate, narrowing the gap with leaders like Marathon and CleanSpark, and exploring AI workloads to offset lower block rewards. In crypto lending, Ledn has issued over $1 billion in BTC-backed loans this year, offering holders liquidity without selling assets. Traders should watch stablecoin infrastructure developments, hashrate trends and BTC-backed loan rates as key market indicators.
Bullish
The accelerated adoption of stablecoins by Citi and Western Union boosts on-chain liquidity and transactional demand, while intensified Bitcoin mining competition strengthens network security. Expanding BTC-backed lending points to growing investor confidence and reluctance to sell holdings. Combined, these trends support higher on-chain activity, greater market depth and bullish price pressure in both short and long term.