Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode: Defending "Free Banking" from the critics – and why stablecoins are unlike free banks The American Bankers Association doesn't like new crypto charters Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino announces the company's plan to launch a new US-based stablecoin this year Strategy announced the plans for the fourth preferred stock offering this week, STRC, or "Stretch." Anchorage Digital, which does hold an OCC banking charter, is launching a new stablecoin issuance platform. The first stablecoin product will be USDtb in partnership with Ethena Labs The Senate Banking Committee released their discussion draft for crypto market structure legislation this week, designed to build off the House's passage of the CLARITY Act last week Citadel Securities has expressed concern around the rise of tokenized securities Bhutan's Bitcoin trade BitGo, a crypto custody provider, and Bullish, a crypto exchange, both announced that they had confidentially filed an S-1 Further reading: Wired, The Great Crypto Re-Banking Has Begun Galaxy Digital, Crypto Policy Under Trump: H1 2025 Report
