Although the crypto industry had seen major growth driven by stablecoins, it experienced one of its toughest times as major cryptocurrencies dipped, given the ongoing geopolitical tensions and other macroeconomic factors. Here are some top crypto news stories from last week, and key developments to watch for this week.
Canada lags behind G7 nations in stablecoin regulation
Among the G7 countries, Canada has not yet established a clear, stablecoin regulatory framework, while other countries are moving faster with rules. The delay stems from several reasons, specifically the authorities’ uncertainty about stablecoin classification (derivatives or securities).
Circle mints 500 million USDC as stablecoin volume surges
Stablecoin issuer Circle has minted nearly 500 million USDC, its native stablecoin pegged to the US dollar. The minting happened amid the growing volume of stablecoins driven by increased institutional trading, treasury management, cross-border payments, and retail investors taking charge.
Tether mints $1 billion in USDT on Tron blockchain
Here is another notable development for the stablecoin industry. Tether, the largest stablecoin issuer, minted $1billion in USDT as stablecoin issuance touched $4.7 billion in a week. The firm minted the stablecoins on the Tron blockchain, signaling fresh liquidity available in the crypto industry.
Russia’s Sberbank plans to issue crypto-backed loans
Sberbank, Russia’s largest lender bank, has active plans to roll out crypto-backed loans for corporate clients as the country is moving to launch crypto regulations.
In December 2026, the bank had already started exploring different ways to provide crypto-based lending services. For this, the bank issued a test loan, a Bitcoin-collateralized loan to Intelion Data, a mining firm based in Russia. The latest update to this pilot test is about the firm’s active planning process to issue crypto-backed loans.
China moves to crack down on crypto, RWA tokenization
Multiple regulatory authorities and central banks in China have further tightened their grip on cryptocurrency, stablecoins, and real-world asset tokenization (RWA). The country expanded its enforcement to the industry by banning unauthorized distribution of yuan-pegged stablecoins in foreign countries, imposing stricter oversight of asset tokenization, and other crypto-related activities.
CFTC expands stablecoin collateral rules
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) re-published a Staff Letter to update the definition of payment stablecoin. The new update now includes stablecoins issued by national trust banks to use as tokenized collateral in derivatives markets.
Earlier, the CFTC had not clearly stated that stablecoins from federally chartered national banks could be used as tokenized collateral under its framework.
Besides these news stories, the crypto industry saw major headlines such as Gemini crypto exchange’s plan to reduce its workforce, the US state of Nevada suing Coinbase for allegedly offering unlicensed sports betting, and Ethereum and Aave executives selling ETH amid fears of a market downtrend, and more.
Crypto developments to watch this week
In fact, the crypto market is the crucial niche that crypto people would eagerly look for in this week. Bitcoin had been swinging between $65,000-$69,000 in the last week, with major coins following the master coin.
Besides, VeChain’s governance vote on the ‘DBA adjustment & allocation reduction proposal’ is expected to wrap up on February 9. On the same day, derivatives marketplace CME Group will launch regulated futures trading for cryptocurrencies such as Cardano, Chainlink, and Stellar. The crypto industry will also see token unlocks, including Layer-1 blockchain Aptos’ 0.69% of token unlock from its released supply.
