French lawmakers back crypto exit tax, but budget hurdle remains
Committee proposals would cover crypto holdings above €800,000 and require disclosure of some self-custody wallets. They must be resubmitted after a budget vote.
Circle targets expansion into about 40 new markets
CEO Jeremy Allaire said demand is growing across developing regions as the issuer expands following a $400 million acquisition of Tazapay.
Circle is seeking to enter about 40 countries across emerging and developing economies, CEO and Chairman Jeremy Allaire said on October 16. Speaking at the IMF and World Bank meetings in Bangkok, he said blockchain use was shifting beyond early adopters toward wider adoption.
Allaire said individuals and businesses were driving increased demand for stablecoins and digital services in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa. Circle's expansion is supported by its acquisition of Tazapay for $400 million and a strategic investment of $100 million from Binance.
Circulation of USDC, Circle's dollar-backed stablecoin, reached $73.3 billion in the second quarter, up 19% from a year earlier. Circle accounts for roughly 25% of the global stablecoin market, compared with nearly 60% for Tether's USDT.
The U.S. Genius Act is scheduled to take effect in January. Circle obtained a federal bank charter in July, becoming one of the first stablecoin issuers to do so. Allaire described banks' efforts to launch competing stablecoins and digital-asset services as evidence of healthy competition.
BlackRock, Visa and Standard Chartered are among the firms using Circle's Arc operating system for on-chain infrastructure. Allaire said transactions between AI agents were also increasing USDC use, while warning that AI's expansion creates greater security risks for financial infrastructure providers.