cross-border

According to ChianCatcher news, OKX founder Star tweeted that the team completed a significant engineering milestone last week, successfully migrating a high-traffic core trading system from one country to another with zero user-visible downtime. The only impact was a temporary increase in latency of about 30-40 minutes. The team believes this may be the first achievement of its kind in the industry at this scale. Migrating a key trading system while maintaining uninterrupted service, data integrity, and trading continuity is extremely challenging.

The South African National Treasury and the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) have released a draft regulation for cross-border transfers of crypto assets. Farzam Ehsani, co-founder and CEO of the crypto asset trading platform VALR, stated that unless key terms are significantly modified, the relevant framework could harm the domestic digital asset industry and drive funds overseas.The draft allows individual residents to transfer crypto assets abroad within the existing foreign exchange limits but restricts companies from engaging in cross-border crypto asset transactions and categorizes some deposits from private non-custodial wallets as unacceptable transfers for local crypto asset service providers (CASP). Ehsani believes this could prompt businesses and retail investors to turn to overseas platforms.Ehsani pointed out that prohibiting regulated entities from processing legitimate business transactions, especially cross-border stablecoin payments, could push transactions underground or abroad, thereby undermining the visibility and monitoring capabilities that regulators hope to achieve. The South African National Treasury and SARB have opened a public consultation, with the feedback deadline set for September 30.

According to Jinshi reports, Guangdong Province is publicly soliciting opinions on the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the China (Guangdong) Pilot Free Trade Zone (Draft for Comments)," which aims to orderly expand financial openness and promote the expansion of pilot projects for cross-border payments using digital RMB.The plan mentions supporting the establishment of headquarters for international financial institutions, promoting innovative businesses such as cross-border finance and green finance, and deepening pilot projects for the transfer of cross-border credit assets.

Global Stablecoin Arrangement and Liquidity Network Borderless.xyz announced a partnership with Mastercard to launch a pilot program exploring how to enhance trust and compliance in cross-border stablecoin payments through Mastercard Crypto Credential.The pilot will utilize the standardized framework of Mastercard Crypto Credential to provide verifiable trust signals for stablecoin payment processes, helping participants optimize approval, compliance, and risk management. Participants in the pilot include Infinia, Walapay, and Koywe from the Borderless.xyz network.

According to Cointelegraph, payment giant Mastercard has announced a pilot project with the stablecoin infrastructure network Borderless to explore the use of the Mastercard Crypto Credential standard framework to provide more reliable identity verification and compliance support for cross-border stablecoin payments.Both parties stated that the pilot will test how to provide "trust signals" that can be used for approval, compliance review, and risk management for transaction participants through a standardized certification mechanism, reducing compliance friction in cross-border stablecoin payments.The Mastercard Crypto Credential framework provides identity confirmation and credibility assurance for blockchain transactions through unified standards and verification mechanisms. Kevin Lehtiniitty, co-founder and CEO of Borderless, stated that compliance has always been a major barrier to the scalable development of stablecoin payments, and Mastercard is attempting to apply the compliance trust model from traditional finance to the digital asset payment space. He pointed out that the Mastercard Crypto Credential will serve as a governance and verification layer in this pilot, but Mastercard will not directly handle or settle funds. This collaboration is the latest move in Mastercard's ongoing strategy in the stablecoin space.Previously, Mastercard had just completed the acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK for approximately $1.8 billion, further strengthening its infrastructure layout in the digital asset payment field. In June of this year, Mastercard also announced plans to expand its settlement capabilities to support round-the-clock card payment settlements using stablecoins, including USDC issued by Circle, PYUSD, USDG, USDP issued by Paxos, and RLUSD issued by Ripple.The market believes that as stablecoins gradually enter cross-border payment scenarios, identity authentication, compliance verification, and risk control infrastructure will become important factors driving institutional adoption.

The South African National Treasury and the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) have jointly released the "Draft Manual on Cross-Border Crypto Asset Activities," which is now open for public consultation, with a deadline of September 30, 2026.This manual is implemented in conjunction with the previously released "Draft Regulations on Capital Flow Management 2026," aiming to strengthen the regulation of cross-border financial activities and prevent the risks of illegal fund flows related to crypto assets.The manual specifies the triggers for cross-border crypto asset transactions—when crypto assets are transferred between authorized CASPs in South Africa and foreign CASPs, or when they are transferred from an authorized CASP in South Africa to a non-custodial wallet, this constitutes cross-border capital inflow or outflow and must be reported to the Financial Surveillance Department (FinSurv).It is noteworthy that, at this stage, individuals are only allowed to conduct outbound crypto asset operations through authorized CASPs within a single discretionary limit or foreign capital limit, and South African entities are currently not permitted to engage in related cross-border operations.Furthermore, the manual does not currently differentiate between different types of crypto assets, nor does it classify crypto assets as South Africa's official currency.

The Thai Immigration Bureau recently issued a warning, pointing out that while the cross-border trade of amulets is thriving, it is being exploited by gray capital networks as a money laundering channel.From online gambling, telecom fraud to drug smuggling, some illegal proceeds are being disguised as legitimate business income through means such as amulet trading, fake auctions, temple rentals, and cryptocurrency peer-to-peer transfers.

According to News.bitcoin, MoneyFlip CEO Marcos Arturo Kleiman Tronllan was arrested for allegedly hiring a hitman. The investigation initially targeted currency exchange businesses near the US-Mexico border, suspecting that he used the business to evade the requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act and launder money through cross-border transactions (to clean drug trafficking proceeds).In February 2026, an undercover agent from the Department of Homeland Security contacted Kleiman, requesting to exchange dollars claimed to be from drug transactions into cryptocurrency. Kleiman exchanged approximately $750,000 into cryptocurrency and transferred it to the undercover wallet, charging a 10% fee. During discussions, Kleiman asked the undercover agent to help collect debts from a Mexican businessman and to commit murder, agreeing to pay $40,000 for kidnapping and murder. Kleiman paid a cash deposit of $5,000 in two installments; after the undercover agent presented forged "victim murder" photos and videos, he delivered an additional $5,000 in cash and approximately $25,000 USDT as final payment.

According to The Block, the Project Agorá led by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has completed a real test of cross-border payments, with participation from five central banks and 28 commercial banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, UBS, Deutsche Bank, and Standard Chartered. The test utilized tokenized central bank reserves and commercial bank deposits, completing approximately $1 million in real transactions involving six currencies: USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, CHF, and KRW, with an average settlement time of about 80 seconds.The test used a shared ledger, allowing banks to complete transactions on a single record, and tested synchronized foreign exchange settlements to reduce counterparty risk. Project Agorá is one of several wholesale tokenization projects aimed at exploring how digital technology can modernize the infrastructure of global financial markets.

According to Cointelegraph, the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has released a policy research report titled "Stablecoin Sprint," gathering opinions from industry participants such as banks, payment companies, and stablecoin issuers.The report points out that stablecoins have recently shown significant advantages in the field of cross-border payments, especially providing substantial assistance to emerging markets with limited access to US dollar channels; however, in the domestic retail payment scenario in the UK, the existing payment systems are already relatively fast and inexpensive, leading to a lack of motivation for consumers to switch, and the adoption speed is expected to lag behind. The findings of the above research have been incorporated into the final regulatory rules released by the FCA on June 30, which require that stablecoins issued in the UK must be fully backed by reserve assets and redeemable at face value.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) stated in its financial system stability assessment report released this month that Brazil's cross-border capital flows based on cryptocurrency have continued to grow since 2017, surpassing traditional capital flows. The report indicates that these capital flows are mostly driven by stablecoins, as businesses and retail investors use stablecoins for efficiency and tax-related reasons. The flow of stablecoins is related to international and local investment indicators such as the S&P 500, VIX, and Bitcoin prices, and is also influenced by exchange rates, interest rates, policy uncertainty, and changes in tax policies.The IMF noted that the Central Bank of Brazil has taken measures to regulate the virtual asset service provider (VASP) industry, but there are still shortcomings in areas such as customer legal protection and asset segregation. Comprehensive implementation of international standards such as the travel rule for anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) is still needed. The report pointed out that Brazil's cryptocurrency system is connected to the traditional financial system, and regulators need to cooperate with domestic and international regulatory bodies to establish a more robust reporting mechanism. The Brazilian Congress is preparing to review Bill 4308/2024 to regulate the status of stablecoins.

KB Kookmin Bank announced that it will launch a cross-border corporate payment service based on the Kinexys blockchain payment network under JPMorgan in August, becoming the first financial institution in South Korea to apply this network for import and export enterprise settlements.It is reported that the service will initially support USD remittances, covering 10 countries including the United States, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, and is expected to shorten the cross-time zone payment time with regions such as the United States and the Middle East.

The Shanghai Branch of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) has collaborated with ICBC Singapore Branch to successfully implement the country's first cross-border payment business between China and Singapore based on the digital renminbi cross-border settlement comprehensive service platform "Digital Currency Express" (CBETS). This transaction, involving nearly ten million yuan in import shipping fees, was fully paid using digital renminbi, with funds arriving in the Singapore recipient's account on the same day, achieving "zero time difference" and "high transparency" in cross-border fund transfers. The service targets subsidiaries of central enterprise group trade platforms that regularly need to procure iron ore from abroad and pay for shipping fees, with high frequency and large amounts of cross-border settlements."Digital Currency Express" is a cross-border settlement infrastructure built by the International Operation Center of Digital Renminbi under the guidance of the People's Bank of China's Digital Currency Research Institute. Overseas participants can access services through the Hong Kong access point "One Point Access", compatible with both centralized and blockchain systems, and the message standards comply with ISO20022. On June 16, 2026, the first batch of 26 financial institutions signed direct participant service agreements. This business marks a significant breakthrough for ICBC in leveraging the infrastructure of the International Operation Center of Digital Renminbi to establish an integrated cross-border clearing system for domestic and foreign branches, achieving comprehensive coverage of two-way digital renminbi payment and receipt services with Singapore and Laos.

Cryptocurrency trading and liquidity service provider Cumberland announced on platform X that its Singapore subsidiary Cumberland SG Pte. Ltd. has obtained the MPI license issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), allowing it to provide Digital Payment Token (DPT) services and cross-border money transfer services.

According to Forbes, the stablecoin banking platform Flex announced the completion of a $70 million B1 round of financing, led by Halo Fund.The new funds will be used to expand its stablecoin-based cross-border commercial banking platform Flex Global, helping medium-sized enterprises conduct global payments and fund management through stablecoin infrastructure.Data shows that the annual payment scale of stablecoins has reached approximately $390 billion, with inter-enterprise transactions growing by about 733% year-on-year. Meanwhile, the settlement scale of Visa stablecoins has reached an annualized $7 billion as of April 2026, a year-on-year increase of 50%.

Cryptocurrency trading and liquidity service provider Cumberland announced on platform X that its Singapore subsidiary Cumberland SG Pte. Ltd. has obtained the MPI license issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), allowing it to conduct Digital Payment Token (DPT) services and cross-border money transfer services.

According to The Block, the Benchmark Report released by Borderless.xyz for Q2 2026 shows that the delivery quotes for stablecoin cross-border payments in each month of the second quarter were all below the interbank foreign exchange rate midpoint. Data covering 108 countries and 260 payment corridors indicates that the median "parity spread" for the quarter was -3.2 basis points, further widening to -5.9 basis points in June, marking the deepest negative value of the year.The report also shows that the typical delivery cost for a $10,000 cross-border payment in the second quarter was approximately $27, and it has remained around this level for five consecutive months. If companies only connect to a single service provider in the long term, they will pay an average of about $2,330 more compared to the optimal quote for every $1 million payment scale, known as the "routing tax."Regionally, the African market showed the most significant fluctuations, with the price point spread widening by 166 basis points to 512.8 basis points; Latin America compressed to 89.0 basis points, while Asia remained relatively stable at 6.1 basis points. In specific corridors, Malawi experienced a one-day repricing of 5.8% on April 9, with the typical spread jumping from about 296 basis points to 1975 basis points.

According to official news, Swift announced that its blockchain-based ledger is ready, and 17 banks from six continents are preparing to pilot the use of tokenized deposits for 24/7 cross-border payment trials.The ledger provides a secure orchestration layer for participating banks, supporting them in issuing tokenized deposits on their own ledgers, enabling around-the-clock fund movement before final settlement through existing systems. Participating banks include ANZ, BNP Paribas, BNY Mellon, Citibank, DBS Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, FirstRand Bank, HSBC, Itaú Unibanco, Lloyds Bank, Mashreq Bank, MUFG, OCBC Bank, Standard Chartered, UBS Group, UOB, and Wells Fargo.

Hyundai Card announced on the 9th that it has completed a proof of concept (PoC) for cross-border remittances based on stablecoins with Hyundai Motor America (HMA) and Hyundai Motor Mexico (HMM). In the first PoC, the U.S. entity converted $20,000 into USDT and then remitted it to the Mexican entity, which converted it back to dollars. The entire process, including international remittance and verification, averaged only 7 minutes, significantly shorter than the 3 to 4 hours typically required for traditional bank cross-border remittances. Tether and Avalanche participated in this verification.The second phase of the PoC will be launched at the end of this month, targeting Hyundai Motor's European entity, to conduct actual remittances in local currency instead of dollars, verifying the cost-saving effects of currency exchange. Circle and Visa will participate as partners. Hyundai Card emphasized that this verification has comprehensively considered regulatory requirements such as accounting, taxation, legal, and internal controls, going beyond mere technical testing to reach the level of actual business deployment. In the future, there are plans to expand the application of stablecoins to inter-entity settlements and fund transfers within Hyundai Motor Group's global network.