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Recently, the police in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, China, investigated a virtual currency money laundering case. The criminal gang used "free credit card repayment" as bait to attract ordinary users to provide accounts. They received illicit funds from overseas gambling and fraud through false consumption, then contacted currency dealers to exchange for virtual currency and transferred it to designated addresses abroad. Through financial and on-chain data analysis, the police identified nearly a thousand involved accounts, with suspects distributed across Inner Mongolia, Shandong, Jiangsu, Hebei, Chongqing, and other regions.The Digital Currency Research Institute of the People's Bank of China stated that it is currently using large model technology to analyze the flow of funds in virtual currency transactions, restore the gang's trading patterns, and uncover clues related to illegal industries. Upon investigation, it was confirmed that seven members of the gang were illegally engaged in payment settlement business without approval from relevant national authorities, constituting the crime of illegal operation, and were sentenced to imprisonment ranging from one year and two months to two years and six months, along with fines.Using virtual currency for money laundering is a new type of money laundering crime that has emerged in recent years. Lv Wei, the president of the Inner Mongolia branch of the People's Bank of China, stated that enhancing the monitoring and identification capabilities for abnormal fund transactions related to virtual currency trading has helped successfully crack down on a major money laundering case involving virtual currency pyramid schemes, dismantling more than ten money laundering and points-running dens, and confiscating illegal gains of approximately 130 million yuan. In recent years, there have been coordinated efforts to promote the conviction and sentencing of four cases involving money laundering using virtual currency, forming a strong deterrent against illegal activities such as money laundering with virtual currency.

HSBC officially announced that the name of its proposed Hong Kong dollar stablecoin will be "HSBC RedCoin." The bank plans to officially issue this Hong Kong dollar-denominated stablecoin in Hong Kong in the second half of this year, subject to relevant regulatory approvals.In the initial launch phase, the stablecoin will only be available through PayMe and the HSBC HK Mobile App.

Cryptocurrency payment company MoonPay announced the establishment of MoonPay Korea and is collaborating with South Korea's digital bank KakaoBank, commercial bank Woori Bank, and KB Financial Group to expand stablecoin payments and digital asset services in South Korea. MoonPay Korea will be responsible for local service development and will serve as the company's base for expansion in Asia. MoonPay's Asia-Pacific head Bugeon Lee stated that the stablecoin backed by the Korean won is expected to expand the coverage of South Korean financial institutions and provide new cross-border transaction methods for businesses, as the company hopes to build relevant infrastructure in South Korea with banking partners.The collaboration with KakaoBank focuses on blockchain-based overseas remittances, cross-border payments, and multi-currency stablecoin services. The two parties plan to initially conduct a proof of concept aimed at international students, testing the complete process of initiating transfers from South Korea, transferring via stablecoin, and converting to US dollars for deposit into a US bank account. The collaboration also covers the issuance and distribution of won-pegged stablecoins, payment settlements, as well as trading, custody, and conversion of stablecoins denominated in won, US dollars, yen, and others, with access to MoonPay's global distribution and payment network supported by assets and regions.MoonPay will collaborate with Woori Bank to provide global distribution for future won-pegged stablecoins and validate the cross-border payment settlement model for local businesses based on stablecoins. The partnership with KB Financial Group will explore card payments, global remittances, wallet custody, and stablecoin usage for individuals, institutions, and foreigners in South Korea. Founded in 2019, MoonPay claims to serve over 30 million customers in approximately 180 countries and supports more than 1,700 business clients.

Aztec Network developer Aztec Labs has relaunched the self-custody wallet zk.money, which can hide payment amounts, balances, and recipient information through the Aztec Network, and supports transfers via readable names or links. Users can deposit DAI, USDC, or USDT from Ethereum, where USDC and USDT will be converted to DAI.Deposit records can still be publicly tracked, while subsequent transaction activities remain private. The early Alpha version stipulates that single deposits, payments, and withdrawals are all below $2,500 and screens addresses according to sanction policies. The software has not yet completed a comprehensive audit and carries security risks.

According to Cointelegraph, the European Central Bank (ECB) has announced the launch of a new round of applications for the digital euro innovation platform, inviting fintech companies, payment institutions, and other organizations to explore AI agents participating in digital euro payments.The project will be divided into two parts: practical testing and future application seminars. The practical testing will take place from January to June 2027, where participants will develop prototypes for electronic receipts, multi-party transactions, conditional payments, and more.The seminars will explore AI payments, micropayments, machine-to-machine transactions, and the application of the digital euro in public services. In addition, the ECB has selected 36 banks and payment institutions, including Revolut, Stripe, and Deutsche Bank, to participate in another 12-month digital euro pilot, which is scheduled to launch in the second half of 2027. The final issuance of the digital euro still requires EU legislation and subsequent decisions from the ECB.

The fee-sharing platform Paid announced that its web application portal is now online. Users can claim eligible new fees, and the related assets will be distributed according to the quoted assets corresponding to the fees, which are mostly SOL.Paid stated that other claiming methods will be introduced later, including through private messages or tagging the official account in posts. X Money payments are still suspended, and the recovery time will be notified separately; users' historical balances will be retained independently, and the team is developing a separate claiming plan for this portion of the balance, hoping to restore X Money payments in the future.

Circle has partnered with payment technology company Volante Technologies to integrate USDC-related workflows into Volante's existing payment platform. Financial institutions can incorporate stablecoin payments and settlements into their existing systems without having to build a separate digital asset technology stack.Volante's clients include four of the top five corporate banks globally and seven of the top ten banks in the United States. These institutions will be able to evaluate processes such as USDC minting, redemption, wallet registration, fund injection, and inter-wallet payments, and use them in parallel with existing payment rails.

According to Bitcoin Magazine, Bitcoin software provider Breez announced that applications built on its Breez SDK now support users receiving stablecoin payments from over 30 networks using their Bitcoin balance.Breez stated that after the recipient selects the network and amount of the payer, the SDK generates a deposit address and displays the amount received, while the payer pays from their wallet as usual; Flashnet completes the exchange in the background, and the funds ultimately enter the recipient's non-custodial wallet in the form of Bitcoin, or in the form of USD if the stable balance feature is used.In June of this year, Breez launched the ability to send USDT/USDC, allowing a single Breez-powered balance to transfer stablecoins bi-directionally across almost all networks. This update is the latest in a series of usability upgrades, following the rollout of features such as Passkey login, Cash App instant account opening, and stable balance. Breez also launched a reference application called Glow in August to showcase the capabilities of the SDK.The Breez SDK is a developer toolkit that allows applications to add Bitcoin payments without having to build their own payment infrastructure, covering wallet creation, sending and receiving, and Lightning Network payments. Developers can provide Bitcoin functionality with minimal code, without needing to run nodes or manage liquidity.In July of this year, Breez announced a partnership with Turnkey, allowing developers to add non-custodial Bitcoin support to wallet applications running on their own servers.

A survey by the Democratic Party of the U.S. Senate claims that the stablecoin USDT issued by Tether has become a major payment method for Iran. The survey shows that among over 800 sanctioned cryptocurrency wallets, about 84% primarily or exclusively use USDT.The U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations had previously stated that its review of blockchain records, sanctions lists, and asset seizure notices found that the sanctioned wallets are mainly distributed across the Tron and Ethereum networks and have conducted USDT transactions.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Citigroup has reached a partnership with Coinbase, allowing Citigroup's institutional clients (including large multinational corporations) to accept customer stablecoin payments through Citigroup's merchant acquiring services. Coinbase will provide the stablecoin payment channel and underlying blockchain technology, automatically converting stablecoins into fiat currency, with Citigroup acting as the custodian bank to complete the funds settlement.At the same time, Coinbase's payment clients can leverage Citigroup's banking capabilities to receive, hold, and make payments using tools similar to bank accounts. The cash received will automatically be converted into stablecoins and stored in Coinbase, currently earning an annualized reward of 3.75% in interest-like benefits.

According to CoinDesk, the stablecoin payment company RedotPay, headquartered in Hong Kong, announced on Monday that it has completed financial audits and compliance reviews for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing, both of which were conducted by one of the Big Four accounting firms. This move is a necessary preparatory step for applying for an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States.

UsePaid posted on X that X Money payments have currently been suspended, and the team is addressing the payment issues. Existing balances remain secure, and related fees will continue to accumulate.UsePaid stated that before restoring full payment services, a web portal will be launched as a temporary fund application channel, and they are committed to resuming payment operations as soon as possible.

Payment company Block announced the integration of the Bitcoin Lightning Network into the x402 payment standard. The x402 protocol can complete verification and unlock data through Lightning Network invoices and payment preimages after the server returns an HTTP 402 payment request.Steve Lee, head of Block's open-source Bitcoin development department Spiral, stated that this integration is aimed at instant, low-cost micropayment scenarios. Block has not yet disclosed the timeline for integrating this standard into Cash App, Square, or Bitkey, and the related Python implementation still needs to be tested through real nodes.

Revoke.cash stated that Limit Break's payment processor has a known vulnerability, and users who traded NFTs on the Magic Eden Ethereum marketplace may still retain relevant contract authorizations.The vulnerability has been addressed by white hat security researcher 0xQuit. Currently, NFT assets are expected to be unaffected, but users should still check and revoke affected authorizations to reduce subsequent risks.

The Circle Foundation announced two grants to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Food Programme (WFP) to explore the application of digital payments and digital financial infrastructure in humanitarian aid and development projects.The Circle Foundation stated that the relevant programs will study how to utilize digital payments and regulated payment-type stablecoins to disburse funds to aid recipients more quickly, transparently, and at a lower cost.For the UNDP, the grant will be used to establish and operate a "Digital Asset Innovation Pool," helping country offices expand previous digital payment pilot projects conducted in Syria, Haiti, Guatemala, and Gambia from single projects to regular project execution, and provide support such as regulation, operations, and beneficiary protection; this mechanism will not replace traditional banking channels but will serve as a complementary option outside the existing payment system.For the WFP, the grant will support the establishment of governance, risk management, funding, reconciliation systems, and compliance tools necessary for stablecoin payments, and integrate local fintech and mobile payment services. Over the next three years, the WFP plans to test 2 to 3 payment channels connecting its payment system with local financial service providers and markets to assess the performance of stablecoin payments in terms of efficiency, transparency, and resilience.

According to CoinDesk, the stablecoin issuer Tether stated that its assets held in the licensed digital bank EQIBank in Dominica account for less than 0.034% of the group's total assets. Based on Tether's disclosed total group assets of $18.775 billion in June, its related exposure is approximately $64 million, but Tether did not disclose the specific amount.It was reported that EQIBank processes customer funds through the U.S. payment processor Capstone, which utilizes accounts at Wells Fargo and JPMorgan for fund transfers. U.S. prosecutors have seized funds related to Capstone's accounts and filed a civil forfeiture lawsuit, accusing it of making false representations about its business to the bank. EQIBank stated that approximately $89 million in funds have been seized, equivalent to about 80% of its monetary assets, which may expose it to liquidation risks.Previously, EQIBank provided banking services to Tether, including processing wire transfers related to the purchase and redemption of USDT. Tether stated that it is not aware of the actions related to Capstone as alleged by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Bitcoin News posted on the X platform that Block has joined the x402 Foundation and is providing Bitcoin Lightning Network support for the AI agent-oriented open payment standard x402.x402 embeds payments directly into HTTP, allowing AI agents to autonomously pay for goods, services, and other agent tool fees. Block stated that the Lightning Network is suitable for the billions of instant, low-cost micropayments expected to be generated by the agent economy.

According to The Block, the Solana Foundation announced the appointment of Rachel Conlan as Chief Strategy Officer and Jamal Raees as General Manager of Payment Business to expand institutional adoption and payment operations. Conlan previously worked at Binance for three years and held senior management positions at companies such as OKX; Raees comes from Polygon Labs and will be responsible for collaborating with payment companies, enterprises, and ecosystem partners to promote Solana as a global payment infrastructure.The Solana Foundation stated that this year, Solana's stablecoin trading volume has exceeded $50 trillion, the on-chain real-world assets (RWA) scale has surpassed $4.5 billion, and the supply of tokenized stocks has exceeded $620 million.

According to Specter Investigation monitoring, the privacy stablecoin payment network Payy Network is suspected to have been attacked, with approximately 1.8 million USDC transferred away.The attacker previously obtained initial funds through the privacy protocol Railgun, then exchanged the stolen USDC for ETH and dispersed the funds to three addresses.

On the morning of the event "Intelligent Payment Qianhai · Welcoming APCE" held on that day, Tencent announced the official launch of TenPay Go, the first payment application for overseas users coming to China. This tool supports foreign card payments, Apple Pay, and other payment methods for individuals coming to China to make purchases within the WeChat Pay merchant network.According to Caixin, TenPay Go has currently partnered with seven major international card organizations, including UnionPay and VISA, and can bind nearly 60 overseas wallets. TenPay Go will also collaborate with Shenzhen Tong to create a transportation card service, which can be activated for immediate use by overseas individuals, allowing them to scan codes to take the Shenzhen subway and buses, with internal testing expected to launch in late September.