USDC Is Being Used for More Than Trading, and Bybit Is Expanding Support on XDC
As 2025 winds down, stablecoins like USDC are being used for more than just trading. They are increasingly part of payments, business transfers, and routine movement of funds, not only activity tied to market cycles. As more money moves more often, the way those transfers settle has started to matter far more than it used to.
That change has put pressure on existing blockchain networks. Activity picked up over the second half of the year, and during busy periods this showed up through higher fees, slower confirmations, and less predictable transfer costs.
On Ethereum, for example, sending USDC late in 2025 has often cost anywhere from a few dollars to well over ten dollars during periods of congestion, meaning even a basic transfer can end up costing more than expected.
By the second half of the year, fee volatility had become another familiar issue. Gas-based pricing means the cost of a stablecoin transfer can change quickly depending on network conditions, making routine payments harder to plan for traders, businesses, and treasury teams. In practice, once exchange and transfer fees are factored in, the cost advantage of using stablecoins can narrow more than many users expect.
Thats where Bybits decision to add USDC support on the XDC Network fits in. As stablecoin transfers become part of everyday activity, exchanges are under pressure to offer routes that are easier to manage and more predictable. How quickly and cheaply funds can move now matters as much as access itself.
Most users dont care about blockchain labels anymore. They care about whether a transfer clears quickly and what it costs them in the end, said Angus OCallaghan, head of trading and markets at XDC Network. If stablecoins are going to function as everyday financial tools, the infrastructure underneath them has to feel reliable, not stressful.
Bybit Waives USDC Fees on XDC and Launches $200,000 Reward Program
For most stablecoin users, access isnt the problem anymore. USDC is already available on nearly every major exchange. What people care about now is whether moving funds actually works the way they need it to: quickly, regularly, and without having to think twice about the cost.
Bybits recent changes make sense within this context. Alongside opening another route for USDC transfers, the exchange is waiving withdrawal fees on XDC from December 1, 2025 through January 1, 2026, and offering a 200,000 USDC reward pool for new users who register and make qualifying deposits.
From a user point of view, this is less about features and more about convenience. When transfers start to feel expensive or unpredictable, people naturally change how they move money. Some wait longer to transfer, others batch payments, and some avoid smaller transactions altogether. Having another option available makes those decisions easier.
For Bybit users, USDC on XDC simply adds flexibility. It gives them another way to move funds when the usual routes dont feel like the best choice, without changing what theyre using or how they think about stablecoins.
What This Signals for Exchanges
Bybits recent move around USDC transfers reflects a change thats starting to show up across the exchange landscape. While Bybit has taken a clear step in expanding how users can move funds, its also part of a wider pattern playing out over the past few weeks.
BTSE, KuCoin, MEXC, Gate.io, Bitrue, and Pionex have also expanded support for XDC, enabling deposits, withdrawals, and trading. Taken together, these moves point to growing interest among exchanges in settlement networks that can handle regular transfer activity without the fee swings seen on more congested chains.
For exchanges, the reasoning is largely practical. As stablecoin flows increase, relying on a small set of networks can make platforms more exposed to sudden cost changes and slower settlement during peak periods. Adding alternative routes gives exchanges more flexibility, helps smooth out those pressures, and offers users more consistent ways to move funds without changing the assets they already use.
All of this is also happening as stablecoins start to be treated more like real payment tools. In the U.S., proposals such as the GENIUS Act are focused on putting clearer rules around how stablecoins are issued and used, especially for payments and institutional activity. As that happens, the way stablecoins move between platforms and networks becomes more than a technical detail and part of what users and institutions expect by default.
When stablecoins start getting used outside of trading, the conversation changes, OCallaghan added. Once there are clearer rules around how theyre meant to work, like whats being discussed with the GENIUS Act, people stop treating transfers as experiments. They expect them to behave like regular payments: to go through on time, at a cost they can understand, and without needing to second-guess every move.
XDC in Practice
XDC Network is mostly used for practical, behind-the-scenes work rather than consumer-facing crypto activity. Its been used in areas like trade finance, real-world asset tokenization, and settlement processes where systems need to work consistently and without surprises.
That same setup also works well for moving stablecoins. Transfers on XDC tend to go through quickly and usually cost very little, which matters more now that stablecoin transfers became more common. For people or businesses sending USDC often, lower and more predictable costs make those transfers easier to manage over time.
This is starting to show in the data. The amount of USDC issued on XDC has continued to rise and recently passed $200 million, indicating that usage is moving beyond early tests and into more regular activity. Rather than brief spikes, the numbers point to steady use by participants who move funds often.
Image source: USDC.COOL
From XDCs side, integrations like Bybits are mainly about being useful. The network is being used as another place where stablecoin transfers can happen reliably, rather than as something meant to attract attention on its own.
XDC was also designed with institutional payment flows in mind, where predictable settlement and consistent costs matter more than short-term optimization. That makes it practical for businesses and financial institutions moving stablecoins at scale, where delays or sudden fee swings quickly turn into operational problems.
That focus is already showing up in how the network is being used. Beyond basic transfers, XDC supports more complex financial workflows, including global payments, tokenized settlement, and stablecoin-based liquidity. Assets like USDC are increasingly used within these flows, including as collateral, and more than $500 million worth of assets have already been tokenized and settled on the network.
Image source: TradeFi Network
This kind of activity is especially relevant for trade finance and cross-border settlement, where funds need to move reliably across jurisdictions rather than fluctuate with market conditions. As more payment and trade processes move on-chain, infrastructure that can handle steady, high-volume transfers becomes less of a nice-to-have and more of a requirement.
Closing
In the end, decisions like Bybits USDC support on XDC are not about any single network or promotion and more about how exchanges are adjusting to a maturing market. For the exchange, offering another way to move USDC is part of that adjustment making sure the experience holds up not just during quiet periods, but when activity picks up and small frictions start to matter. XDCs role in that setup reflects how infrastructure choices are becoming part of the exchanges responsibility, even if they stay largely out of sight.
Good infrastructure doesnt draw attention to itself, OCallaghan concludes. When it works properly, users barely think about it, and thats usually the goal.
Read the article at BeInCrypto

usmanaslam786
2025/12/17 04:46
Here’s your crypto news update for today (December 17, 2025) — covering market moves, regulation, new listings, and ecosystem developments:
📉 Market & Price Action
Bitcoin trading volume surged ~75% amid volatility, showing strong activity even in a shaky market.
Forced liquidations hit the market, with Bitcoin and Ethereum down significantly — a sign of elevated volatility and bearish pressure.
Bitcoin price around ~$87K area, with traders watching year-end positioning and potential rebounds.
Altcoins like XDC saw short-term gains (~6% in 24h), highlighting mixed sentiment across the token landscape.
🏛️ Regulation & Policy
U.S. Senate pushed the crypto market structure bill to 2026, delaying comprehensive market rules.
U.S. regulators dropped the “systemic risk” label for crypto, shifting focus toward integration with traditional finance.
India’s Competition Commission cleared Coinbase’s stake buy in DCX, signaling ongoing institutional involvement in crypto markets.
📈 Institutional & Corporate Moves
Visa launched stablecoin settlement for U.S. banks, enabling USDC settlement and faster transaction rails — a big infrastructure step.
HashKey exchange debuted on Hong Kong’s stock market, marking a notable crypto firm IPO in Asia.
Bitget expanded offerings with gold, forex, and commodities markets for its crypto user base.
🌍 Broader Crypto Ecosystem
Ripple-linked ETFs and Bitcoin flows show diverging patterns, with XRP gaining ongoing spot ETF inflows while BTC ETFs see outflows.
Global market pressures — including concerns over Japanese rate hikes — could influence risk assets like crypto.
🔥 Key Themes Right Now
Bearish near-term price action — forced liquidations and broad sell-offs;
Institutional adoption continues building — Visa, exchanges listing, stablecoin settlements;
Regulatory developments evolve slowly — delayed bills but policy shifts underway.
If you want, I can also include current live prices (BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL) or a quick market sentiment snapshot (fear/greed index).
Morning Minute: Decrypt Names Trump as Crypto Person of the Year
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Today’s top news:
Crypto majors fall hard to start the week; BTC at $87,200
JPMorgan launches new tokenized money market fund on Ethereum
Decrypt names Trump as Crypto Person of the Year
The Senate punted the crypto market structure bill to 2026
MetaMask added native Bitcoin support with new in-wallet functionality
🏆 Decrypt Names Trump Its Crypto Person of the Year
This one would’ve sounded insane just a few years ago.
Decrypt just named Donald Trump itsCrypto Person of the Year.
📌 What Happened
Decrypt crowned Trump as its top crypto figure of the year, pointing to how deeply crypto has been pulled into mainstream U.S. politics during his campaign and presidency.
Under his administration, crypto went from being treated as a regulatory threat to something closer to a strategic asset.
Stablecoins, Bitcoin mining, and market structure clarity all moved closer to the center of the policy conversation, even if the details are still being fought over.
Decrypt argued that no individual did more in 2024–2025 to accelerate crypto’s political relevance.
They also acknowledged some of the downsides of Trump’s crypto forays, including multiple NFT collections, meme coins and family-linked crypto business ventures.
And they gave airtime to Trump’s critics, who brought up several concerns with the Trump crypto links including conflict-of-interest concerns, undermining founding principles, corruption and pay-for-play, industry favoritism and the broader partisan politicization of crypto.
🗣️ What Are They Saying
“They’re trying to create a regulatory climate where you can scam whoever you want and nothing happens. None of that is really relevant to what we’re working on, or to Bitcoin.”
“If you want to make a token, and as long as you let the Trump family invest in it, then I guess sure, you’ll be fine.”
Alex Gladstein, HRF Chief Strategy Officer
“Bitcoin aligns itself beautifully with liberalism, and liberalism is all about individual liberty, and civil rights, and freedom of expression. But now it’s associated with authoritarian-style politics, just because this bargain was made.”
“I’m definitely not against the government adopting or getting involved with Bitcoin,” he said. “I just am more concerned with the damage that we’re doing to Bitcoin’s reputation among the public.”
pseudonymous Bitcoin users Porteaux 🧠 Why It Matters It’s difficult to argue that Trump is not the single most impactful person to crypto over the past year.
The difficulty comes in assessing whether that impact has been net positive or negative.
On the positive side, Trump has opened America’s doors to crypto again just a few years after Operation Chokepoint 2.0 almost shut it down completely.
He has set up task forces and ushered in the crypto regulatory era, building a foundation that will be hard to tear down.
As an immediate impact, the ETF floodgates have opened, banks and TradFi are embracing crypto, stablecoin adoption is soaring, ICOs are back and builders are comfortable launching companies and products in the US again.
Those are all big wins.
But at what cost?
On the negative side, Trump’s meme coin launch cast a shadow over his crypto legacy before it really even began. He set the tone right away that he would not be afraid to profit off of crypto.
Since then, his sons have become entangled in several crypto companies and launched their own protocol, World Liberty Financial.
Several crypto criminals have been pardoned, some of whom have made donations of some kind to Trump or his family’s projects in some capacity.
And crypto has become more partisan than ever, almost to the point where one could make the statement that Trump equals crypto.
So on one hand, crypto has been fully legitimized. But on the other, it has been delegitimized (or confirmed to be a sector to enrich scammers).
My view?
The positive outweighs the negative (though I admit there is a laundry list of negative actions and impacts from the Trump crypto regime).
But overall I feel that fully opening America’s doors to crypto, inviting a welcoming regulatory environment and ushering in the mainstream crypto era is a bigger net win.
Perhaps that’s the hopeless optimist in me.
We won’t fully know the answer for several years to come. And in that time, certainly Trump’s impact on crypto will grow even larger. Let’s hope it’s for the positive…
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🌎 Macro Crypto and Memes
A few Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:
Crypto majorswere very redto start the week;BTC -3% at $87,200; ETH -6% at $2,950, BNB -2% at $868, SOL -3% at $128
XDC (+4%), CC (+3%) and SKY (+2%)led top movers
JPMorganlauncheda tokenized money-market fund on Ethereum, using onchain rails to settle fund shares
The Senatepuntedthe crypto market-structure markup to next year, delaying near-term progress on a major U.S. framework bill
Coinbase and Robinhoodjoinedthe new U.S. ‘Tech Force’ aimed at recruiting top engineers to build AI infra for the government
MetaMaskexpanded beyond Ethereumby adding native Bitcoin support, letting users buy, send, and receive BTC inside the wallet
PayPalapplied for a bank charterin Utah as its next potential step into the traditional banking system
Trumpsaid he would “look at” pardoningSamourai Wallet developer Keonne Rodriguez, directing the Attorney General to investigate the request ahead of his prison reporting date
Grayscalearguedquantum computing was unlikely to move crypto valuations in 2026, while warning chains still needed long-term post-quantum upgrade planning
Bittensor(TAO)completedits first halving event with issuance dropping from 7,200 tokens/day to 3,600
In Corporate Treasuries / ETFs
Strategyadded ~$980M of Bitcoinfor a second straight week
Bitmineboughtanother 102,259 ETH last week, now holding $13.2B in crypto cash
Bitwisefiled an amendmentfor its Hyperliquid ETF, expected imminently
In Memes / Onchain Movers
Memecoin leadersare mostly red;DOGE -4%, Shiba -3%, PEPE -5%, PENGU -4%, BONK -4%, TRUMP -4%, SPX -7%, and FARTCOIN -5%
PIPPINrallied 28% to $500M mc, though onchain analysis shows it is 80% bundled
SAROS(+90%), RCN (+30%), ARC (+25%) and SWARMS (+23%) led onchain Solana movers
💰 Token, Airdrop Protocol Tracker
Here’s a rundown of major token, protocol and airdrop news from the day:
Circleannouncedthe acquisition of the Interop Labs team but that their product the Axelar Network and its AXL token would not be acquired
Yeetkicked offBig Moments 3: XMAS Joyride with a new format and big prizes
Sports dot Funshared new detailsfor their ICO starting today, looking to raise $3M at $60M fdv across Legion and Kraken
Ondoannouncedtokenized stocks and ETFs are coming to Solana
Kalshiintroducedprediction combos as their version of parlays
🚚 What is happening in NFTs?
Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:
NFT leaderswere mixed; Punks -2% at 27.2 ETH, Pudgy +2% at 4.55, BAYC +2% at 4.85 ETH; Hypurr’s -5% at 469 HYPE
Veefriends(+23%) and Kodas (+12%) were notable movers
OpenSeaswept $1M in NFTsas rewards for their latest farming season
Quirkieswill launchan NFT Strategy token today via TokenWorks

COINOTAG_NEWS
2025/12/16 11:20
Olea Global Secures $30M Series A Led by BBVA, with XDC Network Participating to Accelerate AI Analytics and Web3 Innovation
On December 16, Singapore-based Olea Global, a leading trade finance platform, disclosed the closing of a $30 million Series A round. The financing was led by BBVA of Spain, with participation from XDC Network, theDOCK, and SC Ventures, Standard Chartered’s venture arm. Olea Global will deploy the capital to accelerate AI-driven analytics and Web3 technology innovations and to scale its operations in high-growth markets.
With the new funding, Olea Global aims to broaden its trade finance offerings, fortify its analytics stack, and expand its footprint across key growth corridors in the fintech ecosystem.
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