Crypto Biz: Mastercard opens network to USDC, OKX departs Canada, Bitcoin climbs
Despite global bank turmoil and regulatory crackdowns, traditional and decentralized finance (DeFi) are continuing to blend. Take, for example, the recent issues that Circle-issued USD Coin (USDC) faced when it depegged from the U.S. dollar following Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse. Two weeks later, Mastercard boldly integrated the stablecoin into its infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region, allowing users to spend USDC through its network. It’s happening, folks! And let’s not forget about Bitcoin (BTC) — that digital gold is still on the rise and decoupling from Wall Street, once again proving its value proposition and prompting calls for a hedge against equity markets in the long run. This week’s Crypto Biz documents the latest developments on worldwide crypto adoption, and how banking system fears impact the crypto space. Banks turmoil and regulatory crackdowns happening worldwide have not slowed down the ongoing blending of traditional and decentralized finance (DeFi). The on-ram...