Tether Launches US-Regulated USAT Stablecoin as Bitwise Enters DeFi Lending

Tether just made its most significant regulatory pivot yet. On January 27, the stablecoin giant launched USA₮ (USAT), a dollar-backed token built specifically for the U.S. market under the GENIUS Act framework. Unlike its offshore USD₮, this one runs through Anchorage Digital Bank—a federally chartered institution—with reserves custodied by Cantor Fitzgerald.

Early onchain data shows roughly 20M USAT in circulation with $90M in transfer volume, concentrated among institutional wallets rather than retail. Kraken, OKX, Bybit, Crypto.com, and MoonPay are handling initial distribution.

The Dual-Track Strategy

Tether’s now running two parallel operations: a globally dominant, permissionless dollar offshore and a federally regulated version domestically. This directly challenges Circle’s USDC, which has positioned itself as the compliance-friendly option since its 2018 launch.

The play opens doors to banks, fintechs, and payroll providers that previously couldn’t touch Tether due to regulatory exposure. For context, USDT remains the market’s default for high-volume trading with unmatched liquidity, while USDC has captured institutional users wanting regulatory clarity. USA₮ splits the difference—Tether’s brand recognition with U.S. regulatory blessing.

Bitwise Goes Native DeFi

Traditional asset managers keep inching deeper into DeFi infrastructure. On January 26, Bitwise Asset Management—managing over $15B in client assets—announced it’s becoming a vault curator on Morpho, launching stablecoin strategies targeting around 6% APY through overcollateralized lending.

Morpho currently holds over $10B in deposits and has generated more than $14M in fees for curators. Users keep full custody while Bitwise handles strategy and risk parameters. Think of it as actively managed fixed income, but non-custodial and transparent.

After the implosions of “safe yield” products hiding leverage and off-platform risk, this approach competes on durability rather than yield maximization. Boring, but that’s the point.

Flying Tulip’s $225M Raise With a Twist

Andre Cronje’s Flying Tulip has pulled in $225.5M total—$75.5M in a recent round at $1B FDV—while running a public sale via Impossible Finance. Onchain data shows approximately $53M deposited from around 1,900 investors at $0.10 per FT with full unlock at TGE.

Here’s what’s different: all token holders get a perpetual put option to redeem at original purchase price, with redeemed tokens burned. The project funds operations through treasury yields (4-6% from DeFi strategies) rather than spending investor principal. It’s structured more like a capital-protected note than a typical token sale.

Gold Goes Yield-Bearing

Tokenized gold just got more interesting. Theo launched thGOLD on January 27—the first yield-bearing gold token, offering 1:1 LBMA spot exposure plus roughly 2% annual yield from gold-denominated lending to retailers.

The tokenized gold market has exploded: market cap jumped approximately 400% year-over-year from $1B to over $5B, while DEX trading volume across major gold tokens hit an all-time high above $1B in January—up from $34M a year earlier.

Ethereum’s AI Agent Standard Goes Live

ERC-8004 activated on January 29, establishing native infrastructure for autonomous AI agents. The standard creates three onchain registries: identity (ERC-721-based handles), reputation (persistent credibility signals), and validation (TEE proofs, zkML, stake-backed execution).

More than 15,000 agents registered on mainnet immediately. Combined with payment rails like x402, this positions Ethereum as core infrastructure for machine-to-machine commerce—agents discovering, verifying, and transacting with each other without intermediaries.

The next catalyst to watch: how quickly institutional capital flows into these newly legitimized structures, particularly USA₮ adoption among U.S. financial institutions and Bitwise’s vault performance metrics.

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