What the USBC tokenized deposit launch will look like | #342
Also, bringing tokenized deposits to EU and a big week for USBC athletes
Our newsletter covers news, industry perspectives, and updates from the USBC ecosystem. Check out our last report here.
This week:
What the tokenized deposit launch will look like
Bringing tokenized deposits to the EU
USBC at the Olympics closing ceremony
New USBC athlete Ashish Sherpa wins Bay Area race
Stuff happens
1. What the USBC tokenized deposit launch will look like
As Team USBC gears up for its upcoming tokenized deposit launch, we had a quick chat with co-founder and CEO Greg Kidd to discuss what that MVP or minimum viable product will look like and what you’ll be able to do with your bank-grade digital U.S. dollars.
These are 5 feature pillars—4 of which are transactional:
Send
Spend
Convert
Load (and unload)
Recover
From the horse’s mouth:
Another key aspect of the MVP launch is the concept of Proof of Personhood, essentially ensuring that a user is a unique human.
A key principle for USBC is fair access. That means inclusive access for people around the world—both good and bad actors. We believe that the best way to manage bad actors is to have them on the platform versus the Sisyphean effort to try and keep all of them out. Along those lines, USBC is about managing risk, not avoiding it.
In order to keep bad actors accountable, USBC relies on digital identity and biometrics, but we utilize these tools in a privacy preserving way that allows users to maintain control over their data.
Here’s Greg:
We’ll dig deeper into how all of that works in the coming weeks.
2. Bringing tokenized deposits to the EU
One thing that makes USBC truly unique is the support of its ecosystem. Hard Yaka is a strategic investment firm that, since 2011, has invested in over 250 early stage companies, many of which play a key role in supporting our vision for fair access.
This last year, the Hard Yaka team has been hard at work in Croatia, where they are looking to finalize an acquisition, pending regulatory approval, that would set the stage for euro-denominated tokenized deposits backed by a European bank.
The team will be in Zagreb March 11-12 for Money Motion 2026, the premier fintech event for central and eastern Europe. Ron Oliveira, who leads our ecosystem’s global banking strategy, will be speaking on two separate panels.
We hope to see you there!
And stay tuned for more info.
3. USBC at the Olympics closing ceremony
USBC sponsored athlete Lila Lapanja fulfilled a lifelong dream after competing in slalom at the Milano Cortina 2026, representing Slovenia.
Check out our interview with Lila in the build up to these Winter Olympics.
4. New USBC athlete Ashish Sherpa wins Bay Area race
Ashish Sherpa—a two-time national champion of India—joined the ranks of USBC athletes late last year and has been staying with the team near San Francisco as he ramps up his training for the 2026 season.
Last week, he won the region’s largest and longest running mountain bike race, part of the 3CX Winter MTB Series.
We sat down with Ashish a few weeks ago for an in depth interview, which we’ll publish in the coming weeks. Keep an eye out.
5. Stuff happens
Via Anej Mehadzic—Inaugural Stablecon and Artemis State of Stables Report Q1 2026
Via Dave Baldwin—‘More to come,’ crypto leaders say after third White House stablecoin meeting
Anej Mehadzic: “Bridge, Stripe’s $1.1B stablecoin acquisition - just got conditional OCC approval for a national trust bank charter”
Via Mitja Simcic—Kinetic Treasury Arrives
Via Dave Baldwin—Cash App to sell its credit score
Via Anej Mehadzic—Simon Taylor: “JUST IN: 77% of crypto holders would move their stablecoins to a bank.”
Via Anej Mehadzic—Base: “Stripe just launched x402 payments on Base, letting developers charge AI agents directly using USDC”