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Weekly Global Stablecoin & CBDC Update
This Week's Stories (So Far)
TenPay Global (the cross-border payment arm of Tencent’s WeChat Pay) and Mastercard announced a strategic collaboration to streamline international remittances. The partnership enables users on Mastercard’s global network to send funds directly to Weixin Pay wallets in China, which serve over 1 billion users. This integration allows Chinese nationals and expats to receive funds instantly within their preferred everyday app, bypassing traditional banking wire delays. The move leverages Mastercard’s “Move” portfolio of money transfer capabilities and integrates them with TenPay’s “Global Remittance” solution.
Key Takeaways:
- Massive Scale: Connects Mastercard’s global network to Weixin Pay’s 1 billion+ user base.
- Direct Wallet Access: Funds land directly in the user’s social/payment app, removing the need for separate bank login or branch visits.
- China-Global Link: Acts as a critical financial bridge, facilitating personal remittances (P2P) and potentially B2C flows into mainland China.
- Infrastructure Play: Validates the model of connecting “closed loop” super-apps (WeChat) with open global rails (Mastercard) rather than trying to replace them.
Why It Matters:
- Remittance Efficiency: Drastically reduces friction for the multi-billion dollar remittance market flowing into China.
- Digital Finance Convergence: Represents a practical convergence of “TradFi” (Mastercard) and “Big Tech Fintech” (Tencent) without requiring blockchain rails.
- Financial Inclusion: Improves access for users in rural China who may rely more on mobile wallets than traditional bank branches for daily financial life.
Speaking at Binance Blockchain Week in Dubai, Bilal Bin Saqib, chair of the newly created Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA), said Pakistan will “definitely launch” its first national stablecoin as part of a broader strategy to integrate virtual assets into the economy. The sovereign stablecoin, likely pegged to the U.S. dollar at launch, is framed as a way to collateralize government debt, reduce remittance frictions on more than 30 billion dollars in annual inflows, and extend digital payment rails to over 100 million unbanked adults. In parallel, Pakistan is working with multilateral partners on a rupee‑linked CBDC pilot and has already announced a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and 2,000 MW of power for Bitcoin mining and AI data centers. The national virtual‑assets law and PVARA will license VASPs, police illicit finance, and run regulatory sandboxes for Shariah‑compliant innovation.
Key Takeaways:
- Pakistan’s PVARA chair publicly confirmed the country will launch its first national stablecoin, alongside CBDC experimentation.
- The stablecoin is pitched as a tool to collateralize sovereign debt and support exporters and entrepreneurs via instant settlement.
- PVARA is an autonomous federal authority bringing the central bank, securities regulator and tax authority into a single crypto rulebook.
- Complementary moves include a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and dedicated energy allocation for mining and AI data centers.
- Pakistan is positioning its stablecoin and CBDC work as a case study in using digital assets for inclusion and Shariah‑compliant finance.
Why It Matters:
- Represents one of the clearest signals from a large emerging market that stablecoins, CBDCs and Bitcoin can coexist in an integrated national strategy.
- Shows how sovereigns may use a state‑backed stablecoin, rather than a pure retail CBDC, to tackle remittance costs and informality.
- Puts Pakistan at odds with the IMF’s strongly skeptical stance on stablecoins, even as it seeks multilateral support for its CBDC.
- Raises complex questions about debt management, as officials explicitly discuss using a sovereign stablecoin structure to collateralize government liabilities.
- Could pressure regional peers (e.g., India, Bangladesh, Gulf states) to clarify their own digital‑asset and CBDC strategies in response.
Modern Diplomacy published a strategic analysis of China’s “Digital Yuan 2.0,” highlighting its evolving role as a tool for regional influence. The analysis posits that the updated e-CNY infrastructure (released iteratively throughout 2025) is designed to link the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) directly to Southeast Asian economies, bypassing the SWIFT network and US dollar intermediation. By offering a frictionless, state-backed digital currency for trade settlement, Beijing aims to erode the dollar’s dominance in intra-Asian trade while promoting its own monetary sovereignty. The report warns that while this offers efficiency gains for ASEAN nations, it also risks creating a new form of digital dependency on Chinese financial infrastructure.
Key Takeaways:
- Digital Yuan 2.0: Describes the matured e-CNY ecosystem as a tool for “strategic autonomy” from the US dollar.
- Direct Linkage: The technology aims to create direct PBOC-to-region payment corridors, removing intermediaries.
- ASEAN Focus: Targets Southeast Asia as the primary adoption zone, leveraging existing trade ties.
- Geopolitical Risk: Highlights the tension between trade efficiency and the risk of ceding monetary sovereignty to Beijing.
Why It Matters:
- De-Dollarization: Validates the long-held theory that CBDCs are primarily geopolitical tools for challenging the US dollar’s reserve status.
- Trade Architecture: Could fundamentally reshape how supply chains in the “world’s factory” (Asia) settle payments, moving from $USD LC (Letters of Credit) to instant e-CNY.
- Soft Power: Demonstrates China’s intent to export its “Digital Currency/Electronic Payment” (DCEP) standard as a global public good.
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