The stablecoin issuer bought an undisclosed stake in Northern Data Group, which it claims is “set to become the biggest independent AI player in Europe.”

While USDT dominates payments and centralized exchanges, USDC has taken the lead in decentralized markets. USDC has actively fostered relationships with DeFi dApps and is often viewed as a more secure stablecoin.

The payments giant has been accepting USDC payments on Ethereum from card-issuer Crypto.com in Australia since 2021, and will now use the cheaper Solana network to settle cross-border transactions with Merchant Acquirers, Worldpay and Nuvei, which collect payments on behalf of global retailers.

Coinbase is increasing its support for USDC with an investment in Circle, which will take full control over the second largest stablecoin issuance and governance.

On Monday, online payments processor PayPal announced the launch of its long-promised dollar-pegged stablecoin. The token was originally expected in Q1 2023, but was delayed following an SEC notice against issuing partner Paxos.

Tether published its quarterly reserve report. The company has built up reserves but added little to the overall transparency.

As Tether again stopped a scam in its tracks by blacklisting a hacker’s account, users are reminded about the powers they hand to centralized money issuers.

The crypto payment specialist has announced multiple new initiatives over the past few weeks, including a partnership with Latin American exchange Bitso enabling USDC transactions to Argentina, Colombia and Mexico.