Since the beginning of 2025, companies operating in the stablecoin segment have attracted investments totaling $621.8 million, which is seven times more than the result for the whole of 2024 ($84 million), according to data from Defi Llama.
The largest round was financed by Hong Kong-based OSL Group, which received $300 million in July for international expansion.
“There is a real buzz around stablecoins right now, and this hype is entirely justified,” said Anna Shtebl, CEO of the Confirmo payment platform.
Experts attribute the growing interest to breakthroughs in the regulatory sphere. The decisive factor was the passage of the GENIUS Act in the US, which, according to MNEE CEO Ron Tarter, gave “the green light to corporate America, legalizing the industry.”
Against this backdrop, the market capitalization of stablecoins exceeded a record $297 billion. Coinbase predicts that by 2028, the figure will reach $1 trillion.
Another indicator was the IPO of issuer Circle in June: the company raised $1 billion, and its shares are now trading at $144, according to Yahoo Finance. Taking into account the financing of Circle and Figure Technologies, which Defi Llama attributes to the CeFi and RWA sectors, the total amount of funds raised exceeded $2.4 billion.
Market leaders Circle and Tether are facing increasing pressure. Fintech giant Stripe and major Wall Street players have announced their own “stablecoins.” Societe Generale’s crypto division (SG-FORGE) introduced the USDCV token, and JPMorgan confirmed the launch of the JPMD coin on the Base blockchain. According to the WSJ, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup are also considering creating their own digital assets.
“Institutional investors see stablecoins as the building blocks of digital finance,” said Zerion co-founder Evgeny Yurtaev.
In August, a number of banking associations criticized the GENIUS Act, saying it gives crypto companies an unfair advantage, particularly through the ability to pay interest to stablecoin holders. Banking lobbyists estimate that this could cause an outflow of more than $6 trillion in deposits.
Coinbase called these concerns a “myth.” The company’s policy director, Faryar Shiraz, noted that banks are trying to preserve their profits from transaction fees, which bring in about $187 billion annually.
Earlier, Standard Chartered analysts reported that the bank’s customers are increasingly preferring stablecoins over Bitcoin.
The China Banking Regulatory Commission has unofficially instructed several local brokers to suspend activities in the field of real asset tokenization (RWA) in Hong Kong, Reuters reports, citing sources.
According to the agency, the move is aimed at strengthening risk control. The regulator wants to ensure that RWA projects are based on real business and are not used as speculative instruments.
Beijing’s initiative contrasts with Hong Kong’s policy, which has recently been actively promoting itself as a global center for digital assets. Mainland China banned cryptocurrency trading and mining in 2021, but at the same time, in August, it became known that the Chinese government was exploring the possibility of legalizing the use of yuan-backed stablecoins.
According to RWA.xyz, the global market for tokenized real assets is currently valued at $28 billion.
Ukraine will soon open four new embassies in Latin America—in the Dominican Republic, Panama, Uruguay, and Ecuador, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga said following his participation in the High-Level Dialogue between the Council of Ministers of the Association of Caribbean States and ACS Observer States in New York. According to the Foreign Ministry’s press service, the minister spoke about Ukraine’s desire to expand cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean, in particular to open new embassies in the Dominican Republic, Panama, Uruguay, and Ecuador. The foreign minister proposed holding the first Ukraine-Caribbean summit to develop cooperation. He also assured the Caribbean Community of Ukraine’s interest in participating in further activities of the Caribbean Community at all levels.
Sybiga also stated Ukraine’s readiness to share with the Caribbean countries its unique experience of resilience gained during the war, particularly in the defense and technology sectors. The minister emphasized that
Ukraine possesses unique unmanned technologies, including marine and underwater drones, which can be used for both defense and civilian purposes, particularly in agriculture, patrolling, and other areas.
The Foreign Minister announced Ukraine’s readiness to discuss the possibility of joint research with Caribbean countries in the fight against climate change. Ukraine shares the urgency of overcoming the climate crisis and has unique opportunities for Antarctic research. These include, in particular, the Akademik Vernadsky station and the Noosfera icebreaker.
On September 15, Viktor Ivanchik, CEO of the Astarta agricultural holding, purchased 244,679 thousand shares, or 0.9787% of their total number, over the counter through Albacon Ventures Limited at a price of PLN55.5 per share, which is significantly higher than the price quoted on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE).
The corresponding announcement on the stock exchange on the evening of Thursday, September 18, led to a 6.58% increase in the share price on Friday, to PLN47.00.
The last time Ivanchik bought shares in significantly smaller volumes on the exchange was at the end of June, but then the deals were concluded at a price ranging from PLN57.6 to PLN60.0 per share. However, after that, the shares of Astarta and other Ukrainian companies fell in price due to another loss of optimism about the possibility of a ceasefire. However, in early March, the CEO of the agricultural holding bought shares at PLN48.9, at the end of December at PLN39.6, and at the end of October at PLN30.9 per share.
According to the latest stock exchange report, Ivanchik’s total expenditure on the purchase of a stake of almost 1% can be estimated at PLN13.58 million, or about $3.7 million.
It is noted that after this transaction, the CEO of Astarta owns 10,678,610 shares of the agricultural holding, or 42.7144% of their total number.
According to the latest report, as of mid-year, Ivanchik’s family owned a total of 42.23% of shares, compared to 41.48% at the beginning of this year and 41.17% in the middle of last year. Fairfax Financial Holdings has also been a major shareholder all this time, with 29.91%, while another 2.1184% of shares are owned by the company itself and were previously repurchased as part of a buyback. As of May this year, minority shareholders also included Kopernik Global Investors with 2.64% and Heptagon Capital with 1.8%.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding company operating in eight regions of Ukraine and is the largest sugar producer in Ukraine. It comprises six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220,000 hectares, dairy farms with 22,000 head of cattle, an oil extraction plant in Hlobyn (Poltava region), seven elevators, and a biogas complex.
In the first half of 2025, Astarta reduced its net profit by 10.3% to EUR47.11 million, and its consolidated revenue decreased by 29.3% to EUR320.71 million.
On June 12 this year, the shareholders’ meeting approved the payment of dividends for 2024 in the amount of EUR0.5 per share for a total of EUR12.5 million, which is in line with the figures for the previous two years.
China has unveiled a new action plan for the steel industry, which includes a set of measures to address the chronic problem of oversupply. This comes amid Beijing’s intensified efforts to end a series of price wars raging in the economy, writes the South China Morning Post.
The plan, which includes a strict ban on the commissioning of additional capacity and measures to accelerate the decommissioning of obsolete equipment, could serve as an example for other industries suffering from overproduction and excessive competition.
The document, published on Monday by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in conjunction with a number of other agencies, calls for strict control over steel production capacity and volumes. It stresses that “coordinated efforts on both the supply and demand sides” are needed to stabilize the industry.
The plan aims to “accelerate the transition from old to new growth drivers, develop new productive forces, and further enhance the resilience and security of industrial and supply chains.” The steel industry should strive to increase added value by approximately 4% annually over the next two years and complete the modernization of more than 80% of steel production capacity to achieve ultra-low emissions by the end of this year.
Although Chinese steel companies account for more than half of global production, the average profitability of listed companies in 2024 was minus 0.26% due to structural problems in the industry, the report said.
According to CINDA Securities, 7.44 million tons of five major types of steel products were produced in the country in the first half of September, approximately 5.8% more than in the same period a year earlier. Steel inventories increased by 12.1% to 11.01 million tons, while consumption fell by approximately 4.6% to 8.5 million tons.
The composite steel price index is currently at 3,507 yuan ($493) per ton, which is approximately 2.6% higher than last year’s figure, but approximately 14% lower than in 2023.
In 2024, China reduced steel production by 1.7% to 1.005 billion tons.
According to the results of a study conducted by Active Group in collaboration with Experts Club in August 2025, Ukrainians’ attitude towards Australia is predominantly positive. 63.0% of respondents expressed a positive attitude towards this country, while only 2.2% of respondents had a negative attitude. At the same time, 32.3% took a neutral position, and 2.4% admitted that they found it difficult to answer this question.
The largest share of positive responses fell into the “mostly positive” category – 40.0%, while 23.0% of respondents expressed a “completely positive” attitude. On the other hand, 1.9% of respondents had a “mostly negative” attitude, and only 0.4% had a “completely negative” attitude.
In 2024, trade turnover between Ukraine and Australia amounted to US$157.4 million. At the same time, exports of Ukrainian goods to Australia amounted to only US$6.4 million, while imports of Australian products amounted to US$151.0 million. The negative balance for Ukraine was recorded at US$144.6 million.
“The main areas of Australian exports to Ukraine traditionally include mineral raw materials, industrial goods, and agricultural products. In contrast, Ukrainian exports to Australia have a limited range and are mainly concentrated in the agricultural and metallurgical sectors,” notes economist and founder of Experts Club Maksim Urakin.
The full video can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgC9TPnMoMI&t
You can subscribe to the Experts Club YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@ExpertsClub
ACTIVE GROUP, AUSTRALIA, EXPERTS CLUB, Pozniy, SOCIOLOGY, TRADE, UKRAINE, URAKIN
