Coinbase, a key partner behind Circle\'s USDC, has joined the founding camp of new stablecoin OpenUSD (OUSD), reports said. OpenUSD says it will charge no issuance or redemption fees and share much of reserve interest with distribution partners. Circle Chief Executive Jeremy Allaire defended USDC’s network effects and cited data on its on-chain volumes. Analysts flagged cold-start hurdles, consortium coordination and regulatory risks.

Stellar (XLM) has risen more than 30 percent over the past month, lifting expectations that it could return to the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market value. XLM climbed to 13th after spending most of the year in the 17th to 21st range, though it fell 9.72 percent over the past week and 7.96 percent in 24 hours to $0.1953. Market participants cite network expansion, protocol upgrades and growing institutional collaboration as drivers.