Summer Finance, a DeFi yield optimization protocol, was hit by an exploit that affected the protocol's USDC vaults, resulting in an estimated loss of roughly $6 million.

 

The exploit was confirmed by several blockchain security firms, including Blockaid, Cyvers, and CertiK. According to Cyvers, the attack appears to have been caused by the exploitation of a shared accounting vulnerability. The stolen funds were eventually swapped for the DAI stablecoin and transferred to the attacker's wallet.

 

Although all vaults across the Lazy Summer Protocol were immediately paused after the exploit was confirmed, the team later released a post-mortem report detailing how the attack occurred, its scope and impact, the response actions taken, and ongoing fund recovery efforts.

 

Image credit: x.com

 

According to the post-mortem report, the exploit targeted two Lazy Summer Protocol USDC vaults on the Ethereum mainnet. The attack, which is believed to have been planned over a period of about 3 months, was executed using a $65 million flash loan. Of that amount, approximately $64.8 million was deposited into Summer's vaults.

 

The attacker then deposited Varlamore USDC (vgUSDC) Growth tokens, which were essentially worthless, into the vulnerable Silo Ark vault, which had been partially shut down. Because the vault's accounting logic incorrectly treated the fake vgUSDC tokens as legitimate assets with real value, the attacker was able to withdraw genuine funds from the protocol.

 

In response, the Summer Finance team took several measures to contain the impact, including pausing vaults across the Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, and Sonic networks. The team has also launched an investigation and begun tracing the stolen funds.

 

The Summer Finance exploit occurred around the same time that the BonkDAO treasury was drained of approximately $20 million. In that incident, the attacker reportedly purchased $4.4 million worth of BONK tokens, allowing them to meet the DAO's low quorum threshold. The attacker then passed a malicious governance proposal, BIP 76, which automatically transferred approximately $20 million from the treasury. 

 

 

The Bank of New York Mellon (BNY) has partnered with Circle Internet Group, the issuer of USD Coin (USDC), to expand the institutional capabilities of Circle’s USDC stablecoin.

 

Image credit: X.com

 

The partnership, announced in a BNY press release, will support the full lifecycle of Circle’s USDC institutional capabilities. Through the partnership, BNY institutional clients will be able to hold their USDC stablecoins in BNY digital asset custody wallets, while also minting U.S. dollars into USDC and redeeming or converting USDC into U.S. dollars.

 

“As digital assets become increasingly integrated into financial markets, institutions need infrastructure that seamlessly works across traditional and blockchain-based systems,” said Carolyn Weinberg, Chief Product & Innovation Officer at BNY. “With the addition of our enhanced stablecoin enablement capabilities, we’re expanding the ways clients can move value with the operational scale, trust, and resiliency they expect from BNY.”

 

According to BNY, USDC will be the first stablecoin integrated into its Digital Asset Custody platform, with the bank stating that plans are underway to support additional stablecoins. Circle’s USDC is now the third cryptocurrency supported by BNY’s digital asset custody platform, following Bitcoin and Ether.

 

About BNY 

Headquartered in New York, BNY is a leading global financial services and asset servicing company that specializes in investment services, securities servicing, wealth management, and issuer services for institutional clients, including governments, banks, and corporations.

 

Beyond being one of the world’s largest traditional finance companies, managing assets worth more than $59 trillion, BNY has been actively adopting and integrating blockchain technology into its financial infrastructure, helping bridge the gap between traditional finance and blockchain-based financial systems.

 

In 2022, BNY launched its Digital Asset Custody platform, which provides regulated custody services for digital assets. The platform later enabled BNY to become Circle's primary custodian for its USDC reserves. To further strengthen its role in the digital asset ecosystem, BNY has partnered with major blockchain companies, including Circle, Fireblocks, and Canton Network.

 

 

Mastercard is expanding its stablecoin settlement capabilities to support intraday, weekend, and holiday settlements using both fiat currencies and on-chain card settlements.

 

 

According to Mastercard, the expansion is aimed at providing users across the company's global payments network with greater flexibility, allowing them to better manage liquidity and gain greater control over how their money moves. The expansion is also expected to facilitate transactions that depend on timing and transparency, including cross-border payments, treasury operations, and payouts.

 

"The next phase of stablecoin adoption is about real-world utility, especially in settlement, where timing and liquidity matter most," said Raj Dhamodharan, executive vice president of Blockchain & Digital Assets at Mastercard.

 

"By introducing intraday and weekend settlement options across our global network, we're expanding how partners manage liquidity and operate in an always-on digital economy while maintaining the trust, resilience, and safeguards they expect from Mastercard."

 

With this expansion, Mastercard will support additional stablecoins, including Paxos's PYUSD, USDG, and USDP; Ripple's RLUSD; and SoFi's SoFiUSD, in addition to Circle's USDC, which it already supports. These stablecoins will be supported across multiple blockchain networks, including Arbitrum, Base, Canton, Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, Tempo, and XRPL.

 

ARQ (formerly known as DolarApp), CBW Bank, Cross River, Lead Bank, and Nuvei will be among the first companies in the United States and Latin America to support Mastercard's stablecoin settlement options, with further expansion expected throughout the year.

 

Mastercard's addition of more settlement options comes shortly after the payments giant acquired BVNK, a leading stablecoin infrastructure company, in March. The acquisition is part of Mastercard's broader strategy to connect on-chain payment rails with traditional fiat rails.

 

Mastercard is currently one of the world's largest payment processing networks, with more than 150 million merchant locations across 210 countries and territories. The company processed approximately $10.6 trillion in gross dollar volume (GDV) and reported net revenue of about $8.4 billion in the first quarter of this year.

 

 

Block's Cash App has officially begun rolling out USDC stablecoin payments to its nearly 60 million monthly users. The feature went live today for roughly 25% of the platform's user base, with full availability expected by the end of the week.

 

The rollout covers four blockchain networks: Solana, Ethereum, Polygon, and Arbitrum. Users can now send USDC from their Cash App wallet to external wallets on any of the supported chains, and incoming USDC is automatically converted into a dollar balance within the app. No separate transfer fee applies, at least for now.

 

A Reluctant Pivot, Years in the Making

The launch carries some ideological weight. Jack Dorsey, Block's CEO and longtime Bitcoin maximalist, spent years positioning Cash App as a Bitcoin-first platform. He built out Bitcoin trading, backed mining hardware development, and integrated Lightning Network support for Square merchants globally. Stablecoins were not part of that vision.

 

That changed, grudgingly. In March, Dorsey publicly acknowledged the shift. "I don't like that we're going to support stablecoins but our customers want to use them," he said. "I don't think it's wise to go from one gatekeeper to another." The comment was candid in a way that's rare for major fintech announcements, and it framed the product addition less as strategic enthusiasm and more as a concession to market demand.

 

Block first hinted at the feature on the Cash App website late last year, describing stablecoins strictly as a payments mechanism rather than an investment tool. But that early hint has carried through to the live product.

 

Why Solana (and Why Not Just Solana)

Solana started as the sole chain involved with Cash App. Back in November 2025, Solana confirmed its involvement after sharing a demo by Circle's Jeremy Allaire showcasing a USDC transfer on the network. The choice made sense: Solana transactions typically cost under a cent and settle in under a second, conditions well-suited for the kind of peer-to-peer and remittance use cases Cash App serves.

 

But Block's Miles Suter framed the company's stance as "chain- and coin-agnostic" from the beginning. Solana was a starting point, not a commitment. The live rollout now includes Ethereum, Polygon, and Arbitrum alongside Solana, giving users flexibility across networks with different cost and speed profiles. Ethereum's gas fees can still spike during congestion, which is precisely why Layer 2 options like Arbitrum and Polygon matter.

 

The multi-chain approach also future-proofs the integration somewhat. If one network faces congestion or reliability issues at scale, users and the platform aren't locked in.

 

The Guardrails Are Real

Cash App is not positioning this as a DeFi on-ramp. The feature comes with meaningful restrictions. Sending is capped at $2,000 per day and $5,000 per week; receiving tops out at $10,000 weekly. The service is currently unavailable in New York and on sponsored accounts. Identity verification is required.

 

Perhaps most importantly, the app warns users that blockchain transactions are irreversible. Funds sent to a wrong address or unsupported network are gone permanently. That's a steep hill to climb for a consumer platform serving tens of millions of people who may be encountering on-chain transfers for the first time.

 

Stablecoins Are Here To Stay...and Thrive

Cash App's move lands against a backdrop of surging stablecoin adoption. As of this week, the total market value of stablecoins has hit a record $322 billion, exceeding the foreign exchange reserves of 95 nations, including the UK and Canada. USDC, issued by Circle, is the second-largest stablecoin and already sees over $14 billion in liquidity on Solana alone.

 

Western Union launched Solana-based remittances in the first half of 2026. Stripe has added USDC support across multiple chains. Visa has integrated Solana for stablecoin settlements. The regulatory picture has also clarified somewhat, with the GENIUS Act signed in July 2025 establishing a clearer federal framework for stablecoin issuance.

 

Taken together, this feels less like a novelty launch and more like a platform making its peace with where consumer payments are heading. Dorsey may not love it, but the product is live, the networks are there, and 60 million people now have a relatively frictionless path to on-chain dollar transfers whether they know what a blockchain is or not.