Here’s what happened in crypto today

Today in crypto, AIsa said it had completed its seed extension round with Tether and HIVEN joining as strategic investors, stablecoin issuer Circle is seeking to enter about 40 developing markets, according to CEO Jeremy Allaire, and a new report highlighted substantial cost savings from stablecoin remittances, especially in emerging markets.

Tether backs AIsa as strategic investor, completing seed extension round

AIsa said it had completed its seed extension round, with Tether and HIVEN joining as strategic investors.

The round brings AIsa’s total funding to more than $9 million. The two new investors joined Alibaba, Tribe Capital, Sumitomo Corporation, Draper Associates, Saison Capital and other backers.

“Enterprise AI agents need trusted information, useful tools and a governed way to transact,” said Jordan Liu, founder and CEO of San Francisco-based AIsa, in a Friday statement. “Our vision is to build the infrastructure that enables agents to discover, access and pay for resources globally, while giving enterprises full control over permissions, spending and transactions. We are excited to welcome Tether and HIVEN as strategic investors as we accelerate the transition from AI assistants to autonomous, production-ready agents.”

Fragmented providers, integrations and billing systems make it difficult for enterprise AI agents to operate effectively in production and manage at scale, according to the statement.

AIsa addresses this by bringing resource discovery, access and transactions into one governed, usage-based network, the Trusted Resource and Transaction Network for Enterprise AI Agents. Its infrastructure connects enterprise agents to external data, AI search, models, APIs, software tools and industry services, combining governed access with usage metering, billing and settlement, the
statement said.

Circle’s Allaire says stablecoin issuer looking to enter 40 developing markets: Report

Stablecoin issuer Circle is seeking to enter about 40 developing markets, according to the company’s CEO and ​chairman, Jeremy Allaire.

“We’re kind of going through an inflection point...a transition right now, ‌and that transition is essentially moving from the early adopter phase of blockchain technology into the mainstream scaling phase,” Allaire told Reuters, speaking Friday on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank meetings ​in Bangkok.

Markets in Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East are experiencing increasing demand for stablecoins as businesses and individuals seek to enter the internet-based economic system, Allaire reportedly said. 

Stablecoin remittances cost 84% less than traditional transfers, Borderless finds

Stablecoin-funded remittances cost roughly 84% less than traditional money transfers, according to a new third-quarter report from payments network Borderless.xyz.

Sending $200 through stablecoin payment networks costs a median of $2, or 1%, compared with $12.72, or 6.36%, for conventional remittances. The comparison uses Borderless pricing from the third quarter of 2026 and World Bank data from the same period last year.

Savings were particularly pronounced in emerging markets. In Sub-Saharan Africa, stablecoin remittances cost 2.9%, compared with 8.46% for traditional transfers. In Latin America, the respective costs were 1.25% and 5.64%.

Businesses also stand to benefit. A $10,000 stablecoin-funded transfer to the eurozone costs as little as $26, compared with $135 to $150 for an international bank wire, including foreign-exchange costs.

Stablecoin payouts also settled faster in several markets, with a median of two minutes in Brazil and Colombia and three minutes in Mexico. Traditional SWIFT transfers typically settled the next business day.

However, reliability varied. Payment completion rates reached 98.6% in Mexico but fell to 73% in Costa Rica, highlighting differences in local payment infrastructure.