There is something, all TradFi perpetual contracts on Aster will be settled using USD1, and it will be exclusively settled, not coexisting with USDT.
Looking back at the timeline, USD1 has indeed had quite a few actions in Q1 2026.
To summarize simply, the focus of USD1 this quarter is no longer just about increasing exposure, but rather beginning to strive to become a foundational settlement asset and liquidity component in specific business processes.
The direction of implementation is also quite clear: some are on-chain transaction settlements, some are treasury and yield scenarios, some are real-time payments and payment integrations, and others are tokenized funds, which are more institutional applications.
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If we break it down further, these collaborations can roughly be divided into three categories.
The first category is technology integration partnerships, mainly including Aster, Morpho, Zebec, AgentPay, and others.
The commonality is that USD1 is not treated as an ordinary asset listed, but is directly embedded in the core processes of the protocol for settlement, treasury, collateral, or underlying payment support, essentially closer to infrastructure integration.
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The second category is institutional bridging partnerships, represented by Apex Group and LSEG.
The core is testing whether stablecoins can enter more compliant and institutionalized capital flow scenarios. Although progress is usually slower, once successful, it will be more beneficial for the institutional recognition and external credit of USD1.
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The third category is payment and retail expansion partnerships, such as MoonPay, AgentPay, and some platform-side incentive collaborations.
The focus is not on the narrative, but on promoting USD1 into high-frequency scenarios such as buying, transferring, settling, and agency payments, indicating that it is extending towards a broader payment interface layer.
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Behind these actions, it is also evident that USD1's goals in Q1 are already clearer than in the early stages.
It clearly does not want to just be a stablecoin that relies on topic popularity for attention, but rather aims to push itself towards more practical infrastructure.
A relatively clear path is to first enter through DeFi and transaction settlements, gradually expand to payments, and then extend to institutional scenarios.
The benefit of this approach is that different scenarios can complement each other's liquidity, making it easier to convert issuance scale into real usage.
Looking back at the timeline, USD1 has indeed had quite a few actions in Q1 2026.
To summarize simply, the focus of USD1 this quarter is no longer just about increasing exposure, but rather beginning to strive to become a foundational settlement asset and liquidity component in specific business processes.
The direction of implementation is also quite clear: some are on-chain transaction settlements, some are treasury and yield scenarios, some are real-time payments and payment integrations, and others are tokenized funds, which are more institutional applications.
//
If we break it down further, these collaborations can roughly be divided into three categories.
The first category is technology integration partnerships, mainly including Aster, Morpho, Zebec, AgentPay, and others.
The commonality is that USD1 is not treated as an ordinary asset listed, but is directly embedded in the core processes of the protocol for settlement, treasury, collateral, or underlying payment support, essentially closer to infrastructure integration.
//
The second category is institutional bridging partnerships, represented by Apex Group and LSEG.
The core is testing whether stablecoins can enter more compliant and institutionalized capital flow scenarios. Although progress is usually slower, once successful, it will be more beneficial for the institutional recognition and external credit of USD1.
//
The third category is payment and retail expansion partnerships, such as MoonPay, AgentPay, and some platform-side incentive collaborations.
The focus is not on the narrative, but on promoting USD1 into high-frequency scenarios such as buying, transferring, settling, and agency payments, indicating that it is extending towards a broader payment interface layer.
//
Behind these actions, it is also evident that USD1's goals in Q1 are already clearer than in the early stages.
It clearly does not want to just be a stablecoin that relies on topic popularity for attention, but rather aims to push itself towards more practical infrastructure.
A relatively clear path is to first enter through DeFi and transaction settlements, gradually expand to payments, and then extend to institutional scenarios.
The benefit of this approach is that different scenarios can complement each other's liquidity, making it easier to convert issuance scale into real usage.