Figure, Chime and Paymentus Need Stablecoin Rails to Grow

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs took in $986.9 million in the week ended Sept. 4, led by a $730.8 million session on Sept. 3. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust accounted for $454 million that day and $691.5 million for the week, about 70% of the Bitcoin-fund total, according to SoSoValue figures compiled with daily fund prints.

Figure Technology Solutions, Chime Financial, and Paymentus Holdings are the listed names being tied to that bid. They originate home-equity credit, run debit accounts, and collect utility bills. Only Figure already books marketplace volume on a public blockchain.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs Absorbed $986.9 Million in Early September

The weekly Bitcoin intake rose from $924.5 million the week before and extended a three-week run of $3.8 billion, the strongest such stretch of 2026. Combined assets in the U.S. spot Bitcoin funds reached $101.3 billion, with cumulative net inflows since launch at $55.6 billion. August had already been the group’s best month since September 2025, at $3.52 billion.

Ethereum products did not get the same allocation. U.S. spot Ether ETFs added $218.4 million in the week ended Sept. 4, which is 26.5% of the $824.4 million they took in the week before. On Sept. 3 they added $141.4 million beside the Bitcoin print. The split is the institutional tell: when the bid is real, it still concentrates in Bitcoin funds, not in every token wrapper on the board.

THE ETF PRINT

• Bitcoin, one week: $986.9 million of net inflows for U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs in the week ended Sept. 4, per SoSoValue.
• Bitcoin, one session: $730.8 million on Sept. 3, with IBIT taking $454 million of that day.
• Ether, same week: $218.4 million, down from $824.4 million the prior week.
• Three-week Bitcoin streak: $3.8 billion, with category assets at $101.3 billion.

Mandate-driven ETF buying can absorb coins and still leave the cash price stuck under a round number, which is what happened as Bitcoin failed to hold above $82,000 through those inflow days. That is allocation, not a broad bid for every company with a crypto slide in its deck. Figure, Chime, and Paymentus sit one layer down from IBIT, and they need a different set of pipes.

$4.3 Billion on Figure Connect

Figure Technology Solutions (Nasdaq: FIGR), the blockchain lending marketplace chaired by Mike Cagney and run by CEO Michael Tannenbaum, is the one name in the trio that already lives on-chain. For the quarter ended June 30, consumer-loan marketplace volume was $4.3 billion, up 132% from a year earlier. Figure Connect, the capital-light venue where third-party originators sell loans to institutions, handled $2.8 billion of that, or 65% of the book.

Net revenue was $226 million, up 113% from $106 million. Net income was $87 million, up 192% from $30 million, for a 38.8% net margin. Adjusted EBITDA was $119 million, up 126%, at a 54.6% margin. Diluted earnings were 35 cents a share. The company added 102 loan-origination partners in the quarter, bringing the total to 489 mortgage lenders, banks, and fintechs.

We delivered our strongest quarter yet, headlined by 132% year-over-year volume growth in our Consumer Loan Marketplace, the addition of over 100 origination partners, and the scaling of our capital-light marketplace, with 65% of our volumes now on Figure Connect.

Michael Tannenbaum, CEO, Figure Technology Solutions Q2 2026 release

For the third quarter Figure guided marketplace volume to $4.8 billion to $5.2 billion. Its pending $717 million purchase of real-estate lender Kiavi is still slated to close in the second half of 2026. YLDS, the firm’s yield-bearing token registered as a debt security, had about $598 million in circulation as of March 31, up from $3 million a year earlier. In its 10-K the company said that, on RWA.xyz figures, it held about 75% of tokenized private credit as of Dec. 31, 2025, with roughly $14 billion of real-world assets locked.

That is a credit-market business that uses a chain to originate, fund, and trade home-equity lines, not a sidecar on Bitcoin ETF flows. Crypto-backed loans and Figure Exchange give it direct digital-asset exposure, which is why the next-year earnings growth rate of 168.2% in Zacks Investment Research’s consensus, and a 25.5% lift in the current-year estimate over 60 days, can be read as a wager on tokenized credit rather than on IBIT creations.

Chime’s Stablecoin Plans Stop Short of the App

Chime Financial (Nasdaq: CHYM) is a much larger consumer franchise and a much thinner crypto story. Revenue in the quarter ended June 30 was $670 million, up 27%. Payments revenue, mostly debit interchange, was $430 million, up 17%, or 21% including outbound instant transfers. Platform revenue, the cash-advance and instant-loan layer, was $240 million, up 48%. Active members reached 10.4 million, up 20%. Purchase volume was $38.0 billion, up 17%. Average revenue per active member was $260, up 6% after the launch of Chime Prime, a paid tier for members who direct-deposit at least $3,000 a month.

GAAP net income was $28 million, a 4% margin and the second straight profitable quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was $102 million, a 15% margin, up 12 points from a year earlier. Full-year revenue guidance is $2.725 billion to $2.745 billion, or 25% to 26% growth. Adjusted EBITDA is guided to $465 million to $475 million. CEO and co-founder Chris Britt said the Prime launch, liquidity products, and workplace deals are what is working. He did not announce a token.

Chime priced its June 12, 2025, IPO at $27 a share. It still partners with The Bancorp Bank and Stride Bank for FDIC-insured deposits. It has been exploring how dollar-tied tokens could sit inside the app, including end-to-end wallet proposals and a seat near the Open USD project, and it has told customers it does not offer stablecoins or other crypto assets. The GENIUS Act’s payment-stablecoin rules are the gate that has to open before that experiment becomes a product. Until then, 10.4 million debit users are a distribution list, not a minted float. Zacks’s next-year earnings growth rate of 109.6%, with the current-year estimate up 36.7% over 60 days, is pricing a neobank that just turned GAAP-profitable, plus option value on a token it has not shipped.

A PayPal Crypto Sale That Settles a Utility Bill

Paymentus Holdings (NYSE: PAY) is the unglamorous middle of the trio: cloud bill presentment and payment for utilities, insurers, governments, and banks. In the quarter ended June 30 it processed 213.4 million transactions, up 21.4%. Revenue was $360.7 million, up 28.8%. Contribution profit was $118.1 million, up 26.3%. Adjusted EBITDA was $48.8 million, up 54%, at a 41.3% margin on contribution profit. GAAP net income was $25.6 million, or 20 cents a share, versus $14.7 million, or 11 cents, a year earlier. Free cash flow was $39.0 million, up 73.7%. The company now guides 2026 revenue to $1.443 billion to $1.458 billion and adjusted EBITDA to $175 million to $185 million. It says it serves 2,200 clients in North America.

The crypto hook is a PayPal feature on that network, not a Paymentus chain. Through the Instant Payment Network, billers can let customers pay bills with cryptocurrency through PayPal. A customer transfers or sells Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, or Litecoin inside the PayPal app; the biller is paid in dollars from that sale or from a backup funding source. PayPal’s merchant tools separately let U.S. firms accept cryptocurrency payments from global buyers and settle in local currency, covering about 100 assets including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and PayPal USD. Paymentus does not take the coin onto its own books.

HOW A CRYPTO BILL PAY CLEARS

• The wallet: The payer uses the PayPal app, which already holds the bill from the Instant Payment Network.
• The sale: Bitcoin, Ether, Bitcoin Cash, or Litecoin is transferred or sold inside that app.
• The biller: The utility, insurer, or government is paid in U.S. dollars, not in the coin.
• The backup: If the crypto sale does not cover the bill, a backup funding source on the PayPal account can finish it.

That is a funding-source choice on a bill-pay network whose growth in the quarter came from more billers and more transactions, at an average price of $1.69 per payment. Zacks’s next-year earnings growth rate of 40.9%, with the current-year estimate up 14.8% over 60 days, is in line with a payments processor compounding at high 20s revenue growth. Calling it a crypto stock because PayPal will sell a coin to clear a water bill overstates the mix.

What the GENIUS Act Requires Before 2027

The law that actually moves Chime’s token file, and that sets the terms for any dollar coin Paymentus might one day pass through, is already on the books and not yet in force. Congress passed the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act, a federal framework for payment stablecoins, and it was signed on July 18, 2025, as Public Law 119-27. A payment stablecoin is a digital asset used for payment or settlement that the issuer must redeem at a fixed amount, typically one dollar, against high-quality liquid reserves. The statute says those tokens are not securities or commodities and are not federally insured.

On Aug. 17, 2026, the Treasury Department issued proposed rules for issuing payment stablecoins in the United States, implementing section 3 of the Act. Comments are due 60 days after the Aug. 18 Federal Register notice. The proposal defines when an issuer must hold a federal or state GENIUS license and when offering or selling a token to a person in the United States triggers the statute.

President Trump and Congress delivered the GENIUS Act, establishing a landmark framework and clear rules of the road for payment stablecoins, and Treasury is moving quickly to implement that framework.

Scott Bessent, Treasury Secretary, Aug. 17, 2026, Treasury release

THE GENIUS CLOCK

1. July 18, 2025: The GENIUS Act is signed as Public Law 119-27, creating the first U.S. federal regime for payment stablecoins.
2. August 17, 2026: Treasury issues its section 3 notice of proposed rulemaking on issuance, offer, and sale in the United States.
3. January 18, 2027: Expected effective date. Issuing a payment stablecoin in the United States without a federal or state license is generally prohibited.
4. July 18, 2028: Digital asset service providers generally may not offer or sell payment stablecoins in the United States unless a licensed issuer stands behind them.

Federal Reserve staff put the stablecoin market at about $317 billion as of April 2026. Circle, PayPal’s PYUSD, bank consortia, and Open USD are all racing to be inside the licensed perimeter by that January date. Chime’s wallet work only pays if a permitted coin can sit in a consumer app without looking like an uninsured deposit. Figure’s YLDS is already a registered security, which puts it on a different track from a GENIUS payment stablecoin. Paymentus needs licensed coins to show up as a boring funding source next to Venmo and a debit card.

Atkins’s $5 Million and $75 Million Exemptions

A second Washington track landed a day after Treasury’s notice. On Aug. 18, SEC Chair Paul Atkins outlined Regulation Crypto Assets, a package of offering exemptions for non-security crypto assets that are sold under an investment contract. The proposal includes a startup exemption of $5 million over four years and a fundraising exemption of up to $75 million in each 12-month period, plus an investment-contract safe harbor. Under that harbor, if an issuer certifies that it has ceased the essential managerial efforts it promised, the Commission would no longer treat the related non-security crypto asset as subject to an investment contract.

THE THREE PIECES IN THE SEC PACKAGE

• Startup exemption: Offerings of up to $5 million during a four-year period, with principles-based disclosure written for crypto assets.
• Fundraising exemption: Offerings of up to $75 million each year, with financial-condition disclosure and audited statements above set thresholds.
• Safe harbor: A path for a non-security crypto asset to exit investment-contract status once promised managerial efforts have stopped.

Atkins said the old “come in and register” posture had driven issuance offshore, and he still called on Congress to finish the CLARITY Act so a later Commission cannot unwind the work. Those exemptions matter for token fundraising. They do not clear a water bill and they do not underwrite a HELOC. Figure’s equity already trades on Nasdaq as FIGR, with a blockchain share class on its OPEN ATS; Chime and Paymentus are ordinary listed common. The Atkins package is a backdrop for the asset class, not a volume driver for Q3 bill pay or Q3 loan sales.

The Rankings Price a Different Kind of Crypto

Put the three next-year growth rates beside the actual crypto product and the basket comes apart. Figure is already running a profitable on-chain loan venue. Chime is a debit neobank shopping a wallet. Paymentus is a biller processor that will let PayPal sell a coin so a utility gets dollars.

THREE FINTECHS, THREE CRYPTO HOOKS

Zacks Investment Research has Figure at a Rank 1 and Chime and Paymentus at Rank 2 on those growth rates and estimate revisions. The ranking is a screen, not a shared business. IBIT’s 70% share of the $986.9 million week is the cleaner read on what institutions wanted in early September: Bitcoin in a fund wrapper. The three common stocks are a bet that licensed dollar coins and tokenized credit become ordinary plumbing after Jan. 18, 2027, when issuing a payment stablecoin in the United States without a license is set to become unlawful.

Disclaimer: This article is news reporting and analysis of listed companies, exchange-traded funds, and crypto-market rules, and it is for information only. It does not constitute investment advice, a recommendation to buy or sell any security or digital asset, or tax, legal, or trading advice. Readers should consult a licensed financial adviser, accountant, or attorney before acting on any stock, Bitcoin ETF, stablecoin, or lending product named here. Revenue figures, flow totals, ranks, and regulatory dates reflect the company releases, SoSoValue and fund-level prints, and agency notices cited above as of the dates on those documents, and they may change.