Weekly Recap: Congress Passes First Crypto Law!

At 2.30 PM ET today, President Trump is scheduled to sign off on the GENIUS Act. It will be the U.S. first crypto law and it is a momentous moment for an industry that has fought for over a decade for official approval.

GENIUS, which regulates the issuance of stablecoins, is likely to have far-reaching implications for payments (especially cross-border), and places blockchain infrastructure at an equivalent approval level of, say, SWIFT.

And it was not even the most far-reaching piece of legislation to move through Congress this week.

Also Thursday, the House passed the CLARITY Act, a comprehensive framework for digital assets regulation, including the crucial question of whether an asset is a security or a commodity. CLARITY, as currently written, is not the finished article.

Tim Scott, Chair of the Senate Banking Committee, called the House bill a good start and said he hoped to have a final draft by September 30. The Senate Agriculture Committee, which (strangely) oversees the CFTC, also needs to hear the bill.

Meanwhile, the House also passed a bill (introduced by House Whip Tom Emmer) banning the U.S. from introducing a central bank digital currency (CBDC). The bill was championed by the Freedom Caucus and was included to allow the other bills to proceed to the floor. The bill’s prospects in the Senate are less certain.

We rounded up reactions from lawmakers, industry and lobbyists here. Our D.C. reporter Jesse Hamilton covered all the angles alongside his regulatory editor Nik De.

Meanwhile, markets surged. Bitcoin shot to all time highs. Ethereum jumped, on the back of several “treasury vehicle” announcements and strong ETF flows. From below $1500 in April, ETH is now above $3500 and climbing. XRP hit record highs.

Other Layer-1 stalwarts, including SUI, SEI and SOL, also had strong weeks. And memecoins decreased in importance, suggesting a return to networks with real business activity.

It was a big week for news all around.

Trump approved crypto investments in retirement accounts.

Coinbase launched an innovative “everything app.”

Roman Storm, a Tornado Cash (Ethereum mixer) developer, started his criminal trial in Manhattan. Our reporter Cheyenne Ligon had full coverage for us.

CME said it was exploring 24/7 crypto trading for futures and options (but not memecoins).

PayPal lost its lead blockchain executive, José Fernández da Ponte, who left to join Stellar.

Meanwhile, Trump was also trying to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

With Congress now moving to recess, it’s possible the regulatory and policy news flow will quieten down. But the rest of crypto seems likely to keep the news coming this summer.

Hats off to our news team for keeping up with everything this week, as it does all weeks.