U.S. Senate Passes the GENIUS Act: A Milestone in Stablecoin Regulation

Major Policy Updates

The U.S. Senate recently passed the landmark "GENIUS Act," marking a significant advancement in the federal government's regulation of stablecoins. The bill was initiated by Republican Senator Bill Hagerty and received support from several of his Senate colleagues before the formal vote. This is the first time the U.S. Senate has passed such important cryptocurrency-related legislation.

Next, the legislative process will shift to the House of Representatives. In April of this year, the House Financial Services Committee proposed its own stablecoin regulatory framework - the "Stablecoin Transparency and Accountability to Promote a Better Ledger Economy Act", but the bill has not yet been submitted for a full House vote. How the House advances stablecoin legislation will become a focal point of industry attention.

Market Data

According to the latest data:

• The price of BTC is $104,691, with a 24-hour decline of 2.2%.
• The price of ETH is $2,516.29, with a 24-hour decline of 2.0%.
• The price of SOL is $148.20, with a 24-hour decline of 2.4%.
• The price of DOGE is $0.1701, with a 24-hour decline of 2.4%.
• The price of XRP is $2.16, with a 24-hour decrease of 4.4%.
• The price of TRX is $0.2718, with a 24-hour decline of 1.4%

Macroeconomic Policies and International Situation

The Federal Reserve is considering easing bank leverage requirements.

The Federal Reserve plans to hold a board meeting on June 25 to discuss modifications to the "supplementary leverage ratio" plan, which could initiate a broad process of reassessing banking regulations. This will be the first meeting held after Fed Governor Bowman was confirmed as the top regulatory official.

The banking industry has been calling for changes to the supplementary leverage ratio for years, hoping to exempt traditionally safe assets or modify the calculation formula. Banks believe that the existing supplementary leverage ratio may actually hinder their ability to enter the intermediate government bond market during times of market stress.

Trump's policy direction towards Iran

Recently, U.S. President Trump called for Iran to surrender unconditionally on social media. According to a reporter from CBS, Trump hopes to reach a complete resolution on the nuclear issue with Iran, while Israel may not slow down its actions against Iran.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump is considering various options during a meeting with senior advisors in the war room on Tuesday, including the possibility of the U.S. launching an attack on Iran. Government officials stated that Trump wants to ensure Iran cannot develop its own nuclear capabilities, but no decisions have been made yet.

Thailand introduces tax incentives for cryptocurrency.

The Thai cabinet has approved a five-year personal income tax exemption policy for profits from cryptocurrency sales, which will further promote the development of the country's cryptocurrency market.

Financial Innovation and Blockchain Implementation

Progress of Traditional Banks' Digital Transformation

JPMorgan Chase & Co. will pilot the issuance of a deposit token, JPMD, on a blockchain linked to Coinbase, which represents dollar deposits at the world's largest bank. According to Naveen Mallela, global co-head of Kinexys, the blockchain division of JPMorgan Chase, in the coming days, the bank will conduct a transaction to transfer a certain amount of JPMD from the bank's digital wallet to a major cryptocurrency trading platform.

Deutsche Bank also plans to launch a minimum viable product for asset tokenization on its blockchain-as-a-service platform in November 2025, (MVP). The platform aims to reduce the upfront hardware and infrastructure costs for enterprises exploring tokenization, allowing asset managers, wealth advisors, and other financial firms to create and distribute tokenized assets and support related services. Deutsche Bank has previously experimented with tokenized assets through its Digital Asset Management Access 2 platform.

JD's global stablecoin layout

Liu Qiangdong, Chairman of the Board of JD Group, recently stated that JD plans to apply for stablecoin licenses in major currency countries around the world. By using stablecoins, it aims to achieve efficient foreign exchange between global enterprises, potentially reducing cross-border payment costs by 90% and increasing efficiency to be completed within 10 seconds.

Liu Qiangdong pointed out: "Currently, remittances between enterprises take an average of 2 to 4 days, and the costs are quite high. After completing B-end payments, we will expand to C-end payments, hoping that in the future consumers can use JD stablecoin for payments globally."

VanEck expands digital asset business

Asset management company VanEck has announced plans to launch a private digital asset fund named VanEck PurposeBuilt Fund this month, which will be managed by VanEck's digital asset alpha fund team. The new fund will focus on the Avalanche blockchain ecosystem, investing in tokenized Web3 projects in areas such as gaming, financial services, payments, and artificial intelligence, as well as early-stage projects with long-term token utility.

Plasma stablecoin project cap

The stablecoin project Plasma officially announced that the deposit limit will no longer increase, with a total cap of $1 billion. Although the recharge channel is about to close, the system will still remain operational. Users can withdraw at any time before the lock-up period begins, but withdrawing or transferring voucher tokens will reduce the allocated share.

Important Developments in the Crypto Market

Regulatory Trends

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ) has delayed its decision on approving the Franklin XRP spot ETF and the Solana spot ETF. Meanwhile, a cryptocurrency exchange platform is seeking SEC approval to offer blockchain-based stock services, further expanding the integration of traditional finance and the crypto space.

Institutional Dynamics

Ark Invest, led by Cathie Wood, reduced its holdings of 342,658 shares of Circle stock through three of its ETFs on Monday, with a total value of $51.7 million. Notably, Circle's stock price still rose 13.1% on the same day, closing at a historic high of $151.06, nearly five times its IPO price of $31.

Interactive Strength Inc.( NASDAQ code: TRNR) announced the completion of its first round of financing of $55 million and has begun purchasing AI token FET on the secondary market through BitGo. The company expects to become the largest cryptocurrency vault holder focused on AI tokens among publicly listed companies in the United States. This financing was provided by private equity firm ATW Partners and cryptocurrency market maker DWF Labs.

DDC Enterprise Limited, a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, announced the signing of three securities purchase agreements, with a maximum fundraising expected to reach $528 million after deducting related expenses. Investors include Anson Funds, Animoca Brands, Kenetic Capital, QCP Capital, and a number of leading institutional funds and individual Bitcoin investors. These funds will be used entirely to expand the company's Bitcoin reserves.

large-scale destruction of USDC

USDC Treasury conducted a large-scale token burn operation on the Solana chain. Data shows that around 2:07 PM Beijing time on the 17th, USDC Treasury burned 63,055,257 USDC on the Solana chain. In addition, around 12:45 PM on the same day, USDC Treasury also burned over 69 million USDC on Solana.

Macroeconomic Outlook

Federal Reserve interest rate cut expectations

Nick Timiraos, known as the "Fed's mouthpiece," stated that there is ample reason to believe that if not for the risks posed by tariffs on prices, the Fed would have been prepared to cut rates this week due to recent improvements in inflation. He pointed out that the past five years have changed people's views on inflation and the scenarios that may arise.

According to CME's "FedWatch", the following shows:

• The probability of the Federal Reserve maintaining interest rates in July is 85.5%, while the probability of a 25 basis point rate cut is 14.5%.
• The probability of maintaining the interest rate unchanged in September is 32.8%, the probability of a 25 basis point cut is 58.2%, and the probability of a 50 basis point cut is 8.9%.
• The probability of keeping the interest rate unchanged in December is only 5.5%, while the cumulative probability of cutting rates by 25 to 100 basis points totals 94.5%.

Financial Knowledge

The relationship between the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield and the crypto market

Cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, as part of the broader financial world, are influenced by changes in the yield of 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds. As the world’s reserve currency, the U.S. dollar and its bonds serve as a global safe haven, and changes in their yields can trigger a chain reaction worldwide, setting the market environment tone for crypto investors.

When the yield on 10-year government bonds rises, it often signals that cryptocurrency prices and yields will face a more challenging market environment, especially during periods of global market turbulence. In contrast, a low yield environment typically stimulates investors' risk appetite, which benefits the performance of crypto assets like Bitcoin.