The tally of the vote on the GENIUS Act (Screenshot: US House Clerk/YouTube)

GENIUS Act passes, cementing stablecoins’ legitimacy

The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly in favor of the bill.

7/17/25 3:57PM

The House of Representatives voted in favor of the long-awaited Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act) today, in a 307-122 vote (with three votes uncounted as of writing). President Trump has expressed support for the bill and is expected to sign the bill tomorrow during a signing ceremony. The passage of the first major crypto regulation in the US is a landmark moment for the crypto space and comes as part of “Crypto Week.”

The bill, which the Senate passed on June 17 in a bipartisan 68-30 vote, establishes a regulatory framework for stablecoins, which, according to DefiLlama data, have a $258.5 billion market cap.

The space has exploded recently and is experiencing what many call a “stablecoin summer,” notably with stablecoin giant Circle’s mammoth IPO in June and everyone from Amazon to Walmart exploring use cases.

Senator Bill Hagerty, who spearheaded the bill, said earlier that the legislation brings the country “one step closer to becoming the global leader in crypto,” and celebrated its passage in a X post:

🚨🚨🚨 The House just passed my bill – The GENIUS Act!

This historic legislation will bring our payment system into the 21st century. It will ensure the dominance of the U.S. dollar. It will increase demand for U.S. Treasuries.

I look forward to @POTUS signing GENIUS into law –… pic.twitter.com/NmQMVHZGls
— Senator Bill Hagerty (@SenatorHagerty) July 17, 2025

Amanda Tuminelli, executive director and CLO of DeFi Education Fund, said that today’s passage of stablecoin legislation marks a historic achievement for the United States, a resounding victory for innovation, and a major step toward establishing a clear regulatory framework for digital assets.

“Stablecoins are essential for DeFi. DeFi Education Fund is grateful to the lawmakers in both the Senate and House, along with their dedicated staff, for their commitment to properly distinguishing between centralized and decentralized systems and technologies. Thank you for your efforts in advancing this landmark legislation. We look forward to President Trump signing it into law,” she added.

While many hail this as a watershed moment for stablecoins, some also argue that the bill isn’t about unleashing open innovation.

“It’s a calculated move to lock in the dollar’s dominance while boxing out the more radical edges of crypto,” Alexander Blume, CEO of Two Prime, said.

Blume said it also enshrines the dollar as king, as stablecoins must be backed by USD and Treasurys.

“That’s great for US hegemony and incumbents like Circle, but it slams the door on more experimental models like bitcoin-backed or algorithmic stablecoins,” he said.

It also bans interest-bearing stablecoins, “a clear concession to both big banks and large stablecoin incumbents, who want to hoard the yield and upside for themselves,” Blume said.

Sage D. Young

6/5/26

Zcash nosedives after counterfeit vulnerability revealed

The privacy-focused cryptocurrency has dropped more than 40% in the last 24 hours, shedding $3.8 billion in market capitalization.

$62B

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy6/5/26

Bitcoin digital asset treasuries (DATs) have taken a big hit amid bitcoin’s tumble, shedding $62 billion in value since the asset’s October 6 all-time high, Artemis data shows, with their fully diluted market cap dropping to $72 billion from $134 billion in early October.

Meanwhile, bitcoin, which has fallen below $62,000 on Friday morning, is down 50% from its all-time high. DAT pioneer Strategy’s market cap stood at $102.2 billion on October 6, according to Macro Trends, and is now down to $45.6 billion, a 55% decline. Strategy has been in hot water since it sold 32 bitcoin earlier this week, and because its digital credit instrument, STRC, has been trading below its par value. Shares of Strategy are down 17% in the past week.

Sage D. Young6/4/26

“Sentiment for crypto is firmly in the gutter” as sector sinks, with tokens hitting multiyear lows

On Thursday, altcoins swept lower as bitcoin weakened. The tokens with the biggest losses in the last 24 hours are NEAR, ethena, and Zcash, each declining double digits in the period.

Other tokens have dropped to lows not seen in over a year in the past 24 hours:

Ethereum dropped 4.4% to under $1,780, a level not seen since April 2025.
XRP declined 4.5% to an 18-month low last hit in November 2024.
Solana decreased 6% to trade below the $70 mark, its lowest price since December 2023.
Dogecoin slid below $0.09, a 27-month low last seen in February 2024.

“Sentiment for crypto is firmly in the gutter as fears surrounding BTC/STRC and its potential overflow compound and overshadow anything that can be read as positive news (e.g. CLARITY movements),” according to Sean Dawson, head of research at crypto options platform Derive.xyz.

“[Altcoins] are high beta plays to BTC and are typically sold heavily in a downturn. Simply put, I’d be even more bearish on alts,” Dawson told Sherwood News.

“Further, liquidity has been drained into this year’s ‘superhot’ narrative of AI/data centers. In other words, there are just better, more exciting opportunities elsewhere,” Dawson added.

One cryptocurrency that has bucked the downtrend has been worldcoin, the native token for World, the digital identity project backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. While the broader crypto market has been pushing lower, WLD has jumped nearly 5% in the last 24 hours and 90% in the past seven days, data from CoinGecko shows.

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy

6/4/26

Bitcoin nears February lows amid $1.4 billion exiting its ETFs

“This week has been painful in crypto. There is really no other way of putting it.”