“Crypto week” may sound like something a guy you went to high school came up with to market worthless meme coins to teenagers on X, but it’s actually a legislative agenda in the House of Representatives.
Bitcoin briefly surged above $123,000 to a new record today in anticipation of all the various pro-crypto bills the legislative body could pass, including the GENIUS Act, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, and the anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act.
The various bills would define regulatory roles for the SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, create a legal path for stablecoins and other tokens, and ban the Fed from creating its own digital currency. All of these efforts are aimed at bringing regulatory clarity to crypto markets, which industry bulls say will foster more mainstream adoption.
Other cryptocurrencies including ethereum, solana, and XRP also jumped in anticipation of the legislative wins.
The big deal with regulation: “We are filling a gap,” Beth Haddock, the global policy lead at Stablecoin Standard said in an interview with Brew Markets last week. “It’s just not OK that you have USDC, which is now a publicly traded company with Circle, and we don’t have stablecoin legislation.”
Why bitcoin is still booming
Wall Street has come around on digital assets in a big way, as financial titans shift from calling crypto a scam to guzzling bitcoins like they’re those $400 Hamptons melons.
Crypto exchange-traded funds have been raking in the cash as the Street gets more comfortable with the world of digital assets: Bloomberg reported that US bitcoin ETFs raked in over $2.7 billion in new money last week, one of the funds’ best periods ever.
Small startups, too, have been hoping to ride the crypto wave, buying cryptocurrencies to boost their share price.
The flip side: For all the legislation, tokenization, stablecoins, and hype, the industry is still marked by volatility, scams, and questionable use cases. Be wary about hopping aboard the bandwagon: If there’s one thing we have learned from the last few crypto booms and busts, it’s that the good times never last forever.—LB
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