Summary
gm, The U.S. Senate passed the GENIUS Act with a 68-30 vote, establishing a clear regulatory framework for stablecoins, which prompted President Trump to urge the House to expedite approval without amendments. This legislative advancement triggered substantial market movements, most notably for Circle and Coinbase, whose shares surged by 19.9% and 11.9% respectively, reflecting investor optimism about stablecoin regulation. Meanwhile, institutional adoption continues to expand with Deribit and Crypto.com integrating BlackRock's tokenized Treasury fund (BUIDL) as trading collateral, while traditional financial institutions including Standard Chartered and Revolut are exploring deeper involvement in non-stablecoin tokenization and stablecoin issuance. On the security front, the U.S. Department of Justice has filed to seize over $225 million in Tether linked to "pig butchering" crypto scams, representing the largest such enforcement action against these fraudulent schemes.

News Headlines
💰 Trump Family Reduces Stake in World Liberty Financial by 20%

  • DT Marks DeFi LLC, a Trump family company, has reduced its stake in World Liberty Financial (WLF) from 60% to approximately 40% over just 11 days, potentially generating millions in proceeds amid increased regulatory scrutiny.
  • This divestment comes as lawmakers raise concerns about conflicts of interest, as Trump simultaneously pushes for stablecoin legislation while his family maintains significant financial interests in WLF, which recently launched its own USD1 stablecoin.

💵 Neobank Revolut Exploring Launch of Its Own Stablecoin

  • Revolut, serving 55 million retail and 500,000 business customers worldwide, is in talks with at least one crypto-native company about launching its own stablecoin, according to sources familiar with the matter.
  • This development aligns with a trend among major companies like Amazon and Walmart considering similar initiatives as regulatory frameworks evolve. Stablecoins offer advantages for payments including lower fees and faster transaction speeds, plus potential yield from reserves.

📱 Elon Musk's X to Launch Trading and Payment System in 2025

  • X CEO Linda Yaccarino announced that the platform will soon introduce in-app trading and payment functionalities, including a peer-to-peer payment system called X Money, and is considering creating an X-branded debit card.
  • Despite Musk's well-known support for Dogecoin, which he has called his favorite cryptocurrency, there was no mention of integrating cryptocurrencies into these new financial services, raising questions about their future role on the platform.

🧪 Prenetics Healthcare Company Invests $20M in Bitcoin

  • Prenetics, a healthcare services company operating in Hong Kong and the US, has invested $20 million to purchase 187 BTC at an average price of $106,712 through a Kraken custody account, positioning itself as a leader among corporate Bitcoin holders in the healthcare sector.
  • The company's advisory team now includes Tracy Hoyos Lopez, who played a role in Donald Trump's cryptocurrency advocacy. Following the announcement, Prenetics' stock increased by over 8.7% in Nasdaq trading.

🌐 Crypto VC Partner Loses Life Savings in Zoom Phishing Attack

  • Mehdi Farooq, an investment partner at Hypersphere, lost a significant portion of his life savings in a sophisticated phishing attack during what he thought was a legitimate Zoom call with a professional contact whose account had been hijacked.
  • The attack has been linked to a North Korea-affiliated threat actor known as "dangrouspassword," highlighting the increasing sophistication of phishing scams targeting cryptocurrency professionals through trusted communication channels.

Market Metrics

Fundraising & VC
1. Wildcard (Undisclosed, $6M) - Web3-enabled PvP arena game
2. Project Eleven (Seed, $6M) - Applied quantum computing lab 
3. U2U Network (Series A, Undisclosed) - DAG-based network utilizing Subnet technology

Regulatory
🔍 South Korea to Investigate Crypto Exchange Fees

  • South Korea's Financial Services Commission is launching an investigation into transaction fees charged by domestic crypto exchanges to reduce trading costs for users.
  • The initiative aligns with newly elected President Lee Jae-myung's campaign promise to cut crypto trading expenses, particularly targeting support for young traders.

👛 Ohio House Passes Crypto Tax Exemption Bill

  • The Ohio House of Representatives passed the Blockchain Basics Act, providing a $200 tax exemption on capital gains from cryptocurrency transactions.
  • The bill protects crypto users from government interference, safeguards the use of self-hosted wallets, and allows individuals to mine cryptocurrencies in residential areas with local compliance.

💼 Czech Government Survives No-Confidence Vote in Bitcoin Scandal

  • The Czech Republic's government narrowly survived a no-confidence vote (98-94) sparked by a controversial $45 million Bitcoin donation from a convicted criminal.
  • The incident, involving a donation to the Ministry of Justice, raised serious concerns about the government's handling of seized crypto assets and regulatory oversight.

🔐 16 Billion Passwords Leaked, Threatening Crypto Security

  • A massive leak of 16 billion passwords from major services like Apple, Google, and Facebook poses significant risks for cryptocurrency holders, especially those using custodial wallets.
  • Security experts warn of an expected rise in targeted account takeovers, made worse by common password reuse and weak authentication practices among crypto users.

🏦 Iran Orders Crypto Exchange Curfew After $100M Hack

  • Iran's central bank imposed strict operating hours (10 am to 8 pm) for domestic cryptocurrency exchanges following a $100 million hack of Nobitex by a pro-Israel hacker group.
  • The attack, executed by Gonjeshke Darande, resulted in the theft of assets including Bitcoin and Ether, with many of the stolen funds deliberately burned to damage the Iranian regime.

Technical Analysis
Bitcoin - Bitcoin shows strong development within a rising trend channel in the short term. This signals increasing optimism among investors and indicates continued rise. The currency is approaching support at 102400 points, which may give a positive reaction. However, a break downwards through 102400 points will be a negative signal. The volume balance is negative and weakens the currency in the short term. The currency is overall assessed as technically positive for the short term.

Ethereum - Ethereum is within an approximate horizontal trend channel in the short term, which indicates further development in the same direction. The currency is testing support at points 2490. This could give a positive reaction, but a downward breakthrough of points 2490 means a negative signal. Volume tops and volume bottoms correspond well with tops and bottoms in the price. This strengthens the currency and indicates increased chance of a break up. The RSI curve shows a rising trend, which is an early signal of a possible trend reversal upwards for the price as well. The currency is overall assessed as technically slightly positive for the short term.