Eterna's Insights - July 2025

Washington’s ‘Crypto Week’ Delivers Historic Milestone: GENIUS Act Signed Into Law

In mid-July, U.S. lawmakers delivered one of the most significant policy breakthroughs for digital assets to date. President Trump signed the GENIUS Act stablecoin bill into law following its bipartisan passage through Congress, marking the first comprehensive federal framework for dollar-backed stablecoins. The signing ceremony at the White House included senior legislators and key administration officials, underscoring the priority the administration is placing on this new payments infrastructure.

The GENIUS Act passed the House with a strong 308-122 bipartisan vote after clearing the Senate 68-30, while two other crypto-related bills also advanced: the CLARITY Act, which provides a market structure framework for digital assets, and the Anti-CBDC Surveillance Act, aimed at prohibiting a U.S. central bank digital currency. Although CLARITY still faces a challenging path in the Senate, its House passage reflects a growing political consensus around digital asset regulation.

By enabling U.S. banks and fintechs to issue regulated dollar-backed stablecoins, GENIUS is widely seen as a payments and dollar-dominance initiative rather than a purely crypto-specific measure. It lays the groundwork for faster settlements, reduced payment costs, and expanded global dollar distribution, potentially reshaping domestic and international financial rails. Beneficiaries include fintechs, banks, merchants, and consumers, while legacy card networks and smaller banks may face competitive pressures.

President Trump has since instructed his administration to fast-track implementation, with key figures such as newly appointed Assistant Treasury Secretary Luke Pettit expected to oversee rollout. Industry advocates anticipate rapid bank participation and early integrations with existing fintech platforms, accelerating mainstream adoption of digital dollars and potentially boosting broader crypto awareness.

With stablecoin regulation now codified, attention shifts to the CLARITY Act, which seeks to resolve SEC-CFTC jurisdictional disputes and define decentralization thresholds. While its Senate prospects remain uncertain, the mid-July legislative push marked a clear inflection point: U.S. digital asset policy has moved from regulatory patchwork to active congressional leadership, setting the stage for broader reforms and signaling America’s intent to remain competitive in global financial innovation.

U.S. Regulators Clarify Rules for Bank Crypto Custody

The OCC, Federal Reserve, and FDIC issued joint guidance on how existing banking laws apply to crypto custody. The document clarifies expectations around risk management, key storage, third-party arrangements, and compliance with AML, KYC, and sanctions rules, while addressing blockchain-specific risks like forks and airdrops.

The guidance introduces no new regulations but consolidates prior directives, giving banks a clearer framework to enter or expand crypto custody services, likely accelerating institutional adoption and boosting confidence in regulated digital asset infrastructure.

White House Unveils Blueprint for U.S. Crypto Leadership

The Presidential Working Group on Digital Asset Markets has published a 166-page strategy positioning the U.S. to become the “crypto capital of the world”. The plan lays out 116 policy recommendations spanning market structure, banking, payments, illicit finance, taxation, and innovation.

Highlights include granting the CFTC spot-market authority, creating a unified license for trading and custody, fast-tracking stablecoin integration into payment systems, and barring a retail CBDC. The framework also proposes tax reforms for digital assets, cybersecurity standards, and incentives for U.S.-based Web3 development.

Notably, the plan calls for establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve seeded with forfeited BTC, while leaving operational details to Treasury and an inter-agency task force. The SEC has since adopted the report as the “blueprint” for Project Crypto, a push to accelerate rulemaking and enable tokenized securities to trade onchain.

Institutional Treasuries Turn to Crypto: DAT Momentum Boosts ETH

July highlighted a growing institutional shift toward Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs), with corporates, asset managers, and even sovereign funds signaling increased interest in holding crypto assets, primarily bitcoin and ether, as part of treasury reserves. This momentum reflects a broader search for alternative stores of value and yield in a high-rate, high-liquidity global environment, coupled with improving custody solutions and regulatory visibility. The narrative around “crypto balance sheets” gained traction, with several mid-cap public companies quietly disclosing small allocations, fueling expectations of a second wave of corporate adoption akin to 2020-21.

This treasury-driven demand coincided with notable outperformance of ETH, which benefited from expectations of broader adoption in corporate finance and smart contract-based settlement. The prospect of staking yields and tokenized treasury products using ETH also attracted institutional inflows, reinforcing its dual role as both a programmable asset and a reserve instrument. Combined with growing stablecoin usage, these dynamics suggest that treasuries are becoming a meaningful driver of digital asset markets rather than a niche experiment.