Crypto user attacked in France over Ledger hardware wallet — Report

By Joe Light

President Donald Trump says he doesn't want Congress to pad a bill to regulate stablecoins with other provisions. That's good news for the bill's prospects, but makes it unlikely that broader legislation sought by crypto exchanges like Coinbase Global will make it to the finish line soon.

Earlier this week, the Senate passed a bill to regulate stablecoins with wide bipartisan support. The bill clarifies who oversees the tokens — a type of cryptocurrency that's typically pegged to the dollar — and sets requirements for their reserves.

Some industry executives and lawmakers have pushed for combining the Senate's stablecoin bill, dubbed the GENIUS act, with broader legislation on digital asset exchanges and brokers. Wider industry legislation has been a key goal for companies like Coinbase, which have long argued that the rules crypto companies must follow are unclear.

But Trump earlier this week seemingly threw up a roadblock to that goal.

"The House will hopefully move LIGHTNING FAST, and pass a 'clean' GENIUS Act," Trump wrote late Wednesday on TruthSocial. "Get it to my desk, ASAP — NO DELAYS, NO ADD ONs."

As late as Friday morning, leaders in the House hadn't completely given up on the idea of still trying to combine the two bills, according to a person familiar with the matter. But the president's opposition would make such an effort particularly fraught.

"We look forward to continued collaboration with our members and House leadership as we work toward a path forward," said a spokesperson for House Financial Services Chairman French Hill (R., Ark.).

Part of lawmakers' hesitance has been that trying to amend the Senate's bill could end up sinking the effort entirely. There's relatively broad agreement among lawmakers on how to oversee stablecoins. That's not the case for the thorny issues that would be included in a market structure bill — such as how to regulate digital assets exchanges and how to determine if a particular cryptocurrency should be subject to securities laws.

"If the House of Representatives sends back something that's different, then that's going to give those who are already opponents of the bill to say 'Well, we tried. We gave you our vote, but you changed it on us,' and we're going to be right back to square one with a much more complex situation," said Sen. Bill Hagerty (R., Tenn.) on the Bankless podcast on Thursday.

There's also hope among some Republicans that the stablecoin legislation could even help out on other priorities, including reducing the deficit. Stablecoins have a total market value of about $256 billion, making them a relatively insignificant part of the U.S. economy.

However, if stablecoins become a more important part of payments around the world, the theory goes, it could increase the demand for the Treasury bills and other Treasury-linked securities that the bill requires stablecoin issuers to hold in reserves. The demand could make it easier and cheaper to finance the deficit.

"This newfound demand could lower government borrowing costs and help rein in the national debt," wrote Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in an X post earlier this week.

Hagerty on the podcast this week said he met with Trump and spoke with him about combining the broader bill or moving forward with what they already have in had. Trump said Congress ought to "take the win."

Write to Joe Light at joe.light@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

Bloomberg has increased the odds of spot-based XRP exchange-traded funds (ETFs) being approved in 2025 to 95% in the latest update. 

This comes amid increasing engagement from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is viewed as an encouraging sign for ETF issuers.

As reported by U.Today, Bloomberg analysts previously estimated that the probability of XRP ETFs being greenlit this year stood at 85%.

The latest update shows that the proposed ETF products that track Litecoin (LTC) and Solana also stand at 95%. They were previously at 90%.

The launch of the first spot-based memecoin ETF is also extremely likely. Dogecoin-based proposals, which have been put forward by such firms as Graycale, Bitwise, and 21Shares, are now overwhelmingly expected to be approved. Bloomberg analysts have now raised their odds to 90%.

The same applies to the ETF proposals for such altcoins as Cardano , Polkadot , and Avalanche . The odds of these products had previously been estimated at 95%. 

According to Bloomberg, the SEC likely views all of these tokens as commodities. 

Last June, as reported by U.Today, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse opined that the launch of an XRP ETF in the US was "inevitable." There are already some futures-based products offering exposure to the Ripple-linked token.

Earlier this month, Canada outpaced the U.S. by approving three spot-based XRP ETFs.

The biggest question 

According to ETF analyst Nate Geraci, the "biggest question" is whether or not asset management behemoth BlackRock will join the race to launch XRP and Solana ETFs. The analyst believes that this will eventually happen despite earlier comments from some BlackRock executives pouring cold water on the prospects of launching ETFs for other tokens beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum. 

The Wyoming Stable Token Commission, the state-backed group developing the WYST stablecoin, is targeting Aug. 20 for mainnet launch, according to its latest monthly meeting. 

The group has yet to determine which of the 11 blockchains — Aptos, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Base, Ethereum, Optimism, Polygon, Sei, Solana, Stellar, and Sui — on which WYST will officially launch. However, several chains may be chosen for the first state-backed stablecoin. 

WYST, a U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin authorized by the Wyoming Stable Token Act in 2023, is one of many attempts by the Cowboy State to establish itself as a leader in the blockchain space and a natural hub for industry participants. 

The launch may coincide with the first national stablecoin bill, which President Donald Trump has said he hopes to sign into law by the end of the summer. 

According to an updated timeline, the group plans to “migrate WYST smart contracts” to the designated “in-scope candidate” blockchains. It will then “test in prod” by “funding a small WYST purchase with agency funds and ensure end-to-end processes are in place,” in preparation for a public announcement scheduled to coincide with the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium in August.

The commission voted to add Aptos and Sei as blockchain candidates during May’s monthly meeting. In June, the group added additional criteria that the selected blockchains need to be compatible with its vendors, including analytics firm Chainalysis and infrastructure provider Fireblocks. 

Between now and August, the commission plans to relaunch the WYST testnet contracts on the candidate chains to assess their integrations with LayerZero and Fireblocks’ “unified architecture.”

The group also plans to file for new trademarks for what appear to be additional stablecoins, including the “Frontier Stable Token” (FRNT / iFRNT) and the “Wyoming Electronic Stable Token” (WEST).

Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.

© 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Given recent engagement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regarding applications for spot altcoin exchange-traded funds, Bloomberg analysts said Friday they are more confident than ever that the new financial products will be approved this year.

"Eric Balchunas and I are raising our odds for the vast majority of the spot crypto ETF filings to 90% or higher," Bloomberg ETF Analyst James Seyffart said on X. "Engagement from the SEC is a very positive sign in our opinion."

Less than two weeks ago, Balchunas and Seyffart, both prominent analysts in the ETF space, had the likelihood of spot XRP, Dogecoin and Cardano funds gaining approval by the end of the year below 90%.

Now, XRP, Dogecoin, and Cardano join ETF proposals for Litecoin, Solana, Polkadot, and Avalanche in having a 90% or better chance of being approved by the SEC by the end of 2025.

Dozens of spot crypto ETF filings are currently awaiting approval from the SEC. Paul Atkins became the agency's new chairman in April. Since taking over, Atkins has promised a friendlier approach to digital assets.

Earlier this month, the SEC requested that spot Solana exchange-traded fund issuers update their S-1 filings, suggesting that approvals could be forthcoming in the near term, according to a report.

So far, the SEC has only approved spot crypto ETFs for Bitcoin and Ethereum. The products, which enable investors to bet on the price of a specific cryptocurrency without having to hold it, have attracted tens of billions of dollars in investment capital.

Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.

© 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.