Stablecoin Bill Looks Toward Swift Passage After Trump Push — Barrons.com

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.

The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.

It's Friday! Bitcoin's network activity is looking like a ghost town as institutional participation shifts more transactions off-chain. Still, rising settlement volumes and larger average transaction sizes suggest whales are increasingly dominating the base layer, according to Glassnode.

In today's newsletter, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino teases an open-source local password manager, Kraken launches a bitcoin "staking" service, David Bailey's Nakamoto raises its bitcoin treasury target to $763 million, and more.

Meanwhile, Reddit is reportedly in talks to use the Sam Altman-backed crypto project World's eyeball-scanning Orbs for human verification.

Let's get started.

Tether CEO says it's 'time to ditch the cloud' amid massive online data leak

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said it's time to move beyond storing passwords in the cloud after 16 billion credentials from Apple, Facebook, Google, government services, and other platforms were leaked in what is believed to be the largest data breach ever.

• Online security experts described the leak as a "blueprint for mass exploitation," warning that bad actors could use the data to launch hacks or phishing attacks, including against crypto users.
• "The cloud has failed us. Again," Ardoino posted to X on Thursday. "16 billion passwords just leaked. It's time to ditch the cloud." Ardoino stated that such cloud-based vulnerabilities are why Tether has been developing PearPass — a fully local, open-source password manager that stores all data on users' devices.
• "No cloud. No servers. No leaks. Ever," he wrote, adding that PearPass will launch soon.
• The stablecoin firm previously launched Pear Credit, a peer-to-peer lending platform, in collaboration with Holepunch and Synonym and is also developing Tether AI, an open-source, offline-capable AI runtime.
• Ardoino said his mission is to build "human-first" technology that can operate locally and function in disaster scenarios like World War III.

Kraken launches a bitcoin 'staking' service

Crypto exchange Kraken has launched bitcoin "staking" with up to 1% yield via DeFi protocol Babylon, enabling users to earn passive rewards on their BTC holdings without wrapping, bridging, or lending.

• While Babylon is marketed as a "bitcoin-native staking protocol," it does not enable staking in the way traditional proof-of-stake systems do.
• Instead, Babylon lets users bond their BTC via time-lock scripts on Bitcoin's base layer to help secure PoS chains in exchange for rewards.
• Even though Babylon avoids wrapped BTC and Kraken provides a more user-friendly interface, participants still face lockup immobility, offchain coordination risks, reward token volatility, and centralized custodial exposure.

David Bailey's Nakamoto raises bitcoin treasury target to $763 million

Bitcoin holding firm Nakamoto and telehealth startup KindlyMD have raised their BTC treasury target to $763 million following an additional $51.5 million in private placement commitments.

• Founder David Bailey said the latest round of capital was raised in 72 hours, with plans to convert the entire sum into bitcoin post-merger approval.
• The firms originally outlined a $710 million raise in May — $510 million through PIPE funding and $200 million via convertible notes.
• "We continue to execute our strategy to raise as much capital as possible to acquire as much bitcoin as possible," Bailey, who also runs Bitcoin Magazine, added.
• The deal follows a growing trend of firms mimicking Strategy's playbook to build bitcoin treasuries via debt and equity raises.

France hit by 10th crypto 'wrench attack' of 2025

A 23-year-old crypto investor was kidnapped near Paris on Tuesday, marking France's 10th known "wrench attack" and the 32nd globally in 2025, according to Le Parisien and data tracked by Jameson Lopp.

• Attackers forced the victim to call his partner to hand over a Ledger hardware wallet and €5,000 in cash before releasing him in a nearby town.
• This year is on pace to become the most violent on record for crypto holders, with wrench attacks rising alongside market gains; the previous peak was 36 known incidents in 2021.
• French officials are ramping up discussions with the crypto industry after a series of high-profile assaults, including the kidnapping and torture of Ledger co-founder David Balland and his wife in January.

TikTok slams Rep. Sherman over $300 million Trump memecoin accusation

TikTok slammed Rep. Brad Sherman's claim that its owners bought $300 million in TRUMP memecoins, calling it "patently false and irresponsible."

• Sherman accused TikTok of effectively bribing President Trump to delay its looming U.S. ban, but the congressman appeared to have confused the deal with a separate company, GD Culture Group.
• GDC, a small-cap firm with no official ties to TikTok's parent company ByteDance but heavily reliant on the platform for content production, announced plans to buy TRUMP last month as part of its crypto treasury strategy — seemingly sparking the confusion.

Over the next 7 days

• U.S. jobless claims figures are out on Thursday. U.S. PCE data follows on Friday.
• Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey is scheduled to speak on Tuesday and Thursday. U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will speak on Tuesday and Wednesday.
• BTC Prague concludes in the Czech Republic.
• EigenLayer, IOTA, and Moca Network are among the crypto projects set for token unlocks.

Never miss a beat with The Block's daily digest of the most influential events happening across the digital asset ecosystem.

Disclaimer: This article was produced with the assistance of OpenAI’s ChatGPT 3.5/4 and reviewed and edited by our editorial team.

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.