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(7 Day Change as of June 19, 2025 1:20PM ET)
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Bitcoin Price: $104,050
(3.76%)
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DeFi Total-Value-Locked: $112.0B
(4.68%)
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Ethereum Price: $2,492
(9.80%)
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Crypto Market Cap: $3.23T
(4.44%)
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Bitcoin Range: $103,257 - $108,792
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TKN.U Close: $16.81 (as at June 18, 2025)
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Ethereum Range: $2,472 - $2,770
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Bitcoin Dominance: 64.10%
1.26%
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Sensible Crypto Regulations? What a GENIUS Idea!
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The GENIUS Act has finally passed the U.S. Senate with strong bipartisan support (68 Y/30 N). The legislation, which we have written about at length in this
newsletter, represents a watershed moment in the regulation of stablecoins.
The Act creates a clear legal framework for both banks and non-banks to issue fully backed, dollar-denominated digital assets. Once signed into law, it will lay the foundation for a globalized regulated stablecoin market, rooted in the U.S.
Crypto industry participants and lawmakers alike welcomed the law, heralding it as a major step forward for the industry. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) called it, without hyperbole, “the
most significant digital assets legislation ever to pass the U.S. Senate.”
We have long maintained that the passing of the Genius Act would be a big catalyst for stocks with exposure to crypto and broader blockchain adoption. But even we did not anticipate the euphoric reaction from some of the industry leaders. Shares of Circle (CRCL), the issuer of the largest U.S. based stablecoin USDC,
surged a staggering 33% on Wednesday, while Coinbase, Circle’s partner in USDC and the largest U.S. based exchanged, soared by 17%.
Interestingly, this is the first cycle where some of the biggest capital formation events and some of the most spectacular gains are happening in the stock market, rather than the crypto market, which is surely a sign of the industry’s maturity and greater integration into the economy. At the same time, shares of Mastercard and Visa
closed down 5.4% and 4.9%. We think that’s probably an overreaction. Those businesses have been ahead of the curve in embracing blockchain and planning for the stablecoin era and may even benefit from the ubiquity of digital payments onchain and offchain.
So, the GENIUS Act is a big deal, but, as
The Defiant
points out it has a few flaws and quirks:
The legislation bars members of Congress and their families from profiting off stablecoins, which feels like a sensible guardrail, yet it surprisingly (or not-so-surprisingly) omits the President and First Family. Hmmm…As we’ve written
before, Trump’s personal profiteering from crypto undermines his whole agenda and, arguably, shakes trust in the technology itself.
The Act also prohibits yield-bearing stablecoins on the grounds that they resemble investment products. With that exemption, banks dodged a bullet. After all, for many people a yield bearing stablecoin in a digital wallet does most of what a bank does without overdraft fees, business hours and glitchy bank websites. Finally, as with all financial regulation, the bill’s compliance and KYC requirements create an added burden that might benefit big and well-capitalized companies at the expense of startups.
So it isn’t perfect. But politics is the art of the possible. Never let perfect be the enemy of the good, and all that. For now, let’s celebrate the win and plan for the future.
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THIS WEEK ON DEFI DECODED
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Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3 with special guest Jeff Feng, Co-Founder of Sei Labs. Listen in as they discuss the rise of next-generation layer 1 networks built for scale, Sei’s origin story, its evolution since inception, the exciting breakout potential of the onchain gaming and AI agent subsectors, why the Sei Foundation considered acquiring 23andMe, how blockchain can redefine data ownership, what’s ahead for Sei over the next year, and more.
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By: Jake Moodie
, Analyst, Digital Asset Group at Ninepoint Partners
Coinbase Seeks SEC Approval to Bring Equities Onchain Following Kraken’s Move Toward Becoming One-Stop-Shop Platform for All Financial Assets
In past editions of Digital Asset Digest, we’ve talked a lot about how crypto exchanges are clearly evolving. Kraken has been one of the clearest examples of this shift, moving beyond crypto to become a one-stop shop for trading all kinds of financial assets. Quick recap: Kraken
acquired retail futures platform NinjaTrader in March,
launched stock and ETF trading in April, and
announced that tokenized equities were on the way in May. Now this week, it looks like another major crypto exchange is heading in the same direction. On Tuesday, Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal
told Reuters that the company is seeking approval from the SEC to offer tokenized equities, and called it a “huge priority.” According to the report, Coinbase would need either a no-action letter or exemptive relief from the SEC to move forward with this initiative. This comes on the heels of Coinbase’s $2.9 billion
acquisition of Deribit, the world’s largest crypto options exchange, just last month. There’s a lot happening right now. Crypto exchanges want to offer stocks and ETFs. Traditional brokerages are rushing to expand their crypto offerings. And fintechs are rolling out stablecoin support. As we’ve said before, the lines between crypto and traditional finance are blurring fast, and we’re closer than ever to a full-on collision course.
Shopify Brings USDC Stablecoin Payments to Millions of Merchants Globally Through Partnership with Coinbase and Stripe
Shopify has announced a
partnership with Coinbase and Stripe to bring stablecoin payments to millions of merchants around the world. At launch, merchants will be able to accept Circle’s flagship USDC stablecoin on the Coinbase-incubated Base network, all using their existing payment infrastructure. Leveraging Stripe’s suite of crypto payment solutions, merchants will have the flexibility to either automatically receive their local fiat currency or collect USDC directly into their own wallet. Later this year, Shopify will offer 1% cash back to U.S. customers who pay with USDC. In the press release, Shopify called stablecoins “a borderless, seamless future for payments,” and stated this move will allow merchants to reach customers beyond borders and tap into global markets. The announcement was made live on stage at Coinbase’s third-annual State of Crypto Summit last week. But that wasn’t the only big news. Coinbase also
revealed it’s launching its inaugural credit card, the Coinbase One Card, on the American Express network later this year, which will offer up to 4% Bitcoin back on every purchase. They also revealed
plans to integrate DEXs on Base directly into the main Coinbase app to give users access to onchain assets not listed on their exchange.
Canada Extends Global Crypto ETF Lead with Launch of North America’s First XRP ETFs
While nearly 100 crypto ETF filings from U.S. issuers remain under SEC review, Canada quietly extended its lead in the global crypto ETF race this week. On Wednesday, the first XRP ETFs in North America
launched and began trading from Purpose Investments, Evolve ETFs, and 3iQ. This comes just months after Canada approved and launched Solana ETFs, with staking, in April. Canada has long been a pioneer on the crypto ETF front. Back in 2021, it became the world’s first country to approve and launch Bitcoin ETFs, followed just 61 days later by Ethereum ETFs. And while the U.S. closed much of the gap in 2024, the recent launches of Solana and XRP ETFs suggest Canada is pulling ahead again, at least for now. Interestingly, Canada also allows staking in both its Ethereum and Solana ETFs, something the U.S. has yet to approve, but likely will soon. Today, Canadian crypto investment products
hold $6.2 billion in AUM, with $157 million in net inflows YTD. That follows $603 million in net outflows last year, which came as the U.S. Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs hit the market. Despite the gap, U.S. products now hold a dominant $136 billion, Canada remains the second-largest crypto ETF market in the world.
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Chart 1:
The ETH/BTC Ratio is Up 30% From May’s Low. Is the Revenge of ETH Here?
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The Ethereum-to-Bitcoin (ETH/BTC) ratio has been one of the most widely shared metrics in crypto over the past few years. After nearly three years of steady decline, driven by a reflexive loop of relative underperformance, deteriorating sentiment, and intensified L1 competition, the ratio bottomed at 0.019 last month and has since climbed 30% to 0.025. Two key events are behind this rebound. First, Ethereum successfully underwent a major network upgrade called Pectra early in May, which was clearly welcomed by the market, sending ETH up more than 20% in its aftermath. Second was SharpLink Gaming’s $425 million
financing, led by Consensys and top crypto VC firms, to launch a public company focused on an ETH treasury strategy, aiming to replicate Strategy’s BTC playbook. That one-two punch gave ETH sentiment a serious jolt. Case in point: ETH investment products
saw $890 million in net inflows globally in May, up nearly 25x from April’s $35 million. As a result, ETH finished the month up nearly 40%, far outpacing BTC’s 8.5% and SOL’s 4.6%. The rally has not slowed in June either, as ETH ETFs have already attracted another $810 million and ETH is once again outperforming. It is still too early to call it a full breakout, but the revenge of ETH we
highlighted in our 2025 outlook may finally be taking shape. If the ETH/BTC ratio returned to its historical average of 0.05, ETH would be trading around $5,350, and if it reclaimed its all-time high, closer to $15,000 based on the current BTC price. For those looking for reasons to be bullish, Etherealize, the institutional product and business development arm of the Ethereum ecosystem, just published a 40-page
report titled
The Bull Case for ETH. It is well worth a read.
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Chart 2:
Bitcoin’s 5.8x Surge Since Bottoming Out: How This Cycle Stacks Up to the Past
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Just two weeks after the FTX collapse, Bitcoin bottomed at $15,800 on November 22, 2022. Since then, it’s up nearly 5.8x. While history doesn’t necessarily repeat itself, it often does rhyme. This begs the question: how has Bitcoin performed in previous cycles at this timeframe from the low? In the 2018-2022 cycle, it was up 9.6x. In 2015-2018, it was up 19x. And in 2011-2015, it was up 312x. There are two big takeaways from this chart. First, even with strong gains so far, Bitcoin has underperformed every past cycle up to this point. Second, none of those previous cycles had hit their peaks yet; in fact, each one reached its high within the 200 days following where we are now. That suggests the best could still be ahead. Of course, the crypto market today is very different from back then. Bitcoin is now a $2.1 trillion asset, so it takes far more capital to move the needle, meaning past cycle growth multiples are far more difficult to achieve.
As Bitcoin increasingly becomes more institutionalized, with major capital flowing into ETFs and corporate treasuries, its volatility has dropped significantly relative to past cycles. That’s not a flaw, but a sign of a maturing, seasoned blue-chip asset. This was something DeFi Decoded Co-Host Andrew Young dug into on last week’s
episode.
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June 19, 2025
