Senator Tim Scott, the chairman of the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, recently said that he expects a crypto market bill to be passed into law by August 2025.

The chairman also noted the Senate Banking Committee's advancement of the GENIUS Act, a comprehensive stablecoin regulatory bill, in March 2025, as evidence that the committee prioritizes crypto policy. In a statement to Fox News, Scott said:

"We must innovate before we regulate — allowing innovation in the digital asset space to happen here at home is critical to American economic dominance across the globe."

Scott's timeline for a crypto market structure bill lines up with expectations from Kristin Smith, CEO of the crypto industry advocacy group Blockchain Association, of market structure and stablecoin legislation being passed into law by August.

The Trump administration has emphasized that comprehensive crypto regulations are central to its plans for protecting the value of the US dollar and establishing the country as a global leader in digital assets by attracting investment into US-based crypto firms.

Related: Atkins becomes next SEC chair: What’s next for the crypto industry

Support for comprehensive crypto regulations is bipartisan

US lawmakers and officials expect clear crypto policies to be established and signed into law sometime in 2025 with bipartisan support from Congress.

Speaking at the Digital Assets Summit in New York City, on March 18, Democrat Representative Ro Khanna said he expects both the market structure and stablecoin bills to pass this year.

The Democrat lawmaker added that there are about 70-80 other representatives in the party who understand the importance of passing clear digital asset regulations in the United States.

Khanna emphasized that fellow Democrats support dollar-pegged stablecoins due to the role of dollar tokens in expanding demand for the US dollar worldwide through the internet.

Bo Hines, the executive director of the President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, also spoke at the conference and predicted that stablecoin legislation would be passed into law within 60 days.

Hines highlighted that establishing US dominance in the digital asset space is a goal with widespread bipartisan support in Washington DC.

Magazine: How crypto laws are changing across the world in 2025

The US Social Security Administration (SSA) will move all public communications to the X social media platform amid sweeping workforce cuts recommended by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by X owner Elon Musk.

According to anonymous sources who spoke with WIRED, the government agency will no longer issue its customary letters and press releases to communicate changes to the public, instead relying on X as its primary form of public-facing communication.

The shift comes as the SSA downsizes its workforce from 57,000 employees to roughly 50,000 to reduce costs and improve operational efficiency. The agency issued this statement in February 2025:

“SSA has operated with a regional structure consisting of 10 offices, which is no longer sustainable. The agency will reduce the regional structure in all agency components down to four regions. The organizational structure at Headquarters also is outdated and inefficient.”

Elon Musk, the head of DOGE, has accused the Social Security system of distributing billions of dollars in wrongful payments, a claim echoed by the White House. Musk's comments sparked intense debate about the future of the retirement program and sustainable government spending.

Related: Musk says he found ‘magic money computers’ printing money ‘out of thin air’

DOGE targets US government agencies in efficiency push

The Department of Government Efficiency is an unofficial government agency tasked with identifying and curbing allegedly wasteful public spending through budget and personnel cuts.

In March, DOGE began probing the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and gained access to its internal systems, including data repositories.

SEC officials signaled their cooperation with DOGE and said the regulatory agency would work closely with it to provide any relevant information requested.

DOGE also proposed slashing the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) workforce by 20%. The workforce reduction could impact up to 6,800 IRS employees and be implemented by May 15 — exactly one month after 2024 federal taxes are due.

Musk’s and the DOGE's proposals for sweeping spending cuts are not limited to slashing budgets and reducing the size of the federal workforce.

DOGE is reportedly exploring blockchain to curb public spending by placing the entire government budget onchain to promote accountability and transparency.

Magazine: Elon Musk’s plan to run government on blockchain faces uphill battle

United States President Donald Trump has exempted an array of tech products including, smartphones, chips, computers, and select electronics from tariffs, giving the tech industry a much-needed respite from trade pressures.

According to the US Customs and Border Protection, storage cards, modems, diodes, semiconductors, and other electronics were also excluded from the ongoing trade tariffs.

"Large-cap technology companies will ultimately come out ahead when this is all said and done," The Kobeissi letter wrote in an April 12 X post.

The tariff relief will take the pressure off of tech stocks, which were one of the biggest casualties of the trade war. Crypto markets are correlated with tech stocks and could also rally as risk appetite increases on positive trade war headlines.

Following news of the tariff exemptions, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) broke past $85,000 on April 12, a signal that crypto markets are already responding to the latest macroeconomic development.

Related: Billionaire investor would ‘not be surprised’ if Trump postpones tariffs

Markets hinge on Trump's every word during macroeconomic uncertainty

President Trump walked back the sweeping tariff policies on April 9 by initiating a 90-day pause on the reciprocal tariffs and lowering tariff rates to 10% for countries that did not respond with counter-tariffs on US goods.

Bitcoin surged by 9% and the S&P 500 surged by over 10% on the same day that Trump issued the tariff pause.

Macroeconomic trader Raoul Pal said the tariff policies were a negotiation tool to establish a US-China trade deal and characterized the US administration's trade rhetoric as "posturing."

Bitcoin advocate Max Keiser argued that exempting select tech products from import tariffs would not reduce bond yields or further the Trump administration's goal of lowering interest rates.

The yield on the 10-year US Treasury Bond shot up to a local high of approximately 4.5% on April 11 as bond investors reacted to the macroeconomic uncertainty of a protracted trade war.

"The concession just given to China for tech exports won’t reverse the trend of rates going higher. Confidence in US bonds and the US Dollar has been eroding for years and won’t stop now," Keiser wrote on April 12.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions

Opinion by: Jack Lu, CEO of BounceBit

For years, crypto has promised a more open and efficient financial system. A fundamental inefficiency remains: the disconnect between US capital markets and Asia’s liquidity hubs.

The United States dominates capital formation, and its recent embrace of tokenized treasuries and real-world assets signals a significant step toward blockchain-based finance. Meanwhile, Asia has historically been a global crypto trading and liquidity hub despite evolving regulatory shifts. These two economies operate, however, in silos, limiting how capital can move seamlessly into digital assets.

This isn’t just an inconvenience — it’s a structural weakness preventing crypto from becoming a true institutional asset class. Solving it will cause a new era of structured liquidity, making digital assets more efficient and attractive to institutional investors.

The capital bottleneck holding crypto back

Inefficiency between US capital markets and Asian crypto hubs stems from regulatory fragmentation and a lack of institutional-grade financial instruments.

US firms hesitate to bring tokenized treasuries onchain because of evolving regulations and compliance burdens. Meanwhile, Asian trading platforms operate in a different regulatory paradigm, with fewer barriers to trading but limited access to US-based capital. Without a unified framework, cross-border capital flow remains inefficient.

Stablecoins bridge traditional finance and crypto by providing a blockchain-based alternative to fiat. They are not enough. Markets require more than just fiat equivalents. To function efficiently, they need yield-bearing, institutionally trusted assets like US Treasurys and bonds. Without these, institutional capital remains largely absent from crypto markets.

Crypto needs a universal collateral standard

Crypto must evolve beyond simple tokenized dollars and develop structured, yield-bearing instruments that institutions can trust. Crypto needs a global collateral standard that links traditional finance with digital assets. This standard must meet three core criteria.

First, it must offer stability. Institutions will not allocate meaningful capital to an asset class that lacks a robust foundation. Therefore, collateral must be backed by real-world financial instruments that provide consistent yield and security.

Recent: Hong Kong crypto payment firm RedotPay wraps $40M Series A funding round

Second, it must be widely adopted. Just as Tether’s USDt (USDT) and USDC (USDC) became de facto standards for fiat-backed stablecoins, widely accepted yield-bearing assets are necessary for institutional liquidity. Market fragmentation will persist without standardization, limiting crypto’s ability to integrate with broader financial systems.

Third, it must be DeFi-native. These assets must be composable and interoperable across blockchains and exchanges, allowing capital to move freely. Digital assets will remain locked in separate liquidity pools without onchain integration, preventing efficient market growth.

Without this infrastructure, crypto will continue to operate as a fragmented financial system. To ensure that both US and Asian investors can access tokenized financial instruments under the same security and governance standard, institutions require a seamless, compliant pathway for capital deployment. 

Establishing a structured framework that aligns crypto liquidity with institutional financial principles will determine whether digital assets can truly scale beyond their current limitations.

The rise of institutional-grade crypto liquidity

A new generation of financial products is beginning to solve this issue. Tokenized treasuries, like BUIDL and USYC, function as stable-value, yield-generating assets, offering investors an onchain version of traditional fixed-income products. These instruments provide an alternative to traditional stablecoins, enabling a more capital-efficient system that mimics traditional money markets.

Asian exchanges are beginning to incorporate these tokens, providing users access to yields from US capital markets. Beyond mere access, however, a more significant opportunity lies in packaging crypto exposure alongside tokenized US capital market assets in a way that meets institutional standards while remaining accessible in Asia. This will allow for a more robust, compliant and scalable system that connects traditional and digital finance.

Bitcoin is also evolving beyond its role as a passive store of value. Bitcoin-backed financial instruments enable Bitcoin (BTC) to be restaked as collateral, unlocking liquidity while generating rewards. For Bitcoin to function effectively within institutional markets, however, it must be integrated into a structured financial system that aligns with regulatory standards, making it accessible and compliant for investors across regions.

Centralized decentralized finance (DeFi), or “CeDeFi,” is the hybrid model that integrates centralized liquidity with DeFi’s transparency and composability, and is another key piece of this transition. For this to be widely adopted by institutional players, it must offer standardized risk management, clear regulatory compliance and deep integration with traditional financial markets. Ensuring that CeDeFi-based instruments — e.g., tokenized treasuries, BTC restaking or structured lending — operate within recognized institutional frameworks will be critical for unlocking large-scale liquidity.

The key shift is not just about tokenizing assets. It’s about creating a system where digital assets can serve as effective financial instruments that institutions recognize and trust.

Why this matters now

The next phase of crypto’s evolution depends on its ability to attract institutional capital. The industry is at a turning point: Unless crypto establishes a foundation for seamless capital movement between traditional markets and digital assets, it will struggle to gain long-term institutional adoption.

Bridging US capital with Asian liquidity is not just an opportunity — it is a necessity. The winners in this next phase of digital asset growth will be the projects that solve the fundamental flaws in liquidity and collateral efficiency, laying the groundwork for a truly global, interoperable financial system.

Crypto was designed to be borderless. Now, it’s time to make its liquidity borderless, too.

Opinion by: Jack Lu, CEO of BounceBit.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, former CEO of Binance, has denied claims that he agreed to provide evidence against Tron founder Justin Sun as part of a plea deal with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ).

In an April 11 report, The Wall Street Journal cited unnamed sources alleging that CZ had agreed to testify against Sun under the terms of his settlement with US prosecutors.

“As part of Zhao’s plea deal, he agreed to give evidence on Sun to prosecutors,” an “arrangement” that “hasn’t previously been reported,” the WSJ report stated, citing sources familiar with the matter.

“WSJ is really TRYING here. They seem to have forgotten who went to prison and who didn't,” Zhao wrote in an April 12 X post. “People who become gov witnesses don’t go to prison. They are protected. I heard someone paid WSJ employees to smear me.”

CZ was sentenced to four months in prison in April 2024 for Anti-Money Laundering (AML) violations. He walked free from federal prison on Sept. 27 as the wealthiest person to ever serve a US prison sentence, with a $60 billion net worth at the time.

In a separate April 11 post, CZ claimed multiple individuals had warned him about the Journal’s intentions to publish what he described as a “hit piece.”

Sun said he was “not aware of the circulation rumors,” calling CZ his “mentor and close friend,” Cointelegraph reported on April 11.

Related: Trump kills DeFi broker rule in major crypto win: Finance Redefined

“Some players are lobbying against us again in the US” — CZ

CZ further speculated that the report could be linked to lobbying efforts against him and his former company.

“I also heard some rumors about some players ‘lobbying’ against us again in the US,” CZ said.

Cointelegraph has approached CZ for more details on the lobbying claims.

In November 2023, Zhao said that “FTX sought regulatory ‘crack down’ on Binance to increase market share,” citing a Federal Newswire report.

Related: New York bill proposes legalizing Bitcoin, crypto for state payments

Zhao’s comments come over a month after crypto donations raised influence concerns among industry participants.

Crypto firms spent over $134 million on the 2024 US elections in “unchecked political spending,” which presents some critical challenges, Cointelegraph reported on March 10.

“While the companies making these contributions may be seeking a favorable regulatory environment, these political donations further erode public trust and expose companies to legal, reputational, and business risks that cannot be ignored,” according to a March 7 report by the Center for Political Accountability (CPA).

Magazine: XRP win leaves Ripple and industry with no crypto legal precedent set

An investor has sold a CryptoPunk non-fungible token (NFT) at a nearly $10 million realized loss, reflecting the continued decline in the once-booming blue-chip NFT market.

A whale, or large cryptocurrency investor, sold a CryptoPunk NFT for 4,000 Ether (ETH) worth more than $6 million at the time of writing.

The investor originally purchased the NFT for 4,500 ETH, or roughly $15.7 million, a year ago, according to blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain.

“Did he only lose 500 $ETH($774K)? No—he actually lost $9.73M!” Lookonchain wrote in an X post. “When he bought it, $ETH was trading at $3,509. By the time he sold, $ETH had dropped 57%,” the platform added.

Despite the steep loss, the $6 million transaction still ranks as the largest NFT sale over the past 30 days, according to data from CryptoSlam.

The sale comes during a period of stagnation for NFTs, which have been lacking wider trader interest. NFT trading volume on Ethereum is down more than 53% over the past month, while Polygon’s NFT trading volume fell 41%.

CryptoPunks saw a temporary floor price surge of 13% after rumors that its owner, Yuga Labs, might be “in the process” of selling the collection’s intellectual property, Cointelegraph reported on Jan. 14.

Related: Sentient completes record 650K NFT mint for decentralized ‘loyal’ AI model

Blue-chip collections see steep drop

The top blue-chip NFT collections remain significantly down from their 2021 highs amid a lack of trading activity.

CryptoPunks currently have a floor price of about 43 ETH, or $68,000, down more than 61% from their record high of 113.9 ETH in October 2021.

The Bored Ape Yacht Club’s floor price is also down 89%, while the Mutant Ape Yacht Club collection is down 93%, NFTpricefloor data shows.

Related: Trump family memecoins may trigger increased SEC scrutiny on crypto

However, the Pudgy Penguin collection remains an outlier. It reached a new all-time high of over 25 Ether on Dec. 16, 2024, and amassed the highest sales volume of over $72 million in the first quarter of 2025, Cointelegraph reported on March 28.

At the start of March, the US Securities and Exchange Commission closed its three-year investigation into Yuga Labs, an investigation initiated under former Chair Gary Gensler, which aimed to probe NFT creators and marketplaces, to see if some NFTs, such as fractional NFTs, were securities.

Magazine: Memecoin degeneracy is funding groundbreaking anti-aging research

Bitcoin remains on track to surpass $1.8 million by 2035 despite recent price corrections and waning investor appetite caused by ongoing global trade tensions, according to Joe Burnett, director of market research at Unchained.

Speaking during Cointelegraph’s Chainreaction live show on X, Burnett said that Bitcoin is still in a long-term bullish cycle and could potentially rival or surpass gold’s $21 trillion market capitalization within the next decade.

Despite tariff uncertainty limiting risk appetite among investors, research analysts remain optimistic about Bitcoin’s (BTC) long-term prospects for the next decade.

“When I think about where Bitcoin will be in 10 years, there are two models I admire,” Burnett said. “One is the parallel model, which suggests that Bitcoin will be about $1.8 million in 2035.” “The other is Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin 24 model, which suggests Bitcoin will be $2.1 million by 2035.”

Burnett emphasized that both are “good base cases,” adding that Bitcoin’s trajectory could exceed these predictions depending on broader macroeconomic factors.

🎙Could Bitcoin really hit $10m by Q1 2035? Perhaps.

But first, we need to unravel the tangled web of the markets this week, and for both discussions, @rkbaggs and @gazza_jenks are joined today by Joe Burnett (@IIICapital) on the #CHAINREACTION show! https://t.co/hfyEwGUCsh

— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) April 11, 2025

Related: Bitcoin price can hit $250K in 2025 if Fed shifts to QE: Arthur Hayes

Bitcoin outlook remains long-term bullish

“The automobile industry is significantly more valuable than the horse and buggy industry,” Burnett said, adding that Bitcoin’s more advanced technological properties will make it surpass the $21 trillion market capitalization of gold. He added:

“The gold market is an estimated $21 trillion market. If Bitcoin just hit $21 trillion and had Bitcoin-gold parity, Bitcoin would be $1 million per coin today.”

Since US President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, global markets have been under pressure due to heightened trade war fears. Hours after taking office, Trump threatened to impose sweeping import tariffs aimed at reducing the country’s trade deficit, weighing on risk sentiment across both equities and crypto.

While Bitcoin’s role as a safe-haven asset may reemerge amid ongoing trade war concerns, physical gold and tokenized gold remain the current winners.

Tariff fears led tokenized gold trading volume to surge to a two-year high this week, topping $1 billion for the first time since the US banking crisis in 2023, Cointelegraph reported on April 10.

Related: Bitcoin’s 24/7 liquidity: Double-edged sword during global market turmoil

Strong hands hold during drawdowns

Bitcoin’s volatility is falling during both bear and bull markets, signaling its growing maturity as an asset class.

While another 80% drawdown during future bear markets is still possible, this will act as a robust acquisition period for the “strongest” holders, Burnett said, adding:

“The highs bring [Bitcoin] attention, and the deep, dark bear markets move coins into the hands of the strongest, most convicted holders, as fast as possible.”

Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and chief investment officer at Maelstrom, predicted Bitcoin could climb to $250,000 by the end of 2025 if the US Federal Reserve formally enters a quantitative easing cycle.

Despite the optimistic predictions, investors remain cautious and continue “rebalancing their portfolios” but are unlikely to take on significant positions in the next 90 days before markets gain more clarity on global tariff negotiations, Enmanuel Cardozo, market analyst at real-world asset tokenization platform Brickken, told Cointelegraph.

“With money flowing out of Bitcoin ETFs, investors are looking for safer spots to hold their cash right now, including strong currencies. Gold’s a traditional vehicle in these cases and a go-to when markets are uncertain,” he added.

Since the beginning of 2025, the price of gold has risen over 23%, outperforming Bitcoin, which has fallen by more than 10% year-to-date, TradingView data shows.

Magazine: Bitcoin’s odds of June highs, SOL’s $485M outflows, and more: Hodler’s Digest, March 2 – 8