Core Viewpoint - Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong predicts that US banks will eventually lobby for the ability to pay interest on stablecoins, reversing their current stance against it [1][2]. Group 1: Legislative Context - The GENIUS Act, signed in July 2025, prohibits stablecoin issuers from paying interest directly to holders, but allows intermediaries like exchanges to pass yield from Treasury reserves to users [3][4]. - Banking lobbyists are pushing to amend the GENIUS Act to close the loophole that allows non-bank platforms to offer competitive yields of approximately 4% to 5% on liquid cash equivalents [5]. Group 2: Industry Response - Armstrong criticizes the banking lobby's attempts to amend the law as a "red line" for the crypto industry, arguing that it reflects a contradiction in their safety concerns while maintaining a business model that pays depositors below-market rates [6]. - A coalition of 125 crypto companies, including Coinbase, has submitted a letter to the Senate Banking Committee opposing any revisions to the GENIUS Act, asserting that reopening the bill would undermine regulatory certainty [6].

Despite lacklustre price performance in 2025, with total crypto market capitalisation down roughly 13% year-to-date, we’ve seen unprecedented improvements in underlying fundamentals.Founders are thinking long-term, building real infrastructure, and focusing on what actually gets used. That’s usually when things start to stick, and we’re investing in the teams that show up to build with five- to 10-year visions.Taken together, 2026 feels less like hype and more like maturity.When clear rules are set, capital ...

Stablecoins are poised to surpass $1 trillion in circulation by 2026, more than triple today’s market, according to a forecast last week by crypto ETF issuer 21Shares.“All this paves the way for far greater engagement by institutional investors and major Wall Street firms to allocate to crypto,” he says.Crucially, the bill would divide and define oversight between the SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). This will allow regulators to issue guidance for how financial services can engage with ...

BlackRock’s (NYSE: BLK) latest global outlook makes one thing clear: crypto is no longer being treated as a speculative side bet, but as infrastructure quietly reshaping how money moves. In its 2026 outlook, the world’s largest asset manager describes digital assets, especially stablecoins, as infrastructure underpinning payments and settlement - effectively the financial system’s plumbing. Instead of focusing on price action or hype cycles, BlackRock’s framing centers on function. The firm argues that ...

Last year, DL News attempted to predict the top three DeFi trends for 2025. We forecast that traditional finance would enter DeFi at an unprecedented pace, more protocols would launch their own blockchains, and financial technology firms would incorporate DeFi into their offerings at scale. Well, we did quite well. In 2025, we saw banks launch stablecoins, asset managers allocate billions of dollars to DeFi lenders, and Wall Street firms pile into tokenised assets. In January, Coinbase kicked off the ...

US Debt. Photo by BeInCrypto The US federal government's interest payments on national debt surpassed $1 trillion for the first time in fiscal year 2025. Interest expenditure now exceeds both defense spending and Medicare—a first in American history. Wall Street analysts and social media users alike are invoking "Weimar" as warnings of fiscal crisis mount. Meanwhile, the US Treasury is positioning stablecoins as a strategic tool to absorb the growing flood of government debt. The Numbers: A Crisis in P ...

wpay temp cover. Photo by BeInCrypto Crypto’s next phase of growth is unfolding quietly, with crypto narratives shifting toward everyday use. Adoption in 2026 is increasingly shaped by how people already use crypto in daily financial life. In an interview with BeInCrypto, representatives from CakeWallet and SynFutures explained where crypto is realistically headed over the next year. According to them, payments, savings, and risk management are replacing speculation as the main drivers of sustained activi ...

SINCE THEN, IT HAS EASED A LITTLE BIT. KATIE. KATIE: AND AMID ALL THIS VOLATILITY, J. P. MORGAN IS CONSIDERING OFFERING CRYPTO TRADING TO ITS INSTITUTIONAL CLIENTS AS LARGE BANKS DEEPEN THEIR INVOLVEMENT IN THIS ASSET CLASS. FOR MORE, WE'RE JOINED BY THE REPORTER ON DIGITAL ASSETS AND PAYMENTS FOR BLOOMBERG. >> LIVE FROM NEW YORK, I'M SCARLET FU. KATIE: WELCOME TO "BLOOMBERG CRYPTO," SHAPING THE WORLD OF DECENTRALIZED FINANCE. SCARLET: BITCOIN HAVING ITS WORST DAY IN ALMOST A WEEK WEIGHS CLOSE OUT 2025, A Y ...

Russia’s central bank laid out a proposed framework that would legalize and regulate cryptocurrency trading for both individuals and institutions, continuing its softening stance toward cryptocurrencies. However, it continues to caution that investing in crypto carries risks, including potential losses. “They are not issued or guaranteed by any jurisdiction and are subject to increased volatility and sanctions risks,” the central bank’s press release said. “When deciding to invest in crypto assets, inves ...

🚨2026 Messari Theses Podcast Drop (4/5)In this episode, Messari Research Analysts @0xCryptoSam and @Degenerate_DeFi are joined by Messari alumni @defi_monk and @kunalgoel to unpack 2025’s biggest DeFi themes.They dive into:• Hyperliquid’s rapid rise• The inflection point for equity perps• Prediction markets• Political markets• Yield & Stablecoins ...