Bitcoin soars as lawmakers ready crypto-friendly bills

Like LeBron with any of his teammates, the crypto world is expecting a major alley-oop from Capitol Hill. Yesterday, lawmakers kicked off a bill bonanza that they’ve dubbed “crypto week,” and bitcoin bulls can’t contain their excitement.

The original digital currency hit a new high of $123,000 yesterday, more than double its value from one year ago. The great crypto winter of 2022 has never felt so far away:

• Open interest in bitcoin futures climbed to a record high of $86.3 billion yesterday, according to Coinglass data cited by Bloomberg.
• Investors dumped $2.7 billion into US bitcoin ETFs last week—the asset group’s fifth-biggest net inflow since it debuted in January 2024, per Bloomberg.

Crypto could be en route to a new era by the weekend

The main item on the docket for Congress this week is the GENIUS Act, which would establish a federal framework for stablecoins—digital currencies that are tied to tangible assets like the US dollar. The bill already passed the Senate with support from Republicans and some Democrats.

• Those in favor say it could pull more banks, retailers, and consumers into the stablecoin game, in part by giving companies a blueprint for issuing their own coins.
• Others have railed against the bill, arguing that it could weaken regulation of an industry that the Trump family has a stake in, and that a major loophole could empower Big Tech firms to create their own digital currencies in monopolistic ways.

It’s now being discussed in the Republican-majority House, where two other pieces of crypto legislation are also expected to get the green light this week:

• The CLARITY Act would define when cryptocurrencies count as commodities rather than securities, which would shield digital assets from SEC regulation.
• The Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act would forbid the Federal Reserve from making its own digital currency.

The House is set to vote on all three bills by Friday.

Promise fulfilled: The crypto industry spent more than $119 million on congressional elections last year and gave $18 million to President Trump’s inauguration fund.