The crypto industry today scored its biggest win in Congress with the passage in the House of Representatives of the Genius Act. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Jul 17, 2025
The Briefing
By Yueqi Yang
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The crypto industry today scored its biggest win in Congress with the passage in the House of Representatives of the Genius Act. The bill, which the Senate cleared last month, legitimizes and regulates stablecoins, crypto tokens pegged to the U.S. dollar. President Donald Trump is expected to sign it quickly.
It’s a moment of rejoicing for crypto, which has bounced back from an excruciating downturn and regulatory crackdown under President Joe Biden’s administration. Now companies like Circle, whose stock has ridden the stablecoin boom, are aiming to disrupt traditional finance and payments—and big bank bosses are feeling the heat. During earnings calls this week, the CEOs of JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup all described stablecoins as a competitive threat and said they are ready to react by potentially launching their own.
Still, the bank executives can’t hide their skepticism. “I think they’re real, but I don’t know why you’d want a stablecoin as opposed to just a payment,” said JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon on the company’s earnings call this week.
It’s not just big banks that may follow suit. Cross River Bank, which caters to the fintech and crypto industry, is exploring accepting and sending stablecoins directly with its clients. Such transactions would cost less than bank wires. “Stablecoins are a tremendous opportunity,” Benjamin Melnicki, chief compliance officer at Cross River Bank, told me. He added, however, that “they are not going to supplant the existing payment system.”
Cross River’s plan could be attractive to its clients, like Stripe, which is already enabling merchants to accept stablecoins. Cross River is building out crypto wallets in partnership with Fireblocks so it can process the stablecoins.
Despite the skepticism among bankers, stablecoin use is a reality outside the U.S. In countries including Argentina, Nigeria and Brazil, individuals and businesses are using stablecoins to cope with volatile currencies, avoid capital controls and make payments. This is the first major crypto legislation passed under Trump, who became a big crypto fan when the industry poured cash into his campaign. Trump’s family has its own stablecoin, which a fund backed by Abu Dhabi used to make a $2 billion investment.
Meanwhile, some in the regulatory world are anxious about the new law. Federal Reserve Governor Michael Barr this week voiced concerns around the reserve requirements the Genius Act imposed on stablecoins. The bill says stablecoins can be backed by cash, short-term treasuries—and uninsured bank deposits. That makes Barr nervous. “My best intuition is that in a couple years, Congress should have to come back and revisit this question, because there’s going to have been some significant problems in the sector,” he said.
Netflix’s Mature Moment
In human years, Netflix is still in its 20s, but as a company, it has entered middle age. The streaming giant reported second-quarter revenue growth of 15.9% on Thursday, almost exactly its growth rate for all of last year.
The current growth trajectory is a big improvement on the roughly 6.5% growth Netflix posted in 2022 and 2023. But it’s come down from the average 25% expansion rate the company enjoyed in the decade from 2012 through 2021.
And the current growth rate doesn’t match the lofty valuation at which Netflix is now trading—nearly 12 times next year’s sales. Spotify, which is growing revenue at about the same rate, is trading at 6.7 times, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Is a correction due?—Martin Peers
In Other News
• Uber will invest hundreds of millions of dollars apiece in Lucid Motors and Nuro as part of a deal in which it will add 20,000 robotaxis—Lucid vehicles powered by Nuro’s self-driving technology—to its ride-hailing service over the next six years.
• OpenAI on Thursday launched features enabling ChatGPT subscribers to create and edit spreadsheets and presentations, generate reports and automate tasks using web browsers, confirming The Information’s earlier report about the product.
• Thinking Machines Lab, the artificial intelligence startup founded by former OpenAI Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati, has raised $2 billion in funding at a $10 billion pre-investment valuation, the company said.
• Amazon Web Services has laid off hundreds of employees or more from various units within the cloud service, Reuters reported.
• Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, along with other current and former directors and executives at the company, on Thursday agreed to settle a shareholder lawsuit that had accused them of allowing repeated violations of Facebook users’ privacy, a lawyer for the shareholders told a Delaware judge, Reuters reported.
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