Senate Stablecoin Showdown: How Washington’s Crypto Crackdown Could Backfire

Wall Street’s favorite blockchain toy faces its biggest regulatory test yet—and the outcome might just expose how clueless DC really is about digital money.

Inside the Senate’s stablecoin endgame

Lawmakers are scrambling to slap rules on dollar-pegged tokens, terrified they’ll become the next shadow banking system (because God forbid finance innovates without permission). The bill’s progress hinges on whether crypto lobbyists can outmaneuver old-school bankers at their own game.

Why this fight matters more than the ETF wars

Unlike Bitcoin’s speculative rollercoaster, stablecoins actually move real money—$10T+ in annual transactions. Kill the golden goose, and you’ll watch that volume flee to offshore platforms faster than a Senator can say ’blockchain is just for drugs.’

The cynical kicker? The same banks crying about stablecoin risks are quietly building their own. Welcome to financial regulation—where the rules are made up and the competition doesn’t matter.

Tuesday

• 10:00 a.m. ET (14:00 UTC) The House Financial Services and Agriculture Committees were scheduled to hold a joint hearing on digital asset market structure, but FSC Ranking Member Maxine Waters objected and instead held her own hearing on Trump’s crypto tie-ups.

Thursday

• 10:00 a.m. ET (14:00 UTC): Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky was sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to commodities and securities fraud charges last year.

• (404 Media) It turns out former National Security Advisor Michael Waltz was not using Signal, but rather an unofficial version called TeleMessage, which was then hacked and later suspended services temporarily.
• (The San Francisco Standard) Jeffy Yu appeared to fake his own death to pump a memecoin, or something. The once late Yu is alive and kicking at his parents’ home, the San Francisco Standard reported.

If you’ve got thoughts or questions on what I should discuss next week or any other feedback you’d like to share, feel free to email me at [email protected] or find me on Bluesky @nikhileshde.bsky.social.

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See ya’ll next week!