TLDR CRYPTO 2025-06-18

SENATE PASSES STABLECOIN BILL, TURNING FOCUS TO HOUSE

The Senate passed the GENIUS Act, a bipartisan bill regulating stablecoins in the United States. The bill mandates full dollar backing and annual audits for large issuers. It introduces consumer protections like “super-priority” bankruptcy status. It also restricts Big Tech firms like Meta and Amazon from issuing stablecoins without meeting strict criteria. The focus now shifts to the House, which must decide whether to advance its own bill or adopt the Senate's version. Trump has signaled that the legislation should be passed by August.

THAILAND APPROVES FIVE-YEAR CRYPTO TAX EXEMPTION

Thailand has approved a five-year capital gains tax exemption on crypto sales conducted through licensed digital asset service providers, effective from 2025 through 2029. The policy is part of a broader initiative to establish Thailand as a global financial hub and foster regulated crypto activity under Thai SEC oversight and FATF-aligned AML standards. Officials estimate the move could boost economic activity and generate over $30 million in additional tax revenue. This follows increased regulatory scrutiny, including the recent blocking of five unlicensed foreign exchanges and expanded local operations by firms like KuCoin and Tether.

INTRODUCING EIGENCLOUD: UNLOCKING CRYPTO'S APP ERA

EigenCloud is a developer platform that leverages blockchain's trust and verifiability benefits across both on and offchain applications. Powered by the EIGEN token and built on EigenLayer, EigenCloud integrates Autonomous Verifiable Services (AVSs) like EigenDA for data, EigenVerify for dispute resolution, and EigenCompute for execution. This platform enhances crypto's programmability, allowing developers to create complex, verifiable Web2 applications while utilizing blockchain for payments and trust management.

JPMORGAN INTRODUCES USD DEPOSIT TOKEN ON BASE

JPMorgan has launched a pilot of its permissioned USD deposit token, JPMD, on Coinbase's Base L2. It is positioned as an alternative to stablecoins for institutional clients, offering 24/7 settlement and trading. This is the first use of the Kinexys DLT platform on a public blockchain. JPMorgan also filed a trademark for a broader crypto platform under the JPMD brand, insinuating deeper crypto ambitions.

→ How Coinbase Became Mission Focused [10]no link

→ Why Focusing on Coinbase's Mission Drives Belonging [9] (4 minute read)

MEV AND THE LIMITS OF SCALING

MEV spam bots now consume over 50% of gas on major L2s like Base while paying under 10% of fees, effectively nullifying scaling gains and raising costs for real users. These bots flood chains with gas-intensive transactions that rarely execute trades, wasting compute simply to read prices and compete for MEV opportunities due to private mempools and lack of efficient bidding. The solution proposed is programmable privacy and explicit MEV auctions (via TEEs), enabling bots to backrun securely without spam and restoring blockspace for actual economic activity.

CURRENT STABLECOIN FARMING STRATEGY

This portfolio targets an average APR of roughly 45% by diversifying stablecoin farms across seven protocols. Key positions include a 40% APR allocation on Plasma Foundation's chain, leveraged 62% point farming on OpenEden, and a delta-neutral 46% yield at Resolv. The strategy also locks 30% APR for 12 months in Neutrl Labs, taps 20% APR on Optimism Superstack pools, and outsources 38% APR to professional farmers via StreamDeFi. A 60% APR position in Usual offers upside but carries distribution-related risk.

TRADFI TREASURY ADOPTION WILL PULL WALL STREET AND MAIN STREET INTO DEFI

Digital asset treasury strategies using ETH and BTC are quietly becoming TradFi's first large-scale onboarding to DeFi. As firms like MSTR and SBET optimize crypto yields and report onchain performance to public markets, Wall Street will be forced to understand decentralized protocols. Once institutional interest normalizes DeFi, consumer and enterprise adoption will follow, enabled by scalable infrastructure, regulatory clarity, and a shift toward community-aligned, tokenized internet models.

THE ONCHAIN CLOB WARS

A new generation of onchain central limit order book (CLOB) protocols is leveraging rollup-era innovations, like Ethereum's Dencun blobs, Celestia DA, and ZK VMs like Succinct SP1 and RiscZero, to deliver near-CEX performance with trustless, self-custodial execution. Specialized chains and hybrid rollups achieve sub-second latency and 50-100K+ TPS by combining offchain matching with onchain settlement and ZK proofs. While centralized exchanges still dominate volume, the onchain CLOB wars are set to redefine trading with fully transparent, composable, and user-aligned order books.

PUMP.FUN AND FOUNDER ALON'S ACCOUNTS BANNED ON X

SOUTH KOREAN CRYPTO CEO ACQUITTED OF $650 MILLION FRAUD CHARGES

A South Korean court acquitted Haru Invest CEO Lee Hyung-soo of fraud charges tied to $650 million in investor losses, ruling his actions didn't meet the legal standard for criminal deception.

$12B IN BTC SHORTS AT RISK IF PRICE HITS $115K

Over $12 billion in Bitcoin short positions will be liquidated if BTC climbs to $115,000.

SBET: ETHEREUM'S TROJAN HORSE INTO INSTITUTIONAL FINANCE

SBET is positioning itself as a data-rich, publicly traded vehicle that educates investors on Ethereum through the lens of treasury strategy.