This month’s developments in the world of digital assets were shaped by a series of transformative events — from the passage of landmark U.S. regulation with the US Senate passing the GENIUS Act, to renewed momentum in tokenized deposits and corporate Bitcoin adoption. Our June analysis covers market trends, legislative advances, and the growing intersection of digital currencies with both traditional finance and real-world commerce.
Regulatory Milestone: The Genius Act
On June 17, the U.S. Senate passed the Genius Act — a pivotal piece of legislation establishing a regulatory framework for stablecoins. With bipartisan support, the Genius Act marks the most significant U.S. attempt to clarify the legal status of fiat-backed digital assets. The act lays out strict requirements for issuers, including mandatory one-to-one reserve backing in cash or short-term treasuries, regular audits, consumer redemption rights, and anti-money laundering compliance. It also prohibits interest payments on stablecoins to preserve their use as payments instruments rather than speculative assets.
The bill’s narrow focus stands in contrast to the broader Clarity Act, which seeks to regulate the crypto market structure more comprehensively. While there is ongoing debate about merging the two legislative tracks, experts caution that combining them may jeopardize both initiatives.
Crucially, the Genius Act introduces a federal licensing path for both banks and qualified non-banks, including state-licensed entities — opening the door, at least theoretically, for retail giants such as Amazon and Walmart to issue their own stablecoins, albeit under strict oversight. The Act also reflects U.S. ambitions to project dollar dominance globally via digital rails. By mandating treasury-backed reserves, the legislation systematizes demand for U.S. debt and elevates the dollar’s position in the emerging digital economy — a strategy that European policymakers now describe as “crypto-mercantilism.”
Circle’s IPO and the Valuation Debate
The newly regulatory-friendly climate paved the way for Circle, issuer of the USDC stablecoin, to complete a highly anticipated IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. Despite being priced at $31 per share, the stock surged to over $80 on its first day, making it the seventh most underpriced IPO in modern U.S. market history.
The company’s valuation soared to nearly $50 billion, outpacing traditional banking players such as Deutsche Bank. However, the sustainability of this valuation has been questioned. With Circle’s revenue heavily dependent on interest income from its USDC reserves, critics argue that the company’s future is vulnerable to falling interest rates and rising competition from other regulated stablecoin issuers.
Nonetheless, the IPO underscores investor confidence in the stablecoin business model and highlights the evolving role of such companies as part of the broader financial infrastructure.
JP Morgan Enters the Permissionless Arena
Another significant development came from JP Morgan, which launched its JPMD deposit token on Coinbase’s Base, an Ethereum layer-2 network. Until now, tokenized deposits were confined to permissioned environments. This deployment marks the first move by a major global bank into permissionless public blockchains.
The JPMD token is limited to JP Morgan’s institutional clients and is designed to improve efficiency in cross-border settlement and liquidity management. Unlike stablecoins, tokenized deposits remain subject to fractional reserve banking and existing deposit insurance regimes. They may also be interest-bearing, which could give them an advantage under certain macroeconomic conditions.
Yet, challenges remain. Chief among them is fungibility: tokens issued by one bank are not freely transferable to other banks, limiting their utility in open networks. Experts suggest that the long-term success of deposit tokens will depend on developing shared settlement layers or clearing mechanisms — a task likely to take years.
Market Movements and Institutional Adoption
June was a month of relative price stability for major cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin hovered around $107,000, up modestly from the start of the month despite geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Ethereum remained steady near $2,400, with little fundamental price movement.
Yet beneath the surface, adoption trends continue to accelerate. Paris Saint-Germain became the first football club to announce plans to build a Bitcoin reserve, and Pakistan signaled interest in establishing a national Bitcoin reserve strategy. The number of companies holding Bitcoin on their balance sheets has doubled in recent months, now exceeding 240.
Meanwhile, BlackRock’s iBIT ETF reached $70 billion in assets under management in record time, further signaling strong institutional appetite.
Infrastructure and Consolidation in the Stablecoin Space
Beyond Circle’s IPO, infrastructure providers continued to draw investment. Ubix, a stablecoin-clearing startup founded by former Citi executive Tony McLaughlin, secured a $10 million seed round led by Galaxy Ventures and Coinbase Ventures. Ubix aims to provide interoperability across the growing number of fiat-backed tokens.
Stripe also made strategic moves by acquiring Privy, a crypto wallet infrastructure firm, building on its previous acquisition of Bridge. The goal: to integrate seamless on- and off-ramping capabilities into Stripe’s already extensive payments network. By combining embedded wallets with stablecoin payment APIs, Stripe is positioning itself as a major gateway between Web2 and Web3 commerce.
The Outlook: Fragmentation or Integration?
The proliferation of new stablecoins — corporate, regulated, and bank-issued — raises important questions. Will the market consolidate around a few dominant tokens, or will clearing infrastructure and regulation enable a fluid, interoperable ecosystem of hundreds?
Current trends point to the latter. With regulation advancing, major players going public, and technical infrastructure improving, stablecoins and tokenized money are poised to integrate more deeply into global finance. Whether that future will be driven by a few monopolies or a many-token universe remains to be seen. But June 2025 will likely be remembered as a key inflection point.
Knowledge Bite Jonas: Digital Euro Association: “The Role of Stablecoins in Financial Sovereignty”
Knowledge Bite Alexander (German version): Börsen-Zeitung: “Bitcoin-Reserve: Genialer Schachzug oder kostspielige Fehlentscheidung?”
Knowledge Bite Alexander (English version): Alexander Bechtel: “Bitcoin Reserve: Genius move or costly mistake?”
Knowledge Bite Michael: European Parliament Think Tank: “Cryptomercantilism vs. Monetary Sovereignty: Dealing with the Challenge of US Stablecoins for the EU”
BFRR E340: US vs EU: The Stablecoin Policy Divide
BFRR E346: Scaling B2B Stablecoin Payments: SAP’s Digital Currency Hub
BFRR E348: From Citi Bank to Stablecoins: Tony McLaughlin’s Bold Pivot
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