Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs has blocked access to Polymarket, the world’s largest prediction market platform, and plans to block all social media accounts affiliated with it.

 

According to Alexander Sabar, Director General of Digital Space Supervision, platforms that facilitate money-based betting on specific outcomes or events are still categorized as online gambling, even if they are presented as prediction markets.

 

“The government will not allow any form of online gambling in Indonesia. Activities like Polymarket involve betting and speculation on uncertain outcomes, thus violating Indonesian law,” Sabar said in Central Jakarta, one of the country’s main administrative areas.

 

The agency also said the decision to block Polymarket is intended to protect younger users and the broader public in the digital space, and added that it will block access to other platforms that facilitate online gambling activities in the country.

 

Prior to the ban, Polymarket had a limited user base in Indonesia. However, it gained greater visibility between May 20 and 21 of this month when it launched a contract on whether President Prabowo Subianto would leave office early. The contract drew significant attention in Indonesian digital spaces, attracting roughly 51,000 dollars in trading volume within days of its launch.

 

Global Crackdown on Prediction Markets Continues

Regulators' crackdown on the activities of prediction market companies continues to intensify. Just last month, Brazil’s National Monetary Council (CMN), together with other government agencies and regulators, blocked Polymarket, Kalshi, and 27 other prediction market platforms from operating in the country. This came shortly after a court in Buenos Aires reportedly ordered a ban on Polymarket in Argentina.

 

Other countries in Europe, including France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Hungary, have either banned or heavily restricted the activities of Polymarket, Kalshi, and other prediction market companies within their jurisdictions.

 

In the United States, several state regulators have taken action against prediction markets, with Minnesota most recently imposing a comprehensive ban on them. At least 17 states, including Illinois, New York, and Ohio, have issued cease-and-desist orders against prediction market companies.

 

 

Tether, the largest stablecoin issuer, has partnered with the Georgian government to launch GELT, a stablecoin representing the lari, the country’s official currency.

 

 

The partnership, announced on Monday, aims to create a financial ecosystem that supports cross-border commerce, fintech development, and broader access to programmable financial infrastructure across Georgia.

 

GELT will serve as a digital representation of the Georgian lari and will be designed to enable lower transaction costs, near instant settlement, programmable payments, and more efficient movement of value across digital financial systems.

 

“Together with visionary partners like Tether, Georgia is laying the foundations for a more connected, transparent, and digitally empowered financial world,” said Irakli Kobakhidze, Prime Minister of Georgia.

 

The launch of the GELT stablecoin is built on a regulatory framework created by the Georgian government and the National Bank of Georgia. In March this year, the National Bank of Georgia developed a framework governing the issuance of stablecoins.

 

The framework, officially known as “The Rule for the Initial Coin Offering of a Stable Virtual Asset by a Virtual Asset Service Provider,” sets out standards that must be met by all virtual asset service providers (VASPs) operating in the country, including requirements for 100 percent reserve backing, strong consumer protections, proper risk management, and full compliance with the country’s Anti Money Laundering (AML) standards.

 

“Stablecoins are no longer a niche financial instrument. They are becoming part of the infrastructure layer for global finance,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether. “Georgia has moved early to create serious regulatory architecture for digital assets and stablecoins, and that clarity creates the foundation for real innovation and adoption.”

 

Georgia’s stablecoin framework is also designed to be compatible with other regulatory frameworks, including the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act) and Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA).

 

By partnering with Tether to launch the GELT stablecoin, Georgia becomes the first country to team up with a major stablecoin issuer to issue a government-supported stablecoin pegged to its national currency. The UAE has also launched a dirham-pegged stablecoin, but unlike Georgia’s GELT, that stablecoin was issued by local consortia rather than a major stablecoin issuer such as Tether.

 

The planned launch of the GELT stablecoin comes shortly after Tether launched its self-custodial wallet. In an effort to increase access to stablecoins, Qivalis recently expanded its consortium to include more banks, which are collectively working to launch a euro-pegged stablecoin.

 

South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster has signed a new pro-crypto bill into law that establishes a comprehensive regulatory framework for the use of cryptocurrencies.

 

The bill, known as Senate Bill S.163, was passed this week and creates a crypto-friendly environment for crypto use. According to the new law, individuals and businesses are no longer prohibited from accepting digital assets as payment or from using self-hosted or hardware wallets to store their crypto holdings.

 

By passing this pro-crypto law, the South Carolina government enhances the real-world utility of cryptocurrencies, especially in payment finance, and removes regulatory uncertainty associated with their use in commercial activities.

 

Since the newly enacted law exempts cryptocurrencies used for payment from any additional tax or government-imposed charges, it prevents merchants and businesses from discriminating against crypto transactions or against converting crypto into a tax-disadvantaged payment method. The result is that crypto moves further into the mainstream and its adoption increases.

 

The Anti-CBDC Portion of the Bill

Another important aspect of the newly enacted law is the anti-CBDC provision, which rejects the use of a government-controlled digital asset.

 

Under the new legislation, no state-level government parastatal, including agencies, boards, commissions, and departments, may accept or require payments in central bank digital currency (CBDC). The law also prevents these state-level entities from participating in any “digital asset” test conducted by the Federal Reserve.

 

The law also strongly supports crypto mining, prohibiting local governments from restricting mining in industrial zones or imposing any additional limits on mining companies beyond general noise pollution regulations.

 

South Carolina Becomes Latest Crypto-Friendly State

With these pro-crypto bills passed, South Carolina has joined other crypto-friendly states, such as Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Louisiana, and Arizona, that have enacted similar laws.

 

In March of last year, Kentucky passed a pro-crypto bill, HB 701, into law. Just like South Carolina's new laws, the law allowed users to hold and use digital assets in self-hosted wallets or hardware wallets. The law also exempted digital asset mining companies from the requirement to obtain a money transmitter license or comply with securities regulations before operating in the state.

 

 

Qivalis, an Amsterdam-based joint venture developing a fully regulated MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin, has expanded its consortium to include 25 new banks.

 

 

With this expansion, the Qivalis consortium now comprises 37 banks across 15 European countries, including major names such as ABN AMRO, Rabobank, Nordea, Intesa Sanpaolo, Banco Sabadell, and Bankinter.

 

Created in early December last year, the Qivalis consortium is a group of European banks that came together to develop a stablecoin pegged to the euro. By launching a euro-pegged stablecoin, Qivalis aimed to create a credible and regulated alternative to the widely used United States dollar stablecoin.

 

The Qivalis euro-backed stablecoin would also eliminate the need for European banks to launch competing bank-issued stablecoins, as it is interoperable and fully compliant with MiCA across the European Union and the European Economic Area.

 

The consortium is currently pursuing an Electronic Money Institution license from De Nederlandsche Bank, the Dutch central bank, with plans to launch a euro-backed stablecoin in the second half of this year.

 

The State of the Stablecoin Market

The stablecoin market continues to grow significantly, with more traditional finance institutions entering and tapping into the expanding sector. According to a recent report, total stablecoin liquidity, or market capitalization, has crossed $320 billion, with US dollar-backed stablecoins accounting for about 95% of the market.

 

Tether (USDT) remains the most widely used US dollar-backed stablecoin, accounting for about 57.96% of the market, or approximately $ 185 billion in market capitalization. USD Coin (USDC) follows, accounting for about 24% of the market and having a market capitalization of roughly $78-79 billion.

 

The euro-denominated stablecoin market still represents a small fraction of the global stablecoin market. According to CoinGecko, euro-denominated stablecoins have a combined market capitalization of roughly $670 million, with EURC from Circle and EURS from Stasis being the two most prominent, with market caps of $436 million and $145 million, respectively.

 

 

Zerohash, a leading crypto infrastructure provider, has received an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license from De Nederlandsche Bank, the Dutch central bank.

 

The EMI license comes shortly after it secured a Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCAR) license in October 2025 from the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM).

 

With the EMI license secured, Zerohash is now the first MiCAR-licensed firm to obtain an Electronic Money Institution license in accordance with the European Banking Authority’s June 2025 No Action Letter and February 2026 clarifications, which gave crypto firms and stablecoin issuers a temporary breathing space to get their payment licenses in order by March 2nd of this year.

 

 

By securing the EMI license, Zerohash positions itself to issue, manage, and support stablecoin-powered payments using e-money tokens across the European Economic Area. Zerohash now has the regulatory basis to integrate crypto and traditional electronic money flows for its institutional clients.

 

"Europe has a massive market for stablecoin applications," said Roeland Goldberg, Managing Director, Europe at Zerohash. "The announcement comes on the heels of accelerating momentum for Zerohash across Europe. In recent months, the company has expanded its European Union presence in Amsterdam and is now powering partners, including Interactive Brokers Europe, in the region."

 

Alongside the previously secured MiCAR license, Zerohash can now serve its institutional clients, including banks, fintechs, brokerages, payment providers, and large enterprises, providing compliant stablecoin settlement, remittances, and digital asset services across Europe.

 

About Zerohash 

Zerohash is a leading infrastructure provider for crypto, stablecoins, and tokenized assets. Through its application programming interface (API) and embeddable developer kit, it enables large institutions, including banks, brokerages, and fintech companies, to integrate crypto trading, stablecoin payments, custody, tokenization, and fiat to crypto and crypto to fiat conversion services into their own platforms, without having to build complex backend infrastructure or navigate regulatory frameworks themselves.

 

Zerohash is currently a licensed money transmitter in 51 United States jurisdictions and serves more than 5 million users across over 190 countries. Its crypto and stablecoin infrastructure has also been used by several institutional firms, including Interactive Brokers, Stripe, Franklin Templeton, and MoneyLion, with its infrastructure also supporting BlackRock’s BUIDL fund.

 

 

Minnesota has enacted a law that allows banks and credit unions in the state to offer cryptocurrency custody services, with the law expected to take effect on Aug. 1, 2026.

 

The bill, HF 3709, was signed into law on Friday by Minnesota state governor Tim Walz, with the state legislature’s website stating that cryptocurrency custody services may now be offered and performed in the state.

 

While this is a significant milestone for crypto adoption in the state, the law also requires banks and credit unions interested in offering crypto custody services to submit a written notice detailing their risk management frameworks to the Minnesota Commissioner of Commerce at least 60 days before commencing such services.

 

The Minnesota Commissioner of Commerce will serve as the primary regulator, overseeing crypto custody services offered by banks and credit unions in the state.

 

Banks and credit unions interested in offering crypto custody services are also required to maintain a comprehensive written policy covering their internal controls, security, risk management, and compliance frameworks, while also segregating their clients’ assets from institutionally owned assets.

 

According to Representative Bernie Perryman, one of the primary sponsors of HF 3709, the legislation aims to establish a trustworthy framework that enables financial institutions to work with and safeguard Minnesotans' crypto assets, especially as crypto becomes more mainstream.

 

“House File 3709 is about ensuring that Minnesota-based financial institutions are allowed to evolve alongside their customers and members rather than forcing Minnesotans to rely on unregulated, out-of-state or offshore providers for services that are already in use today,” Perryman said in a March press release.

 

The passage of HF 3709 comes just a few weeks after the Minnesota governor banned the use and ownership of crypto kiosks and ATMs across the state, citing their growing use in fraud.

 

With the passage of this bill, Minnesota now joins Wyoming, New York, and Virginia, which have passed similar bills that allow banks and credit unions to offer crypto custody services.

 

 

Galaxy Digital has finally gotten what it spent years working toward: full regulatory clearance to operate as a licensed crypto business in New York State. The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) granted GalaxyOne Prime NY, a wholly owned subsidiary of Galaxy Digital Inc. (Nasdaq: GLXY), both a BitLicense and a Money Transmission License on Monday, May 18. The move gives the firm direct, regulated access to the most capital-dense institutional market in the United States.

 

For Galaxy, it is a landmark. New York-based registered investment advisors, hedge funds, and family offices can now tap Galaxy's full suite of digital asset trading and custody products through a regulated state-licensed entity. The firm currently manages roughly $9 billion in client assets across its digital asset business, and executives have made no secret of their ambitions to grow that number substantially by pushing deeper into institutional channels.

 

A License That Has Eluded Many

The BitLicense, introduced by NYDFS back in 2015, remains one of the toughest regulatory hurdles in the global crypto industry. The application process involves extensive compliance documentation, capital reserve requirements, anti-money laundering controls, and cybersecurity standards that have tripped up or outright deterred dozens of firms over the years. Some companies, including Paxos and Gemini, have opted instead for a New York Banking Law charter, which carries similar compliance expectations but a different legal structure. Either way, the NYDFS does not make it easy, and the framework has drawn persistent industry criticism over its cost and complexity.

 

Galaxy is only the second company to receive a BitLicense in 2026. Jack Mallers' bitcoin payments firm Strike picked up its approval from NYDFS in March, putting Galaxy in small company. The broader licensed cohort includes the likes of Coinbase, Robinhood, Circle, and PayPal, firms that have become fixtures of mainstream digital finance. Galaxy's inclusion in that group signals how far the company has come from its earlier profile as a more speculative crypto-native outfit.

 

Novogratz Makes the Case Directly

Galaxy founder and CEO Mike Novogratz did not mince words about what the approval means strategically. "New York is home to the deepest pool of institutional capital in the country, and digital assets are no longer sitting at the edge of those allocations," he said in a statement released Monday. "Galaxy was built to meet that demand, and now we can better serve New York's institutions directly."

 

Galaxy has spent the better part of the past three years repositioning itself as a serious financial services operator. The company expanded into data center infrastructure, now operates the 1.6 gigawatt Helios campus in Texas, and has built out a broad product lineup spanning trading, asset management, investment banking, and custody. The New York license slots into that picture as a missing piece that was always going to matter.

 

50 Licenses and Counting

With NYDFS now in the fold, Galaxy's regulatory footprint stretches past 50 licenses worldwide. The company has offices across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, and has been methodically acquiring the permissions it needs to operate as a multi-jurisdictional institutional platform. That kind of regulatory breadth is not cheap or quick to build, and it increasingly functions as a competitive moat against crypto-native upstarts that lack the compliance infrastructure to serve sophisticated institutional clients.

 

The timing is notable. Galaxy reported a net loss of $216 million in the first quarter of 2026, driven largely by softer digital asset prices, though the number came in better than what analysts had expected. The stock has continued to trade under pressure. But the BitLicense announcement is a longer-game move. Institutional clients in New York represent a structural revenue opportunity that does not turn on any single quarter's price action. Getting licensed to serve them directly, rather than through workarounds or third-party arrangements, changes the calculus considerably.

 

New York regulators, for their part, have signaled that the BitLicense framework is not going away. Enforcement activity has continued into 2026, and the NYDFS has made clear it sees itself as a baseline standard-setter for crypto businesses operating in the state. For Galaxy, that means the hard work of getting licensed is also a signal to institutional counterparties that the firm has been through the scrutiny and passed. In New York's financial culture, that matters.

 

Payward, the parent company of the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, has partnered with Franklin Templeton, the leading global investment management company, bringing traditional financial products on-chain.

 

The partnership, which aims to converge traditional finance and digital asset markets and expand the utility of tokenized assets, leverages Franklin Templeton’s decades of experience as a global investment manager and leader in the tokenization space, alongside Payward’s crypto-native trading, custodial, and on-chain infrastructure.

 

Since tokenization is at the center of the partnership, the companies will explore launching several new actively managed investment strategies on xStocks, Payward’s tokenized asset platform. As a result, the two companies are expected to introduce tokenized yield-focused products and equities available to institutional clients through Kraken’s Prime and over-the-counter services. To offer the best investment experience, these tokenized products will be transparent, flexible, and programmable.

 

“Payward and Franklin Templeton are building toward a model of finance where the distinction between traditional assets and digital infrastructure no longer holds,” said Arjun Sethi, Co CEO of Payward and Kraken.

 

“The convergence between these two worlds is only going to deepen, and what collaborations like this one unlock is a new class of products that would not have been possible even three years ago: assets that carry the credibility of multi-decade managers and the programmability of digital infrastructure.”

 

BENJI Integration to Follow

Part of the partnership plans will involve integrating BENJI into Kraken's infrastructure. BENJI is a digital token created by Franklin Templeton that represents ownership of, or shares held by, an investor in a regulated money market fund. It is what investors actually hold and trade on-chain.

 

By integrating BENJI into Kraken, Franklin Templeton makes it easier for institutions to access and use the BENJI money market fund within its trading and custody systems, increasing capital efficiency and the fund's utility.

 

“The focus should be on making on-chain assets more functional for the full range of market participants once they are there,” said Sandy Kaul, Head of Digital Assets and Innovation at Franklin Templeton.

 

“By expanding the utility of BENJI and exploring new tokenized products, our work with Payward reflects the growing need to serve both digital native and institutional customers with solutions built for how capital increasingly moves on-chain.”

 

 

Charles Schwab, the United States based brokerage and banking firm, has launched Schwab Crypto, a spot crypto trading platform that provides direct access to Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) trading, along with educational content and support from experienced professionals for users.

 

 

“We know our clients want to conduct more of their financial lives at Schwab. With Schwab Crypto, clients who want direct access to the asset class can trade it alongside their other investments, while benefiting from the service, education, and research they expect from us,” said Jonathan Craig, Head of Retail Investing at Charles Schwab.

 

The spot trading platform will provide direct trading in BTC and ETH, with more cryptocurrencies to be added in the future as the platform expands. Traders will also be able to view and trade both crypto and non crypto products across all of Schwab’s platforms, including its website, Schwab Mobile, its mobile app, and thinkorswim, its advanced trading platform, with 24/7 professional support available to traders.

 

Through Schwab Coaching, its educational program, Charles Schwab will provide in depth digital assets education and resources, including insights and commentary from the Schwab Center for Financial Research and crypto focused content, all aimed at helping investors understand the digital assets market and how digital assets fit into a broader investing strategy.

 

How Schwab Crypto Works 

Through Charles Schwab Premier Bank (CSPB), Schwab clients will be given a separate crypto account for the purpose of trading on Schwab Crypto, the retail trading platform. However, this account will remain linked to the clients main brokerage accounts, with CSPB serving as the primary custodian of all client digital assets.

 

Paxos, a leading blockchain infrastructure company regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, will be responsible for handling all trade execution and subcustody services.

 

Regarding Paxos’s role, Joe Vietri, Managing Director and Head of Digital Assets at Charles Schwab, said, “Paxos is a strong partner for blockchain infrastructure. Their regulatory standing and digital asset expertise will help us deliver the seamless, integrated experience our clients expect from Schwab.”

 

 

After months of gridlock and four hours of pointed debate, the Senate Banking Committee voted 15-9 to advance the Clarity Act, sending one of the most consequential pieces of financial legislation in recent memory toward a full Senate floor vote. Two Democrats joined all Republicans on the panel in support, a small but symbolically meaningful show of bipartisan backing that industry advocates say could prove decisive when the bill eventually needs 60 votes to pass the full chamber.

 

For the digital asset industry, the vote felt like a long time coming. The bill, formally titled the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025, has been kicking around Capitol Hill for well over a year. The fact that it cleared committee at all, given the partisan atmosphere that dominated much of Thursday's hearing, was seen by many in the space as a genuine win.

 

Rules of the Road, Finally

At its core, the Clarity Act tries to solve a problem that has dogged the crypto industry since its earliest days: nobody could quite agree on who was in charge. The SEC and the CFTC have spent years in an uneasy standoff over which agency has jurisdiction over which digital assets, leaving companies in legal limbo and pushing some development offshore. The bill would draw a cleaner line, classifying digital assets as either securities or commodities and assigning oversight accordingly.

 

The market responded before the committee even finished voting. Coinbase surged more than 8% on the session, as investors bet that regulatory clarity could finally unlock the broader institutional participation that has been sitting on the sidelines. Galaxy Digital climbed over 6%. Strategy, the largest corporate bitcoin holder, was up 7%. Bitcoin itself ground higher, hitting session highs near $81,500.

 

"For too long, regulatory uncertainty has sent talent, investment, and innovation overseas, strengthening foreign competitors while leaving American builders without the certainty they need to compete," said Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger, who called the committee vote a "defining moment." Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse was blunter: "If the largest economy in the world is going to lead on crypto, and it must, this is the moment."

 

Still Some Runway Ahead

Thursday's vote was a milestone, but it is not the finish line. The bill still needs to be reconciled with a separate version approved by the Senate Agriculture Committee, and the full Senate will require 60 votes to pass it, meaning a significant number of Democrats will have to come on board. The House passed its own version of the legislation last year, so the two chambers will also need to hammer out a unified text before anything heads to President Trump's desk.

 

The largest outstanding issue is an ethics provision intended to limit government officials, including the president, from profiting off crypto. Democrats have made clear they will not move forward without some version of it, while White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt has said the administration will not tolerate language targeting a specific officeholder. Both sides appeared at least open to finding common ground, with Cody Carbone of the Digital Chamber telling reporters that a deal on the ethics provision is likely a prerequisite for getting the bill to a floor vote at all. The window, several lawmakers noted, is probably August.

 

A Framework Built to Last

What makes the Clarity Act different from the patchwork of guidance and enforcement actions that have defined crypto policy for the past decade is its ambition. It does not try to pigeonhole digital assets into frameworks designed for equities or futures contracts decades ago. It builds something new, with defined registration pathways for digital commodity exchanges, brokers, and dealers, as well as clear definitions covering blockchain applications, protocols, and smart contracts.

 

Ji Hun Kim, CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation, put it plainly after the vote: "Clear durable rules will help drive greater institutional and retail adoption, support innovation, create more high quality jobs in the U.S., protect Americans, and ensure that our country leads when it comes to digital assets policy and innovation."

 

The GENIUS Act, which passed the full Senate 68-30 last year, showed that comprehensive crypto legislation can attract broad support once the details are sorted. The Clarity Act is a harder lift, covering more ground and touching more competing interests. But Thursday's committee vote suggests the political will is there, and the industry is watching closely.

 

"Durable, lasting digital asset policy must be built on a bipartisan foundation," Mersinger added. By that measure, the Clarity Act is not finished yet. But for the first time in a long while, it looks like it might actually get there.

 

Why This Matters for the Future of Digital Assets

Let's be clear about all of this: Thursday was a great day for anyone who believes that digital assets have a meaningful role to play in the future of finance. I am certainly one of those. Not because the Clarity Act is perfect, and not because it's done, but because it signals something important that has been missing for years: the U.S. government is starting to treat this industry like it's here to stay.

 

The case for optimism goes beyond this single vote. The GENIUS Act passing 68-30 last year proved that stablecoin legislation could attract real bipartisan support. Institutional investment in Bitcoin ETFs has steadily matured. Major financial players who once dismissed crypto as a fringe asset are now building infrastructure around it. The underlying technology, particularly in DeFi and tokenization, keeps advancing regardless of what Washington does. What regulation does is create the conditions for all of that to compound. It clears the path for pension funds, endowments, and large asset managers who have been sitting on the sidelines waiting for legal certainty before committing serious capital.

 

That said, the Senate still has to close the deal, and that is not a given. The remaining sticking points on the ethics provision and law enforcement concerns are real, not just noise. Lawmakers like Senator Kirsten Gillibrand have been consistent that they will not deliver Democratic votes without meaningful conflict-of-interest guardrails, and that is a fair position. The 60-vote threshold means the bill needs to be genuinely bipartisan, not just technically so.

 

On timing, the realistic window is narrower than it might appear. Industry insiders, including Cody Carbone of the Digital Chamber, have pointed to August as a likely deadline if the bill is to move this year. Congress typically slows through the fall ahead of elections, and the legislative calendar fills up fast. That gives negotiators roughly ten to twelve weeks to reconcile the two committee versions, finalize the ethics language, and lock down the 60 votes needed for a floor vote. It is achievable, but it requires both parties to decide they want a deal more than they want a talking point.

 

If it does pass, the long-term impact will be substantial. Clear rules attract capital. Capital attracts builders. Builders create products that bring in users. That cycle, running inside a legitimate regulatory framework and anchored in the world's largest economy, is how digital assets stop being a niche and become infrastructure. You know...that "mass adoption" that people have been talking about for years? Well, this could be it. It might not look like how we all imagined, but what ever really does? Thursday was one huge step in that direction. The Senate now needs to finish what it started and we need to come together to make sure they all know that they need to do just that. Let's get it done.

 

The U.S. Senate confirmed Kevin Warsh as the next chair of the Federal Reserve on Wednesday, handing President Donald Trump a long-sought win and putting one of the most crypto-sympathetic figures in recent memory at the helm of the world's most powerful central bank.

 

The final tally was 54-45, and it wa a bit too close for comfort. In fact, it was the most partisan confirmation vote for a Fed chair in modern history, with only Pennsylvania Democrat Sen. John Fetterman crossing the aisle to support Warsh's nomination. The near party-line split underscores just how politically charged the Federal Reserve has become under Trump, who spent much of the past year publicly haranguing outgoing Chair Jerome Powell for not cutting rates fast enough.

 

A Confirmation That Almost Wasn't

Getting Warsh to this point was a rocky path. The nomination process stretched over months, at one point stalling entirely when Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) refused to let the confirmation advance until the Justice Department dropped a criminal investigation into Powell. That probe, led by DC U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, centered on alleged cost overruns at the Fed's Washington headquarters. A federal judge had ruled the investigation was essentially a pretext to pressure Powell into cutting rates or resigning.

 

The DOJ eventually closed the probe, clearing the path for Warsh. Though Pirro left the door open to reopening the case if the Fed's inspector general turns up evidence of wrongdoing. For now, the drama is over, and Warsh has his confirmation.

 

What Warsh Means for Crypto

Warsh isn't exactly a crypto maximalist. He has, at times, referred to certain digital asset projects as fraudulent or worthless. But his disclosed investments tell a deeper story. Earlier this year it emerged he holds positions in Polymarket, the decentralized prediction market, and Solana. He has also stated that Bitcoin "does not make me nervous," a phrase that might seem understated but represents a meaningful shift from the posture of most previous Fed leadership.

 

During his Senate confirmation hearing in April, Warsh told Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) that digital assets are "already part of the fabric of our financial services industry" and affirmed he believes they should be incorporated into America's broader financial ecosystem. That was enough for Lummis, one of the most vocal pro-crypto voices in Congress, who said after the vote that digital asset holders "finally have a leader at the Fed who is ready to deliver."

 

The CFTC's chairman Mike Selig, who has defended prediction markets against a string of state-level lawsuits this year, also welcomed the Warsh confirmation, saying he looked forward to working together. That kind of interagency alignment on digital assets would represent a notable departure from the fragmented, sometimes hostile regulatory environment crypto has dealt with in recent years.

 

Juan Leon, a senior investment strategist at Bitwise, put the significance plainly: "Kevin Warsh is the first Fed Chair to endorse Bitcoin and describe it as a useful signal for policymakers, reflecting a shift in institutional legitimacy for crypto. While he's known as an inflation hawk, his stated belief that rates can move lower as a result of AI-driven productivity gains provides a plausible path to more accommodative liquidity conditions for crypto assets."

 

Rate Cuts: Don't Hold Your Breath

Here's where things get complicated. Trump has made no secret of what he expects from Warsh, having reportedly joked earlier this year that he'd sue him if rates don't come down. But market expectations have shifted sharply, and not in the president's favor.

 

Fresh inflation data released Tuesday showed consumer prices rose 3.85% in the 12 months through April, the highest reading since May 2023 and well above the Fed's 2% target. Traders are pricing in essentially no rate cuts for the rest of the year; some are even calling for a hike, largely because energy prices have climbed sharply following escalating tensions in the Middle East that have snarled tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.

 

Warsh himself has signaled some openness to easing, particularly if AI-driven productivity gains help cool inflation over time. But he's also a known inflation hawk from his first stint at the Fed between 2006 and 2011, when he was among those who felt post-crisis quantitative easing had gone too far. It's not entirely clear which Warsh shows up to that first FOMC meeting on June 16-17.

 

And it's worth noting: Warsh is just one of 12 votes on the Federal Open Market Committee. Even as chair, he doesn't have unilateral authority over rate decisions. Powell, for his part, will remain on the Fed's Board of Governors after Friday, when his term as chair expires, retaining his FOMC vote. It's an unusual arrangement, last seen nearly 80 years ago, and Powell has been explicit about his motivations: he wants to protect the institution from what he has described as "unprecedented" legal and political pressure.

 

A New Era, With a Lot of Asterisks

Warsh also takes the helm at a Fed dealing with serious internal turbulence. Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook is locked in a legal fight with the president, who is trying to remove her on allegations of mortgage fraud, a case now making its way toward the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, Warsh will have to divest significant holdings, as he's set to become the wealthiest Fed chair on record, with a portfolio well north of $100 million.

 

Bitcoin barely reacted to the confirmation news, trading around $79,500 in the hours following the Senate vote, according to CoinGecko. But the longer-term implications could be meaningful. Whether or not rate cuts materialize, Warsh's ascent signals a growing institutional acceptance of digital assets at the highest levels of American financial policy. For a sector that has spent years fighting for legitimacy, that's not nothing.

 

Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic recently secured $120 million in a Series D funding round led by One Peak, with participation from Nasdaq Ventures, Deutsche Bank, and the British Business Bank. The company is now valued at $670 million.

 

 

According to Elliptic, the funding will be used to accelerate its mission to deliver enterprise-grade on-chain analytics to some of the world’s largest financial institutions, including banks, fintech companies, crypto companies, and government agencies.

 

“As digital assets become more embedded in the global financial system, institutions need trusted infrastructure to manage compliance and risk at scale. Elliptic’s platform plays an important role in providing that infrastructure, helping firms navigate digital asset adoption with confidence and integrity,” said Gary Offner, Senior Vice President and Head of Nasdaq Ventures.

 

Among Elliptic’s expansion plans is scaling its native artificial intelligence compliance system for enterprises. Leveraging its years of experience building one of the most comprehensive and diverse datasets and its ability to process more contextual information per second than competitors, Elliptic plans to build an enterprise-grade compliance system that allows compliance teams to do more with less: alerts resolved in minutes rather than hours, human judgment reserved for where it genuinely matters, and compliance costs falling as volume grows.

 

“As institutional adoption of digital assets accelerates, the demand for scalable compliance solutions has never been higher. Elliptic pioneered the use of blockchain analytics to meet this challenge and has cemented its status as a global leader, screening over 1 billion transactions a week for more than 700 customers in 30 countries,” said Charlotte Lawrence, Managing Director of Direct Equity at the British Business Bank.

 

This capability will also benefit stablecoin and tokenized asset companies that process billions of dollars in transactions. In 2025, about $33 trillion in transactions were processed by stablecoin companies. By leveraging its data intelligence infrastructure, Elliptic enables these companies to meet enterprise-grade compliance requirements in real time, an operational necessity for crypto exchanges that handle and move billions of dollars in crypto daily.

 

About Elliptic 

Elliptic is a London-based blockchain analytics firm that specializes in tools for financial crime risk management, anti-money laundering (AML), transaction monitoring, wallet screening, investigations, and threat intelligence across the global crypto ecosystem.

 

Elliptic currently serves over 700 clients across 30 countries, supports more than 65 blockchain networks, and screens about 1 billion blockchain transactions each week. It has partnered with leading industry players, most recently the layer 1 Solana and the Tempo blockchain networks.