Market Recap: Bitcoin Dips on Tariffs as Altcoins Rally
Bitcoin began the week on the back foot, sliding to around $114,000 – its lowest in three weeks – after a euphoric July rally to all-time highs. Traders attributed the dip to fresh U.S. trade tariffs and a hawkish Fed, which spooked risk markets and triggered large outflows from crypto exchange-traded funds coindesk.com coindesk.com. “The dip was driven by concerns over Trump’s tariff stance and the Fed’s signal that it’s not keen to cut rates soon. But opportunistic buyers are already stepping in… indicating the fear may be overdone,” said Jeff Mei, COO of BTSE, in a note on Monday coindesk.com. Indeed, by early Monday (Aug. 4) Bitcoin (BTC) had steadied near $114.5K and Ether (ETH) held above $3,550, as bargain-hunters provided support coindesk.com coindesk.com.
Other altcoins outperformed the majors to start August. Beloved retail tokens XRP and Dogecoin jumped ~5% on Monday, topping the leaderboard, while large-caps like Cardano (ADA), Binance Coin (BNB) and Solana (SOL) notched 3–4% gains coindesk.com. Analysts noted that deeper liquidity from institutional trading desks is helping cushion volatility even amid profit-taking. “The rising presence of professional desks has brought deeper secondary liquidity,” observed Augustine Fan, Head of Insights at SignalPlus, adding that in a pre-ETF era the unwind “would’ve been far messier” coindesk.com. Still, sentiment remains cautious after July’s frenzy. BTC had briefly breached $123,000 in mid-July – a new record – before whales sold heavily near the $120K psychological zone, capping the rally sergeytereshkin.comsergeytereshkin.com. Ether likewise surged ~62% in July (topping out just below $4,000) before encountering profit-taking cointelegraph.com cointelegraph.com. Despite the recent pullback, the market’s higher lows suggest consolidation rather than capitulation. Institutional flows underscore this mixed picture: record-breaking ETF inflows in July gave way to nearly $1 billion in outflows late last week as some funds took risk off the table coindesk.com coindesk.com. Yet crypto’s total market cap is holding around $3.8 trillion, only slightly off its peak, as investors await the next catalyst sergeytereshkin.comsergeytereshkin.com.
Macroeconomic jitters have introduced new twists. U.S. President Donald Trump’s surprise tariffs on imports from Europe and Asia dampened global risk appetite and were cited as a factor in crypto’s late-week dip coindesk.com. Meanwhile, Friday’s weaker U.S. jobs report fanned hopes of a Federal Reserve pivot, helping U.S. equity futures turn green and providing a “soft floor” under crypto prices coindesk.com. “Opportunistic buyers” in Asia and Europe quickly bought the weekend dip coindesk.com, suggesting many see the correction as a healthy breather after the massive run-up. Altcoin strength also reflects rotation within crypto – notably, BNB (Binance Coin) soared to a record high around $850 late last week after biotech firm Windtree Therapeutics announced a $520 million treasury investment into BNB coindesk.com coindesk.com. That institutional buy-in sparked a 195% surge in BNB’s trading volume and has some analysts predicting the exchange token could reach four figures in price coindesk.com crypto-economy.com. “All this demand is certainly going to push BNB above $1K by Q4 and possibly $1.8K–$2K by cycle top,” one market analyst forecast, citing BNB’s rising network activity and corporate accumulation cointelegraph.com. For now, crypto enters the week in consolidation mode – with BTC near $115K and ETH ~$3.5K – as traders digest the latest policy moves and position for the next big swing.
Regulatory Roundup: New U.S. Crypto Law, SEC’s Pivot, UK Lifts Ban, China Stays the Course
Regulators worldwide made waves in crypto over the past few days, unveiling policies that could shape the industry’s next chapter. In Washington, the U.S. notched its first-ever federal crypto law: President Trump signed the “Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act” into law, establishing a comprehensive framework for stablecoins pearlcohen.com metalpay.com. The act mandates that U.S. stablecoin issuers hold 1:1 dollar reserves (or equivalent highly liquid assets), submit to regular audits and comply with bank-like regulations pearlcohen.com pearlcohen.com. It also forbids issuers from paying interest to stablecoin holders and places oversight under federal bank regulators pearlcohen.com. Legal experts have praised the law for finally providing clarity to the $130+ billion stablecoin market, though they caution its impact “depends heavily” on how agencies enforce the rules in practice metalpay.com metalpay.com. “Long-needed clarity” is a common refrain – and the U.S. Congress may not be done, as additional crypto bills on exchanges and taxes loom in debate.
At the same time, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) signaled a dramatic policy shift in favor of crypto innovation. On July 31, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins launched “Project Crypto,” a sweeping initiative to modernize securities rules for digital assets reuters.com metalpay.com. In a speech before a Trump-aligned think tank, Atkins unveiled plans to clarify when a crypto token is a security, streamline token offering rules, and even allow tokenized stocks and funds to trade alongside traditional equities reuters.com reuters.com. “This represents more than a regulatory shift — it is a generational opportunity,” Atkins said of embracing blockchain finance reuters.com. Notably, he directed SEC staff to develop “clear and simple rules of the road” for crypto trading, custody and DeFi platforms, potentially via new exemptions and guidance reuters.com reuters.com. The agenda marks a pro-crypto pivot under the Trump administration: in fact, Trump’s SEC has already dropped high-profile lawsuits against major exchanges that the prior administration had pursued reuters.com reuters.com. Crypto proponents cheered Project Crypto as addressing nearly all items on their “wishlist” – from better definitions of tokens vs. commodities, to a safe harbor for innovation reuters.com. The SEC even acknowledged decentralized finance, proposing to bring staking and DeFi services into a unified licensing regime rather than ban them metalpay.com. Combined with the new stablecoin law, U.S. regulators are painting a far more supportive stance than seen in recent years, aiming to integrate crypto into the financial system rather than isolate it. “This is a clear sign the SEC is pivoting toward supportive regulation,” one analysis noted, especially after industry lobbying and the change in administration metalpay.com.
Crypto oversight isn’t just a federal affair – U.S. states are also stepping up rules. At least 40 states have introduced crypto-related bills in 2025, many focused on consumer protection metalpay.com. For example, Nebraska just enacted a law requiring cryptocurrency ATM operators to obtain state licenses, cap withdrawals by new users at $2,000 per day, and reimburse victims of fraud metalpay.com. Such measures target the explosion of crypto ATM scams that prey on uninformed users. The state laws also mandate clearer warnings about crypto risks at point-of-sale terminals metalpay.com. This bipartisan push at the state level reflects a growing consensus that digital assets need guardrails to go mainstream. “Crypto infrastructure needs clearer oversight – especially around in-person access and money laundering vulnerabilities,” lawmakers argue metalpay.com. The patchwork of state rules could eventually be overtaken by federal standards, but for now they add another layer of compliance for crypto businesses in the U.S.
Across the Atlantic, regulators are also loosening some reins. In a major policy reversal, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced it will lift a four-year ban on crypto exchange-traded notes (ETNs) for retail investors ainvest.com coindesk.com. Effective October 8, 2025, U.K. retail traders will be allowed to buy crypto-linked ETNs that trade on FCA-approved exchanges coindesk.com. (The FCA had barred these products in early 2021 amid concerns that unsophisticated investors could not assess the risks coindesk.com.) The regulator cited a more mature market now, and will require that any “cETNs” adhere to strict consumer protection rules – including clear risk warnings and compliance with the FCA’s new Consumer Duty (which obligates firms to prevent foreseeable harm to customers) coindesk.com coindesk.com. Importantly, U.K. crypto ETNs still won’t carry government insurance (no Financial Services Compensation Scheme coverage), meaning buyers won’t be protected in an issuer default coindesk.com. Nevertheless, the U.K. industry welcomed the move as a sign of “proportional” regulation that treats crypto instruments more like other financial products. This U.K. policy shift comes as Europe more broadly rolls out its new Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regime – a comprehensive EU crypto law that is in the process of implementation. EU regulators in recent weeks have been publishing guidance under MiCA (for example, criteria for crypto license approvals and stablecoin reserve rules), ensuring a coordinated approach by the 27 member states hsfkramer.com aosphere.com. The trend on both sides of the Channel suggests that Western regulators, while still cautious, are moving toward engagement over exclusion – bringing crypto into regulatory frameworks rather than banning it outright.
In Asia, the regulatory picture saw reassurance rather than change. Over the weekend, China dispelled a wave of rumors that it was imposing new crypto bans. On August 3, chatter on social media claimed Beijing had quietly reintroduced harsher restrictions on crypto trading or even ownership. These reports sparked brief market jitters and a dip in prices for Bitcoin and Ethereum in Asian trading ainvest.com ainvest.com. However, multiple Chinese regulatory sources clarified that no new ban has been issued ainvest.com ainvest.com. The status quo remains: since 2021 China has prohibited cryptocurrency trading, exchanges and mining, but holding crypto is not illegal ainvest.com ainvest.com. State media noted that some outlets conflated speculative rumors with policy, and an unnamed official emphasized “no official announcements” of any further crackdown ainvest.com ainvest.com. This helped markets stabilize as investors realized the fear was unfounded. Bitcoin quickly bounced back above $114K after it became clear the reports were “unverified” and China’s stance hadn’t changed ainvest.com ainvest.com. Analysts pointed out that such rumor-driven dips have happened before in China’s market, often not reflecting long-term trends ainvest.com ainvest.com. In fact, some signs from Beijing were tentatively positive: insiders say the government is exploring regulated digital assets (like a potential offshore yuan stablecoin via Hong Kong), and Hong Kong itself is embracing crypto trading under new licenses coindesk.com coindesk.com. The false alarm in China underscores the fragility of crypto sentiment – but also that the era of sudden policy shocks (like the 2021 mining ban) may be over, replaced by a more measured approach. “Any rumor that mainland China has banned crypto outright is demonstrably false,” CoinDesk noted, highlighting that Hong Kong’s crypto hub strategy might be influencing the mainland over time coindesk.com coindesk.com.
Security Incidents: Hacks and Scams Soar in Summer 2025
It has been a rough season for crypto security, with a spree of hacks and scams underscoring the importance of vigilance. July 2025 proved to be one of the worst months on record for crypto hacks: malicious actors stole $142 million in July alone, a 27% jump from June’s losses beincrypto.com. Blockchain security firm PeckShield documented 17 major hacks in July, reversing what had been a downturn in exploit activity earlier in the year beincrypto.com. The single largest incident was a $44.2 million theft from Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX, which was breached in mid-July in a sophisticated operation beincrypto.com beincrypto.com. Hackers compromised an internal liquidity account after allegedly installing malware on an employee’s laptop – a tactic that exploited human weakness to penetrate the exchange’s systems beincrypto.com beincrypto.com. CoinDCX CEO Sumit Gupta assured users that customer funds remained safe in cold storage, as the exchange absorbed the loss from its own reserves coindesk.com coindesk.com. (Indian police later arrested a CoinDCX software engineer in connection with the attack, illustrating the growing threat of insider-enabled breaches beincrypto.com.)
Decentralized finance platforms also suffered headline-grabbing exploits. In early July, leading perpetuals DEX GMX was hit by a $42 million price manipulation attack – notably, the hacker returned about $40.5 million of those funds days later, perhaps fearing traceability or seeking a bounty beincrypto.com beincrypto.com. Even so, GMX and its users took a multi-million dollar hit beincrypto.com. Another July victim was BigONE Exchange, which lost around $28 million to hackers, while trading platform WOO X saw about $12 million drained in an exploit beincrypto.com. A lesser-known protocol, Future Protocol, also suffered a $4.2M hack beincrypto.com. The breadth of targets – from centralized exchanges to DeFi apps across multiple chains – has shaken the community. All told, over $2.0 billion in crypto was stolen in the first half of 2025 from hacks and scams, according to industry reports beincrypto.com. This puts 2025 on pace to rival 2022 – the worst year ever – for crypto exploits if the trend isn’t curbed. “It’s an ongoing war,” said one security expert, noting that attackers have shifted from straightforward DeFi bugs to more complex social engineering and cross-chain attacks.
Early August has unfortunately brought more of the same. On August 2, a crypto user fell prey to a meticulously planned phishing scam that played out over 458 days. The victim had unknowingly signed a malicious token approval way back in April 2024 – giving a fraudster silent access to their wallet – and nothing happened at first ainvest.com. The hacker bided their time. Then, after the user deposited about $908,000 into that wallet this summer, the attacker sprang the trap: within minutes of the deposit, they siphoned $908,551 worth of assets in one go on Aug. 2 ainvest.com ainvest.com. Blockchain sleuths revealed that the scammer (linked to a “pink-drainer.eth” contract) had patiently waited over a year for the wallet balance to become juicy enough to steal ainvest.com. “This highlights the stealth and patience of modern phishing schemes,” Coin World reported, noting that unlike smash-and-grab hacks, some fraudsters quietly sleep in the system until the payday is large ainvest.com. Security researchers emphasized that a single inadvertent approval can lead to massive losses down the line if not revoked ainvest.com ainvest.com. In this case, the victim likely clicked a phishing link or fake airdrop in 2024, unknowingly granting token spending permissions. The lesson: “Users must actively review and revoke old smart contract approvals,” warns Scam Sniffer, a blockchain security firm, adding that outdated token allowances are a ticking time bomb for exactly this reason ainvest.com.
Meanwhile, DeFi protocols continue to be tested by savvy attackers. On August 1, stablecoin yield platform Zunami Protocol on Ethereum was exploited for $2.2 million via a flash-loan price manipulation attack olympix.ai. The hacker artificially pumped the price of Zunami’s stablecoin pool token by injecting millions in flash-loaned liquidity, then drained profits before the price normalized olympix.ai olympix.ai. The complex exploit – involving rapid trading between Curve, Uniswap, and Balancer – took the Zunami team by surprise, and users suffered losses on what was supposed to be a low-risk yield product. Just a week later on Aug. 7, yield optimizer Steadefi had its deployer wallet compromised, resulting in a $1.1M loss and a 66% collapse in its total value locked olympix.ai. And in the same early-August span, a lesser-known project called EarningFarm saw $530K stolen via a reentrancy bug olympix.ai. The frequency of these incidents has put auditors and developers on high alert. In response, some platforms are boosting bug bounties – CoinDCX, for example, is expanding its bounty program to incentivize ethical hackers to find flaws before criminals do beincrypto.com. Crypto insurance providers are also seeing renewed interest. But for now, the onus is on users and builders to practice defense in depth. From basic steps like using hardware wallets and two-factor authentication, to advanced measures like continuous on-chain monitoring and kill-switches in smart contracts, the industry is racing to plug the holes. As one expert put it: “Crypto security is a game of cat-and-mouse. Every time we harden one part of the system, attackers adapt. We have to be right every time; they only have to be right once.”
NFT Market: Summer Rebound Meets Reality Check
The NFT market is experiencing a mix of exuberance and sobering pullbacks as the summer progresses. July 2025 brought an unexpected resurgence in NFT sales, thanks in part to the broader crypto rally. According to data from CryptoSlam, total NFT trading volume in July surged to $574 million, marking the second-highest month of the year (trailing only January) cointelegraph.com. This represented a 47.6% jump from June’s totals cointelegraph.com. Notably, the average NFT sale price in July climbed to $113, a six-month peak – indicating strong appetite for higher-value collectibles, even as the number of individual transactions actually fell 9% month-on-month cointelegraph.com. In other words, fewer buyers were spending more per NFT, which suggests a consolidation of activity around blue-chip collections. Indeed, all of the top 10 NFT collections by market cap in July were Ethereum-based projects cointelegraph.com, with stalwarts like CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club seeing renewed interest. CryptoPunks led in 30-day trading value with about $69.2M transacted, while Pudgy Penguins surprised many by coming in second with $55.5M in volume cointelegraph.com. Floor prices for Pudgy Penguins – a community-driven profile-picture project – rocketed over 65% in July, outpacing even the blue chips like BAYC cointelegraph.com. Observers tied this NFT revival to Ethereum’s price rally (ETH gained ~62% in July, boosting NFT investor confidence) and possibly to rotation from speculative meme coins into digital art and collectibles cointelegraph.com cointelegraph.com. “When crypto markets go up, NFTs often follow – with a lag,” noted one trader, adding that the psychological wealth effect of rising ETH prices likely encouraged big NFT purchases.
However, the momentum showed signs of cooling as August began. In the last week of July and first days of August, overall NFT sales volumes dipped about 10% compared to the prior week ainvest.com. Several high-flying collections that had driven the July boom saw sharp reversals. CryptoPunks’ weekly sales plunged 42% (to ~$20 million) in early August, after an enormous 450% surge over the previous month ainvest.com ainvest.com. Similarly, Pudgy Penguins retraced 43% in sales (down to $4.6M for the week), coinciding with a 32% drop in the price of its ecosystem token $PENGU ainvest.com ainvest.com. This pullback highlights how quickly speculative fervor can ebb in the NFT space – and how interconnected NFT prices are with broader crypto market sentiment. Analysts noted that by late July, Bitcoin and major altcoins had started to stall, cooling the hype that had fueled NFT buyers earlier in the month ainvest.com. “NFT activity tends to surge during bullish phases of major cryptocurrencies,” one report explained – and conversely, a market pullback can dampen NFT demand just as fast ainvest.com.
Interestingly, not all NFTs slumped in early August. Some sectors saw idiosyncratic strength, indicating that NFT collectors are becoming more selective. Sports and gaming NFTs showed resilience – for example, DMarket (a marketplace for in-game NFTs) recorded a 77% sales jump this week to $4.8M ainvest.com. And a relatively new entrant, Courtyard NFTs (which represent physical collectibles stored in vaults), actually grew 35% to $11.3M in weekly sales ainvest.com. Those increases hint that NFTs with real-world tie-ins or unique utility still find bids even when pure art NFTs soften. Meanwhile, the once-dominant Bored Ape Yacht Club saw a modest 10% uptick in weekly sales (~$6.3M) ainvest.com, suggesting that some blue-chip investors were bargain-hunting Apes during the dip. On the blockchain front, Ethereum remains the king of NFTs – Eth-based NFT sales totaled about $296M in July (a 56% monthly jump) and continue to dwarf activity on other chains cointelegraph.com ainvest.com. But other networks had their moments: NFT sales on Bitcoin (via Ordinals) hit $74M in July, and Solana NFTs notched ~$71M, both seeing double-digit percentage growth cointelegraph.com. Cardano’s nascent NFT ecosystem even doubled its sales, albeit from a small base cointelegraph.com. In contrast, Polygon NFTs struggled – sales on Polygon fell ~51% in July, reflecting a cooldown after the network’s earlier NFT gaming buzz cointelegraph.com ainvest.com. The divergent performance across collections and chains underscores a maturing market where NFT investors are rotating funds to perceived quality and news-driven opportunities, rather than indiscriminately buying the hype.
Looking ahead, NFT traders are watching whether the crypto market’s next move will revive the fever or further deflate it. If Bitcoin and Ether resume an uptrend, it could rekindle NFT speculation in a hurry – much like July’s rally did. On the horizon are several potential NFT catalysts: major brand drops (rumor has it a few luxury fashion houses plan NFT releases in Q4), the rise of NFT finance (lending and renting NFTs is growing), and the continued growth of metaverse platforms that use NFTs for land and items. For now, the NFT market’s July boom and August correction serve as a reminder that this corner of crypto is exceptionally volatile. As one expert quipped, “NFTs are 50% art, 50% market psychology” – and both factors can change overnight.
DeFi and Wall Street: TradFi Tiptoes into Decentralized Finance
Beyond the headlines of prices and hacks, a deeper trend is unfolding: the gradual integration of traditional finance (TradFi) with crypto and DeFi. Industry observers note that what was once a chasm is slowly narrowing, as big institutions dip their toes into blockchain-based finance. In a recent Fortune op-ed, veteran investor William Mougayar argued that the decentralized finance industry is still “just a tiny sliver of the $30 trillion TradFi industry,” but the ingredients are in place to change that qoshe.com. He suggested the real payoff for Wall Street will come when it fully embraces DeFi’s open, automated models – not just buying Bitcoin for treasury or launching crypto ETFs, but actually leveraging on-chain protocols for settlement, lending, and beyond. Mougayar’s commentary reflects a growing sentiment that DeFi’s primitives (smart contracts, liquidity pools, tokenized assets) could eventually revolutionize back-end infrastructure in finance, even if consumer-facing adoption is nascent. “This represents a generational opportunity,” echoed SEC Chair Paul Atkins, who has directed the SEC to accommodate tokenized securities and even explore rules for staking and DeFi services under a unified framework rather than shutting them out metalpay.com. It’s a remarkable shift from just a year or two ago, when regulators saw DeFi mainly as a hotbed of unlicensed speculation. Now, with Project Crypto and similar initiatives, officials are essentially inviting the TradFi establishment to help shape – and participate in – the future of decentralized finance within a regulated context.
There are early signs of traditional institutions warming to DeFi concepts. Over the summer, several major banks and asset managers have been experimenting (quietly) with blockchain pilots. For instance, JPMorgan’s Onyx platform has been using permissioned DeFi protocols for intraday repo trades, and Franklin Templeton expanded a tokenized money market fund on Ethereum, seeing increased interest from clients. Perhaps most significantly, the U.S. Federal Reserve in June cleared banks to offer crypto services to customers – a policy change that directly addresses the “Operation Chokepoint” concerns that banks were unfairly excluding crypto businesses ainvest.com ainvest.com. On June 24, Fed Chair Jerome Powell stated that banks may engage with crypto firms as long as proper risk controls are in place ainvest.com. This official green light immediately boosted confidence: Bitcoin and Ether saw “significant inflows, particularly into Bitcoin spot ETFs,” in the days following Powell’s announcement ainvest.com. Analysts attributed those inflows to improved clarity from the Fed, which “reduces ambiguity for banks” and could accelerate institutional investment in digital assets ainvest.com. In other words, banks now feel more comfortable holding crypto or offering custody because their regulator has effectively said “proceed, with caution.” The Fed’s move dovetails with Congress’s stablecoin act and the SEC’s friendlier stance, amounting to a coordinated effort in the U.S. to bring crypto into mainstream finance ainvest.com.
Meanwhile, Wall Street firms are actively exploring DeFi through partnerships and R&D. Several large exchange operators (NASDAQ, CBOE) and custodians (BNY Mellon, Fidelity) have dedicated crypto units that are looking at on-chain trading and lending. Just last week, a consortium of banks completed a pilot of a regulated DeFi borrowing platform using tokenized Treasury bonds as collateral – essentially recreating a repo market on blockchain rails. These cautious steps have not gone unnoticed by crypto natives. Many DeFi builders are now working on “Real World Asset (RWA)” projects that aim to bring traditional assets (like government bonds, invoices, or real estate) onto public blockchains, where they can be used in smart contract lending pools. The appeal is mutual: TradFi gets increased liquidity and 24/7 markets, while DeFi gets more stable collateral and institutional legitimacy. Already, MakerDAO, the largest decentralized stablecoin issuer, has funneled billions into U.S. Treasury bills and corporate bonds via partner firms – a strategy that yields steady revenue to support its DAI stablecoin. This trend of tokenizing real-world cash flows saw a milestone in late July when Hamilton Lane, a $800B asset manager, announced an expansion of its tokenized funds on Polygon, citing unexpectedly strong investor uptake in Asia.
Regulators are cautiously supportive of these innovations. In the EU, officials under MiCA have floated the idea of a “sandbox” for DeFi experiments, and Hong Kong’s financial authority is actively studying how to regulate DeFi market makers without stifling them. Hong Kong’s openness, in fact, is drawing some global banks (like HSBC and Standard Chartered) to consider offering yield products that are powered by DeFi protocols behind the scenes. “Wall Street is finally embracing crypto – but the real payoff will come when it embraces DeFi,” Mougayar wrote, capturing the notion that the biggest efficiency gains (and disruption) lie in decentralized infrastructure aol.com. For now, cross-over activity is limited – a Goldman Sachs isn’t about to ape into yield farming on Uniswap – but the seeds are planted. Institutional DeFi startups are launching, aiming to be the bridge for big money to enter on-chain liquidity pools within a compliant framework (whitelisted addresses, KYC on wallets, etc.). And as U.S. election season nears, even political rhetoric around crypto has shifted. Trump has styled himself a “crypto president” and directly courted blockchain investors reuters.com, while Democrats are also talking about inclusive innovation (though they remain more skeptical post-FTX). The net effect is a far cry from the harsh regulatory crackdowns of 2022–2023.
In summary, decentralized finance is slowly coming of age, and traditional finance is paying attention. The past two days’ news encapsulated this convergence: U.S. regulators laying groundwork for legal DeFi, banks being invited into the tent, and commentators outlining a vision where the lines blur between CeFi and DeFi. It won’t happen overnight – issues like smart contract security, privacy, and regulatory arbitrage still loom large. But the direction of travel is clearer than ever. Crypto markets may rise and fall by the day, but the long game is about building bridges between crypto and the real economy. As one crypto CEO put it, “The walls between DeFi and TradFi are starting to crack. In a decade, I bet we’ll simply talk about finance – powered by blockchain under the hood.” Until then, the industry will be watching each incremental step, from new laws to pilot programs, that brings the decentralized dream closer to reality.
Quotes and references: Jeff Mei via CoinDesk coindesk.com; Augustine Fan via CoinDesk coindesk.com; Paul Atkins via Reuters reuters.com; William Mougayar via Fortune qoshe.com; Reuters, AInvest, Cointelegraph and CoinDesk reports coindesk.com metalpay.com ainvest.com beincrypto.com ainvest.com (full sources in text above).
