Greetings from Austin, Texas!
I’m in town meeting founders and entrepreneurs. The energy here is great.
Today, we must talk about what’s going on in crypto.
Bitcoin (BTC) is hitting all-time highs of $118,000.
And although not enough people are talking about it, the US House of Representatives has dubbed this week “Crypto Week.”
That’s because, starting today, the US government is FINALLY making a concerted regulatory push to “make America the crypto capital of the world” (their words).
I have been investing in crypto personally for over five years due to its disruptive and innovative properties. I have been recommending small, innovative cryptos to RiskHedge subscribers in my Venture advisory for 3.5 years, since launching it in October 2021.
My subscribers have made very good money in that time, beating the S&P 500, the Nasdaq, and bitcoin.
But there was always a dark cloud hovering over us.
Every promising crypto came with the same caveat. I found myself saying over and over again, “I think this crypto can rise 1,000% in value, but we need major regulatory change first.” My subscribers are probably sick of how often I talked about regulation—because it was THE THING holding crypto back.
Now, the US House wants to push through three major crypto bills that have been stuck in limbo for years. It is the most serious, coordinated crypto policy push ever, by a long shot.
The dam is about to break. Let’s walk through what’s happening, which of these bills is most important, and how to position your money to profit.
This bill gives the US its first real stablecoin framework.
RiskHedge Venture members know stablecoins—digital dollars living on the blockchain—are crypto’s killer use case.
They’re the only way to send $10,000 to a friend halfway around the world in seconds, from your phone, for less than a penny.
Today, more than $250 billion in stablecoins circulate globally. Stablecoin volumes just surpassed Visa (V) and Mastercard (MA) transactions!
But in the US, they operate in a legal gray zone. There’s no single law defining what stablecoins are, how they should be regulated, or who’s in charge of overseeing them. Are they money? Securities? Bank products? No one really knows.
This ambiguity has kept Wall Street on the sidelines.
The GENIUS Act changes that.
It requires stablecoins to be fully backed by cash or short-term US Treasuries. It mandates audits. It puts issuers under clear federal and state supervision.
In short, it makes stablecoins safe, credible, and, crucially, legal in the eyes of Washington.
This bill is the least important of the three. But it alone could unlock the next wave of growth for crypto. It will finally allow banks, payment networks, and institutional players to adopt crypto at scale.
That’s why everyone from fintech giant Stripe to JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Visa are launching stablecoins. GENIUS gives them permission to go big.
Governments want to use blockchain tech to replace physical cash with digital cash, aka central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
“Stephen, isn’t money already digital? My savings are just numbers on a computer screen. I pay for most things without touching notes and coins.”
Yes. But companies are providing those services for you. You bank with JPMorgan. You have a Visa credit card. And you use PayPal Holdings (PYPL) to send money overseas.
A CBDC means the government is your bank… and your credit card provider… and your only way to send and receive money.
I don’t need to explain why that could be very, very bad.
Politicians say CBDCs will lead to cheaper and faster payments. That they’ll stamp out crime and fraud.
Don’t be fooled by this propaganda. CBDCs are about control, not convenience.
The Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act would ban the US government from ever creating a CBDC. I hope it passes.
It addresses the single most painful regulatory issue in crypto: how tokens are classified.
Right now, the SEC says almost all tokens are securities. On the other hand, the CFTC says some are commodities. So the SEC and CFTC have taken contradictory regulatory approaches, and as a result, no one knows what’s legal or not.
This has kept Wall Street at bay, and a lid on crypto prices.
This bill fixes that.
CLARITY draws a line. If a token is decentralized—like Ethereum (ETH), for example—it’s a commodity. If not, it’s a security. It also gives early-stage token projects three years to decentralize before getting swept into SEC enforcement.
I can’t overstate how important CLARITY is for crypto. It provides something this industry has never had: regulatory certainty.
With CLARITY, developers would finally have a clear path to launch compliant tokens in the US.
More important, it would bring in Wall Street. It gives the big financial institutions the green light to rush into crypto.
As I mentioned, bitcoin is now $118,000.
I now believe it will eventually surpass $1,000,000.
I meet a lot of people who think they’ve missed the boat on crypto. They have not.
Crypto is still a tiny market. Think about this: Microsoft (MSFT), one company, is worth more than all crypto assets combined!
What a difference a year makes. A year ago, Washington was trying to sue crypto projects into oblivion. Now we’re on the cusp of getting clear rules. Finally.
So how do you play this?
Own some bitcoin, sure.
But I am working with my team to write a special briefing about five small cryptos that will see the most immediate benefit as Wall Street marches into crypto.
We will complete it this week. More soon.
Stephen McBride
Chief Analyst, RiskHedge