Senate Passes Landmark Stablecoin Bill, the Fed Keeps Interest Rates Steady, and Israeli Group Pulls Off $90M Hack of Iran’s Top Exchange

Takeaways

• US Senate passes stablecoin bill: The crypto industry notched a huge win Tuesday when the US Senate passed the GENIUS Act by a 68-30 margin. The bill offers a regulatory framework for the fast-growing stablecoin sector.
• Fed leaves interest rates steady: The Federal Reserve left the benchmark federal funds rate at between 4.25% and 4.5% after meeting Wednesday while forecasting slightly higher inflation and lower GDP growth through the end of the year.
• Tron reportedly eyeing IPO: Digital asset company Tron is reportedly expected to go public in the US via a reverse merger with SRM Entertainment. Tron will invest as much as $210 million TRX tokens into the newly formed entity to set up a Tron treasury, imitating the financial approach of Michael Saylor’s Strategy.
• Hackers claim responsibility for compromising Iranian cryptocurrency exchange Nobitex: A group known as “Predatory Sparrow” with ties to Israel hacked Nobitex, Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, to the tune of $90M and then immediately destroyed the hacked funds.

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US Senate Passes Stablecoin Legislation, Marking Big Win for Crypto

The 68-30 vote in favor of passage offered a major legislative win for the US crypto industry, which has lobbied hard for regularity clarity over the past few years. The bill now must pass the Republican-controlled House of Representatives before President Donald Trump can sign it into law.

Dubbed the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act, the bill issues a broad range of guardrails for the fast-growing stablecoin sector, including audits, AML requirements, and standards for reserve backing. The bill grants authority to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to oversee the sector, though the current bill in the House grants that authority to the Federal Reserve, the Comptroller of the Currency and others. Those differences will need to be rectified before the legislation moves forward.

Shares of publicly-traded crypto companies reacted positively to the news on Wednesday, with Circle shares surging 33% to nearly $200 apiece before jumping again on Friday.

Federal Reserve Leaves Interest Rates Unchanged

However, the committee kept open the possibility of two rate cuts before the end of the year despite some worries about increasing inflationary pressures and decreasing GDP growth.

The committee said it expects 2025 PCE inflation to rise to between 3% and 3.1%, up from the March forecast of 2.7% and 2.8%. Meanwhile, GDP growth is now expected to hit 1.4% in 2025, down from 1.7% in the March forecast.

“For the time being, we are well positioned to wait to learn more about the likely course of the economy before considering any adjustments to our policies,” Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said in a press conference after the news.

The Fed has been waiting to digest the impact of the Trump administration’s tariff policies before making any concrete policy decisions. Now, it faces the uncertainty brought on by the conflict between Israel and Iran, which has the chance to push energy prices higher. That could make it difficult for the Fed to fulfill its goal of keeping inflation around 2%. The price of bitcoin remained relatively flat following the news, hovering above $104,000.

Tron Ready To Go Public

The Financial Times first reported the news.

Tron will invest as much as $210 million in TRX tokens into the newly formed entity to set up a Tron treasury, imitating the financial approach of Michael Saylor’s Strategy. The company will implement a dividend program for shareholders once the treasury is implemented. Shares in SRM surged on Monday following the placement announcement, jumping approximately 534% to $9.19 apiece.

Founded by crypto billionaire Justin Sun, the Tron blockchain helps execute smart contracts, transaction fees, and the TRX tokens. If it follows through with the IPO, the company would join a growing list of crypto companies to go public, following the recent debuts of eToro and Circle.

Israeli Group pulls off $90M hack of Iranian Crypto Exchange

The move was aimed at weakening Iran as Israel continued to carry out strikes on the country’s nuclear facilities earlier this week.

The hackers said in a statement on X that Iran used the exchange to bypass international sanctions. Nobitex acknowledged the hack on its website on Wednesday and said it was suspending access until further notice. The hackers have reportedly burned the funds rather than steal them outright, sending them to vanity addresses that they themselves don’t have access to via cryptographic keys.

-Team Gemini