America's pro-crypto policy shift has become a bipartisan commitment

As Democrats and Republicans look to secure the US dollar's influence as a global reserve currency

America’s pro-crypto policy shift has become a bipartisan commitment as Democrats and Republicans look to secure the US dollar’s influence as a global reserve currency, according to US Representative and California Democrat Ro Khanna.

At least 70 of his fellow party members now understand the importance of stablecoin regulation, and they are working to pass legislation this year, Khanna said at the Digital Asset Summit in New York.

“We’re going to get bills out of the House this year on crypto market structure and on stablecoins, and we’re working on both sides of the aisle to get this done,” said Khanna.

According to Khanna, Americans can expect sensible crypto market structure and stablecoin bills this year.

Under normal circumstances, this news would send crypto prices soaring, but that’s not been the case as President Donald Trump’s trade policies stoke recession fears.

ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood is the latest crypto industry executive to sound the recession alarm. While a recession is rarely a good thing, Wood said it could provide Trump and the Federal Reserve with leeway to enact pro-growth policies.

“We are worried about a recession,” said Wood.

Although US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent isn’t worried about a recession, Wood is certainly preparing for that possibility.

Speaking virtually at the Digital Asset Summit in New York, Wood implied that the White House could be underestimating the recession risk facing the economy as a result of Trump’s latest tariff war.

“We are worried about a recession,” said Wood. “We think the velocity of money is slowing down dramatically.”

A slowdown in the velocity of money means capital is changing hands less frequently as consumers and businesses reduce spending. Such conditions usually signify the onset of a recession.

However, these same conditions could end up being a boon for risk assets like crypto as they would give “the president and the Fed many more degrees of freedom to do what they want in terms of tax cuts and monetary policy,” said Wood.

The US could have comprehensive stablecoin legislation in as little as two months, according to Bo Hines, the recently appointed executive director of Trump’s Presidential Council of Advisers on Digital Assets.

Speaking at the Digital Asset Summit in New York, Hines lauded the Senate Banking Committee’s bipartisan approval of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act, also known as the GENIUS Act.

“We saw that vote come out of the Senate Banking Committee in extremely bipartisan fashion, [...] which was fantastic to see,” said Hines.

The GENIUS Act seeks to establish clear guidelines for US stablecoin issuers, including collateralization requirements and compliance rules with Anti-Money Laundering laws.

“I think our colleagues on the other side of the aisle also recognize the importance for US dominance in this space, and they’re willing to work with us here, and that’s what’s really exciting about this,” said Hines.

Ethena Labs and Securitize are launching a new blockchain designed to boost retail and institutional adoption of DeFi products and tokenized assets.

The new blockchain, called Converge, is an Ethereum Virtual Machine that will offer retail investors access to “standard DeFi applications” and specialize in institutional-grade offerings to bridge traditional finance and decentralized applications. Converge will also allow users to stake Ethena’s native governance token, ENA.

Converge will also leverage Securitize’s RWA infrastructure. The company has minted nearly $2 billion in tokenized RWAs across various blockchains, including the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund, which was initially launched on Ethereum and has since expanded to Aptos, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Optimism and Polygon.

Canary Capital has submitted its Form S-1 filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to list an exchange-traded fund tied to Sui (SUI), the native token of the layer-1 blockchain used for staking and fees.

The March 17 filing is part of a broader effort to launch new types of crypto ETFs following the overwhelming success of the spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs that were approved last year.

Canary Capital has so far filed six crypto ETF proposals with the SEC, including ones for BTC futures and ether (ETH) ETFs.

The March 17 filing also mentions that the firm plans to apply for an ETF linked to a "basket of digital assets."

Sui is currently the 22nd largest crypto asset by market capitalization, with a total value of $7.5 billion, according to CoinGecko. It is used to pay for gas fees and secure the network through staking.

The blockchain recently partnered with World Liberty Financial, the DeFi company backed by President Donald Trump’s family.