Scenius Sync (Issue # 157)

GENIUS Act Passes Senate, House Ag Committee Advances Market Structure Bill, Circle Stock Rise Continues, Hyperliquid Treasuries Are Here, & Stripe Buys Privy

Scenius: The intelligence and the intuition of a whole cultural scene. The communal form of the concept of genius.

Welcome to The Scenius Sync.

Our mission with this concise publication is twofold:

1. Share the essential stories driving the crypto industry and markets.

2. Highlight innovative applications and mainstream adoption of crypto and blockchain technology.

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Essential News 🗞

1. Senate Passes Crypto-Friendly 'GENIUS Act'

   • A bipartisan bill regulating and promoting "stablecoin" cryptocurrencies passed in the Senate Tuesday in a 68-30 vote, giving a boost to the legitimacy of digital currencies. U.S. Congress. The bill would set standards for companies issuing stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency. A stablecoin's value is meant to stay the same as an actual state-issued currency, usually the U.S. dollar, in contrast to cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, whose value fluctuates wildly. The bill has yet to be passed by the House of Representatives and signed into law by President Donald Trump.

   • More here from Cointelegraph: Trump on GENIUS stablecoin bill: ‘Get it to my desk, ASAP’

2. House Agriculture Committee advances crypto market structure bill

   • Lawmakers on the US House Agriculture Committee voted in favor of the Digital Asset Market Clarity, or CLARITY, Act, advancing the bill further in Congress. In a 47-6 vote on Tuesday, an overwhelming majority of lawmakers on the committee approved the CLARITY Act to establish a regulatory framework for digital assets. Committee Chair GT Thompson said the bill would be sent to the House for consideration, adding that any members offering opposing views would have the opportunity to submit them by Friday.

     The vote came alongside debate on the House Financial Services Committee discussing an amendment that could add protections for blockchain developers to the CLARITY Act. At the time of publication, the committee had not voted on the bill.

3. Circle's stock nears $200 per share, rises over 500% two weeks after going public

   • Circle’s stock closed yesterday’s session at $199.59, noting a 33.82% increase after its opening price of $153.22, according to The Block’s CRCL data. Circle’s stock price has since risen over 530% from its IPO listing price of $31 on June 5.

4. Corporate crypto treasury bubble risks are real but more nuanced than in past boom-and-bust cycles, analyst says

   • Crypto treasury companies are increasingly adopting new financial models to accumulate crypto assets via public capital markets. Risks of liquidation or collapse are real, but far more nuanced than during past crypto crises, such as Terra or 3AC, according to Presto Research.

5. Stacks-based Alex Lab to reimburse users after $8.3 million exploit as token drops 45%

   • Alex Lab, a Bitcoin DeFi protocol on the Stacks blockchain, said it would completely reimburse its users using treasury funds after an $8.3 million exploit on Friday. The protocol’s native token dropped 45% in response to the exploit, which the Alex team blamed on a flaw in the protocol’s smart contract logic. Alex Lab was previously exploited in May 2024 for $4.3 million, in an attack it blamed on North Korea’s Lazarus Group. The recovery process from that attack is still incomplete.

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Innovation & Adoption 💡📈

1. Nasdaq-listed Lion Group shares jump 20% on $600 million facility for Hyperliquid treasury

   • Lion Group Holding Ltd., a brokerage and trading firm based in Hong Kong, has secured a $600 million facility from ATW Partners to roll out its Hyperliquid treasury. The initial $10.6 million tranche is set to close within 48 hours following its Wednesday announcement. "Hyperliquid represents a natural extension of LGHL's existing derivatives business into decentralized markets, and reflects our conviction that decentralized on-chain execution is the future of trading," Wilson Wang, CEO of Lion Group Holding, said in the statement.

   • In similar news, Eyenovia Announces $50M Investment to Launch a Hyperliquid Cryptocurrency Treasury Reserve Strategy

2. Payment giant Stripe to buy crypto wallet firm Privy

   • Major payments firm Stripe has agreed to purchase the crypto wallet firm Privy, according to a post to social media on Wednesday. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Stripe buying Privy follows the payments giant's acquisition of the stablecoin platform Bridge in a deal worth $1.1 billion. Three months after the acquisition, Stripe launched a new money management feature using U.S. dollar stablecoins. The fintech acquiring additional technology aimed at growing its footprint in digital assets coincides with a wave of traditional banks and financial institutions pursuing crypto-related ventures with a specific interest in U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins. To date, the stablecoin market is primarily dominated by Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC.

3. XRP Ledger devs plan sidechain launch in Q2 for Ethereum compatibility

   • The XRP Ledger, a blockchain associated with cross-border payments firm Ripple, plans to launch an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) sidechain in the second quarter of this year, aiming to integrate Ethereum smart contracts into its ecosystem. Ripple's Chief Technology Officer, David Schwartz, announced the sidechain launch timeline at the ongoing Apex 2025 event in Singapore, according to Peersyst, one of the project's core developers.

4. AI Infrastructure Firm Gradient Bags $10 Million to Develop Protocols on Solana

   • Gradient raised $10M from Pantera, Multicoin, and HSG to introduce Lattica and Parallax—protocols designed to run AI models across decentralized devices instead of centralized servers. The system leverages untapped computing power from phones, laptops, and IoT devices, using Solana to coordinate data and payments. The team says this approach slashes costs, keeps user data local, and pushes back against AI monopolies—but critics say latency and complexity could be roadblocks.

5. Ethena Labs, Securitize enable 24/7 atomic swaps between USDtb and BlackRock’s tokenized fund

   • Securitize and Ethena Labs enabled round-the-clock transfers of BUIDL and USDtb for better onchain liquidity, flexibility, and bolstered DeFi use cases. The move further solidifies the long-standing collaboration between Securitize and Ethena Labs, following the two companies’ joint launch of Converge in March.