genius

According to CoinDesk, at the Consensus Hong Kong conference, Sui executives Stephen Mackintosh and Evan Cheng stated that 2025 will be a "watershed year" for institutional crypto adoption, as the introduction of the "Genius Act" has significantly increased institutions' understanding and demand for crypto assets.Mackintosh pointed out that the surge in Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) tools, the successful issuance of spot Bitcoin ETFs, and the entry of large trading firms like Citadel and Jane Street all indicate that institutions are accelerating their investments in crypto infrastructure and talent. He noted that even though market sentiment may weaken temporarily, options trading volume has reached record levels, and the structural growth trend remains unchanged, stating that "institutional demand has never been stronger."Cheng emphasized that traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi) will move towards integration rather than competition in the future. He pointed out that traditional products often have a "T+1" or longer settlement period, while DeFi offers "T+0" instant settlement, providing a clear efficiency advantage. Through asset tokenization, investors can immediately engage in collateralized lending after acquiring assets, thereby layering DeFi strategies on top of traditional exposures.Both executives also stated that tokenization and "agentic commerce" (AI-driven on-chain transactions) will become key focus areas in the next phase.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, along with four local district attorneys in the state, recently sent a letter to several Democratic lawmakers criticizing the "GENIUS Stablecoin Act," which was signed into law by Trump last year, for significant flaws in consumer protection, particularly its failure to require stablecoin issuers to return stolen funds in the event of theft.The letter specifically names Tether (USDT) and Circle (USDC), arguing that the two major stablecoin issuers can still earn interest on related assets after funds are stolen, while victims lack effective recourse. New York prosecutors pointed out that although the act grants stablecoins greater "legitimacy endorsement," it does not simultaneously strengthen key regulatory requirements such as anti-terror financing, anti-money laundering, and prevention of crypto fraud. The GENIUS Act is currently entering the implementation phase, requiring stablecoins to be fully backed by U.S. dollars or highly liquid assets and mandating annual audits for issuers with a market capitalization exceeding $50 billion. However, New York prosecutors believe these measures are still insufficient to address the widespread use of stablecoins in illegal fund transfers.According to Chainalysis data, approximately 84% of illegal crypto transaction volume will involve stablecoins by 2025, prompting New York to call for further strengthening of the regulatory framework to better protect consumer rights.

According to Bloomberg, Fidelity will launch a stablecoin FIDD that complies with the GENIUS standard on Ethereum.Fidelity Digital Dollar (FIDD) will be issued by the Fidelity Digital Assets, National Association. This association is a national trust bank that received a conditional operating license from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency last year.

According to Bloomberg, Fidelity will launch a stablecoin FIDD that complies with the GENIUS standard on Ethereum.Fidelity Digital Dollar (FIDD) will be issued by the Fidelity Digital Assets, National Association. This association is a national trust bank that received a conditional operating license from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency last December.

The Perp DEX trading terminal Genius, supported by YZi Labs, has released the official airdrop and points whitepaper. The first season will end on April 12, 2026, and the GENIUS token will be created before April 12, 2026. The airdrop allocation amount will be increased by 50%, and the value corresponding to each point will also be increased by 50%.From now until April 12, 10 million GP will be distributed weekly. GP is retrospectively allocated and is only distributed based on spot trading volume. The value of GP earned through trading volume remains unchanged.

Announcement from the Perp DEX trading terminal Genius, supported by YZi Labs, states that Genius dynamic points will be suspended from 7:30 PM Eastern Time on Saturday, January 17, 2026, transitioning to a retroactive points system, with specific information to be announced soon. All points earned through trading will remain in user accounts.The first round of the retroactive event will start at 4 PM on January 19, with the airdrop whitepaper released today.On January 13, YZi Labs, co-founded by Binance co-founder Zhao Changpeng (CZ) and He Yi, made a multi-million dollar investment in Genius Trading, with Zhao Changpeng also joining the project as an advisor.Genius is committed to building a privacy-first on-chain trading platform, offering spot trading, perpetual contracts, and copy trading, aiming to become the decentralized version of "Binance." The platform has processed over $60 million in trading volume during its testing phase and plans to launch a public privacy protocol test in Q2 2026.

Genius announced on the X platform that, in response to community feedback regarding platform trading issues, several vulnerabilities have been fixed, including:Significant reduction in Gas fees: Fixed the issue of overestimation of Gas limits on-chain due to EIP-1559 and the problem of maxPriorityFeePerGas being set too high;Optimized BNB cross-chain exchange: Added a small Gas buffer to prevent transaction failures due to insufficient Gas, while not significantly increasing Gas fees;Fixed the cross-chain transaction fee sponsorship issue using EIP-7702: Updated the process to correctly execute cross-chain transactions sponsored by third parties (no longer experiencing issues from the old version).

Several Bitcoin advocacy organizations, including the Bitcoin Policy Institute, recently sent a joint letter to the leaders of the U.S. Congress's tax committee, urging them to expand the minimum exemption scope to include Bitcoin and major network tokens, not just stablecoins.The coalition proposed to treat stablecoins that meet the GENIUS standards like cash, while setting a market cap threshold of $25 billion for eligible network tokens to determine which network tokens qualify for the exemption, along with a single transaction limit of $600 and an annual cap of $20,000.

Regarding the community's belief that YZi Labs' investment in Genius Trading is negative for ASTER, CZ responded in a post on platform X, stating: Genius is a trading terminal connected to the trading platform and is not a competitor of Aster.

According to market news, YZi Labs, established by Binance co-founder Zhao Changpeng (CZ) and He Yi, has made a multi-million dollar investment in Genius Trading, with CZ also joining the project as an advisor.Genius is dedicated to building a privacy-first on-chain trading platform, offering spot trading, perpetual contracts, and copy trading, aiming to become a decentralized version of "Binance." The platform has already processed over $60 million in trading volume during its testing phase and plans to launch a public privacy protocol test in Q2 2026.

Sources reveal that bipartisan senators are gradually accepting the banking industry's lobbying group's request to adjust the stablecoin yield rules in the GENIUS Act.The related adjustment paths include: adopting the proposal put forward by Senator Alsobrooks, which limits yields to the transaction stage (more supported by Democrats); or requiring that only institutions holding a bank charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) can offer stablecoin yields, the latter being considered more friendly to certain parts of the crypto industry, but controversial in the DeFi space. Additionally, it is reported that Scott is expected to submit the House version of the CLARITY Act as a placeholder text tonight to initiate the review process next week, with the formal text needing to be submitted by midnight on Monday at the latest. Furthermore, industry insiders involved in communications with Senate staff have indicated that the previous notion of "needing to pray for the bill to pass" was more of a light-hearted joke rather than a pessimistic judgment on the legislative prospects, and the final direction may gradually become clearer in the coming days.

Lawyer Jake Chervinsky posted on the X platform that Congress's passage of the GENIUS Act, which prohibits yield-bearing stablecoins, has transferred significant benefits to banks. This policy has no reasonable justification from the beginning and stifles an entire class of innovative crypto products. Currently, banks are attempting to further disrupt the market structure, which he opposes.

Multiple executives in the cryptocurrency industry and advocacy organizations have warned that modifying the stablecoin regulatory framework under the banking lobby's request, as outlined in the GENIUS Act, to restrict third parties from providing yields to stablecoin holders could undermine the United States' competitiveness in the global financial system and even pose a "national security trap."Pro-crypto lawyer John Deaton stated that banning stablecoin yield mechanisms might actually drive the market towards China's interest-bearing digital yuan, thereby weakening the dollar's position. The cryptocurrency industry organization Blockchain Association pointed out that there is currently no evidence that the development of stablecoins would disrupt the traditional banking system, and such modifications seem more like competitive blocking actions by large banks after achieving bipartisan consensus.Alexander Grieve, Vice President of Government Affairs at Paradigm, also warned that overturning existing reward arrangements would waste the progress made in legislation. Meanwhile, Mike Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy Digital, bluntly stated that it would be a wrong choice for the U.S. to roll back related rules due to industry pressure.

Multiple executives in the cryptocurrency industry and advocacy organizations have warned that modifying the stablecoin regulatory framework under the banking lobby's demands in the GENIUS Act, which restricts providing yields to stablecoin holders through third parties, could undermine the United States' competitiveness in the global financial system and even pose a "national security trap."Pro-crypto lawyer John Deaton stated that banning stablecoin yield mechanisms might instead drive the market towards China's interest-bearing digital yuan, thereby weakening the dollar's position. The cryptocurrency industry organization Blockchain Association pointed out that there is currently no evidence that the development of stablecoins would disrupt the traditional banking system, and such modifications seem more like competitive obstruction by large banks after achieving bipartisan consensus.Alexander Grieve, Vice President of Government Affairs at Paradigm, also warned that overturning existing reward arrangements would waste the legislative progress made. Meanwhile, Mike Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy Digital, bluntly stated that it would be a wrong choice for the U.S. to roll back related rules due to industry pressure.

American community banks are pushing Congress to amend the GENIUS Act to close what they believe are regulatory loopholes that allow stablecoins to "effectively pay interest."The Community Bank Council of the American Bankers Association wrote to the Senate this week, stating that some stablecoin issuers are indirectly providing yields to token holders through third parties like digital asset exchanges, undermining the bill's prohibition on interest payments for stablecoins. The GENIUS Act previously explicitly prohibited stablecoin issuers from directly offering interest or yields to holders to avoid competition with bank savings accounts.The Community Bank Council pointed out that some trading platforms, including Coinbase and Kraken, still offer reward mechanisms to specific stablecoin holders on their platforms, which could impact the deposit and lending capabilities of community banks. The organization is calling for a clear prohibition in the pending cryptocurrency market structure legislation against affiliates or partners of stablecoin issuers providing yields to token holders.The report also mentioned that the Banking Policy Institute had previously made similar requests, arguing that such practices could lead to deposit outflows from the traditional banking system. Meanwhile, crypto industry organizations like the Crypto Council for Innovation and the Blockchain Association expressed opposition to the Senate, stating that payment stablecoins are not used for issuing loans, and tightening the rules further could stifle innovation and consumer choice.

Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad recently stated on social media that modifications to the GENIUS Act by the U.S. Congress could weaken the competitiveness of the U.S. dollar stablecoin in the global payments arena, while China is enhancing the appeal of its digital yuan through interest payments on digital yuan wallet balances.The People's Bank of China announced this week that starting January 1, 2026, it will allow commercial banks to pay interest on digital yuan wallet balances. PBOC Vice Governor Lu Lei stated that this initiative will transition the digital yuan from the "digital cash" era to the "digital deposit currency" era, further expanding its value storage and cross-border payment capabilities.The GENIUS Act was passed in June this year, establishing reserve and compliance rules for stablecoins, but prohibiting issuers from paying direct interest, allowing only platforms and third parties to provide rewards linked to the use of stablecoins. Shirzad warned that if the Senate mishandles negotiations on the market structure bill, it could provide a competitive advantage to countries like China.Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong stated last week that any attempts to revise the GENIUS Act are a "red line," accusing the banking industry of lobbying Congress to restrict stablecoin rewards to protect its deposit base. He believes that the banks' judgment on this issue is misguided and predicts that banks will ultimately compete to offer interest and returns on stablecoins. Previously, Lu Lei mentioned that the "Action Plan" to be implemented on January 1, 2026, clearly states that digital yuan wallet balances can earn interest.