This week was one of those “blink and you missed it” news weeks. Things are changing quickly and crypto, yet again, shows how interconnected it is with macro trends right now.

📈 Altcoins Bounce Back After $1B Liquidation Flush-After a bruising weekend that saw over $1 billion in crypto positions liquidated, major altcoins like Solana, XRP, and Dogecoin started showing signs of rebound on Monday (23rd). This rebound came as funding rates reset and traders took advantage of cheaper entry points. While the sell-off shook out some leverage, the quick recovery shows there’s still confidence beneath the surface, especially with Bitcoin staying above $100K. If you were feeling whiplash from this weekend, you weren’t alone. (CoinDesk)

🧠 “Genius” Stablecoin Act Passes Senate, One Step Closer to Law-The Senate just passed the so-called Genius Stablecoin Act, a bipartisan bill aimed at regulating fiat-backed stablecoins. The bill focuses on reserves, audits, and issuer transparency, setting up a framework for mass adoption. More specifically, it would limit algorithmic stablecoins and require full backing and regular audits. It still needs to clear the House, but this is the closest the U.S. has come to a stablecoin rulebook. (Blockworks)

🏛️ CEX on the outside, DeFi on the inside: the “DeFi mullet”-In a growing trend dubbed the “DeFi mullet”: centralized front, decentralized back, CEXs (e.g. Coinbase, Binance) are starting to quietly integrate DeFi infrastructure under the hood. The goal is to offer user the simplicity of TradFi while tapping into DeFi’s backend efficiencies. It’s less about crypto anarchy, more about Wall Street UX with blockchain plumbing. We don’t hate it! (Blockworks)

🇺🇸 OKX Eyes U.S. Public Listing- Speaking of CEXs. Global exchange OKX is prepping for a U.S. IPO, signaling renewed optimism around regulatory clarity (or at least survivability). With Coinbase and Circle already public, OKX wants in on Wall Street capital, and this would make it the first major Asia-based exchange to go public in the U.S. (Decrypt)

🔌 DeFi Is the New Infrastructure Layer-According to Alchemy’s latest report, banks and fintechs increasingly want DeFi protocols powering their operations, even if the end user never sees it. From lending rails to identity checks, DeFi is quietly becoming the new backend infrastructure, and the big players are circling fast. This is what blockchain and crypto were meant to be - transformative technology to make the finance industry faster and more efficient… not endless speculation on memecoins. We like it. (CoinDesk)

🌍 Polymarket Sees 52% Chance Iran Blocks Strait of Hormuz-Following U.S. airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities over the weekend, prediction market Polymarket now shows a 52% probability that Iran will block the Strait of Hormuz, a move that would choke global oil supply. While not crypto-specific, this kind of geopolitical volatility often spills into markets, and yes, that includes Bitcoin. And given Polymarket’s success rate of predicting everything from presidential elections to sporting wins…this makes us a little nervous. (CoinDesk)

💳 Revolut Set to Launch Its Own Stablecoin UK-based neobank Revolut is launching a new stablecoin (RevolutX), reportedly to be backed 1:1 by fiat (USD), and will be usable across crypto and TradFi payments. This makes it one of the first major fintechs to enter the stablecoin arena. For a company known for UX and scale, it’s a savvy move, controlling the rails as well as the user base. Big fintech is finally learning what DeFi startups figured out years ago. (Decrypt)