US Senator Cynthia Lummis submitted a draft invoice on Thursday proposing to exempt sure crypto transactions from taxation and defer taxes on mining and staking rewards till the underlying tokens are offered.
“My laws ensures Individuals can take part within the digital financial system with out inadvertent tax violations,” mentioned Lummis.
The senator’s draft invoice was revealed three weeks after the Guiding and Establishing Nationwide Innovation for US Stablecoins, or GENIUS Act, handed the Senate in a 68–30 vote on June 11, Cointelegraph reported.
The GENIUS Act might “legitimize” stablecoins for institutional contributors by setting clear collateralization requirements, cementing them as a “higher type of cash,” mentioned Andrei Grachev, managing companion at DWF Labs and Falcon Finance.
The rising US regulatory readability might allow extra conventional finance gamers to hunt out decentralized monetary companies, as a result of their disappointment with conventional banking companies, based on Aave Labs founder Stani Kulechov.
“Due to horrible banking experiences, we’ve seen plenty of finance coming into fintech, and fintech functions in a position to seize plenty of market share,” Kulechov mentioned onstage at EthCC 2025.
Past decentralized finance (DeFi), the tokenization of real-world belongings is a “multi-trillion-dollar alternative” for the crypto sector to have interaction with conventional finance, added Kulechov.
Within the wider crypto area, Chainlink, a decentralized blockchain oracle community for crosschain communication, launched a brand new compliance framework geared toward unlocking over $100 trillion value of institutional capital for the crypto market.
“Chainlink ACE is the compliance and id customary the tokenized asset financial system has been ready for, with at this time’s launch offering a ultimate vital constructing block for over $100 trillion in institutional capital to maneuver onchain,” mentioned Sergey Nazarov, the co-founder of Chainlink.
US Senator Cynthia Lummis drafts standalone crypto tax invoice
US Senator Cynthia Lummis submitted a draft invoice on Thursday, outlining a number of provisions to overtake the tax code and exempt sure digital asset transactions from taxation after crypto amendments failed to look within the price range bundle.
The invoice proposes a de minimis exemption for digital asset transactions and capital positive factors of $300 or much less, with a $5,000 annual exemption cap.
The Wyoming Senator additionally outlined provisions to exempt crypto lending agreements and digital belongings utilized in charitable contributions from taxation. Moreover, the invoice proposed deferring taxes on mining and staking rewards till the underlying belongings are offered. Lummis mentioned:
“This groundbreaking laws is absolutely paid for, cuts by way of the bureaucratic crimson tape, and establishes common sense guidelines that replicate how digital applied sciences perform in the true world. We can not permit our archaic tax insurance policies to stifle American innovation.
“My laws ensures Individuals can take part within the digital financial system with out inadvertent tax violations,” she added.
The standalone draft invoice is now the Wyoming senator’s greatest probability of passing the pro-crypto laws promised to the crypto neighborhood after the Senator handed the spending invoice with out addressing digital belongings.
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$250 million Ondo Catalyst fund alerts “arms race” for RWA tokenization
DeFi protocol Ondo Finance and enterprise agency Pantera Capital plan to ramp up investments in real-world belongings (RWAs), highlighting the trade’s rising give attention to tokenization amid favorable regulatory developments in the USA.
Each corporations knowledgeable Axios that they plan to take a position $250 million in RWAs by way of a brand new fund referred to as Ondo Catalyst. Ondo’s chief technique officer, Ian De Bode, mentioned the funds can be invested to accumulate fairness stakes and tokens in rising initiatives.
“We’re seeing a little bit of an arms race proper now” within the tokenization market, De Bode instructed Axios, referring to the surge of corporations getting into the area. Exchanges specifically are zeroing in on tokenized shares and exchange-traded fund (ETF) choices.
As Cointelegraph not too long ago reported, digital brokerage agency Robinhood has launched a brand new layer-2 blockchain to allow European shoppers to commerce tokenized US shares and ETFs.
In Could, Kraken introduced plans to supply tokenized US inventory buying and selling to buyers outdoors the USA.
In the meantime, crypto change Coinbase is reportedly pursuing regulatory approval to supply tokenized equities, a transfer that might assist it compete with Robinhood and different buying and selling platforms.
Ondo Finance has been ramping up its push into onchain finance, not too long ago saying the formation of a World Markets Alliance with a number of crypto corporations to drive adoption of blockchain-based capital markets. On Thursday, the corporate introduced that OKX Pockets has joined the alliance.
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PancakeSwap doubles quarterly quantity to $530 billion as upgrades enhance progress
PancakeSwap, a multichain decentralized change (DEX), reported a record-breaking $325 billion in buying and selling quantity for June, the best month-to-month buying and selling quantity within the platform’s five-year historical past.
The June complete surpassed Could’s $174 billion and pushed PancakeSwap’s second-quarter quantity to $530 billion, greater than doubling the $211 billion recorded within the first quarter, based on information from Dune Analytics.
The surge in exercise follows a sequence of latest upgrades, together with the April rollout of PancakeSwap Infinity, which launched a number of options designed to enhance person expertise and buying and selling effectivity.
The improve launched decrease gasoline charges, customizable liquidity swimming pools utilizing “Hooks,” and assist for superior liquidity suppliers by way of CLAMM and LBAMM pool sorts.
Chef Youngsters, head of PancakeSwap, instructed Cointelegraph that PancakeSwap Infinity provides key benefits for builders and liquidity suppliers. For builders, the platform permits new pool sorts and customized Hooks to be built-in with out redeploying good contracts or launching new variations, which “drastically lowers growth overhead and accelerates innovation.”
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FATF’s crypto guidelines hints at subsequent regulatory crackdown
Cryptocurrency rules are more and more aligning with international requirements as 73% of eligible jurisdictions have now handed legal guidelines to implement the Monetary Motion Job Power’s (FATF) Journey Rule.
The Journey Rule mandates crypto service suppliers to gather and share customers’ transaction information, much like conventional finance necessities. On June 26, the FATF launched its annual report that outlines how latest regulatory strikes by jurisdictions are converging with its international Anti-Cash Laundering (AML) framework.
This can be a direct results of a years-long marketing campaign by the FATF to deliver cryptocurrencies in step with conventional AML and Counter-Terrorist Financing (CFT) requirements.
The FATF spotlighted stablecoins and decentralized finance (DeFi) for the second consecutive 12 months, highlighting their rising use in illicit finance, together with by North Korean actors. The group mentioned it plans to launch focused papers on stablecoins, offshore crypto platforms and DeFi by subsequent summer season, hinting at the place international crypto regulation might head subsequent.
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Crypto losses hit $2.5B in first half of 2025, however hacks fall in Q2: CertiK
Losses to crypto hacks, exploits and scams spiked to $2.47 billion within the first half of 2025, however the second quarter noticed a decline within the complete variety of hacks, mentioned blockchain safety agency CertiK.
Over $800 million was misplaced throughout 144 incidents in Q2, a 52% lower in worth misplaced in contrast with the earlier quarter, with 59 fewer hacking incidents, CertiK mentioned in a report on Tuesday.
In complete, the primary half of 2025 noticed greater than $2.47 billion in losses as a result of hacks, scams and exploits, representing a virtually 3% enhance over the $2.4 billion stolen in 2024.
Nonetheless, contemplating the greater than $187 million returned throughout the 12 months’s first half, CertiK mentioned the adjusted complete is nearer to $2.2 billion.
Regardless of the spike in losses, CertiK mentioned it doesn’t essentially “recommend a deteriorating safety panorama” as a result of the lion’s share of losses got here from simply two incidents, in opposition to crypto change Bybit and Cetus Protocol, value $1.78 billion mixed.
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DeFi market overview
In line with information from Cointelegraph Markets Professional and TradingView, many of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization ended the week within the inexperienced.
The Pudgy Penguins (PENGU) token rose over 66% because the week’s greatest gainer, adopted by the Bonk (BONK) memecoin, up almost 25% on the weekly chart.
Thanks for studying our abstract of this week’s most impactful DeFi developments. Be a part of us subsequent Friday for extra tales, insights and training concerning this dynamically advancing area.
