Altcoins may rally in Q2 2025 thanks to improved regulations: Sygnum  

The US Senate could pass a key bipartisan stablecoin bill as soon as next week after removing language targeting President Donald Trump and his family’s sprawling crypto interests.Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis said onstage at an event by Coinbase’s lobbying arm, Stand With Crypto, that she thinks it’s a “fair target” to have the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act, or GENIUS Act, passed by May 26 — Memorial Day in the US.Joining her onstage was Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who hinted that the bill’s language was changed to scrap provisions that targeted Trump’s various crypto projects, which include memecoins, a crypto platform, a stablecoin and a crypto mining company that plans to go public, among others.“When this language comes out, people will see really good refinement, a lot of progress, on things like consumer protection, and bankruptcy protection, and ethics,” Gillibrand said. “Things beyond just ‘what’s the structure?’ and ‘what’s required for an issuer?’”Source: Brian ArmstrongSenate Democrats pulled support for the bill on May 8 and stalled its momentum, airing concerns that it wouldn’t help address multiple crypto-tied deals that will personally enrich Trump.“A lot of what President Trump is engaged in is already illegal,” Gillibrand said. “I also think his issuance of a memecoin is illegal based on current law.”“It’s literally offering anyone who wants to curry favor with the administration to just send him money — that’s about as illegal as it gets.”“I’m not so worried about this bill having to deal with all President Trump’s ethics problems. What this bill is really intended to do is regulate the entire space of stablecoins,” she added.Gillibrand said the revised bill includes “some ethics requirements,” but it was “not an ethics bill.”“If we were dealing with all President Trump’s ethics problems, it would be a very long and detailed bill,” she added.Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, also on stage, was hopeful the Senate would vote on the stablecoin bill “early next week.”Armstrong, whose company cozied up to Trump by donating $1 million to his inauguration fund, declined to comment when asked if the President’s memecoin could impact the passage of bipartisan crypto bills.“It’s not my place to really comment on President Trump’s activity,” he said. “What I do think is important is that this bill remains focused on stablecoins.”Crypto bills “absolutely critical” to pass before midtermsThe crypto industry is pushing for Congress to pass the GENIUS Act and a Republican-drafted crypto market structure bill before the midterm elections on Nov. 3, 2026, where all 435 House seats and a third of the 100 Senate seats are up for election.“We have a very narrow window to get legislation through between now and the midterms,” Marta Belcher, the president of the crypto lobby group the Blockchain Association, told Cointelegraph at the Consensus conference in Toronto.“I strongly suspect that window is going to close very quickly. I don’t know if we’re going to get another window like this to get legislation through,” she added.“It’s absolutely critical that we get it through now, especially because there really is a real possibility that in the future we end up with an administration that is hostile to crypto.”The association’s communications director, Chris Jonas, added that it’s critical the bills pass before Congress takes a recess for the month of August.Related: Crypto execs flock to DC to support Senate stablecoin bill “Once you get into the calendar year of the midterms, historically not a lot of legislation moves, so that’s why it’s so critical,” he explained.Trump should be on track to sign both crypto bills before the August break, according to Bo Hines, the executive director of the Presidential Council of Advisers for Digital Assets.Hines noted on stage at Consensus on May 13 that negotiations on both bills are still ongoing, but it was “the President’s desire” to sign both “stablecoin legislation and market structure legislation before the August recess.”Legal Panel: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight 

US Democrat lawmakers have sent a letter to the US Treasury demanding access to suspicious activity reports (SARs) on several Trump-backed crypto projects as part of the latest probe into the president’s digital ventures. Penned by representatives Gerald Connolly, Joseph Morelle, and Jamie Raskin, the May 14 letter asks Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for all SARS filed since 2023 related to World Liberty Financial (WLF) and the Official Trump (TRUMP) token. Financial institutions in the US must file SARs with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a bureau within the Department of the Treasury, when they detect suspicious activity, including potential money laundering or fraud. Source: Oversight Committee DemocratsThe sweeping probe asks for any SARs mentioning WinRed, America PAC, Elon Musk, political action committee, PAC, Trump, World Liberty Financial, WLF, TRUMP, MELANIA and Justin Sun, no later than May 30. The Democratic lawmakers say their probe is to “determine whether legislation is necessary to prevent violations of campaign finance, consumer protection, bribery, securities fraud, and other anti-corruption laws” and to guard against “financial misconduct connected to prospective or current federal officials.” Democrats argue WLF and Trump coin could be misusedAs part of the letter, the lawmakers argue WLF could be misused as a “vehicle for foreign influence peddling” because it served part of its token sale for foreign investors, who are “generally subject to less stringent regulation than US investors.” Justin Sun’s investment in WLF and the subsequent pause of the SEC’s lawsuit that alleged the crypto entrepreneur broke securities laws has also been flagged as a concern. Trump’s token has come under fire as well because the lawmakers argue in their letter that the identities of the coin purchasers are not publicly disclosed, which could open the door for bad actors to “curry favor with Trump” by purchasing the coin. At the same time, SARS related to Republican digital fundraising WinRed, Elon Musk’s super PAC, which poured $250 million into Trump’s election campaign, and two other PACs are being sought. Related: Trump-owned Truth Social denies it is launching a memecoinThis effort is the latest Democrat-led salvo against Trump’s crypto ventures.  A group of Democratic senators reportedly sent a letter to leadership at the US Department of Justice and the Treasury Department expressing concerns about Trump’s ties to crypto exchange Binance and potential conflicts of interest in regulating the industry, according to a May 9 Bloomberg report. US Democratic lawmakers also launched a multi-angle attack on May 6, targeting Trump’s ability to profit from his crypto initiatives with two bills and a subcommittee inquiry. Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions

Adrienne Harris, the head of the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), said New York has an “outsized role to play” in the crypto ecosystem, particularly in shaping regulatory frameworks for digital assets. During a panel on May 14 at Consensus 2025 in Toronto, she said the NY estate is frequently asked to provide guidance on regulators. “With respect to federal regulation and legislation […] members of Congress are often coming to us [NYDFS] asking about our process, about our regulations, about guidance, how they should be thinking about legislation,” Harris said.Interview with Adrienne Harris (pictured left). Source: CointelegraphAccording to Harris, the NYDFS was “unnecessarily tough” and lacked resources in the past. Now, under her purview, she said the NYDFS is “tough but fair,” noting that the digital currency oversight team has since doubled in size.Harris took over as superintendent of the NYDFS in September 2021 after spending time working in the educational, nonprofit, and private sectors. In New York State, crypto businesses must either obtain a BitLicense or a limited-purpose trust charter.“We’ve added nine pieces of regulatory guidance, so it’s still very tough to get a BitLicense or a limited-purpose trust charter,” Harris said. “But I think […] the proof is in the pudding when you see that FTX, Voyager, Celsius, didn’t pass our test and therefore couldn’t do business.”All three of those crypto companies went bankrupt in 2022. The result was a widespread contagion in the industry and years-long legal proceedings. FTX’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, and Celsius Network’s Alex Mashinsky were sentenced to 25 and 12 years in prison, respectively. Voyager’s founder, Steven Ehrlich, is facing legal charges for allegedly misleading customers.Related: NYC Mayor doubles down on crypto push ahead of city summitHarris ‘hopeful’ for stablecoin legislationStablecoin legislation has been a topic at the forefront of many crypto industry advocates in 2025. Recently considered a bipartisan endeavor, it devolved into a dispute on May 8 when Democrats withdrew support for the GENIUS Act over concerns about President Trump’s crypto ventures.Still, Harris remains “hopeful” Congress will eventually pass stablecoin legislation. We’ve been working with Congress on all the variations of their crypto and stablecoin legislation now over the last three years almost.According to Harris, all recent legislation tied to stablecoin regulation has been reviewed by New York officials. “There isn’t a version of any of those bills, be it House or Senate, R’s or D’s, that don’t come to meet to the team to say, give us your feedback, give us your technical assistance, your insights here,” she said, adding that most of these suggestions have been incorporated into legislations.The NYDFS, according to Harrus, still wants to be “a state path for crypto companies.” Magazine: Bitcoin payments are being undermined by centralized stablecoins