Trump agrees to ethics provisions in the GENIUS Act, boosting crypto markets
Digital Asset News host Rob covers the White House's reported agreement on ethics provisions for the GENIUS Act, rising crypto prices, and several other market developments.
Summary
A significant development in US crypto legislation takes center stage: reports that the White House has agreed to include an ethics package in the GENIUS Act, which would restrict the president and his family from personally profiting from digital assets. This agreement, sourced from reporter Eleanore Terret, may be enough to bring the seven or so Democratic votes needed to reach the 60-vote supermajority required for Senate passage. The episode also covers positive ETF inflows (on track for a sixth consecutive positive day), Bitmine's Ethereum accumulation strategy (associated with Ethereum bull Tom Lee), Exodus Wallet's workforce restructuring, Stripe's stable coin payment fees, the fifth FTX bankruptcy distribution, and Robinhood's new AI trading agent feature.
Key Takeaways
FULL TRANSCRIPT
White House reportedly agrees to ethics provisions in the GENIUS Act
Rob: Looks like Donald Trump did what he said he was going to do, which is be the crypto president. And if this is true and it really does pan out, this is a pretty big day for Bitcoin and digital assets.
As you may have seen across the entire spectrum of social media, there is a lot of talk about the Clarity Act. Now, the Clarity Act was actually passed by the Senate Banking Committee. It had gotten out there, and now it's up for a vote. You need a supermajority for this — that means a 60/40 split, which means roughly about seven Democrats have to come over.
Because of that, it's been very tumultuous, especially because the Democrats are saying, "Look, we need a provision. We need an ethics statement in this bill to pass, because we don't want the president and his family to enrich themselves off the backs of digital assets and Bitcoin and dumping on people." And I have to tell you, not a bad compromise. I did not think it was going to come through, but it looks like — because of the reporting of Eleanore Terret — this could actually be happening.
I was not an optimist on this going through, but I will tell you, I'm glad if I'm wrong. This is what she states: "I'm hearing from multiple industry sources that the White House has agreed on an ethics package for the Clarity Act and sent the language to certain Senate Republicans this afternoon. It's still unclear what the details of the agreement are." She's reached out to multiple sources. Now, this was posted about 18 hours ago, and every other post is essentially referencing what Eleanore is talking about, because she has insider access to a couple of different Republicans involved with the Clarity Act.
Senator Kevin Cramer on Fox News: "We're almost there"
Because of this, there was a recent interview — Senator Kevin Cramer of the Senate Banking Committee, on Fox News just a couple of hours ago. Listen to what he says moving forward.
Senator Kevin Cramer: Sure. So it's getting a little clearer — the Clarity Act — as each little issue gets dealt with. Right now, I think the biggest issue is waiting for Democrats to read the new amendments that have been negotiated. Some of them are relevant to the ethics piece of it, which you heard Cynthia talk about a little bit in that interview last week. It sounds like there's some agreement that the Department of Justice would be the prevailing enforcer, which makes all the sense in the world to me. I think the Democrats would rather have state attorneys general — things like that — but I think that creates too disparate a situation to have the clarity that the industry needs. Certainly some of the stuff as it relates to the securities intermediaries definition is challenging. The industry doesn't like that. They would rather have "decentralized" be the definition. All of these things are nuanced in small details, but I think we're almost there. Maria, I don't know that we get to it this week, but remember the Senate is in session for a couple more weeks past this one. I know the House is done this week, but we do have a couple more weeks. I'm with Cynthia — we have to get this done, in my view, before the August recess.
Rob's analysis: political stakes and market reaction
Rob: Now, just to be clear — the Senate is still in session. The House of Representatives has already gone. That's important because the House already passed this and moved it forward to the Senate. The Senate is what is blocking this right now, and Democrats have to come over.
Now, if they're actually able to cross over, this might be a good thing. However, I am telling you right now — if Trump gets this, he is going to run with this and claim a massive victory, especially for the midterms. I do not know if the Democrats will allow that. This is not a political channel. I hope it gets passed and I hope I'm wrong about this, and maybe this moving forward could be a pretty great thing and we can actually come together. Or maybe I'm just not being realistic. Let me know what you think about that in the comments section.
The markets themselves are looking pretty good. Good news sometimes can move the markets. Now, of course, we can look back at 2018 and 2022 — in July it moved up by this much, in August it moved up by this much — this is just par for the course. Sometimes things do get a little bit moved. And of course, people will say, "Well, if it's in the news, it's already priced in." That is potentially true. But for those who knew about this ahead of time, it would be very interesting for them to say, "Yep, I'm putting it all on red and going in heavy."
I'm glad I've actually been dollar-cost averaging every Monday. It's worked out pretty well. Bitcoin up 3.4%, Ethereum 3.2% across the board, XRP 5.2%, Stellar 1.9%, and look at Cardano — up a whopping 7.3%. Pretty great. And the S&P 500 is up almost a full point. So this is looking pretty good for the markets.
Bitcoin ETF inflows: on track for sixth straight positive day
Rob: The ETF inflows have been positive. If this actually comes through, this will be the sixth straight day of positive inflows for the Bitcoin ETF. As a reminder, we had a nice run up from zero a couple of years ago all the way to its peak in October 2025 — also the all-time high for Bitcoin. Then people started to sell off a little bit, a pump in May around $82,000 — correct me in the comments — and then we dropped off into July. Now here we are having a little bit of a peak. Maybe this is the recovery, or maybe it's just a fake out. We'll see.
On Ethereum ETF flows, over the last five days we had one negative red day, with 36 and 38 million on the positive days. The total was in the 70 to 20 range. So even Ethereum is a little bit on the mend.
Tom Lee's Bitmine approaches 5% of Ethereum's circulating supply
Rob: There is no greater bull for Ethereum than Tom Lee. Say what you want about him — he's got a great head of hair. Besides that, I have to give it to him for staying the course, which he has been doing. He knows, and we know, that the only way to actually make any money is to buy low and sell high. Unfortunately, Tom was buying high. Now in the bear market, he's doing exactly what he said he was going to do and he's been deploying cash.
Bitmine slowed Ether purchases as it bought back $86 million in stock. The company added 7,430 ETH — worth about $14 million last week — as it nears its goal of 5% of the supply. Now, if he was trying to do this back in October or September 2025, it wouldn't have gone too far. That $14 million really stretched the dollar, and they are picking up a lot of Ethereum because the price has tanked.
Bitmine's latest purchase, worth about $14 million at ETH's current price of $1,879, lifted Bitmine's holdings to 5.78 million ETH — roughly 4.8% of Ethereum's circulating supply. Their goal was 5%, and they're almost about to hit it. Hats off to Tom Lee. Say what you want — perma bull — but he's taking action. He's doing what he said he was going to do. I can respect that.
Exodus Wallet cuts 25% of workforce in payments pivot
Rob: Finishing up with some things in the market and looking at the longevity of how we're supposed to structure things — Exodus Wallet is cutting a quarter of their global workforce in a payments shift. I've talked about this many times. As a small business owner myself, you have to trim the fat at some point. For Exodus to do this, they have to — if they want to survive and if they want to get into the big run, which is payments.
The restructuring comes as Exodus continues to integrate Monavate, an electronic money institution, and a crypto payments firm — two acquisitions that have expanded its payments capabilities and international footprint. The company said the restructuring should generate annual cash operating expense savings of $10 to $13 million, with the full benefit expected in 2027.
Let me read that last part again: with the full benefit expected in 2027. This is not a fly-by-night operation. And it's the same thing with investments — we all know what we're supposed to do, and I think everybody here in the comment section is executing. So congratulations for sticking around the bear market. I think you're going to be rewarded. Hats off to Exodus as they look further into the future rather than focusing on a short time constraint.
Stripe's stable coin fees signal a payments shift
Rob: That leads me to this point — Stripe. We know that Stripe has done acquisitions. They are looking to get into the global payment system, looking to do massive partnerships, and they're doing that right now. It looks like they might be taking over PayPal as they work with Block. I don't know about the Block part, but apparently that's what's going on with Stripe.
I was taking a look at this just this morning because I was redoing my website for my direct bookings for my short-term and medium-term rentals. We use Stripe integration for payments so we don't have to use Airbnb and VRBO as much. I was looking at the structure — pretty standard stuff. Payments, cards and wallets: 2.9% plus 30 cents. You've got to pay the piper. Buy now, pay later — they're charging almost 6% for that. They're making money hand over fist, billions and billions of dollars every month for sure.
But then I looked and saw: stable coins — 1.5%. Now we're talking. If you also factor in that there are bank direct debit options, not too many people are going to connect their bank accounts for online payments. I will be shifting away from using cards on my website and offering a discount if you use stable coins. And I don't think it's just me. If a lot of different companies start going, "Wait — we can spend half the transaction fees if we just accept stable coins," tell me more. A pretty smart move, and I can see why payments are going to be a big thing.
FTX fifth bankruptcy distribution set for July 31st
Rob: As a public service announcement — congratulations to the FTX holders. You guys got screwed over and I'm sorry. I went through the same thing with Voyager and Celsius. I know what you feel like. But good news: the FTX fifth bankruptcy distribution is set for July 31st, sending about $900 million to eligible creditors. This only covers allowed claims in classes 5A, 5B, 6A, 6B, and 7 that cleared June 16th. Creditors can receive funds through BitGo, Kraken, or Payoneer. Creditors in 45 jurisdictions are still blocked, and missing the six-month onboarding window could forfeit claim distributions.
I'm not 100% sure on all the details, so I'm going to link you to the FAQ at the support site for the distribution dashboard. If you have any questions, there are also places where you can reach out and ask. If you are owed money, definitely get with this and move forward.
Now, there is one caveat — and shout out to Jimmy for putting this out there. You're not going to get things back at today's prices. They're going to pay you out based on the value of your funds from the day of the collapse — essentially the lowest price, sometime in October, November, or December 2022, when Bitcoin was around $15,000. So I'm sorry that this happened. Hopefully we can all learn the rules: don't leave things on exchanges, everything is a scam until proven otherwise, don't use leverage, and take profits along the way. Treat all exchanges like a gas station bathroom — go in, do your business, and get out.
Robinhood opens platform to AI trading agents
Rob: Robinhood, where you can buy digital assets, is now opening to AI agents. This just came out this morning at 7:30 a.m. Robinhood is now open to AI agents. You can connect it, and once connected, your agent can do research and place trades.
The part people sleep on: ask your agent to help manage the portfolio after it's built. Set conditions, run a schedule, have it flag anything worth your attention, get a push notification every time it trades, and see real-time profit and loss in the app so you're never out of touch. Robinhood is essentially becoming the end-all-be-all for not just stocks, equities, and treasuries, but crypto — and now AI agents to do the trading for you. Maybe something to take a look at as far as stock options go.
Q&A with viewers
Rob: What the heck happened? I saw the thumbnail and all the green. Are we rich? We're almost rich. It does feel good to be positive. In the bear market in 2018 and 2022, it just felt like I was throwing sand in the ocean. But every single time in 2021 and 2025, I felt like I did what I was supposed to do. And of course, every cycle I've learned to not be such a diamond hands and to take profits. It worked out pretty well in 2021. Didn't do as good a job in 2025 — I still didn't hit my potential. I think I could have done more. This cycle I'm looking to maximize. It's not about how you screw up, just how much you learn from it.
The bankers get what the banks want. If they want it passed, it will pass. There's a lot of money to be made in payments. We all know it has to be updated — Swift has been around since the 1960s as a messaging platform. If the banks are saying, "Okay, we're going to do this" — and I know people say, "Won't they just do a permissioned, centralized chain?" Well, they will, and they're doing it right now. But there's also another couple of trillion just fluttering around that they want access to. Bankers are greedy — we're all greedy, let's be honest. Because of that, they're going to build two different chains. The smart ones will do it. DTCC did it — they're doing it with Corda, works pretty well. I've heard rumors of Stellar and XRP also being used. Don't know for sure. You get the upside on both sides.
Mim is right — I listened to the hearings on the Clarity Act and it seems the only objections from the group were those seeking the ethics provision. I did not think Trump would agree to this. But I mean, he did already make $1.4 billion. Does he have to make more, or is he just like, "Well, maybe I'll give up now because I already made those funds"? And I'm not saying it's the worst thing of all time. He did dump on people. Maybe he's just saying, "You know what, I like the power aspect of it. I want this win. I want to do a victory lap, and maybe that can help other senators in the party — Republicans can say, 'Hey, look, Trump said he was going to do it, he did it. That's our win. Put us back into the Senate and the House and we'll do the same thing for the next four years.'"
Tom Lee does have stylish glasses — that's true. He has a great head of hair. Tom Lee is in massive debt? Well, he's an American, and that's usually what America does.
Marinon says, "My bank account is in recess." If you hate Stripe, you don't hate them enough — they're real tough to deal with for crypto-native businesses. They may be, but it looks like they're bending the knee a little bit for stable coins. It all comes down to following the money.
Kelly asks, "Rob, thoughts on Fidelity crypto accounts?" It just depends on what you want to do. My son has that Fidelity account and loves it — loves it for the guidance and the advice. Nothing wrong with it. Some people say you've got to have a specific type of account. Maybe you just don't want to deal with too much. Maybe you've got two jobs, ten kids running around, trying to have a social life — you don't want to deal with this stuff. Just put it over to Fidelity and let them do it. I don't see a problem with Fidelity. I see a bigger problem with not investing in assets at all and just keeping everything in cash.
Clarity is mostly for the banks — Lemus mentioned it specifically in an exposé yesterday. Yeah, you can still get rugged. That is very true.
Robinhood is killing it. Let's see what their stock price is today. You'd think an announcement like that would pump the stock. Look at that — up 7%. Very nice. But over five days? Negative 7%, negative 8%. One month up a percentage. Six months — yeah. Five years, 200%. One year is only 2%. That's the whole beauty of the bear market. No one likes it, but that's where you make it all.
Regardless, the bill has a lot of language that keeps changing — that's for sure. The Clarity Act doesn't really protect retail investors or developers as much as it protects traditional banking institutions. The thing is, I didn't read the bill because I know it's going to change so much and flip-flop so many times before it actually gets passed. The main points will probably be there.
Does Cardano have any chance? Yeah, Cardano's got a chance.
Hey Rob, has Bobby been tempted by the meme coin yet? There is a meme coin that my friend Bobby told me about — actually it was Bobby and my friend Wes over at Smart Money Tracking. He told me about it a while back and said, "Hey, this is going to go. It's all going to go to the creators. It's going to be great." I was like, "Ah, Wes — that's not my thing anymore for meme coins. Even if it sounds like a pretty good deal, I just don't." It's kind of sad that it's surprising the current administration is complying with ethics.
Maxi says, "So the bill has to go back to the House." When does the House come back in session? The thing is, if it has to go back to the House — didn't the House already pass this? That's why it went to the Senate. The question then is how much did it pass by.
Let me look this up. The House of Representatives passed the Clarity Act on July 17th — 294 to 134. It wasn't even close. And 78 Democrats joined the Republicans. So it does have to go back to the House, but I don't see that as a problem unless there's some unusual language in there. If the Senate Democrats say yes, the House will probably do the same thing. House leadership has indicated it's committed to fast-tracking from the Senate's text immediately if it passes the Senate.
Sounds like I need to use retail FOMO as exit liquidity. Well, that's the whole thing about taking profits. As time goes on, we all have to do it.