The crypto market rose and then fell, with favourable information leading to new opportunities for stablecoins and Decentralized Finance.

This week, the crypto market experienced a rise followed by a fall. At the beginning of the week, Bitcoin and Ethereum drove a broad market rally, with DeFi tokens briefly surging under favorable regulatory news. However, on Friday, the escalation of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East triggered a market decline, with most alts falling by more than 10%. Additionally, the stock issuance plan of SharpLink Gaming was misunderstood as a large-scale sell-off, causing the stock price to plummet by 70%, which somewhat dragged down the performance of Ethereum.

This week’s focus includes the rising attention on stablecoins, developments in the Aster project, and opportunities brought by changes in regulatory policies.

In terms of stablecoins, the U.S. Senate has passed a procedural vote on the “GENIUS Stablecoin Act,” which could complete legislation as early as next week. This could become America’s first comprehensive federal legislation targeting crypto assets. The government’s supportive stance on the bill has driven the development of the stablecoin sector globally.

In South Korea, the new president Lee Jae-myung has an open attitude towards the crypto industry and plans to launch a Korean won-pegged stablecoin. The ruling party’s proposed “Basic Law on Digital Assets” aims to allow local companies to issue stablecoins. Currently, about 30% of the population in South Korea participates in digital asset trading, with 100,000 new investors each month, providing a solid market foundation for the development of stablecoins.

Against this backdrop, projects like Kakao Pay and Kaia are attracting market attention. Kakao Pay is seen as a potential beneficiary of domestic stablecoins, with its stock price rising significantly. Kaia announced plans to issue a stablecoin pegged to the Korean won, with its Token rising over 50% this week.

Regarding the Aster project, the decentralized exchange has completed the airdrop snapshot for Au points. As an important project incubated by Binance Labs, Aster is considered a key component of the BNB Chain ecosystem. The project plans to replace $APX with $AST, and the specific exchange ratio has not yet been announced, but market expectations are high.

Regarding regulatory policies, the SEC chairman stated at a roundtable meeting that the design concept of DeFi aligns with the American spirit. The SEC clarified that PoW and PoS network activities do not fall under federal securities law jurisdiction and supports user self-custody rights. In addition, the SEC plans to explore an “innovation exemption” framework to provide legitimate operating space for on-chain projects.

Another piece of Favourable Information is that the SEC has requested the issuers of the proposed spot SOL ETF to submit a revised S-1 form, which may indicate that the relevant ETF will be approved in the short term. The market has entered the ETF speculation cycle, and SOL itself, along with high-quality assets in its ecosystem such as Raydium, Orca, Jito, and Sanctum, may benefit.

Overall, despite short-term fluctuations in the market due to geopolitical influences, the improvement in the regulatory environment and the development of emerging projects still bring positive signals to the encryption industry. Investors should closely monitor the development of stablecoins, the ETF approval process, and the trends of important projects, while being vigilant about potential market risks.