Week in Review: Bitcoin Reaches New All-Time High, US Tightens Rules for Stablecoins
Date: 2025-07-21 Author: Gabriel Deangelo Categories: CRYPTO PAYMENTS
Bitcoin started the week with a confident surge upwards and on July 14 confidently overcame the psychological barrier of $120,000, jumping to a peak of almost $123,000, according to CoinGecko. Among the main reasons for this growth, analysts highlight the interest of large institutional players, the general macroeconomic situation, and optimism around the "crypto week" in the United States. However, the rapid growth was replaced by a rollback after the publication of fresh statistics on inflation in the United States: the rate briefly fell below $116,000, but soon stabilized and by the end of the week remained at around $118,000.
At the same time, altcoins showed more impressive dynamics. Ethereum gained almost 9% in just one day on July 17 and reached $3,452, updating its maximum since January. This was helped by a record inflow of funds into spot ETFs based on the second-largest cryptocurrency by capitalization. In just one week, Ether grew by more than 25%, followed by Dogecoin (+25.8%), XRP (+24.2%), Solana (+11%) and BNB (+7.8%). Against the backdrop of the rapid growth of altcoins, Bitcoin's share of the market fell to 59%, and the total capitalization of cryptocurrencies reached almost $4 trillion. Many experts started talking about the beginning of a new alt season. The fear and greed index is still at a high level - 72 points, which signals the dominance of optimism among investors.
On July 18, Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act, the first major regulatory act in the United States that regulates the stablecoin market. This document obliges issuers of "stablecoins" with a capitalization of over $50 billion to fully provide assets with liquidity and undergo annual audits. The law also prohibits charging interest to owners of such tokens and introduces standards for foreign issuers. The GENIUS Act will come into force six months or 120 days after the publication of the relevant instructions of regulators. The signing ceremony was attended by key figures in the industry, including Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, Robinhood CEO Vladimir Tenev, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire, and Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino. The latter confirmed that the company is ready to adapt USDT to new requirements and is already preparing a special version of the stablecoin for the United States.
In Russia, the State Duma approved the final version of the law on the launch of the digital ruble. From September 1, 2026, banks will be required to provide clients with access to transactions with the national CBDC. In two more years, payment in digital rubles will become mandatory for all sellers, with the exception of small retail outlets and stores in regions without the Internet.
In addition, Casa developers have proposed a new way to protect bitcoin from threats of quantum attacks - transfer users to addresses resistant to quantum computers. And Coinbase has updated its wallet, turning it into Base App - a "super app" with a social network, chat and payments.
A week in the crypto world has once again proven that the industry is not standing still - and new records and regulatory changes await us ahead.
