At the beginning of this week, the market saw a general rise with the strength of Bitcoin and Ethereum. In particular, the DeFi sector tokens rose rapidly in a short period of time under the positive information clearly released by the SEC Chairman at the roundtable meeting on "DeFi and the American Spirit". Macro data also generally tended to cut interest rates. However, the geopolitical situation in the Middle East escalated suddenly on Friday, and the cryptocurrency market suffered a black swan impact. Most of the cottages fell by about 10%. In addition, "ETH Micro Strategy" SharpLink Gaming submitted an S-3ASR prospectus to the SEC, allowing PIPE financing-related shareholders to resell up to 58,699,760 shares. The market misunderstood that investors had significantly reduced their holdings, triggering panic selling, and the stock price plummeted by 70%, which to a certain extent led to the decline of Ethereum.

This weekly report focuses on the rising narrative of stablecoins, the Aster project, the SEC roundtable and Sol ETF hype opportunities.

1. The stablecoin narrative continues to heat up

On June 12, the U.S. Senate passed the procedural vote of the GENIUS Stablecoin Act (Guidance and Establishment of the U.S. Stablecoin National Innovation Act) by 68 to 30 votes, which will initiate the full house debate and final Senate vote on the bill. If the two parties negotiate to shorten the debate time, the legislative process can be completed as early as next Monday (June 17). If the Senate finally passes the bill, it will be submitted to the House of Representatives for further deliberation.

If the bill is eventually passed, it will become the first comprehensive federal legislation in the United States targeting crypto assets. Trump administration advisers expressed support for the bill in a policy statement on Monday, and Trump has expressed his hope to sign stablecoin legislation before August. With the passage of the GENIUS Stablecoin Act imminent and the support shown by US government agencies, other countries, regions and banking companies have also quickly laid out their stablecoin track this week, and narrative hype has intensified.

1. South Korea

The new president Lee Jae-myung has an optimistic and open attitude towards the crypto industry. For example, Yongbeom (YB) Kim, CEO of Hashed Open Research, a think tank of the crypto fund Hashed, was appointed as the chief presidential policy secretary, and Lee Jae-myung plans to set up a digital asset committee directly under the control of the president to promote industry policies. Last week, it was mentioned that an important part of Lee Jae-myung's crypto policy is the plan to launch a stablecoin anchored by the Korean won. South Korea's ruling party proposed the "Basic Law on Digital Assets" this week, which was promoted by the Democratic Party led by President Lee Jae-myung. The bill aims to allow local companies to issue stablecoins to increase transparency and competition.

• Issuance requirements: The company must have a minimum share capital of 500 million won (about $368,000) and guarantee refunds through reserves, and must obtain approval from the Financial Services Commission (FSC).
• Background: Due to Trump's crypto-friendly policies, South Korea's stablecoin trading volume soared to 60.3 trillion won in the fourth quarter, after hovering around 17 trillion won in the third quarter of 2024. The trading volume of dollar-pegged stablecoins reached 57 trillion won (about US$41.5 billion) in the first quarter of 2025.
• Market foundation: By the end of 2024, about 30% of the South Korean population (about 15.6 million people) will participate in digital asset transactions, more than 400 South Korean officials have disclosed holdings of $9.8 million worth of cryptocurrencies, including BTC, ETH, XRP and DOGE, and 100,000 new investors join the market every month. The listing effect of South Korean exchanges represented by Upbit and Bithumb is significant. In addition, nearly 60% of respondents said they plan to expand their cryptocurrency holdings during Lee Jae-myung's term.

Lee Chang-yong, the governor of the Bank of Korea, will meet with executives of major commercial banks on June 23 to discuss the development of stablecoins backed by the Korean won. He said that the central bank is working with relevant institutions to develop a regulatory framework for stablecoins to ensure their stability and practicality. However, because the Korean won stablecoin may bypass capital control measures, South Korea is slightly cautious about introducing the Korean won stablecoin in the domestic economy.

Focus on the target

Kakao Pay

KakaoPay is a digital wallet and payment platform launched by Kakao, a leading South Korean technology company and the fintech arm of Kakao. Kakao Pay is widely seen as a potential beneficiary of domestic stablecoins due to its digital wallet infrastructure and QR code payment system, and currently supports the use of XSGD (stablecoin) in GrabPay merchants in Singapore. After the publication of the Digital Asset Basic Law, its stock price rose 29% in a single day, the highest increase in nearly a year.

Kaia (KAIA)

Kaia is a high-performance Layer-1 blockchain formed by the merger of Kakao's Klaytn and LINE's Finschia, backed by KakaoTalk and LINE's 250 million users. Recently announced plans to issue a stablecoin pegged to the Korean won. Sangmin Seo, a core contributor to Kaia Chain, said that after the launch of the native USDT, the team will fully promote the deployment of the Korean won stablecoin, saying that "Kaia's stablecoin summer has just begun." Kaia's predecessor Klaytn once participated in the Bank of Korea's CBDC project, laying the technical foundation for the issuance of stablecoins. The more than 50% increase in Kaia tokens this week also confirms the market's high recognition of Kaia's stablecoin narrative.

Kaia's parent company Kakao's equity (market value) at the end of 2024 is approximately US$11.979 billion, which meets the conditions for issuing stablecoins. The issuance of stablecoins will increase its on-chain transaction volume and ecological activity. Combined with the integration of Kakao and LINE and the experience of the Bank of Korea's CBDC project, Kaia is expected to become a core participant in the stablecoin market in South Korea and Asia, further attracting developers and partners.

At the same time, due to Upbit's strict listing standards, harsh regulatory environment and high costs, the Kaia token has not yet been launched. If the subsequent stablecoin narrative continues to be promoted, Kaia's favorable catalyst may still continue.

2. Traditional institutions

The total transaction volume of stablecoins in 2024 will reach 27.6 trillion US dollars, exceeding the total transaction volume of Visa and Mastercard in 2024. The low-cost and simple payment process brought by stablecoins has quickly attracted the attention of a large number of corporate institutions, exploring the integration of stablecoins into their payment systems.

2. Aster

On June 13, Aster, a decentralized exchange (DEX) project incubated by Binance Labs, completed the airdrop snapshot of Au points (obtained through deposits). The project is considered an important project in the BNB Chain ecosystem, benchmarking Hyperliquid's high-performance DEX. The Aster project is an integration of Astherus, the seventh incubation DeFi protocol of Binance Labs, and the APX Finance brand invested by Binance Labs. It is currently confirmed that $AST will replace $APX, but the specific conversion ratio has not been clearly given. It was revealed that the contract test of the project party was a 1:1 exchange, but half of it needed to be locked for half a year. If CZ pushes and the development of Binance ecology is required, APX is very likely to rise in the future.

RBN to AEVO

A similar currency exchange strategy occurred in the exchange of RBN for AEVO in early 2024. At that time, the price of RBN was 0.7U and AEVO was around 2.3U. RBN could be converted into AEVO at a 1:1 ratio after being pledged on the official website for two months. There is a large arbitrage space, and RBN also has a certain increase in a short period of time, about 3 times from the lowest point to the highest point.

III. Regulatory policies

1.【6.10】Key points of SEC Chairman Paul Atkins’ speech at the roundtable on “DeFi and the American Spirit”.

• DeFi and the American Spirit

EC Chairman Atkins pointed out that the design concept of DeFi is consistent with the American spirit , emphasizing economic freedom, private property rights and innovation. DeFi allows users to directly control assets and conduct transactions through decentralized technology, reflecting the free market principles of the United States.

• Regulatory clarification and legal exemptions

The SEC has made it clear that activities involving PoW (proof of work) or PoS (proof of stake) networks (such as miners, validators, and staking services) are not subject to federal securities laws. This has been reflected in SEC statements on March 20 and May 29, 2025, which has reduced the legal risks of related projects.

• Self-hosting rights support

Atkins emphasized that self-custody is a core feature of DeFi and a fundamental value of the United States. Users should have the right to directly control their assets in their personal digital wallets without unnecessary intermediary restrictions. This reduces the legal risks of self-custody wallet developers.

• Innovation Exemption Framework

Atkins instructed SEC staff to explore an "innovation exemption" framework to allow qualified on-chain projects to operate legally. This move is seen as a major support for DeFi projects and aims to promote the United States as a leading center for global crypto assets.

• Self-executing software and regulatory updates

DeFi relies on smart contracts and self-executing software to support peer-to-peer transactions without the need for traditional financial intermediaries. The SEC acknowledged the innovative nature of these technologies and said that the existing regulatory framework needs to be updated to accommodate on-chain activities.

Positive

2. [6.11] The US SEC requires issuers that intend to launch spot SOL ETFs to submit a revised S-1 form within the next week, which may indicate that the ETF will be approved within 3 to 5 weeks. The news also stated that the SEC seems willing to accept a plan that includes a staking mechanism.

The market has entered the ETF hype cycle of related tokens, especially in the context of SEC regulation relaxation. The final deadline for Sol ETF application is around October 11, 2025, and the possibility of approval is high. Sol native currency and high-quality assets such as Raydium (RAY), Orca (ORCA), Jito (JTO) [LSD], Sanctum (CLOUD) [LSD] can be deployed at the appropriate time.

Special thanks

Creation is not easy. If you need to reprint or quote, please contact the author in advance for authorization or indicate the source. Thank you again for your support.

Written by: Nora / WolfDAO

Editorial review: Mat / Nora

Thanks to the above partners for their outstanding contributions to this weekly report. This weekly report is published by WolfDAO for learning, communication, research or appreciation only.