I firmly believe that this round of the crypto cycle is being driven by U.S. government policies.
Just last week, Trump signed an executive order regarding 401(k) retirement fund investments, allowing a portion of retirement funds to be invested in private equity, real estate, and even digital assets. Looking back a few weeks, the GENIUS Act was officially passed, facilitating stablecoin regulatory pathways; this month, the SEC also changed its stance, boldly stating that it wants to do 'Crypto Everything.' From stablecoins to DeFi, from on-chain identities to tokenized assets, almost every sector is being re-integrated into the U.S. regulatory framework.
This is not just a minor adjustment but a complete redirection of capital structure. The U.S. is doing something: incorporating crypto into the dollar system as the financial growth engine for the next phase.
Today, let's start discussing what the U.S. government intends to do and which sectors crypto enthusiasts should pay more attention to in order to maximize their benefits.
What exactly is the U.S. government planning?
This round of policies is not about 'loosening trading' or 'allowing speculation', but rather a systemic reconstruction: systematically integrating crypto assets into the U.S.-led financial structure using U.S.-dominated regulation and financial frameworks. This sounds abstract, but the connections have become very clear from several recent key actions.
A key step is the passage of the GENIUS Act, which marks the first time in U.S. history that federal law has been established for 'payment stablecoins.' The U.S. government has personally defined the model for 'compliant dollar stablecoins' and opened the doors of the financial system for it. This means that stablecoins are no longer a gray patch on-chain but can be incorporated into the monetary policy framework as financial instruments. Stablecoins are backed by government bonds, allowing users to make cross-border payments, banks to manage liquidity with them, and even companies to use them for accounting. This is a true institutional authorization.
At the same time, the SEC has quietly completed its attitude shift. They launched 'Project Crypto', not to expel the industry but to 'incorporate' it using the existing legal framework. They are now willing to admit that not all tokens are securities and are preparing to introduce unified standards. They are also advancing a major initiative: pulling on-chain trading platforms, stablecoins, DeFi, and RWA issuances into the registration framework. The core of this Crypto Everything plan consists of three things: 1. Unified regulatory standards, 2. Capturing compliant capital, 3. Providing a 'controllable role' for the on-chain world. This also means that in the future, you may see: legally licensed DeFi protocols, publicly funded RWA issuance platforms, and trading exchange wallet combinations that connect to TradFi.
Therefore, what the U.S. government truly desires is not soaring coin prices but to make this on-chain system a productive tool it can harness. To allow dollars to flow on-chain, securities to be issued on-chain, and to reconstruct a new round of global order through American-style finance. This is also why I have always said that the main theme of this cycle is not the self-evolution of crypto but the 'digital asset absorption plan' personally designed by the U.S. federal government.
Policies have been implemented, and the market has responded quickly.
From the passing of the GENIUS Act to the signing of the 401(k) executive order today, Bitcoin once surged to $123,000, and Ethereum saw a monthly increase of 54%, with highs approaching $4,000.
Now let's look at the macro level. In July, the total inflow into U.S. cryptocurrency spot ETFs reached $12.8 billion, setting a new historical high. Among them, Bitcoin-related products accounted for nearly half, about $6 billion; ETH ETFs were also strong, with a single-month inflow of $5.4 billion. Furthermore, BlackRock's Bitcoin trust, IBIT, has surged to $86 billion in assets under management, even surpassing some S&P 500 ETFs.
Traditional financial institutions are also frantically 'taking over' on-chain. The on-chain government bond fund BUIDL launched by BlackRock has seen its management scale rise to $2.9 billion. Mainstream exchanges like Crypto.com and Deribit have also started accepting it as collateral, indicating its acceptance into the crypto financial system as liquidity. JPMorgan has also upgraded its payment chain Onyx to a new on-chain settlement system, Kinexys, collaborating with clearing giant Marex to conduct the first '7x24 real-time on-chain clearing.' In simple terms, it has completely integrated transactions that used to take days to settle and could not be processed on weekends into the on-chain system.
Institutions are not 'exploring'; they are genuinely treating on-chain operations as serious business. You can continue to watch KOL statements, or see where the money is already flowing. This market movement is not driven by narratives but by funds actively seeking liquidity direction after policies have set the tone.
Which sectors will first benefit from policy dividends?
So which sectors will this wave of policy dividends impact? Let's analyze slowly.
This opportunity is not evenly distributed; it will concentrate in a few directions. I will give you my personal judgment: stablecoins, on-chain financial infrastructure, and the ZK sector driven by compliance will first reap the dividends, while other sectors will have different rhythms.
The direct beneficiaries of this policy dividend: stablecoins.
Stablecoins are the most direct winners in this round of U.S. regulatory dividends. The GENIUS Act effectively issued a passport for dollar stablecoins: legal issuance, identity clarification, and finally able to seamlessly enter the main artery of the U.S. financial system. Therefore, we also see that two sons of the Trump family entered the market ahead of the policy rollout, launching USD1 through WLFI and gaining a first-mover advantage as the era of compliance begins.
On the day the policy was implemented, JPMorgan officially announced its pilot issuance of JPMD deposit tokens on Coinbase's Base chain (essentially a bank deposit stablecoin with partial reserves). Coinbase's own stablecoin, USDC, also rapidly grew under the favorable regulatory environment, adding $800 million in circulation in the past week and launching a crypto credit card backed by American Express, partnering with Shopify and Stripe to directly bring USDC payments to e-commerce checkouts.
The explosion of scale is just an appetizer. The real change is the broadening of usage.
Networks like Visa and Mastercard have already incorporated stablecoins into their global networks and are using them for high-frequency payments, bypassing the slow and costly fees of traditional card networks. Once compliant stablecoins enter the realm of cross-border remittances, e-commerce, and in-game transactions, the efficiency gains will be immediate. At the same time, the entry of 'regular troops' also means a sharp increase in requirements. Regulations state that issuers must be regulated financial institution subsidiaries, licensed trust companies, etc., and must undergo safety assessments by financial regulatory commissions.
This almost directly blocks small innovators from the door, and the stablecoin market will move more quickly toward oligopoly, with the confrontation between Circle, Coinbase, and the traditional banking sector becoming increasingly evident. Additionally, the regulatory ban on paying interest to token holders will cause stablecoins to revert to their original roles in payments and value storage, eliminating the illusion of algorithmic coins with extremely high annualized returns.
So how can ordinary users participate in this wave of dividends?
In fact, there are paths. For example, multiple compliant platforms are already offering reasonable returns on USDC, providing a safer path with strong liquidity, which is also more suitable for stable funds: Coinbase offers about 4.1% APY rewards for holding USDC. Binance recently launched a flexible USDC deposit product. In this promotion, each account can enjoy a maximum of 12% APR on up to 100,000 USDC, with funds available for deposit and withdrawal at any time.
From an investment perspective, these returns are not low, and they offer stability, safety, and liquidity, far more practical than leaving funds in exchanges without actively investing. Especially for cross-border users, holding stablecoins not only earns interest but also avoids exchange rate fluctuations and the complexities of traditional channels.
To summarize my judgment: this round of policies is clearing the runway for stablecoins that are compliant and stable. In the short term, U.S. dollar stablecoins and their payment applications will welcome capital inflows; in the long term, they will become the ballast for on-chain finance and the core bridge for the digitalization of fiat currency.
Stablecoins serve as an entry point, accelerating the development of on-chain basic economic infrastructure.
The clarity of U.S. regulation is actually paving the way for the entire localized financial economy. 'Localization' fundamentally refers to compliant public chains and protocols carrying more U.S. institutions' business, with traditional finance also becoming more proactive in integrating these on-chain foundations, treating them as new infrastructure. This is also the second sector I value.
The most intuitive example is Base, which has successfully carried more and more U.S. institutions and businesses' on-chain operations, relying on Coinbase's compliance advantages and seamless exchanges. It has connected multiple tracks, including payments, applications, and asset circulation. In this trend, I am optimistic about the ecological expansion of the Base ecosystem. In addition to pushing tokenized securities itself, it is also filling applications with partners, such as working with Stripe to facilitate on-chain stablecoin payments, making Base the hub of payment innovation; it also provides underlying settlement facilities for PayPal, JPMorgan, and others.
In the future, U.S. payment companies, banks, and brokerages will clearly prefer to use a local, communicable network that can quickly connect in case of issues over using an overseas anonymous chain. Localization is essentially a compliance moat.
Base itself does not issue tokens; its traffic, value, and imagination are all realized through B3, the only bloodline channel. B3 is built on top of Base, and its founding team comes from Coinbase. B3 inherits Base's compliance system synchronization and user economic entry advantages, which also means that whether it is dollar stablecoin payments, institutional settlements, or compliance narratives for entering the North American market, B3 has an unparalleled first-mover advantage. This type of on-chain financial underlying infrastructure will have huge appeal for quality assets looking to go on-chain and operate efficiently in the long term after closing the loop of scenario-based and personalized applications. When Base witnesses a large-scale application explosion, B3 will become the first choice for these applications to land and scale, serving as a true super application layer and on-chain economic entry.
Additionally, I have a good understanding of the B3 team. They work very steadily, not only refining their products but also continuously expanding outward. I'll keep a little suspense here. What can be confirmed is that after announcing a heavyweight collaboration, B3's position in the industry will be clearer.
Looking ahead, I don't think this is just an isolated case. As regulations continue to improve, more traditional giants will follow in the footsteps of JPMorgan and Coinbase. We may see many large institutions issuing on-chain bonds, insurance companies managing policies on-chain, and tech giants issuing corporate stablecoins for internal settlements... After all, every big client is a stable source of cash flow for on-chain infrastructure.
Of course, this will also raise requirements: performance must withstand massive transactions, privacy must protect enterprise data, and compliance must integrate auditing and risk control into the system. In short, this wave of U.S. policies is pushing on-chain infrastructure from past 'international barbaric growth' towards 'localized meticulous cultivation.' In this upgrade, localized compliant chains and modular innovative networks will be the biggest beneficiaries.
ZK: A new infrastructure for privacy under the policy vision.
Which sectors that were once declared 'dead' may迎来 their second chance? For instance, ZK.
On August 13, OKB's surge ignited Twitter and various communities. The price jumped from $46 to nearly $120, almost tripling. This surge was not only due to OKX's one-time destruction of 65.25 million historical repurchased and reserved OKB, eliminating some past potential selling pressure, but also due to structural changes on both the supply and demand sides, making OKB the only Gas Token for X Layer, fully directing traffic from wallets, exchanges, and payment scenarios.
Supply contraction + concentrated demand has made the market suddenly realize the scarcity and value of OKB, leading to a short-term surge driven by capital flight and emotional resonance. Another trading variable is compliance expectations. The market has been closely watching the news that 'OKX is preparing to list in the U.S.', thus holding out hope for its entry into the U.S. market, but whether it can materialize depends on U.S. regulatory policies.
My attitude towards this sector is clear: no FOMO, just keep observing. ZK is likely to find its revival opportunity in the era of compliance, though it may only be a brief resurgence. Regardless, its movements are worth watching.
The latest U.S. digital asset report clearly states that individuals should be allowed to conduct private transactions on public blockchains and encourages the use of self-custody and privacy-enhancing technologies to reduce the risk of data leakage on-chain. The White House's 2025 digital asset policy report also mentions that ZK is a key pathway to balancing privacy and compliance. This change in attitude is interesting; previously, privacy coins and mixers were on the regulatory blacklist, but now decision-makers acknowledge that to attract more traditional capital onto the blockchain, the 'on-chain privacy' gap must be filled, and ZK provides a ready solution.
On the enterprise application side, Google Wallet has launched a ZK age verification based on Succinct Labs: you can prove that you are over 18 without exposing any ID details. It sounds very Web2, compliant with KYC while protecting privacy, but this time it is running on-chain.
In the background, Succinct has also been pushed to the forefront, with its token $PROVE performing relatively well compared to other recent projects after its launch, outperforming many altcoins in the recent market. This case illustrates one thing: when top tech companies and real business scenarios start using ZK, the market's patience will also return.
I understand the revival of ZK not just as an emotional rebound but as a necessary demand in the era of compliance. Once assets and transactions move on-chain, businesses cannot accept all commercial details becoming public to competitors, and individuals also do not want their financial trails to become transparent.
The regulatory requirements are also very clear. What needs to be audited must be auditable, and what needs to be traced must be traceable. This seemingly contradictory demand is precisely ZK's stage: 'first prove legality, then hide the details.' For example, large interbank settlements can use ZK to verify that transactions comply with anti-money laundering regulations without disclosing who the customers are. Such scenarios will become increasingly common: identity authentication, credit scoring... all may be reshaped by ZK. Many high-quality ZK projects have not yet issued tokens, but the policy window may prompt them to accelerate their rollouts.
In the last cycle, top ZK teams received continuous funding, but many second-tier projects faced a 'from the king to the fallen' situation, bringing the ZK sector's popularity to a freezing point. In this round, is there an opportunity to reverse the impression of 'ZK second-tier projects must fail'?
I think we can focus on two types of targets: one is teams that have not yet issued tokens but have technological reserves and landing capabilities; the other is projects that have already issued tokens but have a healthy chip structure and are genuinely advancing their businesses. For me, this sector is worth observing in the short term, even though we are not yet at a point where we can blindly invest heavily, but there is a possibility of a few winners emerging.
Policy determination, a new pattern sets sail.
As an investor focused on long-term sectors, I am very clear: once the regulatory shoe drops, the structural opportunities in the market begin to rearrange. The clarity of this round of U.S. policies is genuinely changing the flow of funds and the order of the industry.
In the short term, the capital inflow and bullish sentiment brought by favorable compliance have already allowed some sectors to outperform the market. Stablecoin issuers and market capitalization tokenization have given the market very intuitive feedback in terms of price and trading volume. This is just the first wave of testing by capital. More importantly, it is the reshaping of the long-term pattern. When rules are clear and thresholds defined, only truly valuable sectors will solidify. Conversely, those disconnected from real demand and relying solely on speculative games will find it increasingly difficult to survive in a strong regulatory environment, and industry resources will flow towards more meaningful directions.
I personally firmly believe that the real opportunity lies in conforming to structural changes: in the short term, looking at policies and capital flows to find points of entry; in the long term, identifying which sectors can synchronize with future financial and technological developments. I see this round as a 'fourth phase moment for the crypto industry'; those interested can check out my previous article on the development path of the web3 industry: just like the internet had rule establishment and technological transformation, there were short-term pains, but ultimately a larger, healthier ecosystem emerged.
The current crypto industry is bidding farewell to the chaotic growth of its barbaric era and moving towards a more mature phase with established rules. Those who can seize the policy dividend during this window period will have a better chance to establish a foothold in the next phase.
A new path has been opened; those who sail with the wind will reach the future faster.
