2 min readFor years, the digital asset industry has navigated a terrain marked by ambiguity, surprise enforcement, and a regulatory vacuum in the world’s most powerful capital market. But this week, dubbed “crypto week” on Capitol Hill, something shifted. In a flurry of late votes, redrafts, and rare bipartisan cooperation, the U.S. House advanced a series of landmark crypto bills, including the Genius Act and the Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act.
At the same time, a quieter yet equally consequential trend continues to accelerate in public markets. U.S.-listed companies now control over 33 percent of global Bitcoin hashrate, and corporate balance sheets are growing increasingly exposed to digital assets. The convergence of legislative momentum and institutional accumulation suggests a new reality: crypto is no longer an industry operating in spite of the U.S. financial system, but increasingly within it.
The Genius Act seeks to codify that not all digital assets should automatically be treated as securities. The Clarity Act, meanwhile, proposes a framework for payment stablecoins, a category of crypto with clear systemic implications for global finance.
Taken together, the two bills offer what the industry has long demanded: a knowable, navigable regulatory perimeter. They won’t solve every problem, but they mark a meaningful break from the legal ambiguity and selective enforcement of recent years.
For builders, these bills offer a clearer blueprint. For investors, they reduce regulatory risk. For regulators themselves, they provide a mechanism to maintain oversight without choking innovation.
Bitcoin on the balance sheet
While policy evolves, corporate strategy is already adapting. Besides miners, public companies, from Strategy to Cantor Equity Partners, are now holding Bitcoin as a form of treasury reserve or strategic exposure, meaning it is no longer just a commodity or a speculative asset. It is becoming a balance sheet item, a hedge against fiat depreciation, and in some cases, a symbolic commitment to technological sovereignty.
This trend is also redrawing market exposures. Vanguard’s inadvertent status as the largest holder of Strategy stock according to Bloomberg—despite its anti-Bitcoin stance—is an unintended consequence of passive index dominance. Investors who believe they are avoiding crypto may find themselves increasingly exposed through traditional equity channels.
A new landscape
The broader signal from crypto week is this: after years of confrontation, the U.S. is shifting from a mode of containment to one of configuration. Policymakers are no longer merely trying to control digital assets—they are beginning to shape them.
This realignment is now happening in parallel:
in Washington, where the tone is more pragmatic
in corporate boardrooms, where holding Bitcoin is becoming normalized
in capital markets, where digital asset exposure is embedded deeper into equity and infrastructure plays
It is too early to declare victory. But the shift is clear: crypto in the United States is entering a phase of structural integration.
The combination of regulatory clarity and corporate adoption marks a new chapter for the industry. In this environment, the question is no longer whether crypto will be part of the mainstream financial system. It already is. The real challenge now is managing that integration, balancing innovation, transparency, and resilience.
Crypto week may be over, but the shape of what comes next is just beginning to emerge.
