Crypto Finally Gets a Law That Means Something

The United States House is set to pass the GENIUS Act, a bill that would finally bring national rules to stablecoins. After a messy week in Congress filled with internal rebellion, late-night meetings, and pressure from President Donald Trump, lawmakers have lined up to vote the bill through. It already passed the Senate with bipartisan support. Now, with House approval expected any day, the bill is on track to become the first standalone crypto law in United States history.

Background

The GENIUS Act, short for Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for United States Stablecoins, focuses on digital currencies that are pegged to the dollar. It spells out how these coins must be backed, audited, and supervised. Stablecoins power much of the crypto economy and move billions each day, but until now, there has been no federal framework to govern them.

This was supposed to be a banner week for crypto policy. Lawmakers even branded it Crypto Week. Instead, it nearly fell apart. Several House Republicans unexpectedly blocked the initial vote, a rare show of defiance against Trump. That did not last long. After a closed-door session at the White House, Trump announced that the holdouts had agreed to support the bill. Hours later, the vote was back on.

Impact

If signed into law, the GENIUS Act would give crypto developers and stablecoin issuers long-awaited clarity. Companies like Circle could operate with clear expectations. Developers building apps and services that rely on digital dollars would know those assets are properly backed and regulated. This is not just good for the companies involved. It is good for the long-term credibility of blockchain technology in the United States.

Other bills introduced during Crypto Week will not be as lucky. The CLARITY Act, which covers broader crypto trading rules, and the Anti Central Bank Digital Currency Act, which aims to block a government-issued digital dollar, face more resistance. The GENIUS Act was easier to pass. It is focused, specific, and avoids some of the more ideological fights.

For Trump, this is an easy win. He gets to take credit for pushing through a tech-forward bill and align himself with the innovation crowd. But it also raises ethical questions. Trump and his family are now linked to several crypto projects, including meme coins and a decentralized finance firm. House Democrats have responded by launching Anti Crypto Corruption Week, arguing that these bills are designed to benefit Trump personally.

For the broader public, this bill does not change everything overnight. But it is a step forward. Stablecoins could one day be used for everything from payroll to remittances to digital savings. That will only happen if people trust them. Rules like those in the GENIUS Act are how that trust begins.

Outlook

The House is expected to pass the bill within days, sending it to Trump for a signature. The law will reshape how stablecoins are issued and managed. It gives the crypto industry a win and puts the United States back in the game globally. But it also signals that crypto is now fully part of national politics. This is not the end of the conversation. It is just the beginning.

Rapid Fire

🤖 OpenAI just dropped a big one. The ChatGPT agent launched today and it finally does things instead of just talking about them. Think of it as ChatGPT’s glow up. Now it can check your calendar and prep you for meetings, plan a Japanese breakfast, build a competitor slide deck, and even shop online. It browses websites, runs code, connects to your apps like Gmail and GitHub, and does it all from inside ChatGPT. You just tell it what you want in plain English and it figures it out. No more here’s how you could do that. It just does it.

Here’s the kicker. It is not just smarter. It is faster and safer too. It scored 41.6 percent on Humanity’s Last Exam, which is a real thing, and doubled what older models could pull off. OpenAI also gave it solid guardrails so it does not get tricked or hijacked, because the internet still exists. If you are on a Pro, Plus, or Team plan, you can turn it on today using agent mode. 

Bottom line, ChatGPT is not just a chat bot anymore. It is your overqualified underpaid assistant who never sleeps.

🚗 Uber just made a big move. It is partnering with Lucid Motors and autonomous startup Nuro to launch 20,000 self-driving SUVs over the next six years. Uber is investing 300 million dollars into Lucid and throwing in a few hundred million more to bring Nuro’s tech to life. The plan is to launch a premium robotaxi service starting next year in a major US city. So yeah, your next Uber might be a silent, sleek Lucid Gravity that drives itself and does not ask if you mind the aux.

This is a power play across the board. Uber wants to cut out drivers and boost profits. Lucid gets a much-needed shot of cash and a guaranteed buyer for thousands of cars. Nuro gets its software into something cooler than a sidewalk delivery bot. Lucid stock jumped 30 percent because investors love the idea of cars that run on dreams and electricity. Whether this turns into a game changer or just another tech fantasy is anyone’s guess, but the push for driverless streets is getting louder.

📈 TSMC just posted monster earnings, powered by the relentless demand for AI chips. The company pulled in 13.5 billion dollars in profit last quarter, smashing expectations and marking its fifth straight quarter of double-digit growth. Executives said demand for high-performance computing and AI is not just strong, it is accelerating. They raised the full-year forecast and expect next quarter’s revenue to jump as much as 40 percent. AI is not a side hustle for TSMC anymore, it is the core engine.

Still, there are clouds on the horizon. TSMC is bracing for potential trouble from US tariffs, which could hit Taiwan with a steep 32 percent rate. The company said it has not seen customers flinch yet, but it is taking a more conservative stance moving forward. Currency pressure is also a problem, with the Taiwan dollar gaining strength and squeezing margins. The message is clear. TSMC is dominating the AI chip world, but it is doing so while dodging geopolitical curveballs and economic headwinds.

Tech Radar

Mark Zuckerberg and other Meta executives have quietly ended an eight billion dollar privacy lawsuit just as the trial was getting underway. The case, brought by Meta shareholders, accused Zuckerberg and other top leaders of looking the other way while Facebook repeatedly violated users' privacy. A settlement was reached on Thursday, halting the trial on its second day. The terms were not disclosed, but the agreement puts the brakes on what could have been a very public reckoning for Meta’s leadership.

The lawsuit stemmed from the infamous Cambridge Analytica scandal, where the personal data of millions of users was allegedly harvested and misused by a political consulting firm tied to Donald Trump's 2016 campaign. Shareholders claimed Meta failed to disclose the risks and ran the company like a data-mining machine. They wanted Zuckerberg and others, including former COO Sheryl Sandberg, to personally reimburse the company for more than eight billion dollars in penalties and legal costs related to past privacy violations.

The trial promised fireworks, with Zuckerberg set to testify on Monday and Sandberg later in the week. Former board members like Peter Thiel and Reed Hastings were also expected to take the stand. Now, none of that will happen. Critics say the settlement dodges a rare chance for public accountability, especially given the stakes. While this deal wraps up one of the last major lawsuits tied to Cambridge Analytica, it also means the deeper story, about what Meta's leadership knew and when, may never come out.

Recently Deployed

Swedish startup Lovable just became Europe’s newest unicorn and did it at lightning speed. Only eight months after launch, the company raised a massive 200 million dollar Series A led by Accel, landing at a 1.8 billion dollar valuation. That makes it the biggest Series A in Sweden’s history. The pitch is simple but powerful. Lovable lets you build full websites and apps just by describing what you want. No code. No developers. Just vibes. It is part of a growing trend people are calling vibe coding, where natural language turns into production ready software.

The numbers are just as wild. Over 2.3 million active users, 180,000 paying subscribers, 75 million dollars in annual recurring revenue, and ten million projects built—all in under a year. Most of the traction is coming from non technical users who want to get an idea off the ground fast and clean it up with dev help later. Even big names like Klarna and HubSpot are already on board. With investors like 20VC, Creandum, and Visionaries Club in the mix, Lovable is planting a flag in one of the hottest corners of AI right now. Code is not dead, but talking your way into a working app might be the future.

That’s a wrap.

That is all for today. Crypto finally got a law. ChatGPT got a body. Uber got serious about robots. And a Swedish startup just talked its way to a billion dollar valuation. The future is arriving fast. Try to keep up.