The 2024 U.S. elections appear to have signaled a watershed moment for the blockchain industry. With a new wave of pro-innovation policymakers entering office, the regulatory and political landscape has shifted for digital asset technologies. The result? Entrepreneurs and investors have been brought back in from the cold and given a regulatory roadmap to accelerate innovation. For the first time in years, the blockchain community has found an ally in the government and regulators, potentially marking the beginning of what could well be a breakout new era for the space.
Legislative progress is one of the most promising signs of this shift and regulatory clarity has advanced rapidly post-election. President Trump is set to sign The GENIUS Act – the industry’s first major piece of formal legislation, providing a framework for stablecoin issuers to operate compliantly in the United States. Meanwhile, the CLARITY Act – a more comprehensive market structure bill – also successfully passed a U.S. House of Representatives vote and awaits Senate consideration. Taken together, Congress is actively consolidating legal guardrails for digital assets in a major vote of confidence that could increase adoption and define the future path of the technology. These bills bring much needed clarity for the treatment of digital assets; offering innovators, companies and institutional investors a roadmap for sustainable innovation. Importantly, the new framework has the potential to establish the U.S. as a global leader in regulated crypto markets.
With the regulatory fog seemingly lifting in the U.S. and globally, our expectation is that major institutions will have the confidence to engage with blockchain technologies and adoption should accelerate – potentially signaling crypto’s mainstream moment. Robinhood now lets users in certain geographies trade tokens tied to equity in privately held companies such as OpenAI and SpaceX. Crypto ETFs have not just launched but have set volume records. Stablecoins have emerged as a breakout use case, with institutions including Amazon, Walmart, Bank of America and PayPal having either already launched their own stablecoin or publicly shared their plans to do so. Shopify has announced they will enable merchants to accept stablecoins as payments. Most strikingly, stablecoin transfer volume has now surpassed Visa and Mastercard transactions combined, a powerful signal that blockchain-based finance is primed to go mainstream.
Aside from institutional adoption at a use case level we have also witnessed an increase in investment exit activity. Stablecoin issuer Circle’s June IPO was one of the best performing new listings in memory, having traded up 5x+ from its initial IPO price to a market cap in excess of $50 billion1. The strong reception of Circle’s initial public offering has visibly sparked a wave of momentum across the industry, prompting other IPO-ready crypto firms to either file (i.e. Gemini, Bullish, Grayscale) or fast-track their plans to go public (i.e. Figure, FalconX, Kraken). Beyond IPOs, M&A activity has also increased. Stripe completed its largest acquisition ever in October, buying crypto payments startup Bridge for $1.1B, and Coinbase’s acquisition of derivatives exchange Deribit for $2.9B in May marked the largest M&A deal in crypto history. These developments show that blockchain is not only attracting capital but also returning it to investors.
In short, we believe the narrative around blockchain technology has shifted. It is arguably no longer about what might happen – it’s about what is happening, right now. With progress towards near-term regulatory clarity, accelerating mainstream adoption, and the first signs of a receptive exit environment converging, we believe this could be one of the most opportune times to invest in the space. For those looking to gain exposure to the next generation of internet-native infrastructure, now may be the moment to act.
- CapIQ as of 7/15/25
