Weekly Market Highlights Review [6.9 - 6.13]: After a general rise in the crypto market, a black swan event occurred, and the narrative around stablecoins and Sol ETF heated up.

At the beginning of this week, the overall crypto market rose, with Bitcoin and Ethereum driving the market upward, especially as the DeFi sector surged rapidly under the stimulus of favorable regulatory news. Macroeconomic data also generally leans towards interest rate cuts. However, on Friday, the geopolitical situation in the Middle East suddenly deteriorated, impacting the cryptocurrency market, with most altcoins dropping by about 10%. In addition, the misunderstanding of a large-scale sell-off triggered by SharpLink Gaming's prospectus submitted to regulators led to a 70% plummet in its stock price, which somewhat dragged down Ethereum's performance.

This week, focus on the rising topic of stablecoins, the progress of the Aster project, and regulatory trends.

The topic of stablecoins continues to heat up

The U.S. Senate passed the procedural vote on the "GENIUS stablecoin Act" with 68 votes in favor and 30 against, and will begin full chamber debate and final voting. If both parties can agree to shorten the debate time, the legislative process could be completed as early as June 17. If the Senate ultimately approves the bill, it will be submitted to the House of Representatives for further review.

If the bill is ultimately passed, it will become the first comprehensive federal legislation in the United States targeting encryption assets. Senior government advisors have expressed their support for the bill, hoping to complete the signing before August. As the legislative process advances and government support increases, other countries and institutions are also beginning to actively lay out plans in the stablecoin sector.

1. South Korea's Trends

The newly elected president of South Korea has an open attitude towards the crypto industry and plans to launch a stablecoin pegged to the Korean won. The ruling party has proposed the "Digital Asset Basic Law" aimed at allowing local companies to issue stablecoins, increasing transparency and competitiveness.

The issuance requirements include that the company must have a minimum capital of 500 million won, ensure a refund through reserves, and obtain approval from the Financial Services Commission.

The stablecoin market in South Korea has a solid foundation: about 30% of the population participates in digital asset trading, with approximately 100,000 new investors entering the market each month. Major exchanges such as Upbit and Bithumb have significant listing effects. Nearly 60% of respondents indicated plans to increase their holdings of encryption currency during the current president's term.

The Governor of the Bank of Korea will meet with senior executives from major commercial banks on June 23 to discuss the development of a stablecoin backed by the Korean won. The central bank is working with relevant institutions to establish a regulatory framework to ensure the stability and utility of the stablecoin.

Potential Beneficiary Targets:

Kakao Pay: As a leading digital wallet and payment platform, Kakao Pay is seen as a potential beneficiary of domestic stablecoins. After the announcement of the "Digital Asset Basic Law", its stock price rose 29% in a single day, marking the highest increase in nearly a year.

Kaia (KAIA): A high-performance Layer-1 blockchain formed by the merger of Kakao's Klaytn and LINE's Finschia, backed by a user base of 250 million. Recently announced plans to issue a stablecoin pegged to the Korean won, with a token rise of over 50% this week. Kaia's predecessor, Klaytn, participated in the South Korean central bank's CBDC project, laying the technical foundation for the stablecoin issuance.

2. Traditional Institutions Attention

In 2024, the total trading volume of stablecoins reached 27.6 trillion USD, surpassing the combined total of Visa and Mastercard during the same period. The low cost and simple payment process of stablecoins have attracted the attention of many businesses and institutions, exploring the integration of stablecoins into their payment systems.

2. Aster Project Progress

The decentralized exchange project Aster has completed the Au points airdrop snapshot. This project is regarded as an important project within the BNB Chain ecosystem, benchmarking against Hyperliquid's high-performance DEX. Aster is integrated from Astherus, incubated by Binance Labs, and APX Finance.

It is currently confirmed that $AST will replace $APX, but the specific exchange ratio has not yet been announced. Reports indicate that contract testing shows a 1:1 exchange, with half needing to be locked for six months. Considering the project background, APX may have potential for future rise.

Similar coin exchange strategies appeared when exchanging RBN for AEVO, at that time there was a significant arbitrage opportunity, and RBN rose about 3 times in a short period.

3. Regulatory Policy Trends

1. Key statements by the SEC Chairman at the "DeFi and the American Spirit" roundtable discussion:

• Emphasize the alignment of DeFi principles with the American spirit, reflecting the principles of a free market.
• Clearly stating that PoW or PoS network activities are not subject to federal securities law jurisdiction.
• Support user self-custody rights
• Explore the "Innovative Exemption" framework to support the legal operation of eligible on-chain projects.
• Acknowledge the need to update the existing regulatory framework to accommodate on-chain activities.

2. The SEC requires the issuers of the proposed spot SOL ETF to submit a revised S-1 form, which may indicate that the ETF will be approved within 3-5 weeks. The SEC also seems willing to accept proposals that include a staking mechanism.

The market has entered the ETF speculation period for relevant tokens. The earliest deadline for the Sol etf application is around October 11, 2025, and the likelihood of approval is relatively high. You can pay attention to the Sol coin and high-quality ecosystem assets such as Raydium (RAY), Orca (ORCA), Jito (JTO), Sanctum(CLOUD), etc.