DeFi & L1L2 Weekly — 📈 Around 521,000 ETH are waiting to exit the Ethereum network; President Trump signed the GENIUS Act to regulate stablecoins

Around 521,000 ETH are waiting to exit the Ethereum network; US President Trump signed the GENIUS Act to regulate stablecoins; Western Union is exploring the integration of stablecoins for cross-border transfers.

Quick Take

• Ethereum’s validator exit queue has nearly 521,000 ETH worth US$1.95 billion waiting to exit the network. The total supply staked reached an all-time high of around 36 million ETH.
• US President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act, creating a federal regulatory framework for stablecoins.
• Polymarket will return to the US market after acquiring QCEX with a $112 million deal.
• Polymarket is considering launching its own stablecoin or partnering with Circle in a revenue-sharing model. 
• PayPal expanded its PayPal USD (PYUSD) stablecoin to Arbitrum.
• Western Union is exploring the integration of stablecoins for cross-border transfers.
• EtherFi is expanding to the Hyperliquid ecosystem through a partnership with HyperBeat.
• World Liberty Financial plans to unlock WLFI token transferability in two months.
• Bitcoin DeFi infrastructure Bitlayer launched its smart contract bridge, BitVM.
• Ethena Labs formed a new Ethena-focused treasury company, StableCoinX Inc., raising $360 million in capital.

Weekly DeFi Index

This week, the market capitalisation and volume indices grew by +15.50% and +37.91%, respectively, while the volatility index dipped by -1.19%.

Chart of the Week

Ethereum’s validator exit queue swelled to its longest waiting time of over 9 days, with nearly 521,000 ETH worth US$1.95 billion waiting to exit the network at the time of writing. This congestion is due to Ethereum’s Proof of Stake model which limits how quickly validators can join or leave the network. The exodus is likely due to users seeking to take profits after staking ETH at lower prices, and are now cashing out after ETH rallied 55% in the last 30 days. The total supply staked recently reached an all-time high of 35.71 million ETH at the time of writing.

News Highlights

• US President Donald Trump signed the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, a landmark legislation that will create a federal regulatory framework for stablecoins. The bill requires the digital asset to be fully backed by US dollars or liquid assets, and establishes guidelines for foreign issuance.
• Polymarket is set to return to the US market after striking a $112 million deal to buy derivatives exchange and clearinghouse QCEX. This move will allow Polymarket to legally re-enter the US and open its site to US users. 
• Polymarket is considering launching its own stablecoin or entering a revenue-sharing model with Circle. The aim is to own the yield-generating reserves that back USDC tokens on the platform.
• PayPal announced the expansion of its PayPal USD (PYUSD) stablecoin to Layer-2 blockchain Arbitrum, providing developers with a new option for integrating PYUSD into their applications.
• Remittance company Western Union is exploring the integration of stablecoins into its services for cross-border transfers, conversions, and digital wallets. 
• EtherFi, an Ethereum-based liquid restaking protocol, is expanding into the Hyperliquid ecosystem through a partnership with HyperBeat, a yield aggregation protocol on HyperEVM. The collaboration involves launching preHYPE, a multi-signature vault, for early deposits ahead of the release of beHYPE, a liquid staking token.
• World Liberty Financial, a decentralised finance (DeFi) project linked to US President Donald Trump, plans to unlock WLFI token transferability in two months. The move comes after a governance vote approved token transferability, with 99.94% of the votes being in favour.
• Bitlayer, a Bitcoin DeFi infrastructure startup, launched its BitVM smart contract bridge on the mainnet. The bridge enables users to deposit bitcoins into an escrow account to be converted into Peg-BTC, a tokenised version of BTC that interacts with smart contract platforms.
• Ethena Labs, the creator of the synthetic stablecoin USDe, formed a new Ethena-focused treasury company called StableCoinX Inc., which raised $360 million in capital. The company plans to list its stock on Nasdaq with a treasury strategy focused on capturing growth in digital dollars, and increasing the amount of ENA tokens held per share.

Recent Research Reports

• InfoFi: This report introduces the notable players in the Yap-to-Earn, Attention Market, and Reputation Market categories of InfoFi, as well as the significance and challenges of InfoFi’s development.
• Crypto Credit Market: This report offers an overview of the crypto credit market and emphasises the design of a decentralised lending ecosystem. It also examines how traditional financial players are piloting blockchain-based credit frameworks, including experiments with on-chain private credit.
• Research Roundup Newsletter [Jul 2025]:We present to you our latest issue of Research Roundup, featuring our deep dives into ‘InfoFi’ and ‘Crypto Credit Market’.

Interested to know more? Access exclusive reports by signing up as a Private member, joining our Crypto.com Exchange VIP Programme, or collecting a Loaded Lions NFT.

We’re all ears.

Your feedback helps make our reporting more insightful. Tell us how we can improve this newsletter by taking the survey below. It will take less than a minute of your time. Thank you!

Authors

Research and Insights Team

Get the latest market, DeFi & NFT updates delivered to your inbox:

Be the first to hear about new insights:

Disclaimer

The information in this report is provided as general market commentary by Crypto.com and its affiliates, and does not constitute any financial, investment, legal, tax, or any other advice. This report is not intended to offer or recommend any access to products and/or services. While we endeavour to publish and maintain accurate information, we do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information in this report nor do we adopt nor endorse, nor are we responsible for, the accuracy or reliability of any information submitted by other parties.

This report is not directed or intended for distribution to, or use by, any person or entity who is a citizen or resident of, or located in a jurisdiction, where such distribution or use would be contrary to applicable law or that would subject Crypto.com and/or its affiliates to any registration or licensing requirement.

The brands and the logos appearing in this report are registered trademarks of their respective owners.