Weekly Wrap-Up: Market Structure Moves, Citadel Vs. DeFi, Leveraged Spot Trading Hits the CFTC & More
The biggest news stories from the intersection of Washington and Web3
Welcome to the Friday edition of the Crypto In America newsletter!
What you’ll read: An abridged version of the usual format with a roundup of the week’s biggest news stories.
ICYMI. Here are the biggest news stories this week from the intersection of Washington and Web3:
Policy
Senate Banking Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) said there’s a realistic path for holding a market structure markup December 17 or 18, the week Congress leaves for the holidays. However, unresolved issues over DeFi, ethics and stablecoin yield, plus a request for a full committee hearing ahead of the markup by Senators Kennedy (R-LA) and Reed (D-RI), has some in industry wondering whether that deadline can be met.
Citadel Securities, one of the largest market makers in the U.S., asked the SEC to require certain DeFi protocols dealing in tokenized equities to register as exchanges and broker-dealers, causing outrage among the DeFi community. Citadel is concerned about a so-called “shadow equities market,” where DeFi protocols could trade securities with fewer rules.
SEC Chair Paul Atkins rang the Opening Bell at the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday and gave a speech calling for a revival of U.S. public markets. He also noted that a so-called “innovation exemption,” which would make it easier for crypto firms to operate in the U.S., is expected “in a month or so.”
At the SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee meeting on Thursday, Atkins said the agency plans to write rules to regulate DeFi protocols differently than centralized onchain protocols.
The Senate vote on Mike Selig to lead the CFTC and Travis Hill to lead the FDIC was pushed back following a procedural hiccup by Senate Republicans that prevented them from voting on a nominations package this week.
The FDIC plans to issue a proposed rulemaking for the GENIUS Act this month, according to FDIC Chair Travis Hill.
Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee released a 50-page report on the debanking of digital assets during the Biden Administration.
Institutional Moves
Bitnomial became the first CFTC-regulated spot crypto exchange in the U.S. and is set to begin offering leveraged spot products next week. The move is part of a broader initiative by the CFTC to allow spot crypto trading on its exchanges.
Vanguard, the world’s largest mutual fund provider and the second-largest asset manager, gave its clients the green light to trade $BTC, $ETH, $XRP and $SOL ETFs on its brokerage platform.
Brokerage giant Charles Schwab said it will offer Bitcoin and Ethereum trading in early 2026.
Bank of America, the world’s 4th largest bank, is endorsing a Bitcoin allocation of up to 4% for its wealth clients.
Deutsche Börse Group announced a strategic partnership with Kraken in order to expand institutional crypto access to its traditional clients.
Industry News
Kraken is acquiring Backed Finance, a major tokenized-assets issuer with about 23% market share, to expand its tokenized stocks and ETF offerings across its platform.
Binance announced that co-founder Yi He will join Richard Teng as co-CEO to help bolster the exchange’s regulatory compliance and growth strategy.
Prediction market Kalshi inked major deals with news networks CNBC and CNN to integrate prediction market data across their platforms.
Connecticut sent cease and desist orders to Robinhood, Crypto. com, and Kalshi, claiming the platforms’ event contracts constitute unlicensed sports betting.
Grayscale launched the first U.S. ChainLink spot ETF on NYSE Arca, which listed under the ticker $GLNK, with $37M in net inflows and $52M+ in assets.
The Digital Chamber sent a letter to leadership on the Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees urging them to review a controversial proposal from global index giant MSCI to exclude companies with 50% or more of their balance sheets in crypto.
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Tim Scott has given more dates than I have refreshed my Substack stats page