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The Rules Are Forming—But the Crypto Market Isn't Waiting

Crypto isn't waiting for price to lead—it's waiting for rules to land.

This week is about who gets to regulate, who gets to operate, and who gets squeezed out as the US sets the rails for the next cycle.

If you want to understand where opportunity survives once the noise fades, this is where to look.

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Market-Moving News

The biggest moves right now aren't on your chart—they're in committee rooms, court filings, and confirmation votes.

From market structure legislation advancing, to crypto-friendly regulators taking power, to Coinbase drawing a legal line in the sand, these stories show where leverage is shifting and which players are positioning to benefit first.

US Regulation

Senators Set January Markup for Crypto Market Structure Bill

The Senate's long-awaited crypto market structure bill is officially headed for a January committee markup, pushing the industry's most important regulatory framework closer to a floor vote.

White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks confirmed the timeline, calling it a key step toward passing landmark legislation.

The bill, known as the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, aims to clearly define oversight between the SEC and the CFTC.

It already passed the House earlier this year with bipartisan support, alongside the GENIUS Act.

Momentum, With Conditions

Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott and Senate Agriculture Chair John Boozman will oversee the markup after months of delays.

For crypto advocates, this signals real momentum after repeated missed deadlines.

But movement doesn't mean certainty. Democrats continue to raise red flags about regulatory independence and executive overreach.

Trust Is the Real Sticking Point

Senator Cory Booker has publicly said he does not trust White House assurances around appointing Democratic commissioners at the SEC and CFTC.

Those concerns intensified after the Supreme Court hinted it may allow presidents to fire agency commissioners at will.

Critics warn this could lead to short-lived minority appointments that offer optics without lasting balance. That uncertainty keeps bipartisan support fragile.

Who Benefits Most

Some industry voices argue the bill favors large, well-capitalized firms that can afford compliance.

Smaller startups could struggle under reporting and identity requirements if the framework becomes too heavy.

Take: This bill is moving, but the politics matter as much as the policy. If independence concerns aren't addressed, passage could stall—but if resolved, this would be the clearest signal yet that crypto regulation in the US is finally settling into structure instead of chaos.

Policy

Senate Confirms Crypto-Friendly Leaders at CFTC and FDIC

The US Senate confirmed Mike Selig as chairman of the CFTC and Travis Hill as chairman of the FDIC in a broad package of Trump administration nominees.

Both roles carry major influence over how crypto operates inside the US financial system.

The confirmations end a long stretch of acting leadership at two agencies central to crypto oversight. Markets now have named decision-makers instead of placeholders.

A Power Shift at the CFTC

Selig steps in as the CFTC prepares to take a larger role in crypto regulation, especially if Congress finalizes market structure legislation.

He replaces Acting Chair Caroline Pham, who has pushed an openly pro-crypto agenda.

The transition may accelerate initiatives like tokenized collateral, blockchain-based regulatory processes, and spot leveraged crypto products.

At least for now, the CFTC appears ready to lean forward.

Stability at the FDIC

At the FDIC, Hill has already been running the agency in an acting capacity with a crypto-friendly tone.

He has emphasized that banks are allowed to serve crypto clients as long as they manage risk responsibly.

Hill has also addressed industry complaints around debanking, signaling a pullback from earlier restrictive approaches.

That matters for exchanges, issuers, and infrastructure providers alike.

One Catch to Watch

Selig may initially serve as the sole commissioner at the CFTC, which could expose new policies to legal challenges. Speed may come at the cost of procedural resilience.

Take: Leadership clarity matters more than headlines.

These confirmations suggest regulators are shifting from hesitation to execution, which favors builders who want rules they can actually plan around—even if some legal friction lies ahead.

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Legal

Coinbase Sues States Over Prediction Market Regulation

Coinbase has filed lawsuits against Connecticut, Illinois, and Michigan over attempts to regulate prediction markets at the state level.

The exchange argues these markets fall under exclusive CFTC jurisdiction, not state gaming laws.

The move follows Coinbase's plan to integrate prediction markets through Kalshi. State regulators have pushed back, calling the products a form of gambling.

Federal vs State Control

Prediction markets allow users to trade contracts tied to real-world outcomes, from elections to interest rate decisions.

Coinbase says they are federally regulated derivatives, not sportsbooks.

State regulators disagree, arguing they resemble gambling products that fall under local authority. The lawsuits aim to force clarity on who actually gets to decide.

Why Coinbase Is Pushing Now

Congress has increasingly treated prediction markets as commodities, not games of chance.

Coinbase says state intervention threatens innovation and creates a fragmented regulatory landscape.

The company's filings argue that uniform federal oversight is the only workable path for national platforms. Without it, expansion becomes legally unpredictable.

Bigger Implications Ahead

This case could set a precedent for how far states can go in regulating crypto-adjacent financial products.

A win for Coinbase would strengthen the CFTC's hand across emerging markets.

Take: This isn't just about prediction markets.

If Coinbase succeeds, it reinforces federal primacy in crypto regulation, which could reduce patchwork risk for investors—but also accelerate products that regulators are still learning how to contain.

Coin Leaderboard

Crypto Pulse

Washington is busy arguing over who gets to regulate crypto, but the market didn't wait for permission.

RUSSELL, RIF, and 67 all exploded higher, reminding you that speculation still finds oxygen whenever structure tightens, and attention drifts elsewhere.

This is where short-term energy hides when headlines turn serious.

Liquidity rotates fast, conviction concentrates quickly, and the sharpest moves show up far from the policy spotlight.

Russell (RUSSELL) $0.01053 (+174.49%)

After a brief pullback, RUSSELL resumed its rally that kicked off on Dec 16, surging another 174.49% as momentum snapped back hard.

Rifampicin (RIF) $0.01993 (+164.37%)

RIF ripped 164.37% in the past 24 hours, cutting through extreme volatility as buyers overwhelmed sellers.

The Official 67 Coin (67) $0.02395 (+100.51%)

67 extended its rebound with a 100.51% daily gain, signaling that dip buyers are firmly back in control.

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Future Forward

If you want to see where crypto is heading before the charts react, watch where people are showing up, what's getting launched, and who's being rewarded early.

Conferences, airdrops, and token launches are where narratives are tested quietly—before they become trades everyone's already late to.

Airdrops are signals, not freebies. They show which teams care about real users enough to give value away before asking for trust in return.

Token launches do something different. They reveal who's ready to ship, take risks in public, and let the market decide if the story holds up.

Conferences connect all of it. When builders, capital, and regulators share the same room, direction gets set long before headlines catch up.

Crypto Conferences:

💎 BUIDL Europe 2026 (Jan 7, 2026)

💎 TOKYO DIGICONX 2026 (Jan 8, 2026)

💎 PEER Summit 2026 (Jan 9, 2026)

Upcoming Airdrops:

🎁 peaq (PEAQ) First Yield Payout (Dec 2025)

🎁 Wolf Game Wool (WOOL) Airdrop (Nov 14, 2025 - Jan 15, 2026)

🎁 Tradoor (TRADOOR) Airdrop (Feb 2026)

Upcoming Token Launches:

🚀 Solstice (SLX) Public Sale (Dec 22, 2025)

🚀 SUBBD (SUBBD) Presale (Dec 31, 2025)

🚀 Play AI (PLAI) TGE and Distribution (Q4 2025)

Which event are you most excited for? Let us know!

Crypto Know-How: What Are Prediction Markets?

Prediction markets let you trade on outcomes instead of prices.

You're not betting against a house—you're buying and selling contracts based on what you think will actually happen.

Each market represents a future event, like an election result or a rate decision. The price moves as people collectively update their expectations in real time.

Unlike sportsbooks, prediction markets don't care who wins or loses. They just match buyers and sellers, which is why regulators often treat them like financial derivatives.

For you, they matter because they turn crowd opinion into data.

When money is on the line, markets often reveal sentiment faster—and sometimes more honestly—than polls or headlines.

Everything Else

  • Malaysia's ringgit-backed RMJDT stablecoin shows how Asia is pulling stablecoins into regulated finance, positioning local-currency on-chain settlement as infrastructure rather than speculation.

  • Jump Trading is being sued for $4 billion by the administrator of Terraform Labs, reopening the wounds of the TerraUSD collapse and putting market-makers back under legal scrutiny.

  • New research estimates blockchain fragmentation is draining up to $1.3 billion a year from tokenized asset markets, highlighting how cross-chain friction is quietly taxing returns as RWAs scale.

  • Japanese Bitcoin treasury firm Metaplanet launched a sponsored US OTC ADR program, giving US investors cleaner access and signaling rising demand for compliant Bitcoin exposure outside ETFs.

  • Bybit has returned to the UK after a two-year absence by operating under a compliant promotion framework with Archax, showing how exchanges are reentering strict markets by adapting rather than fighting regulators.

Crypto rewards attention more than speed.

If you keep tracking where rules harden, products ship, and communities form, you stop reacting to moves—and start understanding why they happen.

Best Regards,
— Benjamin Vitaris
Crypto Intel