Alpha Analysis

U.S. Congress Restarts Legislative Process, Aiming to Pass Cryptocurrency Bills by August

Overview
After reconvening in the spring, the U.S. Congress has placed cryptocurrency legislation high on its agenda, aiming to complete the legislative work for stablecoins and market structure bills by August. The House of Representatives and the Senate are each advancing new draft proposals while coordinating on the ongoing stablecoin legislative process.

Detailed Summary
Following a two-week Easter recess, U.S. lawmakers have returned to Capitol Hill, prioritizing digital asset legislation. The House Financial Services Committee and the Agriculture Committee have scheduled a joint hearing on May 6, themed “The Future of American Innovation and Digital Assets: A 21st Century Blueprint.” According to French Hill, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, the FIT21 market structure bill is being updated, with a discussion draft expected to be released soon. Meanwhile, the Senate is also working on a new version that incorporates elements from the Lummis-Gillibrand bill. In addition, in the area of stablecoins, the Senate’s GENIUS Act and the House’s STABLE Act are seeking consolidation efforts to produce a final version acceptable to both chambers. French Hill emphasized that, although differences remain, both sides are committed to continuing dialogue to reach a consensus.

Implications
For cryptocurrency investors, this legislative process could present multiple opportunities. On one hand, a clear compliance pathway would reduce uncertainties around project operations and capital flows, helping attract more traditional capital and accelerating the revaluation of high-quality assets. On the other hand, the dominant position of U.S. dollar stablecoins in global payments, DeFi, and cross-border settlements is expected to strengthen further, potentially ushering in growth opportunities for related ecosystem projects and infrastructure providers. If the legislation passes successfully, market sentiment is likely to improve, making it worthwhile for investors to focus on compliance-friendly platforms, stablecoin ecosystem projects, and high-quality crypto assets closely tied to the U.S. market.[1]

Tether Releases Q1 Audit Report for XAU₮, Gold Reserves Surpass 7.7 Tons

Overview
Tether has published the first independent attestation report for Tether Gold (XAU₮) for the first quarter of 2025, confirming that each XAU₮ token in circulation is backed by one ounce of physical gold, with total reserves exceeding 7.7 tons. Amid rising macroeconomic uncertainty, XAU₮ offers global users a reliable digital gold alternative beyond traditional stablecoins.

Detailed Summary
As of April 28, 2025, Tether Gold (XAU₮) remains the world’s largest and most compliant physical gold-backed token by market capitalization. According to the attestation report, XAU₮ currently corresponds to 246,523.33 ounces of gold stored in world-class vaults in Switzerland, with each token maintaining a 1:1 backing by one ounce of gold. In the first quarter, the market capitalization of XAU₮ grew to $770 million, with the token price reaching an all-time high of $3,423 on April 21. Tether noted that the growth of XAU₮ has been primarily driven by global economic turmoil, geopolitical tensions, and heightened demand for inflation hedging. They also emphasized that the actual quantity of gold reserves is more critical than price volatility. Currently, XAU₮ has secured regulatory approval in El Salvador. Tether continues to collaborate with global law enforcement agencies to further enhance transparency and regulatory compliance.

Implications
Against the backdrop of the U.S. dollar’s global dominance being challenged and central banks accelerating gold reserve accumulation, Tether Gold (XAU₮) is gradually establishing itself as a digital representation of gold assets. With real physical reserves, strong regulatory compliance, and seamless on-chain liquidity, XAU₮ not only upholds gold’s traditional role as a safe-haven asset but also provides digital asset investors with a new allocation option. For crypto investors, XAU₮ offers two major opportunities: First, holding XAU₮ enables easy on-chain participation in global gold asset allocation, helping to hedge against macroeconomic uncertainty and inflation risk; Second, as an alternative value anchor beyond stablecoins, XAU₮ can enhance portfolio resilience and hedging capabilities against market volatility. As regulatory frameworks expand across more countries and traditional capital increasingly recognizes digital gold, the potential demand for XAU₮ and its related ecosystem is expected to grow further, making it worthy of medium- to long-term attention.[2]

Mastercard Advances Stablecoin Integration, Supporting Global Payments and Settlements

Overview
Mastercard has announced the integration of stablecoins into its global payment network, enabling consumers to spend stablecoins directly from their crypto wallets and allowing merchants to accept and settle payments in stablecoins. The initiative will cover more than 150 million merchants worldwide.

Detailed Summary
Mastercard stated that in the future, consumers will be able to use stablecoins stored in their crypto wallets to pay for goods and services via traditional bank cards. Additionally, through the “Mastercard Move” payment service, stablecoins can be withdrawn to linked bank accounts. Currently supported stablecoins include USDC issued by Circle and stablecoins issued by Paxos. As the U.S. Congress progresses with stablecoin legislation, an increasing number of financial institutions are accelerating their involvement in the stablecoin sector. Data shows that as of now, the total supply of U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins exceeded $230 billion, and the global stablecoin transaction volume surpassed $5.1 trillion in the first half of 2024.

Implications
Mastercard’s integration of stablecoins into the global payment system marks a major step toward moving stablecoin payments from pilot programs into mainstream adoption. As the legislative environment gradually clarifies, stablecoins are poised to play a critical role in cross-border payments, merchant settlements, and digital economic circulation, serving as a vital bridge between crypto assets and traditional finance. For crypto investors, this trend signals rapidly growing investment opportunities surrounding stablecoin infrastructure, payment gateways, on-chain settlement technologies, and the broader U.S. dollar stablecoin ecosystem. Especially as the digitalization of global trade accelerates, high-quality, compliant projects are expected to benefit from sustained capital and user inflows.[3]

VC Activities

According to RootData, only one project publicly announced funding over the past 24 hours, involving the blockchain security sector. The financing amount was not disclosed. Here are the details of the funding event: [4]

Ika

Ika completed a strategic funding round with participation from Sui. The exact amount of funding was not disclosed.
Ika is an innovative company focused on blockchain security interoperability, specializing in developing the world’s fastest parallel MPC (Multi-Party Computation) network. By pioneering a 2PC-MPC encryption scheme, Ika has broken through the traditional performance bottlenecks of MPC technology, achieving sub-second latency, extreme scalability, and zero-trust security guarantees. Ika’s network can support hundreds to thousands of signing nodes, enhancing decentralization while maintaining high-speed processing capabilities.

Use of Funds
The proceeds from this round will primarily support two directions: First, continuing to advance the research and development of its parallel MPC technology, particularly in improving network throughput, reducing latency, and strengthening decentralized security. Ika plans to further optimize its 2PC-MPC encryption scheme and expand the scale of signing nodes, ensuring it can support large-scale cross-chain operations while maintaining sub-second processing speeds and robust asset security. Second, accelerating ecosystem expansion and application integration, including promoting technical integration for more DeFi, decentralized custody, chain abstraction, and AI agent protection projects on the Sui blockchain.[5]

Opportunity Analysis
As the multi-chain ecosystem expands and cross-chain asset demand grows, Ika’s focus on parallel MPC technology demonstrates notable application potential for enhancing blockchain interoperability and security. Its low latency, high scalability, and zero-trust architecture make it a strong candidate for practical deployment in areas such as DeFi, cross-chain bridges, chain abstraction, and AI agent protection. If Ika’s technologies achieve large-scale adoption across mainstream blockchain ecosystems, it could drive further development in cross-chain asset management and on-chain security mechanisms.

Airdrop Updates

Ika

Ika is the first sub-second MPC network within the Sui ecosystem, capable of operating at speeds exceeding 10,000 TPS while maintaining zero-trust security characteristics. It focuses on coordinating multi-chain assets and enhancing liquidity. Ika has received support from the Sui Foundation and has already raised over $21 million in total funding. It is currently running an airdrop campaign through the GiveRep platform. Ika is conducting an airdrop program for SUI holders, allowing participants to earn Ink Droplets (points) by staking SUI and completing tasks—the more points accumulated, the greater the future Ika airdrop rewards.[6]

How to Participate

1. Stake your $SUI to receive $iSUI.
2. Visit the task platform to complete locked tasks and earn Ink Droplets.
3. Complete additional tasks (such as submitting a wallet address) to increase your airdrop rewards.

Note
The airdrop plan and participation methods may change at any time. Users are advised to follow Ika’s official channels for the latest updates. At the same time, participants should exercise caution, be mindful of risks, and conduct thorough research before participating. Gate.io does not guarantee the issuance of any future airdrop rewards.

References:

1. Crypto America, https://www.cryptoinamerica.com/p/back-to-work-congress-races-to-finalize?selection=bf52c67d-49a3-41f2-9f2b-ea3307ef5614&triedRedirect=true
2. Tether, https://tether.io/news/tether-reports-xau₮-grows-amid-shifting-monetary-landscape-releases-its-first-attestation-for-q1-2025-more-than-7-7-tons-of-physical-gold-backing-the-token-in-circulation/
3. The Block, https://www.theblock.co/post/352271/mastercard-moves-to-integrate-stablecoins-into-global-payments-network
4. Rootdata, https://www.rootdata.com/Fundraising
5. Rootdata, https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/Ika?k=NDc1MQ%3D%3D
6. X, https://x.com/Airdrop_Adv/status/1916999693667864839

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Disclaimer
Investing in the cryptocurrency market involves high risk, and it is recommended that users conduct independent research and fully understand the nature of the assets and products they are purchasing before making any investment decisions. Gate.io is not responsible for any losses or damages caused by such investment decisions.