Axios Crypto

July 15, 2025
Happy all-time high week. I remember when these things hit at less than $20,000.
- It's Crypto Week in the House. None of the action has gone down yet, but we've already got our eyes on the weekend.
Today's newsletter is 1,027 words, a 4-minute read.
1 big thing: $450 million in TRUMP
This weekend may offer some clues into whether or not President Trump has any regrets about releasing a meme coin just before he took office.
Why it matters: Selling 200 million Official Trump (TRUMP) tokens on the Solana blockchain gave him multiple billions in paper wealth nearly instantly, but it has also been fodder for Democrats' cries of corruption, and even skepticism from some industry allies.
Driving the news: On Saturday, around $500 million worth of the president's meme coin, Official Trump, will unlock. That means they could theoretically get dumped on the market, earning millions and millions for the Trump family.
What we're watching: Whether or not they actually sell.
- If they don't, that could be a sign that the first family recognizes it has paid a high political price for profiting off the president's image.
- Forty million or so unlocked in April, too, but none of those have been sold.
- The originating smart contract still holds 80% of the supply. In other words, it's still just 200 million in the wild, even though small amounts unlock every day. None of that new supply has hit the market — yet.
- All 1 billion Trump tokens will unlock over a three-year period, but it remains to be seen if any more will ever be sold.
Yes, but: The team behind the token has not been idle. It just announced the token would go live on the Tron blockchain, which is popular for making small transactions globally, particularly in Asia.
- Tron's creator, Justin Sun, already one of the biggest holders of Official Trump, announced he would buy another $100 million worth.
The White House directed Axios to the Trump Organization for comment, but it did not reply.
The bottom line: If July 19 comes and goes and the original wallet still holds 80% of the total supply, it could be an indication of the complications of Trump's crypto embrace.
- Launching a meme coin might have been great for the Trumps' bottom line, but it made attaining their political goals more complex.
2. Charted: Circle's stock before GENIUS


Shares in Circle, the issuer of the second-largest stablecoin (USDC), have been on a wild ride the last few days.
Why it matters: For now, Circle is the only publicly traded stock giving investors pure exposure to stablecoins.
The big picture: Circle is pushing hard here in the final stretches to keep everyone focused on the potential.
What they're saying: "I think there is a genuine national security imperative with stablecoins, because effectively, the U.S. dollar, to varying degrees, is the currency of reference in this new form of internet money," Dante Disparte, Circle's head of global policy, tells Axios.
- "Until the Genius Act passes, foreign countries have clearer rules for digital dollars than the United States does."
Zoom out: Speaking of crypto stocks, Grayscale, which won U.S. investors the right to buy bitcoin ETFs, has confidentially filed for an IPO with the SEC.
3. 🧮 The BitcoinTreasuries.net website levels up
Companies are buying massive amounts of bitcoin, and a four-year-old data site is betting that investors will want high-quality information about those businesses.
Why it matters: It's hard for an investor who has conviction about this trend to decide which crypto-infused stock to invest in, but a site like this can be at the forefront of working out the key metrics.
The big picture: Companies following the lead of Michael Saylor's Strategy, Inc. (formerly Microstrategy), have been buying the world's oldest cryptocurrency as a way to get passive upside on their cash and to hedge against macro uncertainty.
- Bitcoin Treasuries has been quietly tracking publicly available data about companies and other major institutions that hold bitcoin, but it's gearing up to take the endeavor much more seriously.
- Started as a bootstrapped project by NVK, founder of Coinkite, it is announcing today that it brought on Pete Rizzo, former editor at CoinDesk and managing editor at Bitcoin Magazine (and your author's former boss), as CEO and partner, to lead product expansion for the company.
What they're saying: "Everybody is kind of sleeping on and being dismissive of this trend," Rizzo tells Axios.
Zoom out: There are roughly two kinds of companies that hold bitcoin these days.
- Companies like Tesla and Block Inc. that bought some as a side bet out of their excess profits.
- And others, like Metaplanet, that have made leveraged bets, often using convertible notes with downside protection for investors.
By the numbers: The site already sees interest growing, with traffic up 170% over the last 90 days and citations across major media.
The bottom line: "We see ourselves ultimately as the platform for educating and connecting the market participants," Rizzo says.
4. Catch up quick
🎲 The DOJ has ended its inquiry into Polymarket, the on-chain prediction market. (Bloomberg)
💊 As expected, the ICO for Solana's meme coin factory, Pump, was a blowout, raising $600 million faster than you can cancel your Netflix subscription. (PYMNTS)
🍊 Bitcoin has been setting and resetting highs, beating the prior all-time high by more than $10,000 in a few days. (The Defiant)
👋. Three Democrats are urging votes supporting this week's crypto legislation in the House. (Politico)
5. 🍫 Culture hash: Chocolobby
The crypto industry is pulling out all the stops to win the passage of legislation this week in the House, but Coinbase gets the prize for the sweetest stunt.
The big picture: They gave out chocolate bars, in coffee shops and in vending machines, with talking points in the style of those uniform info boxes that appear on all food and candy packaging.
What they're saying: "The CLARITY Act will create a roadmap as clear as nutrition facts, and that's something everybody should be able to support. Now is the time, and crypto voters are watching," Kara Calvert, vice president for U.S. policy at Coinbase, tells Axios.
Zoom out: Yesterday, the influential pro-crypto Cedar Innovation Foundation put out a statement saying, "We view the CLARITY Act as the most important vote members will take this Congress."
- This morning, Fairshake and its related PACs announced they had $141 million in cash on hand, with $52 million in new contributions and gains through the first half of the year.
- Coinbase has given the organization $25 million more this year, according to today's release.
This newsletter was edited by Ben Berkowitz and copy edited by Carolyn DiPaolo.
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