Tangle - "Crypto week" in Congress.

Episode Date: July 22, 2025

On Friday, President Donald Trump signed the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, the United States’s first major cryptocurrency legislation. The new law establishes a legal category and regulatory framework for stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency whose value is tied to a reference asset, like the price of gold or the U.S. dollar. As a result, banks, nonbanks, and credit unions will be able to participate in the stablecoin market and issue their own digital currencies. At a signing ceremony on Friday, President Donald Trump said the bill “creates a clear and simple regulatory framework to establish and unleash the immense promise of dollar-backed stablecoins. This could have been perhaps the greatest revolution in financial technology since the birth of the Internet.”Ad-free podcasts are here!Many listeners have been asking for an ad-free version of this podcast that they could subscribe to — and we finally launched it. You can go to ReadTangle.com to sign up!You can read today's podcast⁠ ⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠, our “Under the Radar” story ⁠here and today’s “Have a nice day” story ⁠here⁠.Take the survey: Would you invest in cryptocurrency? Let us know!Disagree? That's okay. My opinion is just one of many. Write in and let us know why, and we'll consider publishing your feedback.You can subscribe to Tangle by clicking here or drop something in our tip jar by clicking here. Our Executive Editor and Founder is Isaac Saul. Our Executive Producer is Jon Lall.This podcast was written by: Isaac Saul and edited and engineered by Dewey Thomas. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75.Our newsletter is edited by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, Senior Editor Will Kaback, Hunter Casperson, Kendall White, Bailey Saul, and Audrey Moorehead.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Say hello savings and goodbye worries with Freedom Mobile. Get 60 gigs to use in Canada, the US, and Mexico for just $39 a month. Plus get a one-time use of 5 gigs of Roam Beyond data. Conditions apply. Details at freedommobile.ca. From executive producer Isaac Saul, this is Tangle. Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening. And welcome to the Tangle podcast, a place where you get views from across the political spectrum, some independent thinking, and a little bit of our take.

I am your substitute host today, senior editor Will Kavak, and I'm filling in for Isaac while he's at a speaking engagement in Pennsylvania this morning. It's a really cool opportunity for him to talk about Tangle, some of the work that we're doing, our mission, the awesome community that we've built here. So he'll be back tomorrow. He can fill you in on that then.

But for now, I'm going to be jumping into the host chair to talk about our main story, which is cryptocurrency and the crypto legislation considered by Congress last week. There were three bills that passed the House. One of them, the Genius Act, was passed by the Senate and signed into law by President Trump on Friday. So we're going to be breaking down the implications of each of those explaining what they do, how they could impact the crypto sector and finance in the U.S. more broadly. Isaac has a really interesting nuanced take on this from some

personal experience that he has in cryptocurrency. So I think you'll appreciate his perspective there. Before we dive into the main topic, just wanted to flag that we've had a lot of really cool contributions from across the Tangle team in the past few weeks, specifically some great Friday pieces. Last month, our editorial fellow Hunter Kaspersen wrote a deep dive on genetic modification. A few weeks ago, editor-at-large Camille Foster authored an essay on America's racial reckoning. And last Friday, managing editor Ari Weitzman contributed an exploration of how the latest climate models differ with the public's understanding of climate change.

And of course, we had Isaac's, Five Things He Got Wrong About Trump piece from a couple of weeks ago, which drove a huge amount of engagement and criticism and feedback and some praise. And we took that response and we said, what if we flipped it and had Isaac write about five things he thinks he's gotten right so far in Trump's term, which was a very requested follow up from readers and listeners.

So we're going to do just that this Friday. Isaac will be penning five things I got right so far. And if you are not a premium listener and want to be able to hear this edition and Friday editions like the ones we've published in the past month and ones we're going to be publishing in the future, make sure to upgrade your membership ahead of Friday so you don't miss the piece. You can do that from the membership page on our website, reatangle.com, and you'll also get access to our full archives, the complete Tangle Sunday edition, and a lot more. All right. With that said, let's dive into today's topic on crypto and the Genius Act.

I'll pass it over to John to read the introduction to the topic, what the left and right are saying, and then I'll be back to read Isaac's take and the reader question. All right, John, over to you. Thanks, Will, and welcome everybody. Here are your quick hits for today. First up, the Israeli military expanded its ground operations in central Gaza, raiding a World Health Organization building and ordering residents of the city of Diyar al-Bala to evacuate.

Israel had previously avoided operations in the area out of concern that Hamas was previously avoided operations in the area out of concern that Hamas was holding hostages in the city. 2. The Trump administration released approximately 240,000 pages of records of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's surveillance of Martin Luther King, Jr., which had been sealed since 1977. 3. The Department of Defense ordered 700 Marines to leave Los Angeles approximately one month after they were deployed to the city in June to support Immigration and Customs Enforcement's

deportation operations amid protests. 4. A district judge sentenced former Louisville police officer Brett Hankinson to 33 months in prison for violating the civil rights of Breonna Taylor, who was killed in her home in a police raid in 2020. The judge rejected a last-minute request by the Justice Department to give Hankinson a one-day sentence. At number five, a district judge appeared skeptical that the Trump administration followed

proper processes in canceling $2.2 billion in federal research funding for Harvard University. President Trump is also taking a victory lap today, signing into law the first ever major federal cryptocurrency legislation. It was passed by the House yesterday and the Senate earlier this week with broad bipartisan support. The so-called Genius Act has been a key priority for the president once a crypto skeptic who now bills himself as the most pro crypto commander

in chief in history and whose family business is building and expanding cryptocurrency empire, even launching a meme coin earlier this year. This bill regulates just one specific kind of digital currency called stable coins, aimed at making them more accessible and more mainstream. On Friday, President Donald Trump signed the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation

for US Stable Coins, or GENIUS Act, the United States' first major cryptocurrency legislation. The new law establishes a legal category and regulatory framework for stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency whose value is tied to a reference asset like the price of gold or the US dollar. As a result, banks, non-banks, and credit unions will be able to participate in the stablecoin market and issue their own digital currencies. At a signing ceremony on Friday, President Donald Trump said the bill creates a clear

and simple regulatory framework to establish and unleash the immense promise of dollar-backed stablecoins. This could have been perhaps the greatest revolution in financial technology since the birth of the internet. In addition to the Genius Act, the House voted on Thursday to pass the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, or CLARITY Act, to further regulate digital assets, and the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act to prevent the Federal Reserve from issuing its own central bank digital currency. The Senate is now considering both bills.

For context, on July 3, the House Committee on Financial Services Chairman and Republican House leadership announced the week of July 14 would be Crypto Week, in which the chamber would consider all three cryptocurrency bills in an effort to pass the nation's first significant legislation on the sector. Trump criticized crypto during his first term, but changed course during the 2024 campaign and launched his own cryptocurrency shortly before his inauguration. In June, the Senate passed the Genius Act 68-30. On Thursday, the House voted 308-122 to pass the Genius Act. With all but 12 Republicans in support, 102 Democrats voted in favor, while 110 voted

against. The Clarity Act and the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act passed the chamber with smaller margins, 294 to 134 and 219 to 210 respectively. Earlier in the week, votes on the bill were significantly delayed after a group of conservative House Freedom Caucus members blocked a procedural vote to begin debate on several bills for approximately nine hours. The holdouts sought to link the anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act with the other two bills out of concern that the Senate would otherwise only pass the Genius and Clarity

Acts, arguing that the third bill was critical to addressing privacy concerns over the federal government's regulation of digital assets. House leadership eventually reached a deal with the members by promising the anti-CBDC bill would be linked to the Congress' annual defense policy bill. While the Genius Act passed both chambers of Congress with bipartisan support, some Democrats criticized the bill over concerns that it represented a conflict of interest for President Trump. The Genius Act will accelerate Trump's corruption by supercharging the size of the stable coin

market and the reach and profitability of Trump's USD-1, Senator Elizabeth Warren said in May. For the first time in American history, this bill will make our President, Donald Trump, the regulator of his own financial product. Today, we'll share views on the legislation from the right, left, and finance industry, and then Isaac's tape. We'll be right back after this quick break. Say hello savings and goodbye worries with Freedom Mobile. Get 60 gigs to use in Canada, the US, and Mexico for just $39 a month.

Plus get a one-time use of 5 gigs of Roam Beyond data. Conditions apply. Details at freedommobile.ca. All right. First up, let's start with what the right is saying. The right supports the bill, arguing it will offer everyday Americans new financial opportunities. Some say the Senate's vote on the Clarity Act will determine how impactful the Genius Act is.

In The Washington Examiner, Steve Cortes called the Genius Act, key to protecting your wallet and preserving the dollar. The Genius Act will produce safe, legal, digital dollars called stable coins that are tied one to one to the real US dollar. It will keep America's money strong and competitive with the currencies of adversarial nations such as China. Right now, trillions of dollars flow across borders

every day, more and more of this is happening digitally. If America doesn't lead in this space, someone else will and we might not like the results, Cordes said. China understands this. That's why its own stablecoin law takes effect in August. If the dollar loses its edge, everyday Americans will be the first to suffer. When the world stops using the dollar as the standard for trade and finance, it risks weakening America's purchasing power, fueling inflation, and raising the price of just about everything," Cordes wrote. The bill doesn't hand the reins to Washington

bureaucrats or the Federal Reserve. Instead, it encourages private companies, backed by American money and American law, to produce these much-needed digital assets. This is exactly the kind of solution conservatives should rally behind. In the dispatch, Alex DeMass and Charles Hillew said, the bill's passage represents a major milestone for crypto regulation. For the crypto industry, the passage of the Genius Act is a major milestone on the path to legitimization and a broader adoption of digital currency among both consumers and traditional financial institutions," DeMass and Hilley wrote. In the wake of the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX, the Biden administration took

a combative stance toward the crypto industry, opting to prosecute large crypto firms for fraud and securities violations rather than encourage legislative action. Still, Congress has made progress on the issue issue despite concerns about Trump's ties to it. The Bipartisan Genius Act signals a change in how the industry will be regulated moving forward, away from reactive prosecution and toward proactive legislation. Stablecoin legislation is a major milestone, but it's also only the first step down a long and complicated regulatory road for the crypto industry.

The main event moving forward will be the Clarity Act, a market structure bill designed to regulate the broader crypto ecosystem, DeMoss and Hilley wrote. Under current law, there is no clear guidance on when a digital asset is a security and when it is a commodity, meaning the industry faces widespread uncertainty as to which agency regulates products and what compliance entails. The Clarity Act seeks to establish the rules of the road and clarify the SEC's and CFTC's roles in regulating digital assets. Alright, that is it for what the right is saying, which brings us to what the left is saying.

The left is skeptical of the bill's value, suggesting that it fails to address key concerns about integrating crypto into traditional financial markets. Others criticize House Republicans for acquiescing to Trump's will, despite principled objections to the legislation. In Bloomberg, Allison Schrager wrote, regulating stablecoins will take a genius act, and this isn't it. While there is a need for some regulation, as some retailers are considering issuing their own stablecoins, mainstreaming the cryptocurrency is hardly a genius move, Schrager said.

Cryptocoin issuers are very similar to the banks in the 1830s, which also issued their own currencies and were regulated by the states. In a similar spirit, under the Genius Act, companies that issue less than $10 billion worth of coins would also be regulated by the states, while the Federal Reserve would regulate bigger issuers. The thing about the 1830s from a financial standpoint is that they were very chaotic. Constant oversight was necessary because any hint of currency devaluation created bank runs and failures.

States had different standards, and several underregulated their local banks, creating a lack of confidence in the system, Schrieger wrote. Mainstreaming stablecoins also poses risks to the financial system. Stablecoin issuers are already becoming a major source of demand for U.S. Treasuries. Tether purchased more than $33 billion of them last year and now owns more than Germany. If the market takes off, some banks estimate stablecoin issuers could be a captive buyer for trillions of dollars in Treasuries. In the American Prospect, David Day and suggested Crypto Week revealed the ditto had Congress.

For a moment, it looked like Crypto Week was poised to become the national punchline that Infrastructure Week was in Trump's first term. For two straight days, Freedom Caucus members blocked the rule for debate in the House that set up votes on the three bills, Dayen said. Leaders of the House committees with jurisdiction over crypto wanted to put their stamp on these bills and even bundle them together into one big crypto package. But Senate leaders warned this would mean nothing would pass,

and the House leadership backed up their colleagues in the other chamber. That meant that the Freedom Caucus' priority, the anti-CBDC bill, could be abandoned in the ping-ponging between the House and the Senate. So the Freedom Caucus held up the rule. But hours after this got going, it was over. The anti-CBDC bill could be abandoned in the ping-ponging between the House and the Senate, so the Freedom Caucus held up the rule. But hours after this got going, it was over. The House agreed to link the anti-CBDC bill to the National Defense Authorization Act,

a perennial must-pass package. But unlike virtually everything else in Congress, the NDAA goes through a conference committee where priorities often fall out, Dayan wrote. It's time to stop calling the Freedom Caucus hardliners. They fall over in a mild breeze, and everyone knows it. The rest of the House Republicans got rolled as well. The Senate isn't very likely to take up their Clarity Act, and they had to eat the Senate's Genius Act without changes. Alright, that's it for what the right and the left are saying, which brings us to what the finance

industry is saying. Some in the crypto industry say the right and the left are saying, which brings us to what the finance industry is saying. Some in the crypto industry say the bill is a great first step, but more legislation will eventually be needed. Others suggest the bill will improve the global financial system. In Cointelegraph, Bill Hughes said the Clarity Act isn't perfect, but supported its passage. Some critics believe clarity is nothing more than an early Christmas gift to the crypto industry. That is simply not true.

Lawmakers have urged the crypto industry to walk the walk in the US, not just talk the talk when it comes to regulation. At the same time, the blockchain industry has insisted on smartly tailored rules applying to disintermediated computer networks, Hughes wrote. Clarity meets both challenges and more, as it sets up a high bar for decentralization and an aggressive timeline for projects to meet it. This is a good result. Clarity is not a sweetheart deal.

There are some provisions with which the blockchain world categorically disagrees. For example, a recent draft does not permit blockchain developers to make software that facilitates peer-to-peer transactions in commodity futures and derivatives products. Those markets would remain intermediated," Hughes said. That would be a mistake, but one that can hopefully be fixed by an amendment or future policy efforts. No bill is perfect. This bill will have bad provisions regardless of how hard sponsors work on it. The payment staff wrote, The Genius Act makes stablecoins business-ready.

Stablecoins were never meant to replace your credit card at the corner store. That's a nice story for crypto optimists, but it misses the real utility taking shape in the shadows of the global economy. Where central banks wobble, currencies inflate, and cross-border wires take days, stablecoins offer something more basic. A dollar global firms can actually use, the staff said. Stablecoins aren't exactly poised to upend Visa. It's tremendously unlikely that they could replace the dollar, but they might just change

how global enterprises access, store, and move that dollar, especially in places where trust is scarce and banking is broken. Stablecoins aren't competing with existing payments infrastructure. They're integrating with it. Just as the internet didn't replace telephones overnight but made it digital voice over IP, stablecoins digitize and modernize how value moves. Even if the user interface, Visa card or Apple Pay stays the same, the staff wrote. Still, risks remain.

Not all stablecoins are equal. Tether, for example, has long avoided full disclosure on its reserves. staff wrote, still risks remain. Not all stable coins are equal. Tether, for example, has long avoided full disclosure on its reserves. The Genius Act will force clarity, at least for US issuers. All right, let's pass it over to Will for Isaac's Take. Thanks, John. All right, here is Isaac's take.

First, let me start off with the same disclosure that I gave in March when we wrote about the potential for a cryptocurrency reserve. In 2014, I was a journalist living paycheck to paycheck in Harlem when a friend tried to convince me to invest in Ethereum, one of the burgeoning cryptocurrencies at the time. I resisted until he made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

He matched my $1,000 with $1,000 of his own on the promise that if, or when, according to him, my investment multiplied by 10, I'd take him on an all-expenses paid trip to Europe. I trusted him and took the leap. A year later, our $2,000 was worth $120,000. The timing was perfect. I cashed out most of my cryptocurrency, bought some land in West Texas, invested the rest in the stock market, and relied heavily on it as a safety net when I launched Tangle. Cryptocurrency changed my life. It handed me the kind of wealth and head start I never would have gotten otherwise,

not from work, family, or anything else. I am incredibly lucky and grateful that this was my crypto experience, especially when so many other people have been scammed or taken advantage of. I share this both as a journalistic disclosure as I still own cryptocurrency, and also to explain how my experience biases how I see many of these stories. In March, I explained why I thought the crypto reserve idea was very bad.

It opened the door to cartoonish levels of corruption, it played favorites, it was hated by even the most optimistic crypto enthusiasts, and it was very clearly designed to benefit Trump and his family and his friends. Now the Genius Act has a very different design. Rather than invest the government into cryptocurrencies, the bill brings order to the market. It more directly reduces the uncertainty in this space, creates a rulebook for stable

coins, and ensures that many cryptocurrencies will be backed by the U.S. dollar. In simple terms, this is the act that brings, well, clarity. However, it is going to have the same main effect that the reserve would have had. It will juice the cryptocurrency market and make anyone holding cryptocurrency, myself included, a lot more money. In a lot of ways, the Genius Act's achievements are obviously good. The crypto industry spent four years begging President Biden and Congress to help them regulate the space and got basic hostility in return. The crypto company Coinbase literally sued the Securities and Exchange Commission just to get clarity about what the rules were.

This administration and this Congress are at least trying to provide that structure. Now, hundreds of millions of people who own crypto across the world will benefit. 34% of crypto owners are 25 to 34 years old, according to the digital payments company AAA, which means a spike in cryptocurrency prices and some stability in the markets could create a new generation of wealth. The Genius Act introduces some new protections into the market, such as requiring holders of stablecoins to keep money in safe reserve assets and ensuring stablecoin issuers observe some money laundering

laws. The law has real enforceable provisions. It forbids stablecoin issuers from making false claims about their security, includes bankruptcy provisions to protect stablecoin holders, and requires the Department of Treasury to work with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, FINCEN, to issue hard regulation on crypto within three years. These are unambiguously helpful guardrails. However, the law's protections are overshadowed by its vulnerabilities. First, as Tulane Professor Ryan Peters explained in an article in Payments

Dive, nothing in the recently passed legislation provides sufficient measures to create more transparency and consumer protection. Instead, issuers of these stablecoins will be able to effectively function as banks, but without the same kind of security and assurances for consumers. Corey Freyer, the director of Investment Protection for the Consumer Federation of America, made a simple point about why the Genius Act doesn't go nearly far enough. Frayer told NBC, quote, "'The reason you would never recommend

"'your grandmother use a stablecoin "'is she would have to give away a dollar "'that's protected by the federal government "'and deposit insurance, "'and which comes with a ton of consumer protections "'and which pays interest in her banking account in exchange for a stablecoin that doesn't have any of those things." Second, the conflict of interest provision included in the Genius Act only applies to

members of Congress and senior executive branch officials, not the vice president or president. This is particularly relevant given President Trump is currently ballooning his wealth to the tune of $3.3 billion through cryptocurrencies. And as I've written previously, the Trump crypto push is one of the biggest presidential scandals I can remember. Yet it gets a fraction of the attention it deserves. To highlight just one example, the Trump family is the majority owner of World Liberty Financial, a crypto startup co-founded by Zach Witkoff, son of Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff.

World Liberty Financial issued a new stable coin called USD1 in March. That stable coin is about to get way, way more valuable on the heels of this legislation, and not to mention it was already very conveniently selected by an Ahudabi investment firm for a two billion dollar investment. Lastly the other crypto bill recently passed in the house the Clarity Act is even more worrisome. Its fate is still uncertain in the Senate but if passed it will allow cryptocurrencies to mature to a commodity stage where they will no longer be regulated by the SEC which is bound to create more bad behavior in the industry that already has plenty of it.

Every contact I have in the cryptocurrency sector effectively told me that this is good for us in the sense that it will create less oversight in the long term. Now, I'm certainly happy the government is allowing some innovation in the space to flourish and defining clear rules without being too heavy handed. But this isn't 2017. Crypto is less an emerging industry than a space with a proven track record as a playground for fraud. Thieves and scammers are omnipresent, the landscape is choked by meme coins, and even though the government has finally provided guardrails, it's still not doing enough to protect consumers from these dangers, especially those desperate to make a quick

buck or build up their savings. Any new legislation must introduce regulations that deal with these realities, or a lot more people are going to get hurt. Unfortunately, I think this legislation ultimately falls short. Like any law, the Genius Act is a decidedly mixed bag. It is a good step forward to regulate an industry that needs it and obviously isn't going anywhere. New opportunities to reduce payment fees or globalize the digital economy further abound. The value of digital currencies will spike and benefit a lot of people who hold crypto. So I'm glad

for all of this. And I should say clearly that the crypto space broadly shouldn't be punished with too strict regulation because of its worst actors or because Trump is taking advantage of this moment for his own personal gain. Nor should it be punished for spending hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying Congress the same way every other industry does. But at the same time, if the Treasury and Thinsen don't develop toothsome regulations, especially ones that can protect investors, the bill will function as a green light for some of the worst actors

to get much richer much more quickly while taking advantage of a lot of people who don't understand cryptocurrencies or recognize the risks they present. Unfortunately, that is a lot of people. We'll be right back after this quick break. a lot of people. Plus, get a one-time use of 5 gigs of Roam Beyond data. Condition supply details at freedommobile.ca. All right. Now for our reader question. This one comes from Camp in Rapid City, South Dakota. It's obviously apparent our climate is changing and oceans are getting warmer. But is the cause atmospheric carbon emissions or core-of-the-earth admissions, like the massive Hungatanga undersea volcano eruption from January 2022, after which there were all kinds of bizarre climate changes?

Here's our response. One technique we used in our Friday edition on climate change was what our editor-at-large, Camille Foster, calls Marley's razor after the late great Bob Marley, which states, I may have shot the sheriff, but I did not in fact shoot the deputy. Using Marley's razor, we can say that while one thing may indeed be true, it does not mean that something else

it implies is also true. And we can use the sheriff deputy technique again here for this question. Here's the sheriff, what's true. As several people wrote in to say in response to the edition, the Hunga Tanga volcano that erupted off the coast of Tanga in January of 2022 caused a massive change in the local environment.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences said that local readings of atmospheric CO2 increased by two parts per million, the equivalent of a year's worth of global emissions. Furthermore, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, NOAA, found that the ozone layer above the volcano had massively depleted and that the volcano had released about 150 million tons of water vapor, the gas responsible for the most heating of any greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere.

However, here's the deputy what's not proven. This massive eruption is not responsible for warming the planet. Even though Hungatanga released a massive amount of carbon into the atmosphere for a single event, on an annual global scale, it barely registered. Volcanologist Simon Karn estimated it released 2-5 million tons of CO2, and by comparison, humans emit roughly 36.8 billion tons of CO2 every year, which is at least 73,600 times more. Additionally, even though water vapor is a powerful greenhouse gas, it is very short-lived in the atmosphere and tends to dissipate quickly.

And as we wrote on Friday, since atmospheric aerosols tend to reflect light away from the planet, volcanic eruptions often have a net cooling effect overall. Researchers from Texas A&M, UCLA, the Science and Technology Corporation in Maryland, and NASA all found that the Honga Tonga eruption caused very slight cooling overall in the southern hemisphere in 2022. In short, even though a single volcano emits a massive amount of CO2, the particulate matter it expels produces more cooling through reflection than heating through the greenhouse effect.

And the net effect of vulcanization on global emissions annually is not significant. Alright, that is it for today's reader question. I'll send it back over to John to take us home. Have a great day. Thanks, Will. Here's your Under the Radar story for today, folks. On Thursday, a tank shell struck the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza, killing three

people and wounding ten others. Israel said the strike was an accident and apologized, but the incident prompted rebukes from faith leaders across the globe. On Friday, Cardinal Pier Battista Pissaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, and Theophilus III, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, led a delegation to the compound to assist the rescue efforts at the church, which has provided aid and shelter for Christians and Muslims in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas War.

Furthermore, Pope Leo XIV spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone, and reiterated the urgent need to protect places of worship and especially the faithful and all people in Palestine and Israel, according to the Holy See Press Office. The Hill has this story and there's a link in today's episode description. Alright, next up is our numbers section.

The approximate total market value of stablecoins in 2020 was $20 billion. In May of 2025, it was $246 billion. The approximate market value of Tether's stablecoin is $161 billion, roughly 62% of the total stablecoin market. The approximate value of Circle's stablecoin is $64 billion, roughly 25% of the total stablecoin market. The estimated value of Donald Trump's personal cryptocurrency holdings as of June is $6.9 billion, according to a Bloomberg analysis.

The estimated amount that Trump's cryptocurrency holdings have added to his net worth in recent months is $620 million. According to a February 2024 Pew Research poll, 17% of Americans say they have invested in, traded, or used a cryptocurrency, and 63% of Americans say that they have little to no confidence that current ways to invest, trade, or use cryptocurrencies are reliable and safe. And last but not least, our Have a Nice Day story. Two people rode into harbor in Hilo, Hawaii late Sunday night.

53-year-old UK Special Forces veteran Tim Crockett and his 18-year-old son Harrison. The two had just spent the last 48 days on the ocean, rowing from Sausalito, California on June 3 and crossing 2,400 nautical miles. Tim and Harrison are the first father and son duo to row the Mid-Pacific crossing, and Harrison is now the youngest to do so. Next up for them, launching a program to raise funds for veterans with PTSD and traumatic brain injuries called Road to Recovery. SFist has this story and there's a link in today's episode description.

Alright everybody, that is it for today's episode. As always, if you'd like to support our work, please go to retangle.com where you can sign up for a newsletter membership, podcast membership, or a bundle membership that gets you a discount on both. We'll be right back here tomorrow. For Isaac and the rest of the crew, this is John Law signing off. Have a great day, y'all. Peace. Our executive editor and founder is me, Isaac Saul, and our executive producer is John Lull.

Today's episode was edited and engineered by Dewey Thomas. Our editorial staff is led by managing editor, Ari Weitzman, with senior editor, Will K. Back, and associate editors, Hunter Kaspersen, Audrey Moorhead, Bailey Saul, Lindsay Knuth, and Kendall White. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75. To learn more about Tangle and to sign up for a membership, please visit our website at retangle.com. Say hello savings and goodbye worries with Freedom Mobile.

Get 60 gigs to use in Canada, the US and Mexico for just $39 a month. Plus get a one-time use of 5 gigs of Roam Beyond data. Conditions apply. Details at freedommobile.ca. Discover the magic of BetMGM Casino, where the excitement is always on deck. Pull up a seat and check out a wide variety of table games with a live dealer. From roulette to blackjack, watch as a dealer hosts your table game and live chat with them throughout your experience to feel like you're actually at

the casino. The excitement doesn't stop there, with over 3,000 games to choose from including fan favorites like Cash Eruption, UFC Gold Blitz, and more. Make deposits instantly to jump in on the fun and make same day withdrawals if you win. Download the BetMGM Ontario app today. You don't want to miss out. Visit betmgm.com for terms and conditions. 19 plus to wager Ontario only. Please gamble responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an

advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario.