It was a busy week in the world of crypto, featuring significant product launches, discussions on Ethereum, advances in stablecoin legislation, and high-profile Congressional hearings focused on “debanking.”

David Sacks, the Crypto and AI Czar, organized a notable press conference alongside Senate leadership, as Senator Hagerty from Tennessee rolled out a new stablecoin bill. This bill proposes an oversight regime for stablecoin issuance, building upon a previous version that passed the House last year but stalled in the Senate. Its chances of passing have improved now that the Republicans are in charge. CoinDesk’s Jesse Hamilton reported on this development.

Additionally, Senate hearings scrutinized policies from institutions like the FDIC that denied crypto companies financial services during the Biden administration. During these sessions, Nathan McCauley, CEO of Anchorage Digital, offered testimony. His experiences were detailed in another piece on CoinDesk.

In other news, Ondo Finance launched a new tokenization blockchain in anticipation of increased institutional interest. Kris Sandor and Helene Braun covered this story. Following this, Trump-backed World Liberty Financial swiftly acquired $470,000 worth of ONDO tokens.

In that same week, Berachain launched a mainnet along with a substantial token airdrop. At the time, BERA’s market cap exceeded $800 million.

Ethereum, however, faced challenges, as reports noted its competition with networks like Solana and a lack of a compelling narrative. JPMorgan highlighted this in their analysis, suggesting that Ethereum has underperformed lately.

As Bitcoin continues to be referred to as “digital gold,” the rally in traditional gold prices has also benefited gold-backed cryptocurrencies, outperforming Bitcoin itself this year.

Lastly, Alexey Pertsev, a developer behind Tornado Cash, was released from jail pending an appeal regarding his previous sentencing.