In this week’s edition of The Context, we look at the GENIUS Act’s bad press, PayPal’s bid to sideswipe credit cards, and media retrospectives for Ethereum’s 10th birthday.
[Not in on the act 🎭]
It’s been two weeks since President Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law, creating the United States’ first regulatory framework for stablecoins—cryptocurrencies designed to hold their value to a traditional currency (in this case, the dollar).
What Media Said 🧑💻:
Bloomberg (Allison Schrager): Stablecoins needed to be regulated, but “mainstreaming [them] is hardly a genius move.” It adds a lot of risk to the U.S. economy (which already has the best means of payment in the world—the dollar) for little gain (issuers will need to charge fees just like credit cards to turn a profit). The risk? Mainstreaming stables could make issuers the biggest buyers of Treasuries, as they must keep 1:1 reserves in cash or Treasuries, per the bill. “If there is ever a run on a large coin, all these Treasuries would need to be sold quickly — potentially causing a financial crisis or risking a bailout.”
WSJ (Amit Seru, Hoover Institution): That’s exactly right. Though the bill gets many things right—including consumer protection and reserves—Treasuries won’t be as “safe” as they appear if a crisis hits. Some argue “that by anchoring stablecoins to Treasuries, we’re simply concentrating systemic risk in a new corner, one that remains politically popular but operationally untested at scale.” It’s ironic, too. “The real promise of blockchain was to end trust dependencies. Instead, we are doubling down on them, now under federal supervision.”
New York Times (Thomas Edsall): With the signing of the GENIUS Act and other crypto legislation, President Trump has taken control of crypto regulations—and to his benefit. “The act bars members of Congress and most federal employees from entering the stablecoin business but exempts the president.” Since the president is active in stablecoins, this provides avenues for people to try to influence him in secret.
PR Perspective 🔎:
What? You thought everyone was going to break out cheering for stablecoin regulations? Opinion columnists invented the hot take; it’s their job to be provocative, yes, but also bring logical arguments. The people opining on economics for Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times (Barrons and the FT also had takedowns) are plenty smart and they’ve seen a lot go wrong. While it might be tempting to wave these opinions away as the last gasps of traditional finance’s ruling class, even better to use them to stress-test your messaging. Argue that their risk assessment is wrong, that the bill’s benefits outweigh the risks, that stables will make corruption more difficult. Just don’t blow off arguments you don’t like.
[Pal we dance? 🪭]
Payments platform PayPal announced Pay with Crypto, which lets small businesses in the U.S. accept over 100 cryptocurrencies as payment.
What Media Said 🧑💻:
The Block: Basically, customers can use a Coinbase, MetaMask, or other common wallet to buy anything with Bitcoin, FARTCOIN, or what have you. PayPal converts it on a crypto exchange and the merchant gets dollars. The transaction fee is 0.99% and will increase to 1.5% after a year, less than current credit card processing fees for merchants.
Fortune: “Among the Fortune 500, the fintech giant has been an early adopter of crypto.” In 2020, it allowed U.S. users to start buying and selling big cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. In 2023, it launched its own stablecoin, PYUSD, which is climbing toward a $1 billion market cap. “Now, as crypto markets are soaring and President Donald Trump’s administration casts a favorable eye on digital assets, it’s charging ahead.”
Cointelegraph:PayPal, which started disrupting the money transmission industry decades ago, is trying to “simplify cross-border transactions, which…are often expensive and challenging for small and medium-sized businesses.” There are others on the playing field. In October, Stripe unveiled a way for people to pay with USDC. Since June, it’s been working with Coinbase to streamline crypto onramps.
PR Perspective 🔎:
Good timing. PayPal's "Pay With Crypto" rollout is occurring right after Congress’ Crypto Week mainstreamed stablecoins and digital assets, so crypto payments are in the public consciousness. The launch, which is framed around empowering small businesses rather than speculative trading, positions the company as both innovative and practical; it’s solving real business problems—high international fees and slow settlements—while tapping into a $3 trillion crypto market. Moreover, by supporting everything from Bitcoin to memecoins like TRUMP, PayPal can appeal to mainstream and niche users alike. PR win.
[A perfect 10? 🔟]
The Ethereum network turned 10 years old this week. Media outlets looked back at Ethereum’s history—and peered into its future.
What Media Said 🧑💻:
Cointelegraph: Let’s look back at some of the highs and lows, shall we? Within a year of launching, Ethereum suffered a hack that led to the network splitting in two. But that didn’t slow ETH; it gained traction by allowing tokens—good, bad, or useless—to launch on top of it, riding the 2017-2018 ICO boom to new highs. After the inevitable “crypto winter” in 2019, people started seeing Ethereum as “the base layer of DeFi.” From there, it was on to NFTs in 2021, the Terra and FTX disasters of 2022, the rise in 2023 of layer 2 blockchains to ease network congestion, and exchange-traded funds in 2024.
CoinDesk: “When Ethereum launched on July 30, 2015, it set out to be more than just another cryptocurrency. It aimed to expand the boundaries of blockchain technology itself. While Bitcoin became digital gold, Ethereum pursued a more expansive vision: to be a decentralized ‘World Computer’—programmable, extensible, and open-ended.” Ten years later, “Ethereum now stands at an inflection point, as some of the world’s biggest financial institutions come into crypto through Ethereum’s rails.”
Indeed, stablecoin legislation, Circle’s IPO, Ether ETFs, and other developments mean “Ether has become more attractive to institutions” despite competition from newer chains like Solana. The network’s emphasis on maximum decentralization appears to be a strong factor in its favor as corporations look for infrastructure they can trust.
PR Perspective 🔎:
It’s great that outlets are telling Ethereum’s story. But a decentralized ecosystem means there’s a “missing narrative layer,” as YAP Global wrote Wednesday. “Projects speak in their voices. The Foundation speaks in another. The average user hears none of it. The result? A network that’s technically unified but narratively incoherent.” Ethereum ends up without a clear identity and seems more defined by the products built atop it. But we’ve got some ideas for Ethereum to try out in the next 10 years. Check out our full breakdown here.
[Tweet of The Week]
Credit - @ProofofIntern
Connect with YAP Global: Website, X & LinkedIn
The usual disclaimer: This newsletter collates the main themes and headlines of the week in DeFi/crypto/metaverse/Web3/NFT land and tries to provide unbiased context. It's aimed at anyone who wants to keep an eye on the space. It's put together by a team at YAP and doesn't contain any promotion of our clients (if one is mentioned, we'll flag that).
The team: Founder Samantha Yap and consulting editor Jeff Benson, Andrew Wickerson, Nathalie Larrea, Meghna Dembla, Samvidha Sharma, William Knight, Taylor Handler, Trisha Goswami and Shajar Qureshi. Your feedback is, as always, welcome. Ping us at thecontext@yapglobal.com. Old newsletters can be found here.
This newsletter is prepared by YAP Global, an international PR Consultancy focusing on helping cryptocurrency, Decentralised Finance (DeFi) and brands through impactful storytelling. Find out more about us here.