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Welcome to this week’s Web3 Digest — where signals break through the noise. From mining margins under pressure to whales quietly stacking ETH, the crypto markets are full of quiet moves with loud implications. Regulatory clarity is accelerating, stablecoins are going mainstream, and institutional DeFi is no longer theoretical — it’s on the books. Here's what moved the needle this week, let’s dive in.
According to the latest report from TheMinerMag, the average cost of mining one Bitcoin rose from $52,000 in Q4 2024 to $64,000 in Q1 2025. In Q2 2025, it surged past $70,000 — a 34% increase over just two quarters.
This jump is driven by record-high hashrates and rising electricity prices, putting serious pressure on less efficient miners. Yet industry leaders like Marathon Digital and CleanSpark are not only weathering the storm — they’re scaling up. Many are also adopting a BTC-holding strategy, choosing to retain mined coins instead of selling, signaling long-term conviction in Bitcoin’s value. Case in point: Marathon mined 950 BTC in May alone, up 35% month-over-month, during a time of extreme network difficulty and market volatility.
With less than 7% of Bitcoin’s total supply left to be mined, the race for the remaining coins is tightening — and only the most efficient players will survive the squeeze.
Despite muted price action this week, ETH has emerged as a top target for crypto whales, as the market navigates heightened volatility. According to IntoTheBlock, ETH's netflow from large holders surged by over 7,000% over the past seven days. Netflow tracks the difference between the amount of tokens whales are buying and selling within a given period. A spike of this magnitude signals strong accumulation — suggesting rising confidence and a bullish outlook on ETH from large-scale investors.
The U.S. Senate has officially passed the GENIUS Act with a 68–30 vote — marking the first major bipartisan effort to federally regulate stablecoins. The bill lays out clear rules for "payment stablecoins," requiring them to be fully backed by U.S. dollars or Treasuries, subject to strict audits, AML/KYC compliance, and limitations on issuance by Big Tech firms. It’s a landmark moment for the crypto industry, finally giving legal clarity to one of its fastest-growing sectors.
The market responded quickly: shares of Circle surged over 15%, signaling investor confidence in regulated stablecoin infrastructure. Analysts also noted potential knock-on effects for Treasury markets, as mandated reserve backing could increase demand for short-term U.S. debt and even place downward pressure on yields. If the House follows through, this legislation could make stablecoins a core part of U.S. financial infrastructure — bridging crypto and traditional finance in a regulated, scalable way.
Polymarket users are putting serious weight behind stablecoin regulation moving forward: 89% — that’s the current market confidence in the GENIUS Act becoming law by 2025.
More public companies are beginning to treat crypto assets not just as speculative plays — but as strategic reserve assets. In a notable shift, NSADAQ listed firms like Eyenovia and Lion Group are building treasury strategies around $HYPE.
Eyenovia has announced a $50 million private placement to accumulate over 1 million HYPE tokens as part of its corporate treasury strategy and validator participation in the Hyperliquid network. The company plans to become one of Hyperliquid’s top validators, leveraging staking and secure custody through Anchorage Digital. With this move, Eyenovia becomes the first publicly listed U.S. company to hold HYPE on its balance sheet.
Lion Group has launched an ambitious crypto treasury strategy backed by $600 million in reserves, positioning HYPE as its primary asset. Following the announcement, the company’s stock surged by nearly 20%, reflecting growing investor appetite for altcoin exposure beyond Bitcoin.
Why It Matters
Stablecoins have processed over $33 trillion in the past 12 months — nearly 20× PayPal and 3× Visa — and it’s not just volume that matters, but utility: sending a dollar now takes under 1 second and costs less than 1 cent. Especially when compared to traditional payment options, it’s not even close.
How We Got Here:
Stables are no longer just a crypto tool — they’re becoming core financial infrastructure.
In its latest quarterly report, cryptocurrency exchange MEXC revealed a staggering 200% increase in fraudulent trading activity between January and March 2025. The spike was largely driven by social engineering scams targeting new, inexperienced users unfamiliar with crypto trading risks.
The report identified over 80,000 coordinated fraud attempts linked to more than 3,000 fraudulent syndicates. These schemes included market manipulation, wash trading, and automated trading bots exploiting users through deceptive order execution and rigged interactions.
According to MEXC, the lack of user education remains the primary driver behind this rise in fraud — particularly in regions with large populations of first-time crypto users. Fraud was most heavily concentrated in India (33%), followed by CIS countries (8%) and Indonesia (7%), with the remaining 52% spread across other regions. The most dramatic growth was seen in Indonesia, where fraudulent activity surged 1,303% quarter-over-quarter, compared to 245% in the CIS and 17% in India.
The exchange stressed the urgent need for education and awareness efforts to protect retail participants and ensure safer access to digital assets in emerging markets.
