Written by: Xu Chao
Source: Wallstreetcn
Waller, a hot candidate for the next Federal Reserve Chair and current Fed Governor, delivered an important speech, openly expressing optimism about digital assets (especially Ethereum and stablecoins), and stated that the GENIUS Act is making positive progress. The public believes this provides significant policy support for institutional adoption of digital assets such as stablecoins and Ethereum.
This Thursday local time, Fed Governor Waller gave a speech at the 2025 Wyoming Blockchain Symposium.
Waller praised Ethereum and stablecoins as the natural next step in payment technology development, stating that smart contracts, tokenization, and distributed ledgers do not pose risks in daily use, and urged financial institutions to embrace cryptocurrency as the natural next step in payment development.
On the regulatory front, Waller called the GENIUS Act "a good start" and promised to gradually address existing issues during its implementation.
Waller's advocacy for Ethereum and stablecoins as foundational financial infrastructure aligns with key regulatory legislation passed in 2025. This statement has been interpreted by the market as a positive signal for the revaluation of cryptocurrencies.
The GENIUS Act requires stablecoin issuers to hold 1:1 high-quality liquid asset reserves, while the CLARITY Act clarifies the regulatory framework for digital commodities, eliminating regulatory uncertainty for institutional investors.
Regulatory Framework Boosts Institutional Confidence
The GENIUS Act will take effect in July 2025, establishing the first federal regulatory framework for stablecoins in the United States.
The Act requires stablecoin issuers to hold high-quality liquid assets such as U.S. Treasury bonds and cash as 1:1 reserves, and clarifies the supervisory responsibilities of banking regulators such as the OCC and FDIC.
To complement the GENIUS Act, the House passed the CLARITY Act in July 2025, further clarifying the jurisdictional boundaries of the SEC and CFTC.
This Act classifies non-stablecoin assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum as "digital commodities" regulated by the CFTC, eliminating regulatory ambiguity for asset management firms and institutional investors.
This dual legislative framework has created a favorable environment for institutional adoption, driving rapid growth in tokenized assets and ETFs based on Ethereum.
Regulatory clarity has directly promoted institutional investment in Ethereum and stablecoins.
As of the third quarter of 2025, Ethereum ETF assets under management reached $27.6 billion, with capital inflows surpassing those of Bitcoin ETFs. BlackRock's ETHA ETF attracted $10 billion in assets under management within ten days of its launch.
Corporate funds have also been reallocated to the Ethereum sector, with more than 64 companies investing $10.1 billion in staking and tokenized real-world assets.
Platforms such as BlackRock's BUIDL and Franklin Templeton's Progmat are leveraging Ethereum infrastructure to provide decentralized asset ownership, combining traditional finance with blockchain programmability.
Ethereum's technological upgrades have further enhanced its appeal to institutional investors. After Ethereum completed the Pectra and Dencun upgrades, Ethereum's gas fees (transaction fees) dropped by 90%.
The reduction in fees has directly lowered the cost of running decentralized finance (DeFi) applications on Ethereum, attracting more institutional capital. The total value locked (TVL) in DeFi reached $223 billion, with massive funds invested in lending, staking, liquidity pools, and other decentralized financial products.
Ethereum's dominance in the stablecoin ecosystem has become even more solid, with stablecoins issued and circulating on Ethereum accounting for 50% of the global market share.
