Trump Backs Crypto Bill, SEC Halts Leveraged ETF, What Is the English-Speaking Crypto Community Talking About?

Publication Date: March 4, 2025
Author: BlockBeats Editorial Team

Over the past 24 hours, the crypto market has witnessed various dynamics ranging from macroeconomic discussions to ecosystem-specific developments. The mainstream discussion has focused on Trump's public support for crypto legislation and the banking system's power play, as well as the macro hedging sentiment driven by escalating Middle East tensions. In terms of ecosystem development, Ethereum has initiated a new narrative discussion around "privacy technology," AI Agent integration with on-chain payments and communication infrastructure has accelerated, and the Solana ecosystem continues to advance in AI development tools, stablecoin payments, and liquidity infrastructure.

I. Mainstream Discussion

1. Trump Endorses Crypto Legislation, Publicly Criticizes Banks Hindering the GENIUS Act and CLARITY Act

U.S. President Trump took to Truth Social to consecutively post multiple messages warning that if U.S. banks continue to hinder the progress of the "GENIUS Act" (Stablecoin Bill) and "CLARITY Act" (Digital Asset Market Structure Bill), innovation and capital in the crypto industry could flow to China. He accused the banking system of long maintaining financial monopolies and urged Congress to swiftly advance relevant legislation. Senator Cynthia Lummis subsequently publicly expressed support, emphasizing that the U.S. must maintain a global leadership position in the digital asset space. Eric Trump also joined the discussion, criticizing traditional banks for providing near-zero interest rates to customers while charging high fees, and displaying excessive panic towards crypto platform incentive mechanisms. Several crypto industry executives reshared the related comments, viewing them as a crucial turning point in U.S. crypto regulation.

The community's controversy mainly revolves around Trump's motives and the value of the crypto industry itself. Some highly-viewed posts (such as Eric Trump's receiving 545K views) express support for crypto innovation; however, some users question whether the Trump family could benefit from it, labeling them as "grifters." Some discussions (e.g., WatcherGuru's post) emphasize that if U.S. regulation continues to delay, innovation may flee abroad; while other perspectives (e.g., KobeissiLetter) believe that the banking system may not necessarily adapt, viewing the crypto industry more like a "circus."

Pro-Legislation Camp (Mainstream): Trump, Lummis, and Eric Trump believe that banking monopolies suppress innovation, and pushing the bills through is crucial to maintaining U.S. financial competitiveness. The general view is that the crypto industry requires a fair competitive environment, and the banking system should also engage in new "transactions" with emerging technologies.

Skepticism or Opposition Camp: Some users believe Trump is a "fraud and crypto scammer," suggesting that crypto assets lack intrinsic value and are merely pumped up for the benefit of his family. Others argue that China or Russia may not be as concerned about crypto, hence the so-called "innovation drain" is overstated.

Neutral or Adaptation Camp: A minority viewpoint highlights that the banking system has historically resisted new technologies like the internet but eventually adapted gradually. Therefore, the current conflict may just be a transitional phase within the technological cycle.

The tension between banking monopolies and crypto innovation once again underscores the inertia of the U.S. regulatory system. If the legislative process continues to lag, some talent and capital may flow to jurisdictions with a more favorable regulatory environment. The overall discussion reflects a central issue: how can crypto assets maintain their innovative drive while achieving institutional integration with the traditional financial system.

2. Sudden Escalation of the Middle East Situation: Iran-US Confrontation and Risk-off Sentiment in the Crypto Market

Following the U.S.-Israel joint strike against Iran, the Middle East situation escalated rapidly. Iran stated that it would only accept China as a mediator, to which China responded by offering moral support but not military assistance. Meanwhile, the prediction market on Polymarket saw the "probability of a U.S.-Iran war" increase from 22% to 35%. International oil prices briefly rose to $78 per barrel before retreating. Trump then announced that the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) would provide political risk insurance for Persian Gulf shipping to stabilize energy transport and the global supply chain.

Some analysts suggest that Iran may exert pressure through asymmetric warfare, such as using low-cost drones to target desalination or energy infrastructure, thereby impacting the stability of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Some traders even recommend hedging potential risks by buying uranium mining stocks.

A highly-viewed post sparked intense discussions. Some believe that Iran holds a long-term advantage in terms of geopolitics and culture, which could lead to the destabilization of the GCC system, while others view Trump's introduction of the shipping insurance mechanism as a strategic power play that will continue to uphold the U.S.-led energy order. Additionally, a large amount of meme content (e.g., China and Russia "onlookers") reflects the community's divergence between serious analysis and entertaining expressions.

Iran Advantage Camp (Highly-viewed viewpoint): Believes that Iran's geographic and strategic advantages could trigger a cascading crisis in the water, electricity, and energy systems of GCC countries, potentially shaking the "petrodollar" system.

U.S. Leadership Camp (Trump Supporters): Believe that the DFC's insurance mechanism could replace traditional shipping insurance systems (e.g., Lloyd's of London), stabilizing oil prices while strengthening America's influence in the energy financial system.

Wait-and-See Camp: Believes that China is only providing diplomatic support to avoid being involved in the conflict; some users express uncertainty about the direction of the war in a meme format.

The Middle East's energy system has long relied on the petrodollar and U.S. security protection, and asymmetric warfare could exacerbate the fragility of this structure. Gulf countries' high dependence on food and freshwater imports also makes them more vulnerable to conflict. The energy market is highly sensitive to geopolitics, and the recent emergence of risk-off sentiment in the cryptocurrency market to some extent reflects a repricing of the global financial system's risk of supply chain disruptions.

3. Anthropic Nearing $200 Billion in Revenue, Core OpenAI Researcher Departures

The annualized revenue of the artificial intelligence company Anthropic has almost reached $200 billion, growing from about $140 billion to $190 billion in just a few weeks. At the same time, its Claude App has surpassed ChatGPT on the App Store download charts, becoming a new popular AI application.

Meanwhile, OpenAI's core research team member Max Schwarzer announced joining Anthropic. Prior to this, several key researchers had already left OpenAI. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei recently stated publicly that in the next 1 to 5 years, AI may replace around 50% of entry-level lawyers, consultants, and financial positions. Furthermore, amidst controversy over cooperation with the Pentagon, Anthropic also emphasized that its models lack military decision-making capabilities and should not be seen as systems capable of autonomous combat.

High-traffic posts (like damianplayer's 1.4 million views) have sparked intense discussions about the employment impact of AI. Some users praise Anthropic's growth rate and values, while others believe OpenAI is already "cooked," and talent drain is weakening its technological advantage. Schwarzer's departure statement (85k views) mentions a "critical moment" and "value choices," further fueling discussions on defense collaboration and corporate ethics.

Anthropic Support Camp (mainstream, high traffic): Believe that Anthropic's growth and research culture are attracting top talent. Many viewpoints consider AI automation of entry-level positions a long-term trend that society needs to adapt to early.

OpenAI Critique Camp: View the continuous departure of researchers as a signal of strategic and cultural issues, with some calling Anthropic a potential "national security threat," yet it continues to attract top researchers.

Employment Concernist: Amodei's forecast has caused anxiety, but some believe that current AI is still just a "pattern matching tool," and the threat is being overestimated.

The talent competition in the AI industry is intensifying. The departure of key researchers from OpenAI reflects to some extent the divergence in technical direction, organizational culture, and values. At the same time, the controversy over Pentagon collaboration with tech companies has exposed the tension between national defense needs and AI ethics. With rapid revenue growth of AI companies, changes in employment structure are also becoming an important social issue.

4. Qwen Chief Technology Officer Junyang Lin Sudden Resignation

Qwen's Chief Technology Officer Junyang Lin recently announced his resignation, and at least 3–4 core members, including Binyuan Hui and Kaixin Li, have also subsequently left the team. Lin has transformed Qwen from a side project within Alibaba into one of the most popular open-source model families on Hugging Face, with a total download count exceeding 300 million and over 100,000 derivative models.

According to multiple sources, this resignation was not voluntary and may be related to internal management and resource allocation. Some believe that the company's assessment of the foundational model team is gradually shifting towards consumer product metrics (such as DAU) rather than long-term research capabilities. Additionally, the new management may come from non-core members of the Google Gemini system, indicating that the team's future direction may lean more towards commercialization rather than open-source research.

Discussions on this matter quickly escalated within the community. High-traffic posts expressed regret over the team's departure, with many stating that Qwen's success was "more from the team rather than the company." Some speculate that Lin may establish a new research institution or join AI labs like DeepSeek.

Open-Source Supporter (Mainstream, High Traffic): Believe that Qwen's success comes from the research team rather than the company system; criticize evaluating foundational model research based on App metrics, which may stifle innovation.

Commercialization Orientation (Implicit Company Logic): Believe that enterprises must prioritize cloud business and commercial returns, hence focusing resources on product metrics.

Wait-and-See Camp: Some believe that Qwen 3.5 may be a phase of "swan song," and although the ecosystem has been established, the future direction remains uncertain.

This event once again highlights the long-standing tension between large tech companies in open-source research and commercialization. Foundational model development often requires long-term investment, and the assessment mechanisms and resource allocation within enterprise systems may struggle to fully align with this innovation pace.

5. SEC Halts 3x–5x Leveraged ETF Applications

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently issued brief phone calls requesting all issuers of 3x, 4x, and 5x leveraged ETFs to withdraw their filings. The rationale is that ETF products with over 2x leverage are almost impossible to approve.

Prior to this, several institutions had submitted applications for high-leverage ETFs for both the cryptocurrency and stock markets. However, the SEC has maintained a cautious stance, even as the overall regulatory environment is gradually sending more crypto-friendly signals.

This news primarily stems from Eric Balchunas's post, sparking discussions that blend both support and disappointment. Some investors see this as a "good thing," preventing retail investors from quickly blowing up their accounts in extremely leveraged products; however, some argue that the regulation overly restricts financial innovation.

Mainstream Supporter Camp: Believes the SEC's decision is reasonable, as high-leverage ETFs pose extremely high risks, akin to a "breakup text that arrived late," but it helps protect investors.

Innovator Camp: Some issuers and investors wish to launch higher leverage products to provide more trading tools.

Neutral Camp: Thinks some funds may shift to private funds or other non-public structures to circumvent regulatory restrictions. This event once again reflects the long-standing balancing act of regulatory agencies between "investor protection" and "financial innovation." High-leverage products often amplify returns while significantly increasing systemic risks. Against the backdrop of a gradually opening regulatory environment, the SEC maintains a cautious stance on extreme risk tools.

II. Mainstream Ecosystem Updates

【Ethereum / Base】

1. Vitalik Writes Long Post Reflecting on the Role and Direction of the Crypto Industry

Vitalik Buterin has released a lengthy post reviewing the changes in global politics and social environments over the past year, including increased government surveillance, corporate power expansion, and the chaos in the social media ecosystem. He reflects on the limited actual impact the crypto industry has had in enhancing user freedom, privacy protection, and community self-governance. He suggests that Ethereum should be positioned as part of the "sanctuary technology" ecosystem, by constructing a decentralized shared digital space to provide infrastructure for open finance and broader decentralized applications. Ryan Sean Adams, co-founder of Bankless, subsequently responded, stating that Bitcoin, Ethereum, and stablecoins can equally be seen as one of the most liberating technologies of today.

The community broadly interprets this article as a directional signal: Ethereum's future development should not be limited to financial infrastructure alone, but should extend to a more general "digital shelter" role. Some commentators believe that this further strengthens Ethereum's positioning as a "digital stable island"; however, some also point out that this emphasis on the value and political dimension narrative may create tension with Vitalik's past emphasis on a technical neutral position.

This kind of reflection may propel Ethereum from a single financial infrastructure to gradually expanding into a more complete "shelter technology" ecosystem, but the uncertainty remains as to whether its idealistic vision can translate into widespread user adoption.

2. AgentMail Launches on Base: AI Agent Can Create Email with USDC

YC S25 project AgentMail announced support for Coinbase's x402 protocol, enabling an AI Agent to use USDC to create an email inbox on the Base network without the need for a traditional account system or API Key. The Base official account forwarded this message and commented, "Agents have email now." This feature means that an AI Agent can directly obtain communication capabilities through on-chain payments, seen as the latest example of AI integration with crypto infrastructure.

The community generally believes that this marks the AI Agent's gradual transformation from a simple tool into an economically capable "digital entity." Some commentators believe that this will usher in a machine-to-machine (M2M) economic system, but others point out that if the Agent account runs out of funds, its email's lifecycle and communication stability will become new technical challenges.

The integration of AI Agents with on-chain payments and communication systems may drive the gradual formation of a machine economy infrastructure, but its scalable application still depends on stablecoin regulatory environment and technical reliability.

3. Edge: New EVM Domain-Specific Language Released

Developer Andreas Bigger has released a new EVM domain-specific language (DSL) called Edge. The language adopts a strongly typed multi-paradigm design aimed at enhancing smart contract development's expressiveness and security. Edge supports explicit data location annotations, compile-time execution, and EVM-native types, providing zero-cost abstractions such as memory hash tables and other advanced data structures. Additionally, the project team has released a full toolchain and development documentation, and opened up contributions to the community.

The community generally believes that Edge attempts to bridge the gap between Solidity and the low-level language Huff, allowing developers to achieve a better balance between security and performance. Some commentators believe that this design can reduce code redundancy and improve composability, but others caution that the early implementation phase may face issues with compatibility with existing toolchains.

If it gains continued support from the developer community, Edge may reshape the EVM contract development paradigm, but its ecosystem expansion still relies on tooling integration and developer adoption speed.

4. Base Batches Accelerator Open for Applications & Aave Ecosystem Updates

Base announces the official opening of applications for its ecosystem accelerator Base Batches, with the project divided into two main tracks: Startup (targeting pre-seed teams) and Student (targeting undergraduate teams), along with the addition of a Robotics track, where selected teams will have the opportunity to use the Unitree G1 humanoid robot lab resources. Meanwhile, Aave founder Stani Kulechov releases a lengthy post, thanking Aave Chan Initiative founder Marc for his contributions to protocol governance, incentive programs, and DAO structural evolution over the past seven years, and stating that protocol operations remain stable.

The community widely perceives that these two events respectively reflect the ongoing expansion of the Base ecosystem in entrepreneurial infrastructure and a phased change in the governance structure of the Aave DAO. Some commentators believe that the multi-track setup of the Base accelerator will help attract new developers to the ecosystem; however, some are concerned that the departure of Aave's long-term governance service provider may weaken the DAO's technical oversight capability.

These changes may strengthen Base's entrepreneurial ecosystem while testing the governance resilience of the Aave DAO after the turnover of key service providers.

【Solana】

1. Phantom Releases Cursor AI Plugin & Jupiter Releases 2025 Annual Report

The Solana wallet Phantom releases the Connect SDK plugin and launches the Cursor AI Marketplace, allowing developers to quickly integrate Phantom wallet functionality with the help of an AI Agent. Meanwhile, Solana's core ecosystem protocol Jupiter releases its 2025 annual report, reviewing its transformational path from a transaction aggregation platform to a comprehensive on-chain finance platform. In addition, the early registration channel for the Jupiter Telegram Trading Bot is set to close, with a zero platform fee offer for the first month.

The community widely believes that these developments reflect Solana's ecosystem expanding in two directions simultaneously: towards AI development tools and a comprehensive financial platform. Some commentators believe that the Phantom plugin will significantly enhance the developer experience; however, some point out that the long-term competitiveness of the Telegram Bot still needs to be validated through execution efficiency and liquidity performance.

These developments may further strengthen Solana's competitiveness in the AI interface and on-chain financial services field, but whether related products can form long-term user stickiness still needs market validation.

2. Squads Launches Grid & Solana Maker Prioritization Breakthrough

Solana's multi-signature infrastructure project Squads released Grid, positioned as open financial infrastructure for stablecoin payment scenarios. At the same time, the Archer team announced the internal implementation of a maker prioritization mechanism on Solana's chain, which theoretically can provide the tightest quote spread for assets in the fully encrypted market, thereby enhancing market-making efficiency.

The community generally views these two developments as Solana's ongoing optimization in payment and market structure infrastructure. Some commentators believe Grid will further strengthen the stablecoin payment channel, while maker prioritization may significantly enhance trading depth and market efficiency.

These infrastructure upgrades may improve Solana's liquidity efficiency and payment capabilities, but their actual impact still needs to be validated in a real market environment.

【Prediction Market】

1. Polymarket War Probability Soars + Bullpen Launches Base

Against the backdrop of escalating tensions in the Middle East, the "US-Iran War Probability" on Polymarket has increased from 22% to 35%. Trader Avi Felman continues to track Middle East developments and recommends hedging risks by buying uranium mining stocks. Meanwhile, the prediction market project Bullpen announced its launch on the Base network, positioned as a cross-chain prediction market platform. Another prediction platform, Kalshi, also launched real-time odds for the Texas primaries and an election data center.

The community generally believes that the prediction market's sensitivity to geopolitical risks is increasing. Some commentators believe that the probability change reflects the market's expectations of conflict escalation, but some also point out that the emergence of new platforms is accelerating competition and expansion in the prediction market ecosystem.

With the development of cross-chain platforms and real-time data integration, the prediction market may gradually become an important tool for risk pricing, but its predictive accuracy is still influenced by geopolitical uncertainty.