[Weekly Web3 News Highlights] Reuters: Circle applies for a US banking license, plans to hold USDC reserves; The SEC has suspended Grayscale's plan to convert its digital large-cap fund into an ETF and will conduct further reviews; Trump's "Big and Beautiful" bill has been passed, with Biden and Harris speaking out in criticism.

Weekly Web3 News Highlights from BitPush:

[Reuters: Circle applies for a U.S. banking license, plans to custody USDC reserves]

According to BitPush news and reported by Reuters, stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group (CRCL) has applied for a national bank charter in the United States. This move signifies Circle's further integration into the traditional financial system after successfully completing its IPO this month.

If granted permission by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Circle will be able to act as a custodian for its own reserves and hold crypto assets for institutional clients. However, Reuters points out that the license will not allow Circle to accept cash deposits or issue loans like traditional banks. The OCC-regulated entity will be named First National Digital Currency Bank, N.A.

Circle has long sought to obtain a banking license in the United States, which could pave the way for it to offer traditional banking services such as deposits and loans. Previously, the company denied rumors of seeking a national trust license or an industrial bank license.

On Monday, Bernstein analysts believe that Circle's USDC is expected to become the largest regulated stablecoin under the GENIUS Act, giving the company a "regulatory first-mover advantage." Circle's stock price closed at $181.29 per share that day, and the company's market capitalization has exceeded $40 billion.

[Gold Records Largest Half-Year Gain Since 2007]

According to Bitpush news, gold has risen more than 25% in the past six months. With gold reaching an all-time high in the second quarter, the price of gold in the first half of 2025 has recorded its best performance since the second half of 2007. By the end of the first quarter on June 30, gold had increased by 5.5%. Analysts say that after reaching an all-time high, gold is currently consolidating around $3,300 per ounce. Rhona O'Connell from StoneX stated in the report: "The easing of tensions in the Middle East and the signing of trade agreements have alleviated tensions, which is unfavorable for gold but may help silver."

[REX Shares Announces First Solana Staking ETF to be Listed for Trading in the U.S.]

According to Bituan news, REX Shares announced on X on Monday that an exchange-traded fund (ETF) tracking the price of Solana and providing staking rewards to holders will start trading this Wednesday (July 2). The fund claims to be the "first staking crypto ETF in the U.S.!"

REX Shares and Osprey Funds submitted applications to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in May this year, aiming to create ETFs structured as C corporations that invest in Solana and Ethereum, respectively. These funds will also stake a portion of their assets to generate additional income.

After Donald Trump's inauguration, the regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies has become more favorable. The SEC is currently reviewing a broader range of crypto ETF proposals, including various funds tracking SOL to DOGE. Additionally, the SEC is also reviewing Grayscale's proposal to convert its digital large-cap fund into an ETF and faces a deadline on Wednesday for whether to approve the fund's listing. The fund holds a basket of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Solana, and XRP.

The method of Rex-Osprey differs from other proposals as it bypasses traditional approval processes through a clever legal workaround: unlike most ETFs, these funds choose to operate as taxable C corporations. As a result, staking rewards will be taxed within the fund before being distributed as dividends to holders. According to previous reports from The Block, both funds have a management fee of 0.75%, but due to the accumulation of income tax, the total costs will generally be higher in most cases.

[U.S. Democratic Senator Proposes Amendment: Aims to Prohibit Officials from Profiting by Promoting Cryptocurrencies]

According to Bitu news, Fox Business reported that U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley from Oregon proposed an amendment to the "Big and Beautiful Act" (OBBB) that prohibits elected officials from promoting or profiting from cryptocurrency tokens in which they have a financial interest. U.S. Senator Lummis from Wyoming opposed this amendment, stating that it would severely harm America's innovation and competitiveness, and impair the government's ability to effectively understand and regulate digital assets.

[OpenAI: "OpenAI Token" is not an equity in OpenAI, there is no collaboration with Robinhood, nor does it endorse it.]

According to Bitu, the artificial intelligence company OpenAI issued a statement on Wednesday (July 2) refuting the actions of the trading platform Robinhood in offering a tokenized version of its private company shares. OpenAI clearly stated on its X platform (formerly Twitter): "These 'OpenAI tokens' are not equity in OpenAI. We have no collaboration with Robinhood, have not participated in this matter, nor endorse it. Any transfer of OpenAI equity must be approved by us — we have not approved any transfers."

On Monday, Vlad Tenev, co-founder and CEO of Robinhood, revealed that the company will begin offering tokenized private equity from over 200 companies, including OpenAI and Elon Musk's aerospace company SpaceX, to EU users. Robinhood explained in a webpage about these assets: "Robinhood stock tokens follow the prices of publicly traded stocks and ETFs—they are derivatives tracked on the blockchain, providing you exposure to the U.S. market. When you purchase stock tokens, you are not buying actual stocks—you are buying tokenized contracts that track their prices and are recorded on the blockchain."

It is worth noting that Robinhood is not the only platform offering tokenized equity shares in private companies. On June 25, the investment platform Republic also announced a similar plan aimed at providing stock tokens for private AI companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic to improve retail investors' access to these typically hard-to-reach investment opportunities.

[The U.S. SEC has suspended Grayscale's plan to convert its Digital Large Cap Fund into an ETF and will conduct further review.]

According to BitPush news and reported by CoinDesk, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has suspended the plan for Grayscale's Digital Large Cap Fund to convert into an exchange-traded fund (ETF) and has placed it under further review.

The fund was originally planned to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange Arca platform as a spot ETF covering multiple assets, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), Ripple (XRP), and Cardano (ADA).

[BlackRock IBIT Annual Fee Income Exceeds Its S&P 500 ETF]

According to BitPush News and a report by Fortune, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (ticker: IBIT), with an approximate scale of $75 billion, has attracted significant capital from both institutional and retail investors, experiencing inflows for all but one month over the past 18 months. According to Bloomberg's rough calculations as of July 1, the fund's expense ratio is 0.25%, with estimated annual fee income of $187.2 million. This figure is slightly higher than the $187.1 million of BlackRock's iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV), which has nearly nine times the scale of IBIT, with assets totaling approximately $624 billion and an expense ratio of only 0.03%.

[Trump's "Big and Beautiful" Bill Passed, Biden and Harris Criticize in Succession]

According to reports, former U.S. President Biden criticized Trump’s "Big and Beautiful" tax and spending bill on the social media platform "X" after its passage. Biden stated that the Republican budget proposal is not only reckless but also cruel. It cuts Medicaid, taking away healthcare from millions of Americans. It closes rural hospitals and reduces food assistance for veterans and the elderly. It raises energy bills and could lead to significant cuts in Medicare while increasing the deficit by $4 trillion. All of this is to provide massive tax cuts for billionaires. Former Vice President Harris also stated that Republican members of Congress voted to destroy the lives of millions of people across our nation—kicking Americans out of healthcare, closing hospitals, eliminating food assistance, and raising costs.

[The proposal for the transferability of the WLFI token in the crypto project has been implemented]

According to Bitpush news, the Trump family's crypto project WLFI announced on platform X that the proposal to make WLFI tokens transferable has now come into effect. "Today marks the Independence Day of the United States, and we are making history."