The week highlighted that the crypto market is moving concurrently on four parallel trajectories. The American GENIUS finally received operational rules—stablecoins are transforming into banking infrastructure under state control. The SEC publicly acknowledged the failure of its previous enforcement course and changed the leadership of the relevant department. Exchanges worldwide are tightening regulations following client losses. Meanwhile, crypto is integrating into two radically different payment infrastructures: AI-agent settlements and Iran sanctions evasion. Stablecoins are turning into regulated banking infrastructure In the U.S., the FDIC (April 8) published supervision rules for GENIUS—reserves ≥1:1, redemption within 2 business days, minimum capital of $5 million; the state does not guarantee deposits in stablecoins. The U.S. Treasury (April 9) equated issuers to financial institutions under the Bank Secrecy Act: mandatory AML/CFT programs, blocking, freezing, and transaction rejection capabilities. South Korea (April 9) reclassified stablecoins as currency payment instruments with a ban on interest to holders; RWA issuers are required to place underlying assets in trusts. In Switzerland, UBS, Raiffeisen, and Zürcher Kantonalbank (April 10) launched a sandbox for CHF stablecoins on the Swiss Stablecoin AG infrastructure. In Argentina, Banco CMF and Banco Galicia (April 8) are testing JPM Coin—JPMorgan aims for a daily volume of $10 billion, the platform has already processed $3 trillion since 2020. Chainalysis, in a base scenario, estimates the adjusted volume of stablecoins at $719 trillion by 2035—52 times the current $28 trillion. The SEC reverses its crypto enforcement course by 180 degrees Within one week, the SEC publicly admitted error, sent a draft of new rules to the White House, and changed the leadership of the enforcement department. On April 9, the agency reported that since fiscal 2022 it had initiated 95 cases against crypto firms and imposed fines of $2.3 billion, but these actions "provided no benefits and did not improve investor protection"; resources are redirected to fraud and market manipulation. On April 7, Chairman Paul Atkins sent an OIRA rule draft with exemptions for startups, fundraising, and a safe harbor for cryptocurrencies—as a transitional regime until the CLARITY Act is adopted. On April 10, David Woodcock (Gibson Dunn) was appointed the new head of the enforcement department—previous head Margaret Ryan resigned following a conflict with Atkins over Trump associates' cases (Musk, Justin Sun). The number of SEC measures against crypto firms in 2025 was already 30% lower than in 2024 (Cornerstone Research). Exchanges tighten infrastructural screws after client losses Two major trading shocks in recent months have prompted reactive tightening of rules at exchanges worldwide. South Korea (April 8) mandated that crypto exchanges reconcile internal records with actual assets every 5 minutes—previously, 3 of the 5 largest exchanges in the country did this once every 24 hours; external audits have shifted from quarterly to monthly, and disclosure volume expanded to data for each wallet. The trigger was a February error by Bithumb, which accidentally distributed 620,000 BTC ($44 billion) in a promotional campaign. Simultaneously, Binance (April 8) announced that starting April 14, it would limit spot trading during periods of low liquidity with price ranges around the benchmark price. Crypto as the new payment rail—from AI commerce to Iranian tankers Cryptocurrency settlements are simultaneously integrating into two opposing infrastructures: the cutting edge of AI commerce and sanction evasion. On April 10, Visa launched Intelligent Commerce Connect—a payment platform for autonomous AI agents, compatible with Visa cards and main agent protocol