Today in crypto, US lawmakers are pushing to advance the crypto market structure bill despite the ongoing government shutdown. Standard Chartered forecasts real-world assets could surge to $2 trillion by 2028, while US President Donald Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping to ease tariff tensions.
Amid US gov’t shutdown, lawmakers work to pass market structure: Report
Many US senators are reportedly moving to advance a bill for crypto market structure rules amid a government shutdown with no end in sight.
According to a Bloomberg report published on Thursday, several Republicans in the Senate, including those with leadership positions on key committees, plan to pass legislation on digital asset market structure by the end of the year, in line with their initially announced timeline.
Despite thousands of government employees being furloughed across several agencies amid the shutdown, members of Congress continue to receive their paychecks and are permitted to conduct business in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
John Boozman, chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, reportedly said he was negotiating with Democrats to release a bipartisan bill on market structure “very, very soon,” with a plan to pass the legislation before 2026. Others on the Senate Banking Committee — the other body that needs to approve the bill once it’s ready for consideration — picked up bipartisan talks, with a possible deal being announced in a matter of weeks.
The legislative fight began with the passage of the CLARITY Act in the House of Representatives. After being passed in July as part of Republicans’ “crypto week” plans, party leaders in the Senate said they would “build on” the bill to create their version of crypto market structure under the title the Responsible Financial Innovation Act.
Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, one of the bill’s most outspoken backers, said in August that she hoped the legislation would be considered by the Agriculture Committee by the end of September and the Banking Committee by the end of October, with US President Donald Trump expected to sign it into law by 2026. One committee deadline has since passed, and the other benchmark is unlikely to occur during the shutdown.
Standard Chartered sees $2 trillion in tokenized RWAs by 2028, matching stablecoins
Tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) may reach a cumulative value of $2 trillion in the next three years as more global capital and payments migrate onto more efficient blockchain rails, according to investment bank Standard Chartered.
The bank said in a Thursday report shared with Cointelegraph that the “trustless” structure of decentralized finance (DeFi) is poised to challenge the dominance of traditional financial (TradFi) systems controlled by centralized entities.
DeFi’s growing use in payments and investments may bolster non-stablecoin tokenized RWAs to a $2 trillion market capitalization by 2028, the investment bank predicts.
Of the $2 trillion, $750 billion is projected to flow into money-market funds, another $750 billion into tokenized US stocks, $250 billion into tokenized US funds, and another $250 billion into “less liquid” segments of private equity, including commodities, corporate debt and tokenized real estate.
“Stablecoin liquidity and DeFi banking are important pre-requisites for a rapid expansion of tokenised RWAs,” said Standard Chartered’s global head of digital assets research, Geoff Kendrick, who added:
“We expect exponential growth in RWAs in the coming years.”
Reaching a $2 trillion market capitalization implies an over 57-fold growth for RWAs in the next three years from their current $35 billion cumulative value, according to data from RWA.xyz.
Trump, Xi meet in South Korea to resolve trade tensions
US President Donald Trump and Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping have met face-to-face in South Korea to stabilize relations and resolve tariff tensions.
Before the bilateral meeting, Trump indicated that the parties are showing signs of alignment, stating: “We’ve already agreed to a lot of things and we will agree to some more right now.”
“I think we’re going to have a fantastic relationship for a long period of time,” Trump said in a video posted to X by The White House on Thursday.
President Donald J. Trump meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea.
“I think we’re going to have a fantastic relationship for a long period of time, and it is an honor to have you with us.” pic.twitter.com/ISpVBzkvN3
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 30, 2025
Trump’s use of tariffs since returning to the White House, combined with China’s retaliatory limits on exports of rare earth elements, has fueled fears of an economic slowdown, with some of the most severe tariff implementations triggering crashes in the crypto market in recent months.
That included the Oct. 10 market crash, which saw Bitcoin fall from $121,560 to below $103,000.
The Rapid Response 47 X account confirmed that the meeting has since wrapped up.
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