Remy Blaire: Well, crypto majors are hovering below flat after Bitcoin cleared $87,000 on Monday. Now, investor sentiment turning to extreme greed as traders believe the bear market may possibly be over.
While the rally does come a few days after a major setback on Capitol Hill, with a procedural vote on the CLARITY Act failing, the nation's regulators are picking up where Congress left off.
The SEC has unveiled its innovation exemption to support tokenized stocks, while the CFTC is submitting new crypto rules to the White House.
And while CLARITY is stuck in the halls of Congress, the GENIUS Act is making a difference in real time by establishing the first federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins.
Well, joining us this afternoon to weigh in is Spark CEO Sam MacPherson.
Sam, great to have you back. Thank you so much for joining us.
So I do want to start out with what we're seeing across crypto and with the CLARITY Act failure. But what do you make of the recent rally? And do you think we're out of the woods in terms of the crypto winter?
Sam MacPherson: Yeah, there does seem to be a breath of fresh air coming into the industry again.
The crypto markets tend to move in cycles, and so far it seems like we are kind of going on at least a bit of an upswing. So we'll see if this is sustainable.
Yeah, largely, it seems like the market just kind of ate the news of the CLARITY Act failure and is just continuing on.
I think with the passing of GENIUS last year and sort of stablecoin legislation coming into effect at the beginning of next year, it's still just providing a huge tailwind to the industry in general.
We see lots of big fintechs, exchanges, jumping in with both feet. And I expect we'll see lots more announcements at the beginning of next year when GENIUS comes into full effect.
So, yeah, it's an exciting time.
Remy Blaire: Yeah. And I do want to expand on this.
So let's talk about the role of the SEC as well as the CFTC. So announcements helping to drive this rally, including proposals as well as rules on tokenization.
But ultimately, what do these updates mean for the industry, and what else do you think is needed on the regulatory front?
Sam MacPherson: Yeah, so this has been great, great news about tokenized stocks getting a ruling on this.
I'm, you know, very biased, but I'm a big believer in tokenization in general. I think it's going to consume the entire financial industry eventually.
And each of these steps is a next step towards achieving this goal.
With stablecoins in particular, yeah, we have seen a lot of companies that I mentioned that are getting involved, institutions, fintechs, exchanges, and tokenized equities seem to be the next step.
You know, with Robinhood launching, Coinbase also launching tokenized equities on-chain, this provides more opportunities for stablecoin issuers, lending protocols within the on-chain space to be able to issue more types of loans and give financing to people who want to provide more utility for these types of tokenized stocks.
Remy Blaire: Yeah. And Sam, while I have you here, I do want to take a closer look at GENIUS Act rules.
So they're still actively being adopted by organizations and institutions. Walk us through how it's transforming the stablecoin industry.
Sam MacPherson: Yeah. So in the past, stablecoins were kind of, like, it was in a gray area.
So there were some pioneers who came into the industry and were projecting that this is the way things were going to go.
But having this sort of clarity allows the really big players to get involved and really gives a lot of confidence and maturity to the industry.
And I feel like this is the phase we're going through now, where the industry was sort of more experimental in the past, and now, with regulation being available, sort of rules of the road being provided, stablecoin issuers now know what they have to do to be compliant with regulation.
And so, yeah, as I mentioned before, I think you already see, like, the crypto exchanges were the first to get involved in this.
Now, increasingly, you see more traditional fintechs like Robinhood, for example, getting involved. But eventually, I expect to see even the major banks getting involved in the space.
And I think this is great because as more liquidity comes on-chain, this is just going to provide more and more network effects and utility for the space to provide.
Basically, all the tools of the traditional financial industry will be available eventually on-chain. And, like, I think it's great.
Remy Blaire: And speaking of which, what is your outlook for DeFi as we head into the final months of this year and also look beyond year-end and into 2027?
Sam MacPherson: Yeah, DeFi, I think, will be quite a big industry, and it's not going to be a one-size-fits-all.
Right now, there is a lot of permissionless DeFi, which is sort of the big industry right now on-chain, but I expect to see, this is not a one-size-fits-all, so I expect to see, you know, KYC-type permissioned DeFi also emerge.
And really, the key unlock of all of this is that the capital and liquidity just moves at basically the speed of the internet when it's on-chain.
And being able to match borrowers with lenders in sort of a global market will just unlock a massive amount of capital efficiency.
And so I think DeFi is going to be a big, big part of this.
It will take all different types of forms depending on the needs of both the lenders and the borrowers. But I really expect, you know, a huge amount of growth in the coming years.
Remy Blaire: And finally, Sam, before I let you go, I do want to get your take on institutional adoption.
So that was something that we were talking about as we kicked off 2026. But here we are, and we continue to hear plenty of announcements between TradFi and DeFi and everything in between.
So what do you think institutional adoption will ultimately look like?
Sam MacPherson: Yeah, we're seeing it now.
I mean, you see, like, Robinhood partnering with a stablecoin issuer, USDG. You see Stripe with USD. Also, Coinbase is involved in that consortium.
You see also SoFi with a stablecoin.
I think all these fintech institutions will have a stablecoin. And I think also the banks will have bank-deposit stablecoins as well.
And this is all, I think competition is great, and it's going to be a thriving industry.
And, yeah, again, I'm very excited for the coming growth that's about to happen because I think we're still quite small in comparison to traditional finance.
And so I'm really excited that this institutional adoption is coming in now. And, yeah, it's great.
Remy Blaire: Well, Sam, always great talking to you. Thank you so much for joining us this afternoon.
Thank you so much for sharing your perspective as well as all of your insights.
Sam MacPherson: Thank you.
