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The US House is headed for key “Crypto Week” from today, July 14, 2025, with historic votes planned on a number of bills for digital asset legislation. This regulatory push is the result of attempts to implement clearer regulations for the developing crypto industry.
At the same time, U.S. home buyers continue to see stubbornly high mortgage rates that are making homes less affordable and discouraging the home buying process.
House’s ‘Crypto Week’ Begins
After years in which the crypto industry has called for clarity from regulators, the House is now preparing to take major steps. Members of Congress are set to vote on three pieces of legislation:
- Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY Act): This legislation would create a path for digital assets to be offered and sold as securities and identify how these assets are treated under securities law and is also meant to resolve conflicts between the SEC and the CFTC. This bill has been reported by both the House Financial Services Committee and the House Agriculture Committee with overwhelming bipartisan support.
- Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act): The GENIUS Act would establish the first federal statutory framework for payment stablecoins and would require payment stablecoins to be one-to-one backed by cash. This bill has already been approved overwhelmingly by the Senate, and House passage would send it directly to the desk of President Donald Trump, who might sign the first large crypto law into effect.
- The Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act: This bill would prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC), amid worries from certain lawmakers about privacy and potential government abuse.
The “Crypto Week” schedule reflects a desire among many in Washington D.C. to move forward with digital assets and establish the U.S. as a global leader in financial technology, an effort that President Trump is personally directing. Market participants are watching these votes closely for a more favourable and predictable environment to conduct a crypto business or invest in one.
Hotel Loans: Soness At Hotel Maturities Return – Mortgage Rates Still Near Highs
Meantime, the U.S. housing market faces high borrowing costs. Average rates for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased slightly this week to 6.72 per cent, according to Freddie Mac data released on July 10, 2025, in what had been a five-week string of loosening. The average on the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage increased to 5.86%.
These stubbornly high levels — they’ve largely been between 6.5% and 7% for much of 2025 — are more a function of external economic conditions, such as the Federal Reserve’s monetary-policy setting and the movement of the 10-year Treasury yield. Yet despite some hopes for interest rate cutbacks later in the year, most economists say mortgage rates are likely to stay in the 6% to 7% range in the coming months unless there’s a dramatic change in inflation or economic reports.
The higher borrowing costs remain a major headwind for potential buyers, in particular for first-time buyers, and have led to a sales downturn in the housing market that commenced in 2022. There is plenty of demand for housing, but plenty of obstacles, too, both in the form of high interest rates and high home prices, which are keeping many on the sidelines. Refinance activity also has been tepid, with rates not low enough compared with the existing level of rates that many homeowners have.
