The U.S. and China Reach a Deal: Last Thursday, President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in South Korea for their first face-to-face since Trump's return to the White House in January. The agenda centered on the escalating tensions around tariffs and China's recent restrictions on rare-earth material exports. Under the agreement, China will postpone these export controls for one year. China also committed to increasing U.S. soybean imports. In exchange, Trump shelved a proposed expansion of the export blacklist that would have added thousands of Chinese companies and reduced certain tariffs on China, particularly those targeting fentanyl precursor drugs. Crucially, he also walked back from implementing the threatened 100% tariffs that were set to hit on November 1st.
This outcome clearly benefits both nations and reduces near-term uncertainty. Yet markets barely reacted, likely because the deal was widely anticipated following days of increasingly optimistic headlines. That expectation may help explain why crypto prices declined last week—a classic case of “buy the rumor, sell the news.”
Looking beyond the immediate relief, several uncertainties linger. Most notably, China's commitment to delay rare-earth export controls extends only twelve months. That one-year clock creates a significant overhang in the medium to long term.
Western Union Announces Stablecoin On Solana: Last week, the money transfer giant Western Union revealed plans to launch its own stablecoin on Solana, issued by Anchorage Digital Bank. The Dollar Payment Token (USDPT) is slated for launch in the first half of 2026. Western Union also plans to roll out what it is calling the Digital Asset Network, designed to bridge digital assets with real-world utility.
Western Union's entry marks yet another traditional financial institution launching a stablecoin this year. From an adoption standpoint, that is undeniably positive. However, each new stablecoin further fragments an already fragmented landscape. Network effects and liquidity—already diluted across multiple blockchains—become even more dispersed, which introduces challenges.
U.S. Solana ETF Begins Trading: Speaking of Solana, the first U.S.-based physical Solana ETFs went live last week. Structured similarly to the now-familiar U.S. Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, these products had been highly anticipated by the market. Bitwise kicked things off Tuesday with its staking Solana ETF, followed by Grayscale's Solana Trust ETF on Wednesday, both of which have the underlying Solana staked. Last week also saw launches of U.S.-based ETFs for Litecoin and Hedera.
These launches matter because they open a door for more traditional investors—those who prefer the familiar structure of exchange-traded products—to gain exposure to Solana and other cryptocurrencies easily and in a user-friendly way.
