Good morning. The House of Representatives advanced a pair of bills Thursday aimed at setting up regulations for cryptocurrencies, continuing the industry’s recent momentum on Capitol Hill.

• The details: In a bipartisan 308-122 vote on Thursday, the House passed a bill laying out standards for stablecoins, a popular type of digital currency whose price is pegged to the dollar or other traditional currency. The bill, called the Genius Act, passed the Senate in June and is now poised to become the first-ever U.S. piece of crypto legislation once President Trump signs it into law, as he has indicated he would.
   
• Rules established: The House also passed a broader bill laying out rules for crypto exchanges, brokers and issuers. The legislation determines which regulators will oversee the digital-asset markets and will now go to the Senate.
   
• The lobbying effort: Crypto companies such as Coinbase Global and Circle have sought legislation to bring regulatory clarity to their businesses after costly battles with regulators under the Biden administration. They found allies in Trump and many Republicans after pouring money into last year’s election. House leadership declared this to be “Crypto Week” with the chamber moving ahead with long-simmering legislation.

Also see: Coinbase Eyes Regulatory Win as Trump Pushes Crypto-Friendly Legislation

U.S.-based Wells Fargo banker blocked from leaving China.

A U.S.-based Wells Fargo banker who works in trade financing has been blocked from leaving China after traveling there recently, people familiar with the matter said.

Chenyue Mao, a Shanghai-born and Atlanta-based managing director at Wells Fargo, was subjected to an exit ban after she entered China sometime in recent weeks, according to the people. The reason for her travel to China couldn’t be determined.

China threatens to block Panama ports deal unless its shipping giant is part of it.

China’s government is threatening to block a deal that would transfer ownership of dozens of seaports to Western investors if Cosco, China’s largest shipping company, doesn’t get a stake.

The proposed sale includes two ports at the Panama Canal and more than 40 others around the world, all owned by Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison.

• Sen. Elizabeth Warren is calling for more scrutiny of the booming private-credit market, and she’s homing in on the agencies that rate the industry’s products.
   
• Some Trump administration officials are holding up efforts to finalize a landmark agreement that would open the door to the United Arab Emirates buying billions of dollars in Nvidia’s cutting-edge artificial-intelligence chips, due to national-security concerns.
   
• A lawyer in a data-privacy case against current and former Meta Platforms officials told the judge that shareholders who brought the suit and the defendants had agreed to settle, ending the trial on its second day.
   
• An arbitration panel has cleared the way for Chevron to close its $53 billion purchase of Hess, dismissing Exxon Mobil’s claim that it had a contractual right to bid for Hess’s crown-jewel assets in Guyana.
   
• Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong won a full reprieval Thursday in a protracted legal fight that has overshadowed much of his time atop the South Korean conglomerate.
   
• White House officials are preparing an executive order targeting tech companies with what they see as “woke” artificial-intelligence models, their latest effort to go after diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, people familiar with the matter said.
   
• The Food and Drug Administration’s oncologic drugs advisory committee on voted against approval of GSK’s blood cancer drug Blenrep.

The global risks that come with the loss of an independent Fed.

President Trump’s threat to attempt to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has raised a pressing but potentially unanswerable question: What would the global economy and financial markets look like without an independent U.S. central bank?

Former Fed officials and investors warn that a central bank more beholden to the White House could lose its ability to act quickly and credibly in the face of financial threats.

China’s solid economic first half will be a tough act to follow.

China’s economy performed better than expected in the first half of the year, but analysts say maintaining that momentum will be a challenge in the months ahead. According to official data, gross domestic product grew 5.2% in the second quarter from a year earlier, bringing first-half growth to 5.3%.

A key tailwind has been companies’ rush to stockpile goods ahead of impending tariffs, helping Chinese exports stay resilient under U.S. trade pressure. Analysts warn of a looming “payback” effect as that urgency fades.

• U.S. Companies Brace For More China Trade Tensions
• China’s ‘New Consumers’ Don’t Want a House. They Want Labubu and Bubble Tea.

• Economists this month dialed back their earlier pessimism that U.S. trade policies would lead to slower growth and higher inflation this year—at least for the near term.
   
• In years past, Taiwan’s annual Han Kuang exercises have been staged on military bases, along desolate coastlines and generally out of sight for the average resident of Taiwan. This year, the military drills feel like something else entirely.
   
• Russia said more than 100 Ukrainian drones targeted Moscow and various parts of the country on Thursday.
   
• The U.K. government is increasingly stitching itself back into the political fabric of Europe, strengthening alliances with key European Union states in light of Russian aggression on the continent and an unpredictable U.S. president.

• Railroad operator Union Pacific is holding talks to acquire its smaller rival Norfolk Southern, according to people familiar with the matter.
   
• Congress closed in on canceling $9 billion in federal spending for foreign aid and public broadcasting.
   
• President Trump won’t recommend a special prosecutor in the Jeffrey Epstein case, his top spokeswoman said.
   
• Microsoft’s carbon footprint is huge. It thinks storing human waste underground might help solve that problem.

Follow us on X at @WSJRisk. Send tips to our reporters Max Fillion at max.fillion@dowjones.com, Mengqi Sun at mengqi.sun@wsj.com and Richard Vanderford at richard.vanderford@wsj.com.

You can also reach us by replying to any newsletter, or by emailing our editor David Smagalla at david.smagalla@wsj.com.